MANAGEMENT SPECIAL........................Jugaad and all that jazz

Jugaad and all that jazz





In these times of uncertainty and urgency, improvisation is no longer a dirty word

Dictionaries define im provisation as either creating or perform ing spontaneously or without preparation, as well as producing or making something from whatever is available.Unless you're a jazz musician or an actor, the word may have largely negative connotations, but in today's business environment, it's taking on a new, more positive meaning.

In fact, academics have been talking about improvisation for at least a decade: in 2005 a group of researchers from different countries published a model with four improvisation scenarios based on two factors: time pressure and uncertainty.

The first scenario was not urgent, allowing for detailed planning and overseeing of a company's development. This is a non-improvisation quadrant, one that is less and less applicable to today's business environment.

The second, and that will be familiar to us, is that in which there is a great deal of uncertainty, but that is not subject to time pressures, one that can produce improvisation through discovery.This is how R&D departments work: the company invests in a highly qualified team, which works largely in isolation.

The third quadrant involves what we might call ornamented improvisation, which involves a rapid response to the market, but where there is a reasonable degree of certainty. A good example can be seen in the development teams that position a new product in the mar ket quickly without any prior preparation (given the rapid pace of the competition or the speed consumers respond on the internet). This type of improvisation required teams that work as market radars, reacting rapidly and creatively to anything that comes up.

The final quadrant is subject to high degrees of uncertainty, as well as urgency. We're talking here about improvisation on a large scale, so we need to ask ourselves what infrastructure we will require. Everybody in the organisation should be ready to take initiatives based on what is happening in the environment, as well as abandoning routines and previous ways of working, if necessary, while of course not exposing the company to risk. In this scenario, typical of the technology sector, or of times of crisis, improvisation needs to become part of the company's DNA, embedded in its culture.

Needless to say, managing this type of change is a challenge, requiring the participation and initiative of everybody in the organisation, while at the same time a streamlining of procedures and hierarchies, while developing agility as part of the business' identity.Perhaps these are extreme examples, illustrative of the technology sector alone, but if the world keeps on developing as it has, all companies will have to think seriously about developing their own improvisation strategy. What's yours going to be?

By Cristina Simon

The Author is a faculty of IE Business School, Spain. The il lustrations in this series are by Spanish artist Miguel Panadero

CDET17JUL15