Minimal Structures: From Jazz Improvisation to Product Innovation

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.

[1]  R. Cooper.  Third‐Generation New Product Processes , 1994 .

[2]  Wim G. Biemans,et al.  Product development : meeting the challenge of the design-marketing interface , 1995 .

[3]  William A. Pasmore,et al.  Organizing for Jazz , 1998 .

[4]  Willow A. Sheremata.  Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces in Radical New Product Development Under Time Pressure , 2000 .

[5]  Steven Postrel,et al.  Shared knowledge, “glitches,” and product development performance , 1999 .

[6]  Peter Gwynne,et al.  Skunk Works, 1990s-Style , 1997 .

[7]  A. Rip,et al.  Narrative Infrastructure in Product Creation Processes , 2000 .

[8]  David A. Nadler,et al.  The organization of the future: Strategic imperatives and core competencies for the 21st century , 1999 .

[9]  F. Barrett.  Creativity and Improvisation in Jazz and Organizations: Implications for Organizational Learning , 1998 .

[10]  Barry M. Staw,et al.  Behavior in escalation situations: Antecedents, prototypes, and solutions. , 1987 .

[11]  Peter J. Frost,et al.  The Organization Science Jazz Festival : Improvisationas a Metaphor for Organizing , 1998 .

[12]  Robert G. Cooper,et al.  Identifying industrial new product success: Project NewProd , 1979 .

[13]  James Curry,et al.  Beating the Clocks: Corporate Responses to Rapid Change in the PC Industry , 1999 .

[14]  E. Trist,et al.  Towards a Social Ecology: Contextual Appreciation of the Future in the Present , 1973 .

[15]  Christine Moorman,et al.  Walking the tightrope : improvisation and information use in new product development : working paper , 1995 .

[16]  P. Berliner.  Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation , 1995 .

[17]  B. Chakravarthy,et al.  A New Strategy Framework for Coping with Turbulence , 1997 .

[18]  A. Rubenstein,et al.  Factors Influencing Innovation Success at the Project Level , 1976 .

[19]  P. Ranganath Nayak,et al.  Product Juggernauts: How Companies Mobilize to Generate a Stream of Market Winners , 1995 .

[20]  R. Cooper.  Perspective third-generation new product processes , 1994 .

[21]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  The Art of Continuous Change : Linking Complexity Theory and Time-Paced Evolution in Relentlessly Shifting Organizations , 1997 .

[22]  Durward K. Sobek,et al.  Toyota's Principles of Set-Based Concurrent Engineering , 1999 .

[23]  K. Weick.  Improvisation as a Mindset for Organizational Analysis , 1998 .

[24]  G. Hughes,et al.  Turning new product development into a continuous learning process , 1996 .

[25]  B. Kernfeld.  What to Listen for in Jazz , 1995 .

[26]  G. O'Connor.  Market learning and radical innovation: A cross case comparison of eight radical innovation projects , 1998 .

[27]  D. Thwaites,et al.  Organizational influences on the new product development process in financial services , 1992 .

[28]  Robert G. Cooper,et al.  The new product process: A decision guide for management , 1988 .

[29]  Karl E. Weick,et al.  Organized Improvisation: 20 Years of Organizing. , 1989 .

[30]  Gary A. Kreps,et al.  Structure as Process: Organization and Role , 1986 .

[31]  M. Iansiti.  Shooting the Rapids: Managing Product Development in Turbulent Environments , 1995 .

[32]  Donald D. Megill,et al.  Introduction to Jazz History , 1984 .

[33]  M. West.  Creative values and creative visions in teams at work , 1995 .

[34]  Silvia Massini,et al.  Innovative forms of organising in Europe and Japan 1 This research has been funded by the Economic a , 2000 .

[35]  Michael A. Cusumano,et al.  How Microsoft Makes Large Teams Work Like Small Teams , 1997 .

[36]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Improvising Organizational Transformation Over Time: A Situated Change Perspective , 1996, Inf. Syst. Res..

[37]  J. L. Bower,et al.  Fast-Cycle Capability for Competitive Power , 1988 .

[38]  Charles H. Powers.  Role-imposition or role-improvisation - some theoretical principles , 1981 .

[39]  Colleen M. Seifert,et al.  Error as Opportunity: Learning in a Cooperative Task , 1992, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[40]  John W. Meyer,et al.  Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony , 1977, American Journal of Sociology.

[41]  Rosa Oppenheim,et al.  Winning at New Products , 1990 .

[42]  Todd J. Hostager,et al.  Jazz as a Process of Organizational Innovation , 1988 .

[43]  Karl E. Weick,et al.  The aesthetic of imperfection in orchestras and organizations , 2003 .

[44]  P. Adler,et al.  Flexibility Versus Efficiency? a Case Study of Model Changeovers in the Toyota Production System , 1999 .

[45]  Christine Moorman,et al.  The Convergence of Planning and Execution: Improvisation in New Product Development , 1998 .

[46]  J. Mullins,et al.  New Product Development in Rapidly Changing Markets: An Exploratory Study , 1998 .

[47]  S. Thomke,et al.  Agile Product Development: Managing Development Flexibility in Uncertain Environments , 1998 .

[48]  Fredrik Tell,et al.  Managing Product Development Projects: On the Significance of Fountains and Deadlines , 1998 .

[49]  S. A. Buckler,et al.  From experience Dreams to market: Crafting a culture of innovation , 1997 .

[50]  Robert W. Veryzer.  Discontinuous innovation and the new product development process , 1998 .

[51]  C. Crawford.  The Hidden Costs of Accelerated Product Development , 1992 .

[52]  Barbara Czarniawska,et al.  Weick, Karl E. , 1998 .

[53]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[54]  Anil Gaba,et al.  Coda : Creativity and Improvisation in Jazzand Organizations: Implications Fororganizational Learning , 1998 .

