LSE 19 / 20 March 2001 In the Mood for Knowledge

Improvisation is being appreciated by the management literature because of its key role in a variety of contingencies: emergencies, markets and work organizations. Improvisation is described as a form of extemporaneous, situated action. In the literature, the study of these two phenomena has been mainly cognitive. This exposes it to the critique according to which the situated action paradigm would not add value to the symbolic knowledge and representation paradigm developed by Artificial Intelligence. Also, on the issue of time the cognitive study of improvisation seems to have little to say: extemporaneous means simply quick and unplanned. This paper suggests a different point of departure by stating that improvisation should be regarded as a mood, and not a mindset. We can learn about improvisation by contrasting it with other moods such as panic and boredom. Why study moods? The new perspective indicates that the cognitive approaches are limited since they disregard the “situation of the actor”. Moods capture the situatedness of the actor as opposed to the situation of the action only. Finally, a phenomenological analysis unveils the fundamental relationships between moods, existence and time, which can lead to a new explanation of the “extemporaneous” character of improvisation.