Minimal Structures: From Jazz Improvisation to Product Innovation

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how the art form jazz improvisation can be applied to organizational innovative activities, focusing specifically on product innovation. In the past, the literature on product innovation focused on well-planned approaches which followed a clearly-understood structure based on a rational-functionalist paradigm. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that this model is inappropriate in today's highly competitive business environment. A balance between structure and flexibility seems to be an appropriate way to manage the contradicting demands of control and creativity faced by organizations in highly competitive environments. Jazz improvisation provides this synthesis through the concept of `minimal structures'. We characterize the minimal structures that allow jazz improvisers to merge composition and performance, and then proceed to apply this approach to new product development.

Entrepreneuring as a puzzle: an attempt to its explanation with truncation of subjective probability distribution of prospects

“…As such, the ad hoc nature of the entrepreneuring process warrants unique approaches to its explanation. Many allegories for entrepreneuring are provided by using examples of extemporaneous and improvised character: aesthetics, theater, and music (e.g., Bastien and Hostager, 1992;Berliner, 1994;Hatch, 1997;Weick, 1993;Zack, 2000), education (e.g., Irby, 1992), psychiatry (e.g., Embrey et al, 1996), new product development (Eisenhardt and Tabrizi, 1995;Kamoche and Cunha 2001;Miner, 1998a, 1998b), and failure or emergency situations (Hutchins, 1991;Weick, 1993). The common thread that runs through such diverse investigations is the notion of intuition and spontaneity.…”

Imagination and Creativity in Organizations

“…Drawing on Feldman and Pentland's (2003) dynamic perspective, Sonenshein argues that shared routines necessarily involve creativity because diverse actors regularly exercise creative agency as they move between revising abstract patterns of routines and devising new ways to engage with changing situations (see also Rosso, 2014). This resonates with Kamoche and Cunha's (2001) idea that organisations can manage the contradicting demands of control and creativity by designing 'minimal structures', analogous with jazz musicians' use of loosely shared structures, in which composition and performance merge to enable improvisation.…”

Improvising Entrepreneurship

“…Minimal structures are those that incorporate nominal leadership, personal autonomy, information sharing, and orientation around simple goals (Kamoche & Cunha, 2001). In line with other findings, Brown and Eisenhardt (1997) noted that such "semistructures", with few explicit rules over means of achieving goals, favoured improvisation.…”

“…• "Managing and Improvising: Lessons from Jazz" (Barrett, 1998b;tinyurl.com/lssozxj) • "Improvisation in Action" (Crossan, 1998;tinyurl.com/mpmxyco) • Organizational Improvisation (Cunha & Kamoche, 2001;tinyurl.com/k3adxza) About the Author …”