The Imaginary and Improvisation in Public Administration

Policy improvisation: How frontline workers cope with public service gaps in developing countries—The case of Mexico's Prospera program

“…Consistent with the notion of improvisation as performative strategy characterized by the imperative to deal with a given situation, a forced choice about the course of action, and the absence of a pre‐established script (FitzPatrick, 2002, p. 641), we argue that the frontline workers in our case improvise rather than implement a public policy through informal activities and strategies of their own accord. This expands our understanding of coping in frontline work by further stressing the importance of workers' agency (Maynard‐Moody & Musheno, 2012) and by recovering the notion of coping as a survival strategy (Satyamurti, 1981) focused primarily on job preservation—rather than characterized by either a client or an organizational orientation, as it is commonly identified in the literature (Maynard‐Moody & Musheno, 2000; Tummers et al., 2015).…”

“…The notion of policy improvisation is used here to signal the broader phenomenon of human resource neglect and what we call “policy voids” in Latin American public administration and policy implementation. Improvisation is a performative technique used in the arts that is characterized by (1) the need to deal with a given situation, (2) forced choice about the course of action, and (3) the absence of a script to rely on (FitzPatrick, 2002, p. 641). Moreover, improvisation is creative (albeit not necessarily wholly spontaneous) and explorative rather than control‐focused (ibid.…”

So much theory, so little practice: a literature review of workplace improvisation training

“…The bulk of the literature on improvisational theatre training in a business setting is theoretical and not grounded in a specific application of the principles to actual participants. Some of the papers discuss the potential utilisation of improvisational theatre training to specific applications, such as: negotiation (Balachandra et al, 2005;Harding, 2004); public administration (FitzPatrick, 2002); computer engineering (Mahaux and Maiden, 2008); and organisational development consulting (Stager Jacques, 2013). Others consider theatrical improvisation in the broader context of the organisation with less specific application (Crossan, 1998;Koppett, 2002;Marren, 2008;Vera and Crossan, 2004;Weis and Arnesen, 2014;Yanow, 2001).…”

The Virtues of ‘Blue Sky’ Projects: How Lunar Design Taps into the Power of Imagination

“…Researchers increasingly stress the importance of imagination as key to mobilizing individual creativity and, hence, as a building block towards sustaining organizational innovation (Appadurai, 1996). Scholars also propose that the organizational environment, the resources available and different management initiatives can mobilize or inhibit imagination in the work setting (Fitzpatrick, 2002). In our search for initiatives that aid organizations to tap into the power of imagination, this study has discovered the virtues of 'blue sky' projects and identified several organizational benefits in initiating and supporting such activities.…”

“…What is clear, however, is that similarly to the development of creativity in individuals (Amabile et al, 1996;Cummings & Oldham, 1997), the organizational environment and the resources available to employees can mobilize or inhibit imagination in the work setting. Fitzpatrick (2002), therefore, argues that firms need to take appropriate initiatives (for instance, she talks about the importance of improvization in encouraging the deliberate action of novel activity) to facilitate this engagement and encourage employees to use their imagination in their work.…”