Theater metaphor

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The theater metaphor is an organizational theoretical concept to analyze social situations in organizations and to support the implementation of social change in organizations. This change is known as organizational development. The theater metaphor is a method that arose in the context of systemic organizational development.

Systemic organizational development or systemic organizational consulting examines and deals with the updating or modification of human systems, regardless of whether they are profit-oriented or so-called non-profit organizations . The main perspectives are the system itself with processes, procedures and the organizational culture as well as the people acting in the system with their perception of reality, competence and their patterns of action. Bernd Schmid highlights the essential aspects of systemic organizational development

  • system-intelligent personal qualification,
  • person-sensitive system qualification,
  • Organizational development as change controlled by the responsible internal staff and
  • Cultural development

emerged.

Reasons for organizational changes

A further development of organizations has various causes that can arise in the organization ( innovation ) or stimulate the organization to further develop from outside ( market ). Some of the most common triggers for change in organizations are

  • Dealing with changes in the composition of the organization (integration of new managers and employees, restructuring after leaving, ...)
  • Improvement of work processes, in particular reduction of information loss at interfaces.
  • Constructive realignment of power structures in teams.
  • Humanization of the world of work through higher identification and self-realization.
  • Increased flexibility , willingness to change and innovative ability to the speed of change in the market.
  • Change in the norms, values ​​and power constellations prevailing in the organization ( organizational culture ).

History / origin

The concept of the theater metaphor as a method of systemic organizational development emerged on the basis of the work "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life", which Erving Goffman published in 1959 in the USA .

Application in systemic organizational development

Systemic organizational development is tied to a humanistic view of man. Gerald Hüther names the need for belonging and growth as the basis of human activity. Enabling people in changing organizations and processes to do both - to feel they belong and at the same time to be able to develop and grow - is one of the success factors for the success of organizational development. Therefore, methods that make the wishes and hopes of those involved and affected perceivable and actively include them in the design are particularly successful.

It is helpful to design changes in such a way that “human satisfaction” and “optimal task fulfillment” are treated equally. "Systemic" means that problems identified in individual subsystems, groups or people are not viewed in isolation, but always in the context of the organizational and social environment.

The imagery and language of the theater are intuitively accessible to many people. The theater offers a creative language and method to make development flows of people and organizations manageable and shapeable. It offers those affected the opportunity to distance themselves and to look at and shape their personal situation anew. The theater metaphor offers a system for understanding situations and improving action and judgment in professional situations.

Areas of application of the theater metaphor

The theater metaphor is a method that can be used on a wide range of topics in the development of organizations or professionals in the organization, for example:

  1. Analysis of personal aspects in a professional situation,
  2. Further and new development of individual situations,
  3. Design of encounters between people in teams and larger systems,
  4. Support in the planning of complex change projects in the sense of OE projects,
  5. Analysis of the effectiveness and outcome of interventions.

Perspectives of the theater metaphor

One piece consists of

  1. a topic : the headline you could give the story,
  2. a story : the story told under the heading,
  3. one or more stages : places where the play is performed,
  4. the respective roles : roles that are played in the piece, including their relationships and
  5. the staging style : the way in which the piece is implemented. In organizations it is an expression of the corporate culture.

See also

literature

  • B. Schmid (Ed.): Systemic organizational development. Shaping change and organizational culture together. Schäffer-Poeschel, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-7910-3281-8 .
  • B. Schmid, A. Messmer: Systemic personnel, organizational and cultural development. EHP, Bergisch Gladbach 2005, ISBN 3-89797-039-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ B. Schmid (Ed.): Systemic organizational development. Shaping change and organizational culture together. Schäffer Poeschel, Stuttgart 2014.
  2. ↑ Erving Goffman. We all play theater. Self-expression in everyday life. Piper-Verlag GmbH, Munich. 9th edition. 2011.
  3. ↑ Bernd Schmid / Katja Wengel. The theater metaphor. Features. profile. 1.2001.
  4. ↑ Bernd Schmid / Katja Wengel. The theater metaphor. Features. profile. 1.2001.