Creativity in Organizations

A Mini Literature Review

Course : DBA 7402 – Business Research Methods I

Student : W. M. E. Rukmal (FMF/DBA/2022/11)

University of Colombo
Faculty of Management and Finance
Agenda
• Introduction
• Creativity as an Outcome
• Creative Work
• Extending the Creative Process
• Leveraging Outsider’s Perspectives
• Developing the Importance of Feedback
• Contextualizing Creative work in Collectives
• Expanding Conceptions of Creative Work
• Summery
• Future Work and Significance
• References

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Introduction
• The evolution of theory and research on creativity within organizational studies.
• Shift from focusing on creativity as an outcome to examining the processes
of creative work.
• Creative work: A process in which ideas are generated, elaborated, evaluated,
stored, discarded, or implemented into a product by individuals or groups with
the intent of developing something novel and useful (Harrison & Rouse, 2014).

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Creativity as an Outcome

• Review and critique of organizational scholarship on creativity.

• Single-mindedness or routinization of field.
(George, 2007) • Psychological research identified the antecedents of creative outcomes.
• Antecedent–outcome approach became highly active field of inquiry for
management researchers.

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Creative Work
(Amabile et al., 1996)
(Drazin et al., 1999)
(Zhou & George, 2001)
(Madjar et al., 2002)
(Perry-Smith & Shalley, 2003) • Networks of relationships
(Elsbach & Kramer, 2003)
• Under the right conditions, anyone could be creative
• Intrinsic motivation to engage in the work
• Social–psychological context
• Innovation
• Creativity: Process of engaging in creative acts
• Multilevel theoretical discussion on project
• Effort and dimension of time
• Supportive coworkers and helpful feedback
• Support beyond workplace boundaries
• New opportunity; childhood support
• Creativity is an unfolding process than an outcome
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Extending the Creative Process

• Creative process engagement (effort and intention)

• Problem identification, information searching, and idea
(Zhang & Bartol, 2010) generation
• Intrinsic motivation
• Backend of the process
(Baer, 2012) • Believe on personal benefits
• Strong relationship to strong people
• Evaluator role
• Motivation and mindset
(Mueller et al., 2017) • Decision-maker role and economic mindset
• Practical implications

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Leveraging Outsider’s Perspectives

• Motivation to help
(Grant & Berry, 2011) • Intrinsic motivation and Prosocial motivation
• Creative workers as receivers of help
(Fisher et al., 2017) • Two forms of “deep help”
• Guiding and Path-Clearing

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Developing the Importance of Feedback

• Feedback is an ongoing conversation

• Struggle of novelty
(Harrison & Rouse, 2014) • Creative workers use “backgrounding”
• Feedback providers use “personalizing”
• Entrepreneurs
(Grimes, 2017) • Psychological ownership of idea and impact on identity

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Contextualizing Creative work in Collectives

• Group context conditions the effectiveness of feedback

• Negative feedback increases information processing effort in
(Hoever et al., 2017) informationally diverse teams
• Positive feedback increases cognitive flexibility in
informationally homogenous teams
• Network perspective
• New creative workers provides a “shock” to those already in a
(Soda et al., 2021) creative network
• Creative efforts ripple and collide, get amplified or negated, in
complex ways

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Expanding Conceptions of Creative Work

• Theory of creative synthesis in groups

(Harvey, 2014) • Single-cycle models of creative work to multi-loop creative
efforts.
(Loewenstein & Mueller, 2016) • Cross-cultural differences in the interpretation of creativity
• A social networks view of creative process
• Needs of individual creators: cognitive flexibility, feedback
and emotional support, influence and legitimacy, and
(Perry-Smith & Mannucci, 2015) shared understanding and vision
• Four stages of the “idea journey”: idea generation, idea
elaboration, idea championing, and idea implementation.

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Summery
Year Journal Author(s) Title Category
Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby,
1996 AMJ Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity Foundational
and Herron
1999 AMR Drazin, Glynn, and Kazanjian Multilevel Theorizing about Creativity in Organizations: A Sensemaking Perspective Foundational
2001 AMJ Zhou and George When Job Dissatisfaction Leads to Creativity: Encouraging the Expression of Voice Foundational
There’s No Place like Home? The Contributions of Work and Nonwork Creativity Support to
2002 AMJ Madjar, Oldham, and Pratt Foundational
Employees’ Creative Performance
2003 AMR Perry-Smith and Shalley The Social Side of Creativity: A Static and Dynamic Social Network Perspective Foundational
Assessing Creativity in Hollywood Pitch Meetings: Evidence for a Dual-Process Model of Creativity
2003 AMJ Elsbach and Kramer Foundational
Judgments
2007 Annals George Creativity in Organizations Foundational
Linking Empowering Leadership and Employee Creativity: The Influence of Psychological
2010 AMJ Zhang and Bartol Extending the creative process
Empowerment, Intrinsic Motivation, and Creative Process Engagement
The Necessity of Others is the Mother of Invention: Intrinsic and Prosocial Motivations, Perspective
2011 AMJ Grant and Berry Leveraging Outsider’s Perspectives
Taking, and Creativity
2012 AMJ Baer Putting Creativity to Work: The Implementation of Creative Ideas in Organizations Extending the creative process
2014 AMR Harvey Creative Synthesis: Exploring the Process of Extraordinary Group Creativity Expanding conceptions of creative work
2015 AMJ Harrison and Rouse An Inductive Study of Feedback Interactions over the Course of Creative Projects Developing the importance of feedback
2016 AMD Loewenstein and Mueller Implicit Theories of Creative Ideas: How Culture Guides Creativity Assessments Expanding conceptions of creative work
Hoever, Zhou, and van Different Strokes for Different Teams: The Contingent Effects of Positive and Negative Feedback on
2018 AMJ Creative work in collectives
Knippenberg the Creativity of Informationally Homogeneous and Diverse Teams
2017 AMR Perry-Smith and Mannucci From Creativity to Innovation: The Social Network Drivers of the Four Phases of the Idea Journey Expanding conceptions of creative work
Mueller, Melwani, Lowenstein, Reframing the Decision-Makers’ Dilemma: Toward a Social Context Model of Creative Idea
2018 AMJ Extending the creative process
and Deal Recognition
2018 AMJ Fisher, Pillemer, and Amabile Deep Help in Complex Project Work: Guiding and Path-Clearing across Difficult Terrain Leveraging Outsider’s Perspectives
2018 AMJ Grimes The Pivot: How Founders Respond to Feedback through Idea and Identity Work Developing the importance of feedback
2021 AMJ Soda, Mannucci, and Burt Networks, Creativity, and Time: Staying Creative through Brokerage and Network Rejuvenation Page: 11
Creative work in collectives
Future Work and Significance
Future Work:
• Consider diverse samples and work roles.
• Theorizing and studying new time horizons.
• Understanding success and failure.
• Methodological and theoretical expansion.

