scholarly journals Ambidextrous tensions: Dynamics of creative work in the media innovation process

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Virta ◽  
Nando Malmelin

This article analyses creative work in one of Europe’s largest media organizations, in which a newly formed development team was tasked with creating a new multi-platform media product. The objective of this article is to explore the dynamics of team creativity in the process of developing and managing media content innovation. To do this, this study utilizes the concept of ambidexterity for understanding multi-level tensions between the on-going media production work and innovation processes typically co-existing in media operations. The results of the analysis indicate that, due to pressures created by the routine media production, media innovations require specific focus and prioritization to succeed. This requires recognizing, balancing and managing the ambidextrous tensions between exploration and exploitation in creative media work. In addition to practical implications for management of media innovations, this study contributes to research on media innovations, particularly from the perspectives of creative work and organizational creativity.

Journalism ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 334-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nando Malmelin ◽  
Lotta Nivari-Lindström

This article explores conceptions of creativity in the media industry, specifically among professionals of journalism working in the magazine industry. It contributes to the development of the theory of creativity from a media industry perspective and produces new conceptual knowledge about creative media work. The article finds that in the magazine industry, journalistic creativity is understood as a practical and multidimensional concept that can be interpreted and applied in many different ways. The different conceptions of creativity reflect both the traditions of the journalistic profession and the challenges now faced by the media and the magazine industry. It is concluded that creative work in the magazine industry is typically goal driven, commercially minded and collaboratively oriented. Also, creative work in the magazine industry is characterized by ongoing processes of gradual reinvention. Other major creative challenges include the development of new ways of working, new media products and new commercial solutions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catharina von Koskull ◽  
Tore Strandvik ◽  
Bård Tronvoll

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on an aspect of service innovation processes that has remained fairly hidden so far, namely, the role of emotions. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use the strategizing approach from strategy research, which focusses on detailed processes, practices, and discourse, to understand the influence of emotions on service innovation processes. The empirical data stem from a longitudinal ethnographic study of a service innovation process. Findings – In the investigated case, the dominant emotion of anxiety is revealed. The authors focus on this emotion in order to explore how it affects the innovation process itself and the outcome. The authors identify five emotion-driven practices that form elements of what the authors label emotional strategizing. Practical implications – Emotion seems to give energy and direction to the service innovation process. This is both positive and challenging for top-level managers. Originality/value – The authors reveal a hidden aspect of service innovation processes – the effect of emotions. Furthermore, the authors show that emotions are important because they give energy and direction to the innovation work, and emerge in practices. Emotional strategizing, as a new term, gives visibility to this important issue.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-15

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings This research paper concentrates on how the creativity of individuals interrelates with the innovation processes and productivity of UK businesses. It was found that while creative results are difficult to consistently compartmentalize into each of the four innovation process stages, it tends to be that creative individuals add the most value in the earlier two stages of an organizational innovation project. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1207-1218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne O’Brien

While all media workers face challenges particular to flexible specialization in a networked economy, there are differences in career outcomes for men and women, which occur as a result of gendered work cultures. Within media production these gendered contexts manifest through three main factors, which compromise women workers and can eventually cause them to exit their professions mid-career. Women leave media work because of a combination of the gendered nature of work cultures, the informalisation of the sector and structural restrictions placed on women’s agency to participate in networks. The interplay of these factors ultimately creates an impossible bind for many female media workers forcing them to exit media work.


2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Phillipov

Purpose – The increasing frequency with which food and beverage producers feature in mainstream media, including television cooking shows, provide opportunities and pitfalls for using media to promote artisan food and beverage businesses. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate these, as experienced by a group of food and beverage producers who appeared on the popular Australian television show, Gourmet Farmer. Design/methodology/approach – Findings are based on semi-structured interviews with 14 of the producers featured on the show, plus textual analysis of relevant segments of the show. Findings – While all of the producers felt that food television offered a good promotional tool, those who were most familiar with the practices of media production and whose businesses offered experiences through which viewers could access (or imagine) a “taste” of the Gourmet Farmer life tended to be more satisfied than those who were less familiar with the practices of media production and who expected a greater focus on their products and production practices. Practical implications – The development of media skills is essential for artisan producers to get the best outcomes when using media to promote their businesses. Originality/value – The experiences of food and beverage producers using food television to promote their businesses have not previously been the subject of thoroughgoing research. This paper offers new insights into how artisan producers can best capitalize on the opportunities offered by food media.


