Wertschöpfung durch künstlerische Interventionen in Organisationen

1. Wertschöpfung durch künstlerische Interventionen in Organisationen “Creative Drive” Ariane Berthoin Antal, WZB Liège 24 April 2012 ABAntal@wzb.eu

2. IMAGINE..... Why?

3. because Arts can provide “a fresh perspective so that our old habits of mind do not dominate our reactions with stock responses.” “Arts are a way of enriching our awareness and expanding our humanity” (Eisner 2008:11)

4. Research on valueS-added with artistic interventions • Core questions: How can artistic interventions contribute to sustainable organizations, that contribute to sustainable societies, economies and environments? What valueS can they add? • Multiple research methods: interviews, internet-based surveys, participant observation, action research, experiments… • Taking a multi-stakeholder perspective (e.g., employees, management, artists, intermediaries, and policy makers). • Adding value for whom? and • Assessed according to whose values?

5. Artistic Interventions Come in Many Shapes and Sizes “When people, products, or practices from the world of the artsenter organizations” • For a few hours, days, months, or even years • Art forms: all • With more or less active participation by members of organization • With more or less organized reflection on experience

6. Research so far (1): Multiple objectives Stakeholders have diverse reasons for wanting artistic interventions in organizations • Managerswant: • people development (skills), • organization development (e.g., to increase competitiveness), • development of ideas for new products or services; • “let’s see what happens” • Artists want: • new context in/with which to create art, • additional source of income, • opportunity to help people make organizations better places to work/influence society • Employees want: • ? • ? Very little research on their objectives yet….

7. Research so far (2): Indirectness • Artistic interventions may contribute to (management) objectives of increasing innovation and competitiveness, e.g., by • Improving communication in teams, between parts of the organization, or between organization and external stakeholders; • Developing creative potential (individually, collectively); • Offering new leadership models; • Disturbing routines and challenging limiting assumptions about what is possible. • BUT: indirectly • IF people experience value themselves

8. Organizational culture Subcultures (teams, professions….) Individuals at work Cultural context, socio-economic and natural environment

9. IMAGINE..... Why?

10. because • Arts “often generate a kind of empathy that makes action possible.” • They “open the door for multiple forms of knowing.” (Eisner 2008)

11. Research so far (3): Engaging • In every intervention there are differences and overlaps between the objectives and the effects that the diverse stakeholders value —what makes artistic interventions different is that they depend on people really engaging! • People are more likely to want to engage in an artistic intervention • (a) if they feel there is value & meaning for them in it • (b) if they feel safe.

12. Research so far (4): Artists Artists in interventions: Engage with a “foreign world” to …. • Listen, learn • Challenge, disturb • Energize • Model • Create art But… artists are often criticized in their “art world” for working with this “foreign world”

13. Research so far (5): Intermediaries • Emergence of intermediary organizations in many countries • Playing multiple roles, e.g., • Helping organizations formulate need and find artist • Generating funds • Training artists for interventions • Coaching artists during interventions • Supporting the process • Reflecting and reporting on experience

14. Research so far (6): Paradoxes • Managers who have experienced artistic interventions are best positioned to provide “hard evidence” for policy- and decision-makers, but they say this is not the right approach. • Arts are associated with beauty/harmony but learning is often triggered by dissonance. • Objectives important for management and for learning, but artistic interventions are unpredictable and valuable effects often “side-effects.”

15. Challenges we --managers and researchers--face • Being able and willing to engage in unknowing/not understanding • Being able and willing to support others in unknowing/not understanding • Work creatively with questioning • Dare to discover and express different ways of knowing/not understanding • Trust the process and the people!

16. Research so far (7): Decision-making • Reasons decision-makers have chosen an artistic intervention: • Dissatisfaction • Curiosity • Conversations • Courage

17. IMAGINE..... What valueS-added could be generated in your organization?

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