ArticlePDF Available

Toward a Theory of Organizational Creativity

April 1993
Academy of Management Review 18(2):293-321

DOI:10.5465/AMR.1993.3997517

Authors:

University of Delaware

Ricky W Griffin

Texas A&M University

A theoretical framework for understanding creativity in a complex social setting, such as an organization, is developed. Organizational creativity is defined as the creation of a valuable, useful new product, service, idea, procedure, or process by individuals working together in a complex social system. The starting point for the theoretical development is provided by the interactionist model of creative behavior developed by Woodman and Schoenfeldt (1989). This model and supporting literature on creative behavior and organizational innovation are used to develop an interactional framework for organizational creativity. The theoretical framework is summarized by 3 propositions that can effectively guide the development of testable hypotheses.

Content uploaded by John E. Sawyer

Content may be subject to copyright.



$FDGHP\RI0DQDJHPHQW

is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to

7KH$FDGHP\RI0DQDJHPHQW

5HYLHZ

http://www.jstor.org

7RZDUGD7KHRU\RI2UJDQL]DWLRQDO&UHDWLYLW\

$XWKRUV5LFKDUG::RRGPDQ-RKQ(6DZ\HUDQG5LFN\:*ULIILQ

6RXUFH 

7KH$FDGHP\RI0DQDJHPHQW5HYLHZ

9RO1R$SUSS

3XEOLVKHGE\ 

$FDGHP\RI0DQDJHPHQW

6WDEOH85/ 

KWWSZZZMVWRURUJVWDEOH

$FFHVVHG87&

5

5()(5(1&(6

/LQNHGUHIHUHQFHVDUHDYDLODEOHRQ-6725IRUWKLVDUWLFOH



KWWSZZZMVWRURUJVWDEOH"VHT FLG SGIUHIHUHQFHUHIHUHQFHVBWDEBFRQWHQWV

<RXPD\QHHGWRORJLQWR-6725WRDFFHVVWKHOLQNHGUHIHUHQFHV

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content

in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.

For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.72 on Sat, 28 Mar 2015 15:23:08 UTC

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Criatividade aberta: uma síntese teórica de colaboração e inovação organizacional

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2025

Este estudo apresenta uma síntese teórica sobre criatividade aberta, com foco nas interações entre colaboração e inovação organizacional. A pesquisa adota uma abordagem crítica, analisando 19 artigos que compõem a leitura obrigatória da disciplina de Criatividade Aberta, ministrada em um programa de doutorado em Administração de uma universidade pública brasileira, avaliada com conceito 5 pelo MEC. A investigação examina os principais conceitos, abordagens teóricas e implicações da criatividade aberta para a gestão organizacional, destacando como práticas colaborativas e fluxos de conhecimento interorganizacionais impulsionam a inovação. Com base em uma revisão sistemática da literatura, o estudo propõe um modelo conceitual que evidencia a criatividade aberta como estratégia de inovação, potencializando a competitividade organizacional por meio da cocriação e do compartilhamento de saberes entre múltiplos stakeholders. A pesquisa contribui para o avanço da literatura ao consolidar um panorama crítico sobre o papel da criatividade aberta na transformação de processos inovadores, sugerindo caminhos para sua aplicação em diferentes contextos organizacionais.

Innovative green consumption in a manufacturing company in the environmental-based view approach: the role of moral obligation, TPBF, green intention and pro-environmental behavior with the moderating effect of innovative work environment

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2025

Muhammad Naparin

Although the contribution of the manufacturing industry to gross domestic product is very large, its negative impact on the environment has not been resolved until now. To answer this challenge, the behavior of employees and workers in consuming natural resources in the production process must provide innovative solutions to environmental issues, called innovative green consumption (IGC). This study answers what variables influence the IGC and how the interactions between these variables occur. This aimed to analyze the influence of the theory of planned behavior framework (TPBF) and perceived moral obligation (PMO) on green intention (GI) and pro-environmental behavior (PEB), the influence of PEB on IGC, and the moderating and direct influence of an innovative work environment (IWE) on IGC. This was a quantitative method. The research model was tested on 214 employees and workers at the operational level of a manufacturing company. The results of this study found that TPBF and PMO had a significant influence on GI and PEB. PEB and IWE had a significant influence on IGC, and IWE had significantly moderated the influence of PEB on IGC. This study has strong implications for researchers, academics, government, policy makers, and manufacturing professionals in opening a new paradigm in innovative consumption patterns based on sustainability, improving carbon footprint performance, and achieving sustainable development goals. The originality of this study is that it reconstructs IGC as a new paradigm in the manufacturing industry and provides a new understanding of IGC antecedents based on individual moral, intentions, and behavior perspectives.

