A dynamic view of organizing: An integrative approach

With the analysis of a case of work practice in theatre, the chapter proposes an integrative approach that takes into account insights from distributed cognition and practice-based studies to contribute to the meso-domain of ‘organisational cognition’. While the lesson from distributed cognition focuses on analysing complex socially distributed cognitive activities, practice-based studies, in the tradition of situated learning, brings to the fore the social role of practice and its recurrent actions. Therefore, using a ‘bifocal’ lens provides a fresh look at organisational phenomena such as collective coordination, competent performance, attunement, visualisation and improvisation, offering new insights in further exploring organizational cognition.