Michael D. Mumford

Handbook of Organizational Creativity is designed to explain creativity and innovation in organizations. This handbook contains 28 chapters dedicated to particularly complex phenomena, all written by leading experts in the field of organizational creativity. The format of the book follows the multi-level structure of creativity in organizations where creativity takes place at the individual level, the group level, and the organizational level. Beyond just theoretical frameworks, applications and interventions are also emphasized. This topic will be of particular interest to managers of creative personnel, and managers that see the potential benefit of creativity to their organizations. Information is presented in a manner such that students, researchers, and managers alike should have much to gain from the present handbook Variables such as idea generation, affect, personality, expertise, teams, leadership, and planning, among many others, are discussed Specific practical interventions are discussed that involve training, development, rewards, and organizational development Provides a summary of the field’s history, the current state of the field, as well as viable directions for future research

This volume is a comprehensive and cutting-edge reference book reflecting current knowledge in the rapidly growing area of organizational creativity. The contributors to this volume are all leading researchers in the field of organizational creativity. This volume: provides a historical review of organizational creativity theory and research presents critical reviews and summaries of research on micro, meso, and macro topics (e.g., leadership, feedback, goals and role expectations, groups and teams, social networks, climate and culture, deep structures, sense-making processes, and creativity and organizational change) concerning organizational creativity demonstrates contributions of creativity to individual work outcomes and organizational success discusses emerging areas and highlights promising future research trends. Professors and graduate students in management and psychology will find this volume most beneficial. Professors and graduate students in marketing, sociology, and education also may find this book useful and relevant. Thoughtful managers and executives, professionals and knowledge workers, and aspiring managers and MBA students also would find this book beneficial in sharpening their thinking, and helping them to identify the right tools for managing creativity.

The motivation underlying our development of a "handbook" of creativity was different from what usually is described by editors of other such volumes. Our sense that a handbook was needed sprang not from a deluge of highly erudite studies calling out for organization, nor did it stem from a belief that the field had become so fully articulated that such a book was necessary to provide summation and reference. Instead, this handbook was conceptualized as an attempt to provide structure and organization for a field of study that, from our perspective, had come to be a large-scale example of a "degenerating" research program (see Brown, Chapter 1). The handbook grew out of a series of discussions that spanned several years. At the heart of most of our interactions was a profound unhappiness with the state of research on creativity. Our consensus was that the number of "good" works published on creativity each year was small and growing smaller. Further, we could not point to a journal, text, or professional organization that was providing leadership for the field in shaping a scientifically sound framework for the development of research programs in creativity. At the same time, we were casting about for a means of honoring a dear friend, E. Paul Torrance. Our decision was that we might best be able to honor Paul and influence research on creativity by developing a handbook designed to challenge traditional perspectives while offering research agendas based on contemporary psychological views.

Reignite your creative-thinking skills to produce innovative solutions Organizational Creativity: A Practical Guide for Innovators and Entrepreneurs by Gerard J. Puccio, John F. Cabra, and Nathan Schwagler, is a compelling new text designed to transform the reader into a creative thinker and leader. Arguing that creativity is an essential skill that must be developed, the authors take a highly practical approach, providing strategies, tools, and cases to help readers hone their creative abilities. Whether students are preparing to become entrepreneurs or to work in an established firm, this text will help them survive and thrive in an era of innovation and change.

Creativity can be viewed as the first stage of the overall innovation process, an important dimension of the entrepreneurship and new venture creation processes, and as such, it is considered to be a cornerstone of organizational competitiveness in this global, knowledge-based economy. Research on creativity has increasingly become multilevel, with most work conducted at the individual or team level of analysis. At the same time, there is a large body of research being conducted at the organizational level of analysis on innovation, and there has been a significant amount of entrepreneurship research at the individual level, with an increasing focus on organizational entrepreneurship. However, these three research streams have developed independently, and there has been very little knowledge transfer between the three areas. Because entrepreneurship is often said to be a process that is required to convert innovation into business ventures that will deliver benefits to stakeholders, it is typically driven by an individual or small group of individuals. Creativity research, innovation research, and entrepreneurship research have the potential to inform each other, enriching our knowledge of each area, particularly with regard to the cognitive processes and behaviors that are most effective. This Handbook includes contributions from the leading scholars in these three research areas, who integrate contemporary research findings on organizational creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship and provide fruitful new research directions."

Although creativity is often considered an individual ability or activity, innovation in teams and organizations involves collaboration of people with diverse perspectives, knowledge, and skills. The effective development of collaborative innovations and solutions to problems is critical to the success of teams and organizations, but research has also demonstrated many factors which tend to limit the effectiveness of collaborative innovation of groups and teams. This volume highlights recent theoretical, empirical, and practical developments that provide a solid basis for the practice of collaborative innovation and future research. It draws from a broad range of research perspectives including cognition, social influence, groups, teams, creativity, communication, networks, information systems, organizational psychology, engineering, computer science, and the arts. This volume is an important source of information for students, scholars, practitioners, and others interested in understanding the complexity of the group creative process and tapping the creative potential of groups and teams.