Dynamics of Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

Catalog description

This course focuses on the creative process and innovation journey at all levels--individual, group, organization, and leadership. In this class we will explore creativity from several angles with a particular focus on the conditions that facilitate creativity and innovation. Creativity and innovation have been studied extensively. Several bodies of literature explore the conditions needed to enhance them. One widely cited approach to the study of creativity and innovation is the componential theory put forth by Theresa Amabile claiming that three major components are required for individual or team creativity: expertise, creative-thinking skill, and intrinsic motivation. Another is the interactionist perspective of Woodman and others claiming that creativity is a complex interaction between individuals and work situation, including antecedent conditions such as cognitive style (divergence), personality (high self-esteem), motivation, social influence (rewards), group characteristics, organizational culture. Finally at the organizational level ambidexterity theory that comes from March, Tushman, O'Reilly and others claims that organizations must be good at meeting conflicting demands of exploiting routines and experimenting with new processes and products. We will cover each of these approaches. This course will focus particularly on the conditions that enhance and facilitate creativity in group and organizational settings with a focused eye on improvisation. Every innovation begins with an improvisation and every improvisation is potentially identity-transformative at several levels. By emphasizing improvisation we can see how processes of creativity and innovation intersect with several organizational dynamics including organizational learning and knowledge work. Prereq: Enrolled in the Master of Science in Leadership and Organizational Change (MLOC) program.