Abstract
This edited book serves as a thorough compendium for theoretical and pragmatic aspects of team creativity and innovation. In the ever-present shift to knowledge economies, and increasing reliance on knowledge workers, this work fills an important gap in the difficult to study areas of team creativity and team innovation literature. A timely publication, in that “our challenge as researchers is to continue pushing the boundaries of understanding about how collectives work together to produce novel and useful ideas, products, processes, and other outputs” (p. 114). This book is an essential for researchers, management consultants, and creative team leaders.
As a foundation, the terms creativity and innovation are often viewed reciprocally; however, creativity relates to ideas, products, or solutions that are novel (original) and useful (high quality, meaningful) while innovation is characterized by idea generation, as well as implementation (p. 4). This book is divided into four parts. Part 1 is an introduction and overview of team creativity and innovation, defining terminology, positioning research, citing shortcomings, presentation of theoretical frameworks, and research addressing contextual elements like team size, leadership, conflict, participation, communication, and affective aspects. These paradoxical facets are complex and limit generalizable solutions for practitioners and organization leaders.
The second part of the book deals with team processes and includes diversity, problem-solving, and group social practices. This section elucidates the point that we know more about individual creativity than team creativity. Chapter 3 presents Van Knippenberg et al.’s (2004) Categorization-Elaboration Model (CEM) which aims to provide a framework for the degree and direction of individual and team performance impacts for team diversity, as well as moderating factors like categorization salience, identity threat, and motivation and ability. Team problem-solving is also a critical component to shared innovation and creativity, yet research is inconclusive with the complex processes of defining problems and selecting solutions that support firm competitive advantages. Team social processes can encourage creativity, but to a threshold—too much team interaction can inhibit team creative processes and outputs.
Part 3 looks at organizational factors. Strategy, work, people, and teams all matter, but this section emphasizes the importance of leaders on stimulating team creativity and innovation. This extraordinarily challenging role requires strong, proven, higher-order thinking and relational skills, coupled with techno-social advocacy. This section also includes an overview of organizational team creativity research and a chapter on collaboration and creativity. A multi-level theory model of collaboration is presented that includes social, intellectual, motivational, and technological infrastructure to support collaboration—working, learning, and creating.
The final section of the book contains four chapters each with pragmatic perspectives—staffing, performance management, and case studies. Hiring for creativity requires organizational cultures of innovation where mistakes and conflict are inherent and seen as part of the non-linear process. Success requires effective recruitment, broad team-based skills, and diversity. Employee training may also be a viable way to improve team creativity. Highlights include final chapter on team creativity and innovation in healthcare and terrorism.
Overall, the book provides both depth and breadth on team creativity and innovation. Field and laboratory research is leveraged along with theoretical frameworks and pragmatic professional examples. This publication is written and edited by experts and likely most useful for researchers and management consultants who are looking to implement theoretically relevant interventions and to improve the individual and organizational creative and innovation outcomes of organizations.
Evaluation
Predicated on the paradigm shifting work of Amabile et al. (1996) in examining the environment systems of stimulants and impediments for creativity, which continues to be pragmatic and thought-provoking over 20 years later. Yet, the study of team creativity and innovation is still emerging with many gaps and a need for new knowledge on many levels and within diverse contexts. The complexity of both the processes and outcomes of team creativity and innovation, coupled with the numerous variables impacting results that support competitive advantages, must be noted.
This book is comprehensive, but not exhaustive, and focuses most on creativity, less on innovation. With regard to applicability, it is difficult to recruit, develop, and lead for exceptional creativity and innovation, and outstanding creativity skills do not always transfer to good team creativity or superior creative leadership results. The book is somewhat limited in providing an appreciative description of superior innovation models, and specific development outcomes and measurements. In business, we know the value of creativity and innovation on competitive advantage, yet consistently getting increasing improvement with measurable results continues to challenge researchers and even the most adept leaders.
This book sets the foundation for further research of team creativity and innovation and begins the formal development of best practices and tools for field use. Overall, the book lives up to its title. The range, context, and expertise of chapter authorship is impressive and noteworthy. The book is clear, concise, and easy to read. Chapters are succinct and follow a consistent format which makes it an enjoyable, recommended, and easy read.