Organizational Cognition in a Jazz Ensemble

Abstract

The interaction of organizational structure and organizational cognition in a simple professional bureaucracy (a jazz ensemble) is examined using a combination of participant observation and cognitive mapping. The ethnographic results show that the ensemble has distinctive elements of professional bureaucracy and simple structure, but that it is dominated by the simple structure elements of direct supervision (criticism) and leader vision (musical arrangement). The cognitive mapping shows that these last two themes are firmly embedded in the cognitive schema of the ensemble—arrangement is the most potent causal variable in the schema, and criticism is the variable which drives the deviation-counteracting (negative feedback) loops of the schema. But the professional bureaucratic notion of member skills is also potent in the cognitive schema, and there were some unexpected results concerning the potency of satisfaction and performance quality, both of which are leading outcomes in the schema. Some implications for the management and study of such organizations are discussed.