Toward a theory of managing creativity-intensive processes: a creative industries study

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an exploratory, theory-building study on the impact of creativity on business processes, their management, and the use of information technology (IT) in particular. The empirical evidence was derived from organizations within the creative industries, specifically film and visual effects (VFX) production. An adapted grounded theory approach was employed in order to analyze the data. The study identifies the dynamics of business processes that can be described as highly dependent on creativity, intensively involving the client, complex, and interdependent. It explains the processes' organizational context as well as strategies and IT systems that organizations use in order to manage these processes. The study suggests that creativity-intensive processes are characterized by high levels of uncertainty with regard to outcome, process structure, and required resources. Creative organizations pursue both creative and operational process performance while simultaneously mitigating creative and operational risk.