Key Facts

Principal investigators: Prof. Dr. Jörg Sydow, Freie Universität Berlin

Postdoctoral student: Dr. Birke Otto

Duration: 3 years

 

Project Description

The aim of this project is to synthesize the findings of past and future research towards developing a multidisciplinary theory of organized creativity. The project will draw on large amounts of qualitative data (mainly interviews and ethnographies) from two empirical fields (music and pharma). The research in these two fields was and is focused on the question of how the creative process is organized at levels beyond the individual and the group (the levels of analysis of most extant creativity research) with regard to reducing but also inducing uncertainty. A particularly important aspect of this research project is to better understand why certain creative ideas fail, i.e. do not lead to an innovation. In order to make a theory of organized creativity more robust, this project specifically aims to test and challenge prior findings by deploying three core concepts, i.e. (1) creative process, (2) organizing practices, and (3) uncertainty, in respect to failed creative processes. With this move, we aim to substantiate, validate or perhaps modify our theory of organized creativity.