Organizational theatre means first of all tailor-made plays staged for a specific organization or a subgroup in an organization. The play usually dramatizes a critical problem situation faced by the organization in question. Typical problem situations dramatized in organizational theatre plays are: conflicts between two corporate cultures after a merger or communication barriers between middle and lower management. The range of realization styles that are used in organizational theatre is broad: realistic, naturalistic, melodramatic, absurd, burlesque etc. Whatever the style organizational theatre exposes the audience to situations of their daily working life, thereby confronting it with hidden conflicts, subconscious behavioral patterns or critical routines. It is the thesis of this paper that organizational theatre can be a powerful medium in organizational change processes. It can open conflicts that are deadlocked or can render undiscussibles discussible. Organizational theatre can make things move. However, it is not a substitute for change management. If the organization has no idea how to work on the theatrical irritation, how to transform the evoked energy into organizational change, the theatre performance is likely to become a single intervention without any lasting effects. Adequate follow up activities are therefore postulated as imperative.
Theatre; organizations; organizational change; organizational theatre; performance