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This paper aims to explore the relationship between aspects of aesthetics and the performance of organizations. It outlines a research agenda for studying the impact of aesthetic factors upon organizational design and change.

In the paper, a set of seven propositions is developed to address various aspects of organizational performance that are influenced by beauty in organizations. These propositions are based on a distinction between the concepts process aesthetics, product aesthetics and aesthetic sensibility.

The hypotheses suggest that organizational performance might be enhanced by the beauty of products and services, and indirectly by the aesthetics of organizational work processes, organizational structures, the personal well‐being of employees and organizational designers with a high degree of aesthetic sensibility.

The hypothesis in this paper should be tested by future researchers.

The paper might enhance the awareness of practitioners of the practical value of aesthetics

The paper adds to the new field of organizational aesthetics a performance‐oriented approach based on a design perspective.

Recent literature in the field of knowledge management (e.g. Nonaka and Takeuchi, 2021) asks for new, future-oriented approaches to strategy that allow us to deal with an increasingly complex world. Thus, this paper aims to build an approach to exploit aesthetics (human’s sensory perceptions and their felt meanings) to sense an organizations purpose and realize it by means of organizational strategy.

Conceptual paper, providing a new perspective on the perception of Organizational Purpose. The abductive argument follows Weick’s notion of Disciplined Imagination (Weick, 1989).

The main argument of this paper is that aesthetics contribute to the identification of organizational purpose. Thus, aesthetic perceptions can inform strategy to implement a stakeholders’ sense of purpose into strategy.

The argument presented is grounded in recent literature on the concepts of purpose and aesthetics and abductive in nature. Thus, empirical research to validate the argument would be beneficial and worthwhile to be undertaken.

The paper presents the idea to integrate the sense of organizational purpose into a corporate strategy to address stakeholders’ value expectations and build more sustainable organizations. By emphasizing aesthetics, the study takes a stand for the inclusion of nonrational knowledge in organizational decision-making.

As far as the author’s knowledge goes, the concepts of aesthetics and organizational purpose have not theoretically been connected to each other. However, due to the implicit nature of purpose, aesthetics may serve as the matching knowledge tool to work with organizational purpose.

This paper sets out to explore the impact of aesthetics on employee satisfaction and motivation.

The paper is based on organisational aesthetics and organisational culture theory and interviews with employees at Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor – a significant investor in art, design and architecture.

There are potential connections between artifacts (as an expression of organisational culture) and employee satisfaction, identity, mood, creativity and motivation. Aesthetics seems to be particularly important to employees working with the business segment because of the face‐to‐face interaction between employees and customers. It appears that the “visual Telenor” influences employees' identification with the organisation.

When organisations invest in art, design and architecture, they need to be active in engaging employees with its meaning and relevance. If employees are not engaged, the aesthetic environment will not stimulate creativity or influence job satisfaction and motivation.

The findings of this paper have enabled the creation of a matrix with four different categories defined by the degree of financial investments in art, design and architecture and the extent of investments in activities engaging employees. A conceptual model is proposed that identifies possible connections between aesthetics and employee performance.

The very soul of cultural and arts entrepreneurship (CAE) is aesthetic. However, what is the importance of being aesthetic in CAE? An understanding of aesthetics substantially improves both our comprehension of CAE and our capacity to theorise about entrepreneurship and creative industries. Furthermore, when seeking to understand CAE, the authors expand their knowledge about aesthetics, an ordinary but complex and neglected kind of knowledge. The authors mobilise three perspectives in organisational aesthetics theory (sensible knowing, connection, and judgements) to develop and propose initial ways to connect aesthetics to CAE. These perspectives help to explore and explain the vital importance of aesthetics in CAE and its innovation process. Aesthetics is a source of innovation in CAE, and the authors propose to perceive entrepreneurial innovations as aesthetic learning, persuasion, and flow.

The rise of aesthetics within organizational studies has been met with enthusiasm by a growing coterie of scholars. Aesthetics, it is claimed, offers a dimension that has been missing in a discipline that has been dominated by instrumental approaches. It is not surprising, then, that Pierre Guillet de Monthoux, one of the field's champions, asserts that “if the German artist Joseph Beuys … was right in claiming that art is tomorrow's capital, it seems reasonable to consider aesthetics its new organization theory” (Guillet de Monthoux, 2000, p. 35).

The purpose of this paper is to go beyond the leader-centric approach to highlight the shared leadership phenomena happening in organizations where there is no head leader. Seeing interactions between the orchestra members through the lens of aesthetics is a useful way of understanding leadership phenomena.

The different approaches used are interviews, participant observation, analysis of video, photo materials and journalist review.

The managerial evidence says that without a head leader nothing is possible in organizations with a high level of complexity is not proved in a conductorless orchestra. The orchestra without a conductor shows that leadership is an aesthetic phenomenon. The conductorless orchestra is enhancing the sensitivity of organizational practices in a situation where beauty is a common goal to achieve. Studying leadership through the aesthetic lens is very relevant to understand this phenomenon, and shows that leadership is a co-construction between leaders and followers (and therefore negotiated).

It has to be compared to a non “amateur” orchestra where power struggles are maybe more visible.

No study has been done on aesthetics and the no-conductor orchestra.

The purpose of this paper is to show what we can learn from an aesthetics perspective on organizational learning, and especially about some power dynamics unseeable with other perspectives.