Significance:
Creative work ensures benefits to individuals, organizations, and societies, not
only to improve organizations’ profits. Solving planetary problems like the
climate crisis, resource, and financial inequity, and racism require theoretical
frameworks and empirical investigations on creative work.

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References
Amabile, T. M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J., & Herron, M. (1996). Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 39(5), 1154–1184. https://doi.org/10.5465/256995
Baer, M. (2012). Putting Creativity to Work: The Implementation of Creative Ideas in Organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 55(5), 1102–1119. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2009.0470
Drazin, R., Glynn, M. A., & Kazanjian, R. K. (1999). Multilevel Theorizing about Creativity in Organizations: A Sensemaking Perspective. Academy of Management Review, 24(2), 286–307.
https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1999.1893937
Elsbach, K. D., & Kramer, R. M. (2003). Assessing creativity in hollywood pitch meetings: Evidence for a dual-process model of creativity judgments. Academy of Management Journal, 46(3), 283–301.
https://doi.org/10.2307/30040623
Fisher, C. M., Pillemer, J., & Amabile, T. M. (2017). Deep Help in Complex Project Work: Guiding and Path-Clearing Across Difficult Terrain. Academy of Management Journal, 61(4), 1524–1553.
https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.0207
George, J. M. (2007). Creativity in Organizations. Academy of Management Annals, 1(1), 439–477. https://doi.org/10.5465/078559814
Grant, A. M., & Berry, J. W. (2011). The Necessity of Others is The Mother of Invention: Intrinsic and Prosocial Motivations, Perspective Taking, and Creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 54(1), 73–96.
https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.59215085
Harrison, S. H., & Rouse, E. D. (2014). An Inductive Study of Feedback Interactions over the Course of Creative Projects. Academy of Management Journal, 58(2), 375–404. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2012.0737
Harvey, S. (2014). Creative Synthesis: Exploring the Process of Extraordinary Group Creativity. Academy of Management Review, 39(3), 324–343. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2012.0224
Hoever, I. J., Zhou, J., & van Knippenberg, D. (2017). Different Strokes for Different Teams: The Contingent Effects of Positive and Negative Feedback on the Creativity of Informationally Homogeneous and Diverse
Teams. Academy of Management Journal, 61(6), 2159–2181. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.0642
Loewenstein, J., & Mueller, J. (2016). Implicit Theories of Creative Ideas: How Culture Guides Creativity Assessments. Academy of Management Discoveries, 2(4), 320–348. https://doi.org/10.5465/amd.2014.0147
Madjar, N., Oldham, G. R., & Pratt, M. G. (2002). There’s no place like home? The contributions of work and nonwork creativity support to employees’ creative performance. Academy of Management Journal, 45(4), 757–
767. https://doi.org/10.2307/3069309
Mueller, J., Melwani, S., Loewenstein, J., & Deal, J. J. (2017). Reframing the Decision-Makers’ Dilemma: Towards a Social Context Model of Creative Idea Recognition. Academy of Management Journal, 61(1), 94–110.
https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.0887
Perry-Smith, J. E., & Mannucci, P. V. (2015). From Creativity to Innovation: The Social Network Drivers of the Four Phases of the Idea Journey. Academy of Management Review, 42(1), 53–79.
https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2014.0462
Perry-Smith, J. E., & Shalley, C. E. (2003). The Social Side of Creativity: A Static and Dynamic Social Network Perspective. The Academy of Management Review, 28(1), 89–106. https://doi.org/10.2307/30040691
Soda, G., Mannucci, P. V., & Burt, R. S. (2021). Networks, Creativity, and Time: Staying Creative through Brokerage and Network Rejuvenation. Https://Doi.Org/10.5465/Amj.2019.1209, 64(4), 1164–1190.
https://doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2019.1209
Zhang, X., & Bartol, K. M. (2010). Linking Empowering Leadership and Employee Creativity: The Influence of Psychological Empowerment, Intrinsic Motivation, and Creative Process Engagement. Academy of
Management Journal, 53(1), 107–128. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.48037118
Zhou, J., & George, J. M. (2001). When job dissatisfaction leads to creativity: Encouraging the expression of voice. Academy of Management Journal, 44(4), 682–696. https://doi.org/10.2307/3069410

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Thank you.