Theatre and organizational change

• Autor(a) principal: Schreyögg, Georg
• Data de Publicação: 2002
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Administração de Empresas
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/rae/article/view/37625
• topic: Theatre; organizations; organizational change; organizational theatre; performance; Teatro; organizações; mudança organizacional; teatro organizacional; performance

Organizational theatre means first of all tailor-made plays staged for a specific organization or a subgroup in an organization. The play usually dramatizes a critical problem situation faced by the organization in question. Typical problem situations dramatized in organizationaltheatre plays are: conflicts between two corporate cultures after a merger or communication barriers between middle and lower management.The range of realization styles that are used in organizational theatre is broad: realistic, naturalistic, melodramatic, absurd, burlesque etc.Whatever the style organizational theatre exposes the audience to situations of their daily working life, thereby confronting it with hiddenconflicts, subconscious behavioral patterns or critical routines. It is the thesis of this paper that organizational theatre can be a powerful mediumin organizational change processes. It can open conflicts that are deadlocked or can render undiscussibles discussible. Organizational theatre can make things move. However, it is not a substitute for change management. If the organization has no idea how to work on the theatrical irritation, how to transform the evoked energy into organizational change, the theatre performance is likely to become a single intervention without any lasting effects. Adequate follow up activities are therefore postulated as imperative.