An exploratory ethnographic study based on the turn-to-affect on the case of a theatre play in which many of the bearings that usually guide theatrical creation were removed.

Analysis highlights that an a priori distribution of the sensible that locks routines, representations and roles is seldom questioned in organizational learning programs; the motion enabling organizational learning is less likely to be brought about by a change in power distribution than with the removal of some elements of power that freeze situations; organizational learning diffusion does not only go through norms, rules, values and repositories, but also through affects; and learning runs through a fragile communication of movements, always under the threat of becoming major knowledge and power distribution.

This paper is based on a single case.

A too tight and close management of organizational learning is likely to thwart and limit its very learning possibilities.

Several findings are in contradiction to technological or too managerial approaches to organizational learning. The study hopes to contribute by providing a supplement of complexity in our analysis of organizational learning, notably advocating for taking into account the role of affects, sensibility and the politics of aesthetics.

The article aims to elucidate how embracing Tropicália's conceptual framework can foster a more fluid and adaptive approach to organizing, transcending traditional boundaries and embracing diversity, innovation and creativity. The analysis encompasses various facets of organizational dynamics, including holdership, professional praxis, organizational ambiance, knowledge dissemination and diversity promotion. By examining Tropicália's reverberations in these areas, this article seeks to provide insights and perspectives that can contribute to the literature on organizational theory and practice, offering a rejuvenated and contemporaneous approach to the art of organizing.

This article explores the conceptual architecture of Tropicália, a Brazilian cultural and artistic movement, and its potential impact on contemporary organizational structures. By embracing Tropicália's essence, organizations can cultivate an adaptable and diverse ethos, free from traditional constraints. This analysis encompasses holdership as sustenance, professional praxis, organizational ambiance, knowledge dissemination and diversity promotion. Tropicália's potential to foster engagement, fuel innovation and shape an inclusive culture is examined. This article contributes a contemporary perspective to organizational theory, emphasizing the importance of integrating Tropicália's intellectual fabric for navigating the modern business landscape and fostering creativity and innovation.

The findings of this study highlight the potential impact of Tropicália on contemporary organizational practices. By embracing Tropicália's conceptual framework, organizations can foster a more fluid and adaptive approach to organizing, transcending traditional boundaries and embracing diversity, innovation and creativity. Tropicália's immersive and transformative esthetic experiences can create dynamic and inclusive organizational environments that encourage individual agency and stakeholder engagement. The analysis encompasses implications for holdership and management practices, organizational culture, collaboration and knowledge sharing, diversity and inclusion, innovation and creativity. Tropicália has the potential to foster employee engagement, drive innovation and create a more inclusive and adaptive organizational culture.

This article provides originality and value by exploring the potential ramifications of Tropicália on contemporary organizational esthetics. It offers a fresh and contemporary perspective on the art of organizing by drawing upon the unique conceptual framework of Tropicália. By embracing the principles of Tropicália, organizations can cultivate an organizational ethos that goes beyond traditional boundaries, fostering adaptability, diversity and innovation. The analysis encompasses aspects of organizational practices, including holdership, professional praxis, organizational culture and diversity and inclusiveness. The findings contribute to the existing literature on organizational theory and praxis, offering a rejuvenated perspective on organizing in the modern business landscape.

The purpose of this paper is to show the mechanism of aesthetic experiences of work in a research and innovation context – an R&D laboratory of a multinational communications and information technology company. Analysing memorable projects of this laboratory through the lenses of aesthetics is a useful way to understand organizational and innovation culture and the quality of life of researchers and innovators.

An exploratory study focusing on memorable projects of 31 researchers who worked on 70 projects during four years was conducted. The data analysis is based on the grounded theory.

The study reveals six key dimensions that describe the dimensions of R&D researchers’ aesthetic experiences: perceptive, emotional, intellectual, communicative, collective and organizational. These dimensions are closely related and support an innovation culture in an R&D environment.

The aesthetic dimensions have to be correlated to innovation performance indicators to better understand which aspects are the most relevant for innovation.

The paper proposes first examples of implications for the industry to foster an innovation culture through aesthetic experiences.

No study has been done on aesthetic experiences in an R&D environment.

Drawing from experiential theory and decision-making theory, this article aims to posit that workplace aesthetics acts as a driver for job choice when included with an employment offer. Whilst organisational literature has recognised that office experiential cues in general, and aesthetics in particular, affect employee performance and well-being, employer attractiveness scales have not yet incorporated office aesthetics as a component of job-offer choice.

A choice-based conjoint (CBC) experiment was conducted to estimate the weighted utilities of three aesthetic and three non-aesthetic employer attributes. Subsequently, the attributes' importance in the job choice decision was estimated.

The results indicate that aesthetic attributes in the workplace can be equally important in the decision-making process as non-aesthetic attributes and that aesthetic attributes deliver as much utility as non-aesthetic attributes in driving job choice.

These conclusions are relevant for Human Resource (HR) managers engaged in crafting job offers, who should consider that employees may improve their assessment of a job offer as a result of superior organisational aesthetics demonstrated during the recruitment process as well as in contexts where employees would be expected to combine remote and office-based work.

The present study represents a novel approach to understanding job applicants' preferences for aesthetic elements in the workplace. The results suggest that the workplace experience is relativistic and that considering applicants' latent preferences is crucial when designing efficient job offers.