Improvisation within the Project Management of Change: Some Observations from UK Financial Services

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of improvisation within the project-managed implementation of strategic change in the UK financial services sector. It contains a brief review of the literature relating to the concepts surrounding organisational improvisation, and considers the emerging literature, organizing it in terms of how it relates to project-based management. Attention is then given to possible future directions for research into project-based improvisation. The data that underpins this study is drawn from a qualitative study of six organizations, chosen for their organizational diversity. The common denominator is that they have all undergone significant strategic change, and have all used project management techniques of varying levels of maturity and sophistication to achieve that change. The main finding of this study is that, notwithstanding the dominant project management paradigm of 'plan, then implement', improvisational working practices are embraced enthusiastically, and used extensively, by almost all interview respondents, who spanned a wide range of project-based roles within the organizations. It is also evident that considerable support for such practices exists at the strategic level and that although there are varying levels of commitment, time and opportunity is provided for employees to improvise to develop emerging best practice. Capturing such practice formally is however less formalized, and it often resides only tacitly in employees, especially in the larger organizations who are managing change on many fronts simultaneously.

A Heideggerian paradigm for project management: Breaking free of the disciplinary matrix and its Cartesian ontology

“…Dasein who have not fallen into blind conformity with the they and adopt an authentic approach will respond to the concrete or actual situation being encountered (Dreyfus 2000). Similarities could be drawn here to the discourse on improvisation by project managers to 'get things done'; a need to move away from plans in certain situations (Leybourne 2006;Leybourne & Sadler-Smith 2006).…”

Drama education in New Zealand: a coming of age? A conceptualisation of the development and practice of drama in the curriculum as a structured improvisation, with New Zealand's experience as a case study

“…More recently organisational theorists have played with the concept of improvisation (Vera and Crossan 2004;Leybourne 2006). One explanation states: Improvisation can be broadly defined as the concept of action as it unfolds, drawing on available cognitive, affective, social and material resources .…”

Organizational Improvisation: From the Constraint of Strict Tempo to the Power of the Avant‐Garde

“…Some organizations may favour the creation of designs supportive of workforce agility, namely employee involvement (Sumukadas & Sawhney, ) and improvisation teams, trained to respond rapidly (Vera & Crossan, ; Magni et al., ). But other, more traditional organizations in mature sectors are also using improvisation as a means for adaptation (see Leybourne, , ).…”

“…The need for flexible designs, those that accommodate rather than suppress organizational change, led to the development of guided forms of carefully scripted, structurally framed and, in some cases, organizationally legitimized improvisation (Leybourne, 2006b). Eisenhardt's studies of Silicon Valley organizations illustrate this research stream (e.g., Brown & Eisenhardt, 1997;Bingham & Eisenhardt, 2011).…”