The dark side of organizational improvisation: Lessons from the sinking of Costa Concordia

Giustiniano, L; Cunha, MPE; Clegg, S

The dark side of organizational improvisation: Lessons from the sinking of Costa Concordia

Giustiniano, L Cunha, MPE Clegg, S

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Business Horizons, 2016, 59 (2), pp. 223 - 232
Issue Date:: 2016-03-01

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	The dark side of organizational improvisation_Lessons from the sinking of Costa Concordia FEATURED in Business Horizons Vol 59 No 2 March to April 2016.pdf	Published Version	1.39 MB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Giustiniano, L	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Cunha, MPE	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Clegg, S https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6083-4283	en_US
dc.date.issued	2016-03-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Business Horizons, 2016, 59 (2), pp. 223 - 232	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0007-6813	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/43866
dc.description.abstract	© 2015 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. High-reliability organizations operate in highly regulated sectors in which the main concern is ensuring the safety of people and goods. Despite high levels of formalization, organizations have to be sensitive to contingent situations and ready to face the unexpected, so the role of the people in command remains crucial. When unanticipated events and contingencies arise, organizational improvisation comes into its own. Improvisation is the deliberate fusion of design and execution in a novel production entailing the cognitive, rational, and event intuitive interpretation of prescribed rules and standards of conduct at various levels of aggregation. Standardization and improvisation are often represented as two conflicting demands rather than as necessarily interdependent; hence, the possible presence of improvisation in high-reliability organizations has been left underexplored. While most of the extant studies on improvisation have stressed the wisdom of improvised choices, not all improvisations are so successful. In this article we illuminate the dark side of organizational improvisation by analyzing the notorious case of the sinking of the Costa Concordia. The case shows how conformity to the formal adoption of standards and compliance to them can provide a shelter under which impromptu adaptation can be pursued, expressing the negative side of improvisation.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Business Horizons	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.bushor.2015.11.007	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Business & Management	en_US
dc.title	The dark side of organizational improvisation: Lessons from the sinking of Costa Concordia	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	2	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	59	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1505 Marketing	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	2	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	59	en_US

Abstract:

© 2015 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. High-reliability organizations operate in highly regulated sectors in which the main concern is ensuring the safety of people and goods. Despite high levels of formalization, organizations have to be sensitive to contingent situations and ready to face the unexpected, so the role of the people in command remains crucial. When unanticipated events and contingencies arise, organizational improvisation comes into its own. Improvisation is the deliberate fusion of design and execution in a novel production entailing the cognitive, rational, and event intuitive interpretation of prescribed rules and standards of conduct at various levels of aggregation. Standardization and improvisation are often represented as two conflicting demands rather than as necessarily interdependent; hence, the possible presence of improvisation in high-reliability organizations has been left underexplored. While most of the extant studies on improvisation have stressed the wisdom of improvised choices, not all improvisations are so successful. In this article we illuminate the dark side of organizational improvisation by analyzing the notorious case of the sinking of the Costa Concordia. The case shows how conformity to the formal adoption of standards and compliance to them can provide a shelter under which impromptu adaptation can be pursued, expressing the negative side of improvisation.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/43866