WORKSHOP - THE HIDDEN SIDES OF CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONAL SETTINGS
In this workshop, we would like to shift the focus of attention in a way that sheds light on some of the remaining blind spots in organizational research on creativity. While we do not contest the well-established positive consequences of creativity, we believe it is time to take a more balanced view. The articulation of creativity with organizing processes generates contradictions and complex trade-offs that we need to understand and explore. These contradictions and trade-offs are potentially the source of costs and waste, of conflicts and resistance, stress and even despair. The psychological literature has already explored the two-sided nature of creativity at the individual level, highlighting the psychological costs incurred by those involved (Rushton 1990; Blumer 2002; Bartlett 2008). We believe it is imperative upon organizational scholars to pry open the black box of creativity, bringing to light its hidden sides in a manner that leads to more robust accounts of the organizational conditions and implications of creativity. This is the principal goal of this workshop. The following list is a sample of the types of contradictions that emerge when organizing combines with creativity:
· Audit versus Trust
· Prudence versus Risk
· Homogeneity versus Diversity
· Centralization versus de-centralization
· Rules versus Improvisation
· Short term financial objectives versus Long term investment
· Control versus Empowerment
· Equal opportunity versus Exceptionality
· Anxiety versus Serenity
· Group versus Individual
· Organizational closure versus Open networks
Marie-Laure Djelic, Professor, ESSEC Department of Management, Center for Capitalism, Globalization and Governance
The Workshop is co-financed by the ESSEC Research Center (CERESSEC) and by the ESSEC Center for Capitalism, Globalization and Governance
For more information, please contact:
Sandrine Blanc, Postdoctoral Fellow, ESSEC Center for Capitalism, Globalization and Governance
blancs@essec.edu