How Aesthetics and Economy Become Conversant in Creative Firms

Abstract

Research on creative organizations often highlights a concern that economic influences on creative work might crowd out aesthetic influences. How this concern can be managed, however, is not well understood. Using a case study of an economic/aesthetic conflict within e-Types, a design firm, we develop theory to describe how the economic and aesthetic can be constructively combined. Building from grounded empirical analysis, we propose the concept of conversation as a way of theorizing about a constructed sociality via which creative firms can manage this conflict. "Converse," according to etymology, means "to live with"; the archaic meaning is "to become occupied or engaged." To say, then, that the economic and aesthetic remained conversant at e-Types through controversy is, we demonstrate, richly descriptive and generative of additional implications. In a similar way, we propose the concept of ensemble -an idea borrowed from the collaborative arts -as a way of theorizing about a conversationally nurtured but fragile form of intensified sociality that is not always achieved, but that most successfully combines conflicting influences when it is. Our findings and theoretical conceptualizations contribute new insights and a framework for organizing a fragmented landscape of ideas about creative work.

Crafting growth together

“…This ensemble, through their embedded conversations, both co-creates the craft beer sector and negotiates its artisanal identity. It is a wide-ranging community of multiple stakeholders (Austin, Hjorth, and Hessel 2017). As argued by Zhao et al (2017), however, there is a conflict within such a sector between the drive to gain legitimation (conformity) and the individual (brewers') pursuit and need to protect the distinctiveness of their product.…”

Entrepreneurial Intermediation in Innovation: A Study of Multilayered Contexts and Embedded Dynamics of Organisation-Creation

“…The tertius iungens concept describes the assembling of resources that are important and necessary for Schumpeterian innovation, a concept that in our view shares similarities with entrepreneuring as organisation-creation (Hjorth, 2014a). With the concepts of Simmel, Burt and Obstfeld in mind, we argue that analyses of entrepreneuring as organisation-creation benefit primarily from Obstfeld's conceptualization of a synergetic process, not least because in his model, intermediation is necessarily more embedded (it has "joined" the network), and a greater "whole" can be achieved by relinquishing ownership of added value (Austin and Devin, 2003;Austin, Hjorth and Hessel, 2018). While Burt's idea describes competition and the maximisation of individual interest, Obstfeld's concept focuses on cooperation, collaboration and team interaction.…”

Organizational Creativity, Play and Entrepreneurship: Introduction and Framing

“…More specifically, however, Austin and Devin (2003) have pointed out that the way creation is organized as a collective process in artful making – such as in theatre ensemble rehearsal, or in string quartet rehearsal (Hessel, 2013) – points to a new conversation between organization studies and art. The capacity to keep the process open, the reliance on distributed or collective leadership, the relinquishing of any individual sovereignty over the creation (Austin & Devin, 2003), and the courage and generosity to give (Austin, Hjorth, & Hessel, 2017), the gratuitousness of action (Gagliardi, 2005), therefore, as well as the passion-mobilizing practices (Landri, 2007), all seem resonant with the conditions for organizational creativity, play and entrepreneurship to happen. In many ways, Anna Scalfi brought this into her keynote speech-performance at the Workshop (on Crete).…”