Character-enabled improvisation and the new normal: A paradox perspective

Area of Science:

• Organizational Behavior
• Psychology
• Pandemic Response

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic intensified organizational paradoxes, fueled by nostalgia for the past and the need for future adaptation.
• Individuals experience tension between the "old" normal and the necessity of creating a "new" normal.

Purpose of the Study:

• To position improvisation as a key strategy for navigating pandemic-related organizational paradoxes.
• To explore individual differences, specifically character strengths, that facilitate effective improvisation.
• To examine the reciprocal relationship between character development and improvisation.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis positioning improvisation as a synthesis-type approach.
• Exploration of individual differences influencing improvisational capacity.
• Linking character dimensions to the practice and development of improvisation.

Main Results:

• Improvisation serves as a synthesis-type approach to managing organizational paradoxes during the pandemic.
• Strength of character and character-based judgment are crucial for enacting contexts, choosing to improvise, and effective improvisation.
• Key character dimensions include courage, humility, temperance, transcendence, humanity, and collaboration.

Conclusions:

• Improvisation is vital for individuals and organizations to navigate the paradoxes of the pandemic era.
• Character strengths are foundational to an individual's ability to improvise effectively.
• The practice of improvisation can, in turn, foster the development of essential character dimensions.