Summary Researchers have claimed that routinization hinders creativity. However, empirical evidence for this assumption is sparse. In this study, we argue that routinization may be beneficial for creativity and related behavior due to available resources that can be used to develop new ideas while working. We examine the relationship between routinization and four work character istics (job control, job complexity, time pressure, and supervisor support) on the one hand and a range of creative and proactive behaviors on the other hand in a randomly selected sample of 278 employees of a German high tech company. Regression analyses reveal that in addition to work characteristics, routinization is generally positively related to creative and proactive behaviors. Ways to enhance routinization and thereby creative and proactive behaviors are discussed.

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Routinization, work characteristics and their relationships with creative and proactive behaviors

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The present study examines the effect of the physical work environment on the creativity of knowledge workers, compared with the effects of creative personality and the social-organizational work environment. Based on data from 274 knowledge workers in 27 SMEs, we conclude that creative personality, the social-organizational work environment, and the physical work environment independently affect creative performance. The relative contribution of the physical work environment is smaller than that of the social-organizational work environment, and both contributions are smaller than that of creative personality. The results give support for HR practices that focus on the individual, on the social-organizational work environment, and on the physical work environment in order to enhance knowledge worker creativity.

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Knowledge workers' creativity and the role of the physical work environment

http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:833085/FULLTEXT01

Towards innovation measurement in the software industry

Purpose




Although we know that HRM practices can have a huge impact on employees’ innovative work behaviour (IWB), we do not know exactly which practices make the difference and how they affect IWB. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to determine the best HRM practices for boosting IWB, to understand the theoretical reasons for this, and to discover mediators and moderators in the relationship between HRM practices and IWB.




Design/methodology/approach




Based on a systematic review of the literature, the authors carried out a content analysis on 27 peer-reviewed journal articles.




Findings




Working with the definitions and items provided in the articles, the authors were able to cluster HRM practices according to the ability-motivation-opportunity framework. The best HRM practices for enhancing IWB are training and development, reward, job security, autonomy, task composition, job demand, and feedback.




Practical implications




The results of this study provide practical information for HRM professionals aiming to develop an HRM system that generates innovative employee behaviours that might help build an innovative climate.




Originality/value




A framework is presented that aggregates the findings and clarifies which HRM practices influence IWB and how these relationships can be explained.

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HRM and innovative work behaviour: a systematic literature review

Introduction In today's business world, innovations provide companies with major opportunities and advantages. Innovation can be defined as the outcome of a set of activities that use knowledge to create new value to those benefiting from its use (de Sousa, 2006). It is commonly accepted that innovations are brought forward in an interactive process of knowledge generation and application. Organizations need to generate knowledge, facilitate the sharing of knowledge, and apply the knowledge so that the organization can generate innovation. Innovative organizations use knowledge creatively. Creativity is the component that enhances the organizations' ability to retain their competitive advantage as well as to stay ahead of their competitors. For this type of organizations, the ideas and insights of their employees are of crucial importance. However, much innovation potential remains unexploited because organizations assign the responsibility of getting new and implementable ideas only to the RD Chesbrough, 2003; Tidd, Bessant, & Pavitt, 2001). To remain competitive, organizations need their employees to be actively involved in their work and try to generate novel and suitable products, processes, and approaches (Shalley & Gilson, 2004). Many achievements in companies involve collaboration between many creative individuals, each with varying knowledge, skills, life experience, perspectives, and expertise. These kinds of collectives can tackle multi-faceted challenges that cannot be met individually. Nowadays we do not only speak about individual creativity but also about collective creativity (Hargadon & Beckhy, 2006; Sawyer, 2006). Collective creativity can be defined as creative processes leading to creative products that are the results of interaction between two or more people. In collective creativity, it is impossible to trace the source of new ideas to an individual. Instead, creative activity emerges from the collaboration and contribution of many individuals, thereby blurring the contribution of specific individuals in creating ideas. In this study, the focus is on investigating the concepts of creativity and collective creativity in the context of promoting the employees' creativeness and innovativeness. The research problem is: how to enhance collective creativity in the organization. The research questions are: how do the employees themselves perceive creativity in their work place, and in what way would they support creativity and especially collective creativity in the organization? The case study is based on empirical data from an action research based process conducted in one private company. The Creation of New Knowledge An organization's success and survival depend on its capability to create new knowledge and then innovation. Knowledge is an organization's most valuable resource because it embodies intangible assets, routines, and creative processes that are difficult to imitate. According to Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), successful companies are those that consistently create new knowledge, disseminate it widely throughout the organization, and rapidly include it in new products. These characteristics define a "knowledge creating" company, whose business consists solely of continuous innovation. The key to success in a knowledge company is to build the intellectual capital that will create core competencies and distinctive products that will lead to superior results. Everybody is a knowledge worker in a knowledge creating company, where inventing new knowledge is a way of behaving. The central activity of a knowledge-creating company is to make personal knowledge available to others. This takes place continuously and at all levels of an organization. A constructivist view of knowledge focuses on the intraorganizational processes through which new knowledge is generated and has highlighted the importance of both social practices within which new knowledge is created and social interaction through which new knowledge emerges (Tsoukas, 2009). …

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Experiencing Creativity in the Organization: From Individual Creativity to Collective Creativity

Innovation researchers increasingly pay attention to service industries, resulting in a large amount of literature on success factors in new service development. However, the role of individual co-workers in innovation is still underexposed. This paper investigated the drivers of innovative behaviour of individual co-workers, which is considered to be a major determinant of incremental innovation. From the literature seven constructs were derived that are often discussed as drivers of innovation, but have not been tested as determinants of individual co-workers' innovative behaviour. Survey data were collected from 360 persons working in knowledge-intensive service firms. Based on a regression analysis, it appeared that perceptions of job challenge, autonomy, strategic attention and external contacts are positively related to innovative behaviour of individual co-workers. Also, operating in a market where firms compete on differentiation had a positive impact. On the other hand, a firm climate supportive to innovation and a high variation in demand did not affect innovative behaviour in a direct manner.

R.G.M. Kemp

Papers

Determinants of Co-workers' Innovative Behaviour: An Investigation into Knowledge-intensive Services