Organising creative interaction: spontaneous and routinised spheres of team creativity

ABSTRACT

The focus of this article is to develop theory and understanding about organisational creativity as a communicative phenomenon, especially from the viewpoint of creative interaction within teams. Interaction is central to creative processes, yet research concerning the subject has been scarce. Based on empirical analysis of a media organisation using the diary method and grounded theory, the article concentrates on understanding creative interaction as communication practices in an organisational context. The article contributes to the theory of creativity in organisations by introducing the spontaneous and routinised spheres of team-level creative interaction and by presenting a typology of six related communication practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Creativity
• communication practices
• organisational creativity
• creative interaction
• media organisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Media Industry Research Foundation of Finland.

Notes on contributors

Nando Malmelin

Nando Malmelin is professor at Aalto University, School of Business, Department of Management Studies, Finland.

Sari Virta

Sari Virta is PhD Candidate at University of Tampere, School of Communication, Media and Theatre, Finland; Jönköping International Business School, Media Management and Transformation Center, Sweden.