Untitled Document
Originally published as Journal of Business Strategy, volume 26 issue 5 (2005)
Guest editors: Harvey Seifter, Ted Buswick
ISSN: 0275-6668 ISBN: 1 84544 795 6
In recent years, there has been a remarkable growth in the use of arts programs by businesses to meet a wide range of their organizational learning and employee training needs. In the USA alone, dozens of Fortune 500 corporations and countless smaller firms employ arts-based learning to foster creative thinking, promote the development of new leadership models, and strengthen employee skills in critical areas such as collaboration, conflict resolution, change management, presentation/public performance, and intercultural communication.
The growing use of arts-based learning reflects a dramatic shift in the boundaries that previously defined the limits of experience deemed relevant to the business world - a shift triggered by profound technological and social changes that transformed the culture of business over the past decade by favoring companies inventive enough to find their own ways forward, flexible enough to respond quickly (and competently) to the unexpected, and spontaneous enough to lead change effectively.
This issue is dedicated to the strategic implications and practical dimensions of arts-based learning in business.
Contents list:
Surfacing creativity through the arts: a short interview with Terry McGraw
Harvey Seifter
The McGraw Hill Companies is a global pioneer in the use of arts-based learning to train leaders, help employees solve problems creatively, and foster personal growth; and is one of America's leading corporate supporters of the arts. Mr McGraw is a leader of unique stature and credibility, and with this interview, he becomes perhaps the most senior business leader in the world to discuss arts-based learning in business from a perspective of direct experience.
The view from the trenches: an interview with Harvey Seifter and Tim Stockil
Lois Bartelme
The relationship between business and arts has changed from business sponsorship of the arts to include the application of knowledge and expertise in the creative process to the solutions of business problems. The scope of artistic skills and arts-based applications is wide ranging and impacts culture change in organizations. The interviewees explain how skills utilized by artists such as team building, feedback and rehearsing contribute to success. They examine the barriers, such as concern for ROI and risk avoidance, impacting the transference of artistic knowledge to business endeavors. Stockil and Seifter conclude by examining the role of creativity in shaping the future of business.
Solving business problems through the creative power of the arts: catalyzing change at Unilever
Mary-Ellen Boyle, Edward Ottensmeyer
Business leaders, in increasing numbers, are looking to the creative power of the arts in their efforts to manage strategic change, to enhance innovation, or to strengthen corporate cultures. In this case study, we focus attention on what is widely regarded as one of the world's most extensive corporate arts-based learning initiatives, the Catalyst program at Unilever.
Seeing your audience through an actor's eyes: an interview with George Stalk
Ted Buswick
A leading international consultancy put numerous vice presidents through training with The Actors Institute (TAI) over about ten years. This paper is an interview with a leading consultant who frequently gives presentations that had been consistently rated highly by his audiences before he began attending. After ten years, he still periodically returns to TAI for assistance.
The quality instinct: how an eye for art can save your business
Maxwell Anderson
This paper was written to help the lay reader understand how learning to look at art can be helpful in learning to evaluate business decisions. The lessons of sorting out the best from the very good in art are directly applicable to decisions in everything from product design to evaluating goods that are designed, manufactured, displayed, or sold.
Playing to the technical audience: evaluating the impact of arts-based training for engineers
John Osburn, PhD, Richard Stock, PhD
This article aims to assess the effectiveness of arts-based learning for technical trainees. It considers the CONNECT Program in the Engineering School of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, which has been running since 1997. The underlying concept of CONNECT is that most communication breakdowns involving engineers happen because they focus on the details of their subject matter and expect others to do the same. Engineers are persuaded by technical detail and probative content, but others may not be. CONNECT is perhaps unique among efforts to teach communication and other soft skills to students pursuing technical degrees.
The behaviors of jazz as a catalyst for strategic renewal and growth
Michael Gold, Steve Hirshfeld
The paper combines experiential and theoretical knowledge in innovation, change management, and strategy formation. It uses existing research and case studies in which the concept of jazz as a model for organizational improvisation is applied through organizational interventions. The scope of the paper ranges from theoretical argument and description of new idea processes, to multiple industry examples of innovative companies, to specific case studies.
The play's the thing: using interactive drama in leadership development
Robert Steed
This paper was written to help practitioners in the field of arts-based learning understand the impact that training with its roots in theatre can have and has had on business executives – and the causes of that impact. Because so little has been written about theatre-based training, the primary value of this paper is to open readers’ eyes to a new and powerful way to train business executive – and to outlines a few of the many ways that approach can be taken to ensure that management participants in training programs are actively involved and engaged in the programs being presented and as a result embrace the learning from the program in a lasting way.
Entrepreneurs: the artists of the business world
Kevin Daum
Many entrepreneurs have backgrounds in the arts and apply those practices in their businesses. Universities separately teach related arts practices and business practices in their respective departments but rarely combine the efforts in an interdisciplinary manner. By creating interdisciplinary approaches between arts and entrepreneurship, benefits can be achieved in both areas in the universities, small businesses and large-scale corporate arenas. This paper is possibly the first to suggest a direct correlation between arts training and entrepreneurial endeavors. Businesspeople may be inspired to examine the arts world as a resource for training in entrepreneurship and initiative. Entrepreneurs may be inspired to explore the arts for training.
International opportunities for artful learning
Lotte Darsø
Arts-based learning in business is a young field. Few businesspeople are aware of the opportunities to learn about it. This article takes an international look at the most prominent programs that bring together businesspeople, artists, and academics in various combinations.
It takes two to tango
Michael Spencer
Increasingly the arts are being considered as having valuable lessons that can be transferred to a business context. This paper explores ways in which the assumed gap between the two cultures can be bridged effectively. Drawing upon a wide and practical knowledge of arts education and facilitation practices across a broad and diverse constituency, the author uses his experiences gained as both a performer and practitioner to identify areas of divergence in thinking and methods by which these can be closer aligned in order to establish more effective and sustainable relationships.
There are important and far reaching implications for integrating arts practices within a business context, however the process of building the relationship between artist and business person from initial meeting through planning, delivery and final evaluation requires careful and informed nurturing. The paper gives accessible and practical proposals for identifying potential problem areas whilst offering suggestions for ways in which to start and continue successful associations between artists and business people.
Editor's note
Ted Buswick, Harvey Seifter
About the Journal of Business Strategy
The Journal of Business Strategy publishes articles designed to help readers develop successful business strategies across all industries. Written in magazine rather than scholarly format, the articles focus on the practical aspect of business theories and implications for real life business situations. CEOs as well as senior and middle managers will find the reading compelling. Leading strategists, academics, consultants and front-line managers contribute to make the journal a unique blend of ideas on strategy and practice.
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