Investigating the relationship between Personality Traits and Creativity

Article

Feb 2025

Creativity is a complex phenomenon, and personality traits interact in nuanced ways to influence creative thinking. A well-balanced personality, where openness, conscientiousness, and a willingness to take risks are balanced, can optimize creativity. This quantitative study was completed through correlational research design. Survey was administered with the help of questionnaire as a method of data collection. Convenient sampling technique was employed to select 100 (male=50, female=50) college students as the sample of the study. Results suggest that extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience are the significant positive predictors of creativity. In addition, neuroticism is a significant negative predictor of creativity. Findings of the study reveal that male students have the greater level of extroversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience and creativity as compared to female college students. Moreover, female students were found with higher level of agreeableness, and neuroticism than male. It is necessary to expand the sample range for future research. The relationship among personality traits and creativity among college students can be deeply explored through qualitative in-depth interviews.

Green Talent Management and Innovative Work Behavior: The Mediating Role of Transformational Leadership

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2024

In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, organizations must foster innovation to maintain competitiveness and sustainability. Employee innovative work behavior plays a crucial role in driving organizational success, yet the factors that influence it remain underexplored. This study examines the impact of green talent management on innovative work behavior, with transformational leadership as a mediating factor. This study adopts a quantitative research approach, using a descriptive and causal research design to collect data from 217 employees in banking sector in Nepal, through a structured questionnaire. The findings indicate that green soft talent management enhances transformational leadership, which in turn fosters innovative work behavior, highlighting the critical role of leadership in promoting innovation. However, green hard talent management does not directly influence transformational leadership or innovative work behavior, and green soft talent management alone does not sufficiently drive innovation without leadership support. Transformational leadership fully mediates the relationship between green soft talent management and innovative work behavior, emphasizing its importance in translating sustainability-driven human resource management practices into employee innovation. This study contributes to social exchange theory, social identity theory, and transformational leadership theory by demonstrating how leadership strengthens the impact of sustainability-focused human resource management on innovation. The findings highlight the importance of transformational leadership in fostering an innovative workforce and ensuring long-term organizational sustainability.

An Investigation for Business Performance on Indonesia's Small and Medium Medical Companies Sustainability

Article

Dec 2024

The purpose of this study is to investigate how small and medium-sized medical (SMM) businesses might improve their performance and long-term viability by utilizing innovation, improvisation, and creativity. The research employed a purposive sample of 403 managers and owners of small- and medium-sized health clinics, medical equipment suppliers, and diagnostic laboratories across the country, using a quantitative approach. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with a multi-group analysis. The results indicate that spirituality significantly and positively moderates the relationships between creativity, improvisation, business performance, and innovation capability. Furthermore, creativity has a positive influence on business performance, improvisation, and innovation. Improvisational skills are shown to greatly affect both innovation capacity and business performance. Additionally, innovation competence in SMM businesses positively influences business performance, which in turn enhances sustainability. Since the data were gathered only in Indonesia, future studies are encouraged to replicate this research in other countries to validate the proposed theoretical model. These insights provide a fresh understanding of the connections between spirituality, creativity, improvisation, innovation, business performance, and sustainability, enriching existing literature and offering a foundation for future research on SMM enterprises.

Integrating creativity and artificial intelligence capability in entrepreneurial ventures

Article

Mar 2025
J Small Bus Enterprise Dev

Purpose While the literature on artificial intelligence (AI) capability is expanding, gaps remain in understanding how this capability is internally developed in technology-based startups (TBS) across different life cycle phases. This study, grounded in the resource orchestration theory (ROT), investigates the pathway through which TBS use organizational creativity to build AI capability and achieve performance. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual framework based on ROT emphasizes the role of organizational creativity in the structuring and bundling processes. Data were collected through a survey of 166 managers and employees of TBS operating in Brazil and international markets, using multiple linear regressions and the Sobel test for analysis. The study validated the AI capability scale in the TBS context. Findings AI capability fully mediates the relationship between organizational creativity and performance, confirming that organizational creativity is a critical resource for AI capability development. These findings advance ROT by deepening the understanding of how AI capability is developed in TBS. The study offers a dynamic, process-based view of performance trajectories in TBS, demonstrating that the synchrony between creativity and AI capability creates a cyclical process, maximizing company performance. Originality/value This research identifies an alternative pathway for TBS to develop AI capability and achieve performance, highlighting the synchronization and co-evolution of resources and capabilities. It provides novel insights into AI capability’s mediating role and expands understanding of resource management in TBS across life cycle phases.

