An Integrative Framework for Understanding Informal Play as Practice in Organizational Settings

Abstract

The practice of play has commonly been analyzed through the prism of serious play that invests the top management with a central role in the initiation of formalized organizational play. Yet, studies on serious play do not allow capturing other manifestations of playful practices that are triggered by employees, are not planned in advance, and occur naturally in the work environment. This paper extends current play as practice reflections by adopting the notion of informal play as an alternative to prevailing views that embraces the employee rather than the managerial perspective. Drawing upon insights from play and practice literatures, we incorporate the constructs of practice, praxis, practitioner, objects and context into the systematic analysis of informal play in the world of work. We advance an integrative theoretical framework that highlights the mutually constitutive relationships between the retained practice-based constructs and acknowledges different enactments of informal play for generating productive outcomes or cynically resisting authority. The paper concludes with a broad multi-domain agenda for future inquiry that may contribute to a more nuanced understanding of informal play as practice phenomena in corporate settings.