How to access organizational informality. Using movement improvisation to address embodied organizational knowledge
Wetzel, Ralf Van Renterghem, N.
Wetzel, Ralf
Van Renterghem, N.
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Publication Type
Journal article
Editor
Supervisor
Publication Year
2016
Journal
Organizational Aesthetics
Book
Publication Volume
5
Publication Issue
1
Publication Begin page
47
Publication End page
63
Publication Number of pages
Collections
Abstract
Whether an organization is managed in a formal-directive or an informal-emergent way has an impact on how organizations adapt to external change. What so far has remained unnoticed is the influence of the body and embodied knowledge, especially reacting to these different kinds of management. In this paper we give first indications on how different the body and embodied knowledge respond to different ways of management and how this might affect the adaptability of groups and organizations. In an MBA-course on adaptive organizations we applied movement improvisation to let students experience the difference between formal and informal group coordination. We let students compare their experiences and substantiated their reflection by a video comparison of students' movements. As a result, we found that the mutual body awareness and connectedness increased after a movement improvisation exercise, stimulating informal-emergent coordination. The embodied knowledge was enriched and evoked to support emergent coordination amongst the students compared to a disconnectedness amongst students in a formal-directive way of coordination.
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Keywords
Change