[55]  C. Loch.  Tailoring product development to strategy: case of a European technology manufacturer , 2000 .

[56]  S. Sitkin.  Learning Through Failure : The Strategy of Small Losses , 1992 .

[57]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: PAST RESEARCH, PRESENT FINDINGS, AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS , 1995 .

[58]  M. Hatch.  Exploring the Empty Spaces of Organizing: How Improvisational Jazz Helps Redescribe Organizational Structure , 1999 .

[59]  Roy Rothwell,et al.  SAPPHO updated - project SAPPHO phase II , 1993 .

[60]  Lee Tom Perky.  Strategic improvising: How to formulate and implement competitive strategies in concert , 1991 .

[61]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  Making Fast Strategic Decisions In High-Velocity Environments , 1989 .

[62]  C. Marlene Fiol,et al.  Creative Action in Organizations: Ivory Tower Visions and Real World Voices. , 1997 .

[63]  K. Weick,et al.  Introductory Essay : Improvisation As a Mindset for Organizational Analysis , 1998 .

[64]  Toru Sasaki,et al.  How the Japanese accelerated new car development , 1991 .

[65]  John Preston,et al.  Winning at New Products , 1988 .

[66]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  Strategy Formation in an Adhocracy. , 1985 .

[67]  I. Nonaka,et al.  Managing the new product development process , 1985 .

[68]  Creativity and the Aesthetics of Imperfection , 1995 .

[69]  Mary Crossan,et al.  The improvising organization: Where planning meets opportunity , 1996 .

[70]  Hiroshi Tasaka.  Twenty-first-century Management and the Complexity Paradigm , 1999 .

[71]  Eric M. Eisenberg,et al.  Jamming Transcendence Through Organizing , 1990 .

[72]  C. Ciborra.  The Platform Organization: Recombining Strategies, Structures, and Surprises , 1996 .

[73]  M. Iansiti,et al.  Developing products on Internet time. , 1997, Harvard business review.

[74]  K. Weick.  The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations: The Mann Gulch Disaster , 1993 .

[75]  B. Chakravarthy.  Adaptation: A Promising Metaphor for Strategic Management , 1982 .

[76]  A. Griffin.  PDMA Research on New Product Development Practices: Updating Trends and Benchmarking Best Practices , 1997 .

[77]  Vijay Mahajan,et al.  Issues and Opportunities in New Product Development: An Introduction to the Special Issue , 1997 .

[78]  Sigvald Harryson,et al.  From experience How Canon and Sony drive product innovation through networking and application-focused R&D , 1997 .

[79]  K. Weick,et al.  Collective mind in organizations: Heedful interrelating on flight decks. , 1993 .

[80]  Peter A. Clark,et al.  Organizations in Action: Competition between Contexts , 1999 .

[81]  K. Weick.  Organizational redesign as improvisation , 1993 .

[82]  Michael A. Hitt,et al.  The new frontier: Transformation of management for the new millennium , 2000 .

[83]  Michael Burda,et al.  Revolutionizing product development , 1993 .

[84]  Anne S. Miner,et al.  Organizational Improvisation and Organizational Memory , 1998 .

[85]  D. Littler,et al.  Factors Affecting the Process of Collaborative Product Development: A Study of UK Manufacturers of Information and Communications Technology Products , 1995 .

[86]  Joseph J. Giglierano,et al.  Missing the Boat and Sinking the Boat: A Conceptual Model of Entrepreneurial Risk , 1986 .

[87]  Spyros Makridakis,et al.  Forecasting, planning, and strategy for the 21st century , 1990 .

[88]  D. Gerwin,et al.  Withdrawal of team autonomy during concurrent engineering , 1997 .

[89]  Martin T. Williams.  The Jazz Tradition , 1970 .

[90]  M. Cunha,et al.  Organizational improvisation: what, when, how, and why , 1999 .

[91]  V. Mahajan,et al.  Editorial: Issues and Opportunities in New Product Development: An Introduction to the Special Issue , 1997 .

[92]  Tekla S. Perry.  How Small Firms Innovate: Designing a Culture for Creativity , 1995 .

[93]  M. Hitt.  Transformation of Management for the New Millennium , 2000 .

[94]  B. Zirger,et al.  A study of success and failure in product innovation: The case of the U.S. electronics industry , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[95]  Lars Haglund,et al.  Analysis Planning, Improvisation and Control in the Development of New Services - some Swedisch experiences , 1995 .

[96]  David J. Miller,et al.  The Architecture of Simplicity , 1993 .

[97]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  Accelerating Adaptive Processes: Product Innovation in the Global Computer Industry , 1995 .

[98]  Sigvald Harryson,et al.  How Canon and Sony Drive Product Innovation Through Networking and Application-Focused R&D , 1997 .

[99]  Gerardo Patriotta,et al.  Making sense of telebanking information systems: the role of organizational back ups , 1999, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[100]  Robert G. Cooper,et al.  Benchmarking new product performance:: Results of the best practices study , 1998 .

[101]  Edwin Hutchins,et al.  Organizing Work by Adaptation , 1991 .

[102]  R. Pascale.  Perspectives on Strategy: The Real Story behind Honda's Success , 1984 .

[103]  Raghu Garud,et al.  The innovation journey , 1999 .

[104]  John Kao.  The art & discipline of business creativity , 1997 .

[105]  W. Orlikowski,et al.  An Improvisational Model of Change Management: The Case of Groupware Technologies , 1996 .

[106]  Mohan V. Tatikonda,et al.  Successful execution of product development projects: Balancing firmness and flexibility in the innovation process , 2000 .

[107]  Claudio U. Ciborra,et al.  Notes on improvisation and time in organizations , 1999 .