Governare l'alterità nelle organizzazioni

Book

Feb 2025

Francesca Castaldo

Il tema dell'alterità è diventato negli ultimi anni centrale nel dibattito pubblico e privato: organizzazioni complesse, imprese, agende politiche dei governi e finanche gli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile delle Nazioni Unite, in vario modo alludono alla diversity o al binomio diversity & inclusion, ad essa sovente collegato, sottolineando l'importanza di creare ambienti rispettosi e inclusivi. Il libro guarda al fenomeno, di grande attualità, della diversità come da un prisma che ne illumina due principali facce: una costruttiva, o legata al suo potenziale di innovazione; l’altra distruttiva, o connessa al suo potenziale di conflitto; e preferisce usare il termine 'alterità', a sottolineare che ogni individuo è unicum et ineffabile, e perciò stesso alter rispetto ad ogni altro. L’alterità è osservata, quindi, nel mondo delle organizzazioni, cui è connaturata e, in particolare, del workplace, e qui collegata, da un lato, alla creatività e innovazione e, dall’altro, al conflitto. L’analisi è, pertanto, condotta, anche attraverso una rassegna della letteratura, a livello micro-organizzativo, pur avendo risvolti più ampi e generali, che inquadrano le tematiche trattate in una cornice interdisciplinare: evidenti, infatti, sono i rimandi alle scienze psico-sociologiche, ma soprattutto a quelle aziendalistiche e manageriali. Il lavoro ha, così, un’imprescindibile anima organizzativa, ma anche una manageriale: non solo per il mondo del business, ma anche per quello pubblico e del terzo settore, diviene fondamentale governare tutta la diversità presente; a ciò si rivelano indispensabili alcune doti peculiari del leader, un leader viepiù inclusivo e partecipativo. Il risultato è una monografia dal respiro teorico, ma anche dal taglio pragmatico, che ambisce ad offrire riflessioni e soluzioni al problema, altamente complesso, del governo e della capitalizzazione della diversità, e, per queste ragioni, si rivolge a manager e dirigenti, esperti e pratictioners organizzativi, oltre che naturalmente agli studenti e studiosi della tematica, nelle sue più ampie declinazioni. Per chi invece per la prima volta si addentrasse nei meandri dell’alterità, questo libro è un po' un viaggio che conduce, ad un certo punto, il lettore ad una sorta di bivio, da cui si biforcano la via della creatività e innovazione, e la via del conflitto. Ciò che rileva è, ancora una volta, l’abilità del management e della leadership per un governo efficace, efficiente ed equo dell’ineliminabile alterità

Postawy pracowników i menedżerów wobec wyzwań związanych ze zmianą i innowacjami. Analiza przypadków ośmiu innowacyjnych firm

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2025

Małgorzata Osowska

Przedmiotem artykułu są przekonania kadry zarządzającej i pracowników na temat potrzeby wprowadzania zmian i innowacji w firmie, roli i zaangażowania pracowników w te procesy oraz praktyk kadry menedżerskiej na rzecz wspierania innowacyjności pracowników. Studium przypadku objęło osiem firm przemysłowych wprowadzających nowe rozwiązania (motoryzacja i przemysł chemiczny). Jako metodę zastosowano sfokusowane wywiady grupowe z udziałem pracowników reprezentujących różnorodne działy zadaniowe w swoich organizacjach oraz indywidualne wywiady pogłębione z kierownictwem, łącznie w badaniu wzięło udział 40 osób. Opisano dwie ścieżki rozumienia innowacji: szerokie i wąskie, oraz towarzyszące im praktyki na rzecz wspierania innowacyjności: wykluczającą i inkluzywną. Przedstawione wnioski pozwolą menedżerom zrozumieć konsekwencje stosowania różnych praktyk na rzecz wspierania innowacyjności pracowników i oswajania ich ze zmianą. Badanie niesie ze sobą również liczne implikacje naukowe. Wyniki otwierają dyskusję na temat wyzwań związanych z wprowadzaniem nowych rozwiązań do przemysłu w kontekście zarządzania kadrami i lepszego wykorzystania ich potencjału.

