Flipping the Script: Creativity as an Antecedent

Abstract

In order to navigate today’s environment, which is both increasingly complex and turbulent, organizational managers and leaders must be able to harness the creativity of their employees. It is not surprising, then, that scholars have devoted significant attention to understanding creativity in the context of organizations. This research tends to assume that creativity is a positive outcome that should be encouraged in organizations and emphasizes the personal, social, and contextual factors that influence creativity. In this symposium, our goal is to stimulate new thinking by flipping the dominant view of creativity, shifting the focus from creativity as an outcome to creativity as an antecedent. Our hope is that this shift will allow us to consider the consequences of creativity. The 5 papers and discussion consider the ripple effects of creativity on other people, on social interactions in service of creative work, and on creative workers themselves. In doing so, the symposium promises to extend current theory and provoke new directions for future research by beginning to consider creativity more of as an “independent variable” and creative work as a context that influences how individuals work and interact with one another. If creative ideas have value why do we give them away Presenter: James Berry; U. College London Working with creative leaders Presenter: Gamze Koseoglu; Georgia Tech Presenter: Yi Liu; U. of Houston Presenter: Christina E. Shalley; Georgia Institute of Technology The development of collective ownership in entrepreneurial teams Presenter: Steven M Gray; Washington U. in St. Louis Presenter: Andrew P. Knight; Washington U. in St. Louis Presenter: Markus Baer; Washington U. in St. Louis Presenter: Karren Watkins; Washington U. in St. Louis Making sense of my creative career: An inductive study of the impact of working at the Eames Office Presenter: Spencer Harrison; Boston College Handoffs’ impact on creative workers’ psychological ownership Presenter: Elizabeth D. Rouse; Boston U.