Title: An evolutionary perspective on managing the ephemeral architecture of organisational creativity

Authors: Stephen Dobson; Dermot Breslin

Addresses: Sheffield Business School, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, S1 1WB, UK ' Management School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1 4DT, UK

Abstract: Information is widely acknowledged as a primary resource for the 21st century organisation. Strategies for managing information - its acquisition, communication, use, storage, retrieval and architecture - have gained much attention in literature and practice. We argue here that adaptability, primarily through creative innovation, is emerging as an equally critical resource ensuring organisational survival and expansion. However, mapping the processes and human activity systems which form this altogether more ephemeral architecture is a more problematic area of management. Here we principally draw upon evolutionary approaches as a useful means to further enrich the theory of 'soft' systems. In doing so we aim to provide a viewpoint from which to conceptualise the tacit complexity of organisational innovation as a human activity system supporting the transformation and evolution of ideas.

Keywords: network analysis; evolutionary approach; adaptability; creative innovation; human activity systems; organisational creativity; information management; soft systems; tacit complexity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBE.2013.052088

International Journal of Business Environment, 2013 Vol.5 No.4, pp.413 - 429

Received: 03 Nov 2012
Accepted: 03 Nov 2012
Published online: 29 Jul 2014 *

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