A note on organizational creativity : a few academic ideas

 

A note on organizational creativity [from the academic literature]

 

Marjolein C.J. Caniëls and Eric F. Rietzschel. 2015. “Organizing Creativity: Creativity and Innovation under Constraints” Volume 24 Number 2: 184-196.

Idea 1: “In a business environment with continuously changing demands, organizations need to adjust and reorientate, innovate and adopt new technologies ….. Creativity …. is at the root of invention and innovation …… Hence, leaders and managers espouse creativity as an important goal that must be nurtured and facilitated …..”;

 

Idea 2: “However, organizations have to deal with the continuous tension between short-term wins of incremental innovation and uncertain long-term gains of radical innovation. Radically new ideas are therefore often dismissed by organizational leaders and policy makers as being too costly and risky to explore ….”;

 

Idea 3: “….On the one hand, creative organizations are often associated with spaces characterized by freedom, autonomy, weak rules and few boundaries. …..  On the other hand, several studies suggest that constraints, particularly design constraints, often stimulate creativity rather than suppress it ….. Constraints could stimulate creativity because they energize employee efforts, or because they reduce the complexity of a problem or task”;

 

 

Jennifer M. George (2007) 9 Creativity in Organizations, The Academy of Management Annals, 1:1, 439-477, DOI: 10.1080/078559814.

Idea 4: “Creativity is typically defined as the generation or production of ideas that are both novel and useful ….. Thus, to be considered creative, ideas must be both new and seen as having the potential to create value for organizations in the short or long run. Creativity is typically viewed as a key precursor to innovation (the successful implementation of creative ideas) and is increasingly being recognized as an important ingredient for effectiveness in all kinds of work and organizations ….”;

 

Idea 5: “Creative ideas can relate to work procedures, products, services, and organizing structures and can vary in terms of the degree to which the idea reflects an incremental versus radical departure from the status quo ….. Creative ideas can also vary in terms of scope or the range of their value-creating potential”;