Management e Marketing delle Imprese Sportive

Book

Full-text available

Dec 2024

Aesthetic Experience and Creativity of Expert Cultural Entrepreneurs in Colombia: A Qualitative Study

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2024

This qualitative research addresses the psychological study of the confluence between aesthetic experience and creative process in cultural entrepreneurs, taking into account that research in Psychology of Aesthetics and Psychology of Creativity is necessary to achieve a better understanding of innovation in creative industries. We conducted a qualitative study on the role of aesthetic experience in the creative process, through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 expert cultural entrepreneurs from the Colombian Caribbean. As a result of a thematic analysis, we found that aesthetic experience is a relevant guide in the creativity of cultural entrepreneurs, usually represented in receptivity to aesthetic sensations that emerge during the creative process. Also, in the midst of the creative process, the entrepreneurs try to maintain a balance between individual and collective needs.

An Interactionist Model of Creative Behavior

Article

Dec 1990

Memory and Creativity

Chapter

Jan 1989

Barry S. Stein

Although there are many ways to define creativity, creative behavior usually involves a product or response both novel and appropriate to the task at hand. Creative ideas and discoveries often provide new information and perspectives that were not apparent in the past. In contrast, the concept of memory is typically associated with ideas that are not novel or original. Indeed, the act of remembering is an attempt to recreate events and experiences that have occurred in the past. From this perspective, memory and creativity appear to involve very different kinds of activities.

How Organizational Factors Affect R&D Innovation

Article

Mar 1978
Res Manag

This study analyzes relationships between innovation in R&D units and both structural characteristics and organizational climate.

Individual Differences in Creativity

Chapter

Jan 1989

Creativity seems to be one of those concepts understood by everyone in the world except behavioral scientists. Although some segments of the public might hypothesize other reasons for this state of affairs, we believe the reason for this seeming paradox is as simple as the difference between the terms concept and construct. As a concept used by laypersons, creativity carries meaning in everyday speech that, although somewhat imprecise, is nevertheless widely shared; any surplus meaning is relatively unimportant; and operationalization for measurement purposes is a nonissue. As a scientific construct, however, creativity is held to a higher (or, at least, different) standard, and the construct validity issues surrounding the term can be frustrating in the extreme for researchers interested in investigating the phenomena of creative behavior and creative persons.

Chapter

Jan 1989

Robert T. Brown

Creativity consists of at least four components: (1) the creative process, (2) the creative product, (3) the creative person, and (4) the creative situation (MacKinnon, 1970; Mooney, 1963). It has been studied from so many frequently incompatible theoretical perspectives, each with its own assumptions, methodologies, biases, and even meta-theoretical view, that coverage of all in a single chapter is not possible. This chapter concentrates on the divergent thinking approach to the study of the creative process—an approach that has the most explicitly developed theoretical base, underlies most creativity tests, and has generated the most empirical research. Along the way, information on some other components and theoretical approaches will be presented. Most other approaches are covered in detail in other chapters in this handbook, and general presentations of creativity theories are in Albert (1983), Bloomberg (1973), Busse and Mansfield (1980), and Vernon (1970).

Psychometric Issues in the Assessment of Creativity

Chapter

Jan 1989

In this first section, an overview of the remaining seven divisions of the chapter is presented. The second section affords a brief description of categories of instrumentation to provide the reader with a foundation within which the psychometric issues in the assessment of creativity can be viewed. In the third section, psychometric concerns pertaining to construct validity, content validity, and criterion-related validity are addressed. Subsequent to an abbreviated review of the meaning of reliability, concerns regarding optimal approaches to the estimation of reliability of creativity measures are considered in the fourth section. The impact upon reliability and validity of scoring procedures is examined in the fifth section with particular emphasis on the presence of fluency as a confounding factor in the interpretation of scores of measures of divergent thinking. The sixth section provides a survey of a number of the difficulties encountered in establishing normative data for the understanding of scores on measures of creativity. A cursory exploration of a few selected issues in the administration of tests of creativity follows in the seventh section, and the eighth section contributes a concluding statement.

Handbook of Creativity

Chapter

Jan 1989

Colin Martindale

Because creativity has to do with the production of new ideas, one might think that its study rightly falls within the domain of cognitive psychology. Of course, creativity involves cognition, but it involves a type of cognition that seems only to occur within a matrix of associated motivational, attitudinal, and personalogical traits. Thus, to understand creativity, the person as a whole must be considered. Because of this, theories about the creative process have traditionally been personality theories rather than purely cognitive theories. In 1949, Guilford (1950) pointed out that we did not know enough about creativity. We can never know too much about the creative personality, but we certainly know more than I could hope to cover in this chapter. For more information, the reader may consult the reviews of the literature by Dellas and Gaier (1970), Wallach (1970), Stein (1974), Taylor and Getzels (1975), and Barron and Harrington (1981).