2017 ◽  
Vol 107 (03) ◽  
pp. 189-193
Author(s):  
M. Röhm ◽  
T. Prof. Bauernhansl ◽  
T. Schrodi

Für eine marktgerechte Produktentwicklung gibt es in Anlehnung an das Technologie-Reifegradmodell eine Vielzahl von Ansätzen, die den Entwicklungsstand von Technologie und Markt bewerten. Um im Innovationsprozess produktionsstrategische Lücken rechtzeitig aufzuzeigen, müssen Entwicklungsprozesse von Technologie, Markt und Produktion jedoch ganzheitlich betrachtet werden. Hierfür werden unterschiedliche Reifegradmodelle gegenübergestellt, Korrelationen aufgezeigt und erfolgsentscheidende Entwicklungsstufen abgeleitet.   Based on the technology maturity model, there is a variety of approaches describing the maturity of market demand and technology in order to combine technology push and market pull perspectives. However, to be able to show strategic gaps during the innovation process, development processes of technology, market and manufacturing skills have to be viewed holistically. For this purpose, the authors present different degrees of maturity models, show correlations and derive critical fields of action.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 643-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nishant Kumar ◽  
Ali Yakhlef ◽  
Fredrik Nordin

Purpose Previous studies on innovation tend to view innovation as consisting of a creative phase of novel and useful ideas, and a non-creative, or at least a less creative phase, as this considered to be the mere implementation and validation of the initially created ideas. In contrast, this paper aims to stress on the significance of the process of validating a new idea as being a creative, learning, exploratory process that shapes the degree of novelty of the innovation as a whole. Design/methodology/approach In driving this argument, this study deductively builds on a theoretical pre-understanding derived from extant literature related to management innovation and organizational legitimacy, and inductively draws on information gleaned from three in-depth case studies. Findings The study shows that the validation phase in the innovation process is a creative process, rather than just being a set of activities that relate to the mere execution of the created ideas. Viewing the validation process as an exploratory search for new knowledge, this study establishes a relationship between the form of knowledge mobilized, vertically within an organization or horizontally from outside, and the form of legitimation required. Validation based on internally generated knowledge is effective in terms of achieving pragmatic (efficiency-driven) objectives. Inter-organizational knowledge inflows are associated with cognitive legitimacy – a form of legitimacy that leads to changes in the stakeholders’ beliefs about a the product. In contradistinction, horizontal, socio–cultural inflows of knowledge are likely to improve on the product itself, thereby generating more traction for validation. Research limitations/implications This research is based on data collected from three firms only. Practical implications The idea developed here can provide business organizations a better understanding of the validation process of management innovations. This study suggests that successful innovation often requires managers to be prepared to seek knowledge beyond the confines of their own organizations. Originality/value This study contributes in three ways: it submits that there is a dynamic interplay between the moments of creation and validation, which is largely shaped by the novelty of the mobilized knowledge, depending on whether it is internal top–down or external horizontal; relatedly, the effectiveness of validation is shaped by the novelty of the knowledge garnered to justify the initial ideas; and the present paper has extended Suchman’s (1995) framework by linking the effectiveness of the various forms of legitimacy to the source of knowledge mobilized in the validation process.


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (06) ◽  
pp. 1340016 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUSTYNA DĄBROWSKA ◽  
IRINA FIEGENBAUM ◽  
ANTERO KUTVONEN

Open innovation holds great potential for improving the efficiency of companies' innovation processes, but also presents substantial risks. A key issue in innovation management is finding the right balance of openness, i.e., determining how open companies should be in their innovation activities. However, academics and business practitioners hold conflicting notions of what constitutes open innovation practice and of how "open innovation companies" are defined. In this paper, we present three in-depth case studies of global R&D-intensive companies, where we find that the firms' perception of their openness differs from their actual situation (as determined by the innovation practices that they apply), and that each company has a different view as to what constitutes open innovation. We claim that resolving conceptual ambiguity and differentiating between openness (as a philosophical aspect) and open innovation (as a way of structuring the innovation process) in research is critical in order to clarify the current state of open innovation research and enable the communication of results to practitioners.


2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 4-6

Purpose – This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach – This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings – The great number of concepts found in literature are organized into a framework that distinguishes relevant inputs that can affect team functioning; relevant mediators for team creativity (TC) and TC outcomes. The framework is reviewed and discussed within the context of the social systems in which the team is embedded. Practical implications – The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Originality/value – The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


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