ORGANIZATIONAL IMPROVISATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL MEMORY

We define organizational improvisation as the degree to which the comp osition and execution of an action converge in time, and we examine th e theoretical potential of this definition. We then propose that both organizational procedural memory (skill knowledge) and declarative mem ory (fact knowledge) moderate improvisation's impact on organizational outcomes in distinct ways. We also suggest that improvisation influen ces organizational memory by (1) generating experiments and (2) permit ting the development of higher-level competency in improvisation, Cont emporary technological changes related to the nature of organizational memory intensify the salience of these issues.