It ain’t about Words – The Role of Aesthetics in Enhancing an Organizations Capacity to Act. The Case of a semi-professional American Football Team in Europe

Abstract

Much has been written about Knowledge Acquisition and supporting factors in order to build an organizations capacity to act. This case study reports insights from an entire year of managing a collegiate semi-professional American Football team in Europe and the implications for Knowledge Management in practice. Among the most important findings is the observation that the success of even the most elaborate and well-intentioned strategies for individual, as well as organizational knowledge acquisition and capacity building relies heavily on the individual´s aesthetic perceptions of respective measures and actions taken. Furthermore, in the context of non-professional organizations, the perceived success of the organization appears to be strongly tied to the fulfillment of each stakeholders value expectations towards the organization.