Creative Thinking In The Transition To Sustainability: A Study Of Creativity-Relevant Processes In Canadian Energy Industry Organizations
Authors: AnneMarie Dorland, Brianna Davison, Rachel Pettigrew, Joy Borromeo
Issue: 2021, Vol.7
Abstract
The resilience of energy industry organizations is increasingly dependent on their ability to develop creative and innovative pathways towards renewable and sustainable energy production. While the role of innovation in this sector is well documented, the ways in which energy industry leadership team members describe and operationalize creativity within their work practices, and the nature of the creativity-relevant processes that they use to develop new solutions to sector specific challenges remains unexamined. In this paper, we present a new understanding of the creative work of energy industry leaders, based on interviews with participants in the Canadian fossil fuel and renewable energy sectors. Using data from a qualitative interview-based study of fourteen Canadian energy leadership team members, this study employs the dynamic componential model of creativity and innovation (Amabile & Pratt, 2016) to situate the work practices of energy sector teams within a process of creativity and innovation and to identify practices that could be considered creativity-relevant within their daily work. We propose a conceptualization of the problem-solving work of energy industry leadership team members as creative, and provide evidence for the use of storytelling, conceptual prototyping, intra-organizational team discussions, and analogous inspiration searches as creativity-relevant processes.
Keywords: Creativity, energy industry, sustainability, innovation, creative practice
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Authors: AnneMarie Dorland, Brianna Davison, Rachel Pettigrew, Joy Borromeo
Issue: 2021, Vol.7
Abstract
The resilience of energy industry organizations is increasingly dependent on their ability to develop creative and innovative pathways towards renewable and sustainable energy production. While the role of innovation in this sector is well documented, the ways in which energy industry leadership team members describe and operationalize creativity within their work practices, and the nature of the creativity-relevant processes that they use to develop new solutions to sector specific challenges remains unexamined. In this paper, we present a new understanding of the creative work of energy industry leaders, based on interviews with participants in the Canadian fossil fuel and renewable energy sectors. Using data from a qualitative interview-based study of fourteen Canadian energy leadership team members, this study employs the dynamic componential model of creativity and innovation (Amabile & Pratt, 2016) to situate the work practices of energy sector teams within a process of creativity and innovation and to identify practices that could be considered creativity-relevant within their daily work. We propose a conceptualization of the problem-solving work of energy industry leadership team members as creative, and provide evidence for the use of storytelling, conceptual prototyping, intra-organizational team discussions, and analogous inspiration searches as creativity-relevant processes.
Keywords: Creativity, energy industry, sustainability, innovation, creative practice
To download the article, please click on the PDF file or read on this page below:
| Creative Thinking In The Transition To Sustainability A Study Of Creativity-Relevant Processes In Canadian Energy Industry Organizations by AnneMarie Dorland, Brianna Davison, Rachel Pettigrew, Joy Borromeo |
