Collective Virtuosity in Organizations: A Study of Peak Performance in an Orchestra

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to build theory on peak performance at the group level. Peak performance transcends ordinary performance and is associated with a subjective experience in which one loses a sense of time and space as well as feels great joy and bliss. We chose to study this phenomenon at the group level through a methodology of participant observation in an orchestra. We found that groups can be transformed by their own performance in a reflexive process in which virtuosity, or individual peak performance, becomes collective. We offer a propositional model of collective virtuosity in organizations, and offer directions for further research. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2007.

Paradox in Positive Organizational Change

“…S. Cameron, 2003;Ilies, Nahrgang, & Morgeson, 2007), which is similar to what Aristotle (n.d.) labeled goods of first intent-or "that which is good in itself and is to be chosen for its own sake" (p. 3). Studies of virtuousness and its impact of individual and organizational performance have begun to appear in the scholarly literature (e.g., Bright, 2006; K. S. Marotto, Roos, & Victor, 2007), and some convergence in POS has occurred regarding positivity as indicated by virtuousness and eudemonism.…”

Virtuoso Project Teams: Beyond high performance, a study of the teaming success of the Motorola Satellite Communications System IRIDIUM® Program

“…For a project team to be able to exhibit this level of performance over a sustained period of time, especially at the program level, is indeed rare and worth studying. [27]. Ordinary teams may get along better and prove less difficult for management oversight but the results will not approach the outstanding or astonishing magnitude of teams especially picked to push the envelope.…”

Location, Working Hours and Creativity

“…An epiphany not told and retold never enters into contact with the ideas of others: it is akin to a hermit experience (Thompson, 2008). To sum up: epiphany is much more a social process than is generally assumed, which necessitates us to seeing creativity more as relational processes than as individual efforts and stable qualities of actors (e.g., Hargadon & Bechky, 2006;Glăveanu & Lubart, 2014;Marotto et al, 2007;Sawyer, 2006). Future research could perhaps address the question whether epiphanic moments can also be relational themselves.…”

“…Having said that, the possibilities of experiencing dyadic and group epiphanies, as said, must certainly not be excluded. Marotto, Roos and Victor's (2007) study of peak performance in a music orchestra analyzes collective virtuosity in organizations. This research is not typically focusing on epiphany, but may inspire further work into epiphanies that are simultaneously experienced by two or more people leading, perhaps, to insights at higher level even than individual epiphanies.…”