In the face of a widespread innovation and creativity imperative, efforts to promote creative processes through active organizing are growing. Since then, research and practice have been concerned with the question of how emergent processes driven by randomness and unpredictability can be intentionally controlled, coordinated and sustained. It is clear that organization limits creativity on the one hand, but on the other hand also makes it possible. Organizing goes far beyond the selection of "creative people" and their integration into teams. Formal and informal organization-wide structures are at least as important - not only of the corresponding organizational units such as laboratories, studios or workshops as supposed places of the creative, but organization-wide norms such as a high tolerance for errors or practices such as the spontaneous provision of time and financial resources in the event of a creative idea. Some even speak of "creativity routines" that allow some organizations to constantly generate new ideas. In addition, as creative work increasingly involves external actors such as agencies, engineering service providers, or freelancers, practices that allow cross-organizational structures such as networks, clusters, or communities to be integrated into creative processes are also important. These and similar questions were addressed in the context of the DFG research group "Organized Creativity", in which 15 researchers from various universities in Germany and Austria are investigating the organization of creative processes with a view to dealing with uncertainties, using the music industry and pharmaceutical research as examples. This research is currently being continued as part of the FWF project "Entrainment: Temporal Structuring of Creative Projects". Furthermore, we looked at regional innovation dynamics in the project "Innovation City Linz".

Selected Publications:

Schüßler, E., Schiemer, B., Theel, T.:
Regulating Nimbus and Focus: Organizing Copresence for Creative Collaboration, in Organization Studies, 2022

Schiemer, B., Duffner, R., Ayers, S.:
Theories of Creativity: The Significance of the Insignificant. A Graphic Novel, in Sociologica, 2021

Schiemer B., Duffner R., Ayers S.:
Theories of Creativity: The Significance of the Insignificant. Research Note: methodological Reflections behind the Scenes, in Sociologica, 2021

Schüßler E., Svejenova S., Cohendet P.:
Organizing creativity for innovation: Situated practices and process perspectives, in Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2021

Mangematin V., Sapsed J., Schüßler E.:
Digital Technology and Creative Industries: Disassembly and Reassembly, Serie Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 83, 2021

Schüßler E., Cohendet P., Svejenova S.:
Organizing Creativity in the Innovation Journey, Serie Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 75, Emerald, 2021

Duffner R.: 
Push Button, in Timon Beyes ;Robin Holt ;Claus Pias: The Oxford handbook of media, technology, and organization studies, Serie The Oxford Handbook, Oxford University Press, Oxford, Seite(n) 356-368, 2020

Schiemer B., Schüßler E., Grabher G.: 
Collaborative innovation online: Entanglements of making content, skills, and community on a songwriting platform, in Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Serie Managing Inter-Organizational Relations - Process Views, Vol. 64, Seite(n) 293–316, 2019

Schüßler E., Sydow J.: 
Organisierte Kreativität Möglichkeiten der Routinisierung kreativer Prozesse, in Austrian Management Review, 2019

Schüßler E., Sydow J.: 
Praktiken des Umgangs mit Unsicherheit in kreativen Prozessen, in Minx, E.: 19. Innovationsforum der Daimler und Benz Stiftung Organisierte Kreativität – Vom Umgang mit Unsicherheit in kreativen Prozessen, Serie Innovationsforum Daimler und Benz-Stiftung, 2019

Heimstädt M., Reischauer G.:
Framing Innovation Practices in Interstitial Issue Fields: Open Innovation in the NYC Administration., opens an external URL in a new window in Innovation: Organization and Management, 21(1): 128-150, 2019

Schüßler E., Schiemer B.: 
Innovation und Organisation: Blättel-Mink, B./Schulz-Schaeffer, I./Windeler, A. (Hg.) Handbuch Innovationsforschung. Sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven, Serie Handbuch Innovationsforschung, Spinger VS, Wiesbaden, Seite(n) 1-16, 2019

Schüßler E., Sydow J.: 
Organisierte Kreativität Möglichkeiten der Routinisierung kreativer Prozesse, in Austrian Management Review, 2019

Lange B., Schüßler E.: 
Unpacking the middleground of creative cities: spatiotemporal dynamics in the configuration of the Berlin design field, in Regional Studies, Vol. 52, Nr. 11, Seite(n) 1548-1558, 2018

Sydow J., Schüßler E.: 
Auftakt – Kreativität und Innovation, in Minx, E.: Innovationsforum Daimler und Benz-Stiftung, Serie Innovationsforum Daimler und Benz-Stiftung, Vol. 2018, Berlin, 2018

Schüßler E., Sydow J.: 
Formen organisationsübergreifender kreativer Prozesse: Offenheit durch Geschlossenheit? Organisierte Kreativität, Serie Innovationsforum Daimler und Benz Stiftung, 2018

Schüßler E., Sydow J.: 
Kreative Offenheit durch Geschlossenheit?: Offenheit durch Geschlossenheit? Organisierte Kreativität, 2018

Grabher G., Melchior A., Schiemer B., Sydow J., Schüßler E.: 
From being there to being aware: Confronting geographical and sociological imaginations of copresence, in Environment & Planning A, Vol. 50, Nr. 1, Seite(n) 245-255, 2018

Heimstädt M., Reischauer G.:
Open (ing up) for the future: Practising open strategy and open innovation to cope with uncertainty,, opens an external URL in a new window in How Organizations Manage the Future, 113-131, 2018

Reischauer G.:
Industry 4.0 as Policy-Driven Discourse to Institutionalize Innovation Systems in Manufacturing, opens an external URL in a new window. in Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 132: 26-33, 2018

Fortwengel J., Schüßler E., Sydow J.: 
Studying organizational creativity as process: Fluidity or duality?, in Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol. 26, Nr. 1, Seite(n) 5-16, 2017

Dammayr M., Gegenhuber T., Graß D., Altrichter H., Aulenbacher B., Bauer R.: 
Legitime Leistungspolitiken? Governance und Gerechtigkeit in Schule, Altenpflege und Kreativwirtschaft, in WSI-Mitteilungen, Vol. 69, Nr. 7, Seite(n) 540-546, 2016

Schüßler E., Sydow J.: 
Organizing events for configuring and maintaining creative fields: Oxford Handbook of Creative Industries, Seite(n) 284-300, 2015

Schüßler E., Grabher G., Müller-Seitz G.: 
Field-configuring events: Arenas for innovation and learning?, in Industry and Innovation, Seite(n) 165-172, 2015

Valliere D., Gegenhuber T.: 
Entrepreneurial remixing: bricolage and postmodern resources, in International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Vol. 15, Nr. 1, Seite(n) 5-15, 2014

Dobusch L., Schüßler E.: 
Copyright reform and business model innovation: Regulatory propaganda at German music industry conferences, in Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 83, Seite(n) 24-39, 2014

Dobusch L., Schüßler E.: 
Copyright reform and business model innovation: Regulatory propaganda at German music industry conferences, in Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 83, Seite(n) 24-39, 2014

Mangematin V., Sapsed J., Schüßler E.: 
Disassembly and reassembly: An introduction to the Special Issue on digital technology and creative industries, in Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 83, Seite(n) 1-9, 2014

Lange B., Bürkner H., Schüßler E.: 
Akustisches Kapital. Perspektiven auf veränderte Wertschöpfungskonfigurationen in der Musikwirtschaft: Akustisches Kapital: Wertschöpfung in der Musikwirtschaft, Seite(n) 9-41, 2013