This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by BASTIEN, D. T. Articles by HOSTAGER, T. J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Jazz as a Process of Organizational Innovation

TODD J. HOSTAGER

Jazz is an art from that is inventive and social. It enables individual musicians to create new musical ideas in a collective context and, thereby, to achieve an inventive and integrated performance. Here we present a case study of the process through which four jazz musicians were able to coordinate an inventive performance without the benefit of a rehearsal or the use of sheet music. A videotape of the performance and participant observations provided the data for our analysis. We identify two levels of information—musical and social structures—that constrain invention and enable integration. We then adapt Poole's Multiple Sequence Model (1983) as a device for tracking cognitive and behavioral components of the jazz process in, and across, time. Our analysis highlights the crucial roles of shared information, communication, and attention in this process and identifies a basic strategy that enabled the musicians to invent and coordinate increasingly complex musical ideas. We conclude with implications of our findings for the study and management of organizational innovation in contexts beyond those of group jazz.

Communication Research, Vol. 15, No. 5, 582-602 (1988)
DOI: 10.1177/009365088015005005


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. P. Cornelissen Making Sense of Theory Construction: Metaphor and Disciplined Imagination Organization Studies, November 1, 2006; 27(11): 1579 - 1597. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. Macdonald and G. Wilson Musical identities of professional jazz musicians: a focus group investigation Psychology of Music, October 1, 2005; 33(4): 395 - 417. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. Humphreys, A. D. Brown, and M. J. Hatch Is Ethnography Jazz? Organization, February 1, 2003; 10(1): 5 - 31. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. A. Litz and R. F. Kleysen Your Old Men Shall Dream Dreams, Your Young Men Shall See Visions: Toward a Theory of Family Firm Innovation with Help from the Brubeck Family Family Business Review, December 1, 2001; 14(4): 335 - 351. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. P. E Cunha and J. V. Da Cunha Managing Improvisation in Cross Cultural Virtual Teams International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, August 1, 2001; 1(2): 187 - 208. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. J. Hatch Exploring the Empty Spaces of Organizing: How Improvisational Jazz Helps Redescribe Organizational Structure Organization Studies, January 1, 1999; 20(1): 75 - 100. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. T. Bastien, T. J. Hostager, and H. H. Miles Reply: Bullish on Thoughtful Criticism, Bearish on Hitt and Serpa's Commentary Journal of Management Inquiry, March 1, 1997; 6(1): 35 - 39.

				J. Rose Communication Challenges and Role Functions of Performing Groups Small Group Research, August 1, 1994; 25(3): 411 - 432. [Abstract]

				E. M. EISENBERG Jamming: Transcendence Through Organizing Communication Research, April 1, 1990; 17(2): 139 - 164. [Abstract]