Supporting Creativity and Learning at Work : Practices and Structures from Growth Companies

Abstract

The constant change embedded in contemporary working life requires employees and organisations alike to continuously learn and, simultaneously, adapt and be creative. The potential to attract, manage and engage creative people, as well as support learning, has become increasingly important in organisational contexts. It is essential to recognise what the underlying learning theories are and how they connect with the current understanding of creativity. It is also important to study different manifestations of creativity and learning and reactively and proactively discover ways of supporting and developing both aspects in contemporary organisations. In this chapter, we first present our approach to learning and creativity and their connection in the context of working life. Then we introduce and discuss four studies on structural and practical frames supporting creativity and learning in growth companies. These studies were carried out as part of a larger research and development project on human resources management (HRM) supporting creativity and learning in Finnish growth companies (HeRMo project). Both quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interview data were utilised, and a variety of analytical tools were employed. The project examined the impact of organisational structures, supervisory work and climate on collective creativity; revealed challenges for workplace learning posed by a self-directed organisational structure; highlighted human resources development (HRD) practices supporting creativity and; made visible the practices and conflicts experienced by HRM when dealing with employee and team operations. Based on the previous literature and the findings of our research project, we have formed four conclusions that focus on supporting creativity and learning at work: (1) Creativity and learning are collective and informal phenomena at work, (2) A variety of structures and practices enable creativity and learning at work, (3) Both, equality and employee orientation in structures and practices are important, (4) Context-specific examination of creativity, learning and supporting practices is needed.