Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

4.3 Managing knowledge and creativity
Selvi Kannan
Zack (2003) states <strong>the</strong> end product <strong>of</strong> creative thought as: “Products and services are only what are
visible or tangible to customers - <strong>the</strong>y’re <strong>the</strong> tip <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> iceberg. But like <strong>the</strong> iceberg, most <strong>of</strong> what
enables a company to produce anything lies below <strong>the</strong> surface, hidden within <strong>the</strong> so-called invisible
assets <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organization - its knowledge about what it does, how it does it, and why.” (Zack, 2003,
p.67)
Creativity as Amabile (1998) describes is a way people think, inventively and imaginatively and draw
on <strong>the</strong>ir expertise and motivation. Bruner (1962) defined creativity as "effective surprise"; "shock <strong>of</strong>
recognition", "product <strong>of</strong> response". Some contemporary <strong>the</strong>orists define creativity as a process that
is evidenced in persons (Stein, 1974-1975). Creativity does tap into <strong>the</strong> tacit knowledge <strong>of</strong> an
individual, because even though creativity requires originality, <strong>the</strong> idea must be valuable and
appropriate for widespread acceptance (Sternberg and Lubart, 1991:3). For it to be valuable and to
create a leap difference, creativity requires <strong>the</strong> knowledge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> past; such as best practices and
routinized rules <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m (Malhotra, 1999).
How experts can help with creativity? Expertise encompasses an individual's knowledge and what
he/she can do in <strong>the</strong> broad domain <strong>of</strong> work and <strong>the</strong> ability to think to solve problems (Amabile, 1998),
especially at <strong>the</strong> initial idea conceptualization stage. Amabile (1998) substantiates fur<strong>the</strong>r that
expertise and creative thinking is an individual's natural resources. This is where <strong>the</strong> expert's tacit
knowledge embroiled with <strong>the</strong> organisational culture and process such as <strong>the</strong> "know-how", "knowwhat"
becomes important. Scholars Amabile (1983),
Sternberg et al, (1997) and Hargadon & Sutton (2000) agree how ideas generated by domainspecialists
and <strong>the</strong>ir past ideas are important in <strong>the</strong> generation <strong>of</strong> new ideas. Figure 1 illustrates how
individuals work within <strong>the</strong> innovative creative space creating organisational knowledge. The
organisational knowing enhances when knowledge is captured and sustained through knowledge
management systems in organisations. Regeneration and experiment can <strong>the</strong>n occur with fewer
barriers as <strong>the</strong> organisational knowing gets stored and continuously used and sensemaking occurs. It
is at stage 3 <strong>of</strong> regeneration where brainstorming and lateral thinking that normally involves a creative
session for experts and novices to engage in a relatively high tacit exchange. This stage heightens
conflict levels, where barriers are faced.
Figure 1: Organisational Knowledge And Creativity Cycle (Adapted from Hargadon & Sutton (2000)
Knowledge Brokering Cycle)
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