Publications

03 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 3

PublicationsThe Power of Small Wins Authors:Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer Publication:Harvard Business Review 89, no. 5 (May 2011) Abstract What is the best way to motivate employees to do creative work? Help them take a step... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 4, 2018

2018 Individual Creativity in the Workplace An Integrated Model of Dynamic Problem Solving within Organizational Constraints By: Cromwell, Johnathan R., Teresa M. Amabile, and Jean-François Harvey Abstract—Rapid technological change,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2008
Article

Creativity and the Role of the Leader

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Mukti Khaire

In today's innovation-driven economy, understanding how to generate great ideas has become an urgent managerial priority. Suddenly, the spotlight has turned on the academics who've studied creativity for decades. How relevant is their research to the practical... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Commercialization; Managerial Roles; Creativity; Innovation and Management; Social and Collaborative Networks; Diversity

26 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Corporate Field Researchers Share Tricks of the Trade

Forming A Research Partnership Teresa Amabile discussed a comprehensive field study in which her research team collected confidential, personal work diaries from 238 white-collar employees at seven disparate... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2012
Working Paper

Componential Theory of Creativity

The componential theory of creativity is a comprehensive model of the social and psychological components necessary for an individual to produce creative work. The theory is grounded in a definition of creativity as the production of ideas or outcomes that are both... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Theory; Social Psychology; Organizational Culture

Read Now

24 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurial Hospital Pioneers New Model

roll out a similar model beyond India—maybe even into Europe and the U.S. What's the secret? According to HBS professor Tarun Khanna, the success of the hospital, called Narayana Hrudayalaya, is due to the vision and tireless work of a... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

14 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Pay-for-Performance Doesn’t Always Pay Off

on Thirteen Natural Experiments, Beer also outlined the controversies surrounding traditional pay versus pay-for-performance. Some scholars assert that pay becomes an entitlement, and an employee's pay is based on her level and not her actual performance. Others,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

January 1996
Background Note

The Motivation for Creativity in Organizations

People will be most creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, enjoyment, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself--when they are driven by a deep involvement in their work and a passion for it. This note describes the ways in which creativity... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Managerial Roles; Organizations; Creativity; Motivation and Incentives; Satisfaction

Educators

11 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

Women Entrepreneurs Usher in the Next Generation

entrepreneurs discussing women's often uneasy relationship with money and power. Their panel session, titled "Women and Entrepreneurship in Contemporary America," held on October 25 as part of the two-day conference, was moderated by HBS View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

July 2012
Class Lecture

The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work

What really makes people happy, motivated, productive, and creative at work? Professor Amabile's research, based on analyzing nearly 12,000 daily diaries of team members working on collaborative projects, reveals some surprising answers. Inner work life—a person's... View Details

Keywords: Employee Motivation; Fostering Performance; Improving Creativity; The Importance Of Progress; Employee Attitude; Enhancing Work Life; Improving Productivity; Inner Work Life; Motivation and Incentives; Working Conditions; Creativity; Performance Productivity; Attitudes; Employees

03 Oct 2023
Research Event

Build the Life You Want: Arthur Brooks and Oprah Winfrey Share Happiness Tips

View Video “Are you happy?” asks Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg of happiness expert Arthur C. Brooks. “Next question,” Brooks jokes, before answering: “No one is. Happiness is not a destination. It’s a direction.” In this video, Brooks, a View Details

Keywords: by HBS Staff

May 2011
Article

The Power of Small Wins

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer

What is the best way to motivate employees to do creative work? Help them take a step forward every day. In an analysis of knowledge workers' diaries, the authors found that nothing contributed more to a positive inner work life (the mix of emotions, motivations, and... View Details

January 1996
Background Note

Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

Creativity, the production of new and useful ideas by individuals or teams, can appear in many forms and many functions within firms of all kinds--from entrepreneurial start-ups to well-established enterprises. This note describes the varieties of creativity in... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Design; Situation or Environment; Creativity

Educators

September 2020
Article

Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, and a World of Surprises

In recent years, progress has been made toward AI Creativity, which I define as the production of highly novel, yet appropriate, ideas, problem solutions, or other outputs by autonomous machines. I argue that organizational researchers of creativity and innovation... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; AI Creativity; Computer Science; Organizational Behavior; Psychology; Creativity; Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning