Getting Rhythm: Project-time in Creative Work

• In Event: 161 - Section on Organizations, Occupation and Work Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 12. Creativity and Strategic Action in the Workplace

Abstract

Temporality has everyday social and economic consequences in the workplace. This research relies on three years of observations and interviews (N=70) with creative workers including graphic designers, chamber musicians, fine dining cooks, and automotive designers/engineers. It aims to answer questions about the salience of temporality in the phases of creative projects. It outlines a definition of project-time to usefully complicate the oversimplified dichotomy between micro (social) and macro (economic) time present in the literature, making it possible to see how the organization of project-time shapes the daily and weekly rhythms of workers. The consequences of being in sync with colleagues, or not, are explored. For creative workers, the collaborative process is made smooth if he or she develops a sense of rhythm specific to the creative process in that work place.

Author

• Laura E. Noren, New York University