R&D Work Climate and Innovation in Semi-Conductors

Article

Jun 1983

Organizational Climates for Creativity

Article

Sep 1965

L.L. Cummings

The characteristics associated with the creative individual and the identification of these characteristics have been explored in a companion paper in this Journal. 1 Once this important task has been accomplished, the equally significant administrative question of the optimum utilization of this creative talent arises. The effective utilization of creative abilities within a goal seeking organization is conditioned by many variables including: top management's attitudinal posture regarding the value of creativeness and innovation; the organizational slack present in the resource inputs,2 and, certainly, the organizational climate created by the organization's design, control system, and reward system. Given the characteristics of the creative individual and given the recruitment of persons with creative abilities, this paper explores the issue of the organizational climate most conducive to the generation and maintenance of constructive creative responses oriented toward the organization's goals. We will first explore the question of what is the administrative hierarchy attempting to accomplish when it establishes a given organizational design. Within this framework, the organizational design of traditional administrative theory will be superimposed upon our. model of the creative individual as developed previously. Given the basic incongruities of the "fit," the question of the possible variation of organizational structures to fit variable purposes arises. Finally, implications for possible organizational designs needed to utilize creative talent effectively will be explored. THE MEANING OF ORGANIZATION

Introduction: Technology, Organizations, and Innovation

Article

Mar 1990

Article

Toward A Theory of Organizational Creativity

April 1993 · Academy of Management Review

In this article we develop a theoretical framework for understanding creativity in complex social settings. We define organizational creativity as the creation of a valuable, useful new product, service, idea, procedure, or process by individuals working together in a complex social system. The starting point for our theoretical development is provided by the interactionist model of creative ... [Show full abstract] behavior developed by Woodman and Schoenfeldt (1989). This model and supporting literature on creative behavior and organizational innovation are used to develop an interactional framework for organizational creativity. The theoretical framework is summarized by three propositions that can effectively guide the development of testable hypotheses.

Article

"WORK THE SYSTEM": EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY IN THE SHADOWS.

August 2005 · Academy of Management Proceedings

We propose a conceptual framework to examine the phenomenon of "work the system", which refers to the creative attempts of employees to utilize existing organization rules, regulations, and procedures to their own advantage. Neither rule conformity nor rule breaking, "work the system" is a clever maneuver within the system. Such behavior has significant impacts on the functioning, consequences, ... [Show full abstract] and change of formal organizational systems. We examine antecedents to and consequences of "work the system" behavior as well as how it interacts with managerial reactions to affect rule making and rule changing activities. Examining this phenomenon provides a useful perspective to understand the functioning and evolution of modern organizations.

Article

The multiple ways of behaving creatively in the workplace: A typology and model

November 2020 · Journal of Organizational Behavior

Evidence in the literature suggests that employees can engage in other types of creative behavior at work beyond producing something new and useful for their organization. This paper seeks to advance our understanding of these “atypical” creative behaviors. We conceptualize a typology that encompasses both the commonly studied form of employee creativity (conventional steward‐type) and three ... [Show full abstract] other types of employee creativity that have not been previously theorized (critical steward‐type, cunning agent‐type, and innocent agent‐type). We then advance a conceptual model to identify situations that may lead employees to use their creative potential one way versus another. Further, we examine the different implications of these creative behaviors for the organization, employee, and society. Our conceptual framework provides a broader perspective of workplace creativity in which a wider range of behaviors, mechanisms, and outcomes must be considered. It provides new directions for future research as well as implications for managing creativity in different organizational and cultural contexts.

Article

The Science of Organizational Change and the Art of Changing Organizations

December 2014 · The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science

Richard W. Woodman

As a field of applied behavioral science, organizational change and development has characteristics of both science and art. I will explore four areas where the science of organizational change and the art of changing organizations are often in tension creating paradoxes that must be resolved or at least “held,” misunderstandings, occasional dysfunction, and insight and value. I will argue that ... [Show full abstract] the coexistence of science and art can be found specifically in theory creation and utilization, the evaluation of organizational change, the act of organizational diagnosis, and the study of organizational creativity. The advancement of theory, research, and practice in organization development depends, to a very real extent, on the ability to appreciate and to balance science and art in each of these domains.

Last Updated: 22 Oct 2024