The Complexity of Improvisation and the Improvisation of Complexity: Social Science, Art and Creativity

Abstract

The concept of improvisation has become increasingly popular in the discourse of organizational theory. This paper explores several aspects of improvisation, in the context of musical, organizational, and everyday activities, in order to address some of the philosophical and practical issues relevant to this emerging interest. Connections are made between the modernist concept of organization and scholarly inquiry, and postmodern or complexity-based approaches that stress creativity as an emergent property of the relationship between order and disorder. It concludes by suggesting that the study of improvisation demands a profound immersion in (inster-)subjectivity, emotions, time, aesthetics, performance, and social creativity, none of which have traditionally been the focus of organization and management studies, or the social sciences in general. It also suggests that the practice of social sciences itself should reflect upon, and attempt to incorporate these elements.