Publications

24 Apr 2014
News

Employees crave meaningful progress in their work and find joy in making an impact

“Even incremental small wins can contribute to what we call positive inner work life,” says Teresa Amabile, Baker Foundation Professor. Amabile’s current research focuses on the psychology of everyday work life: how events in the... View Details

2013
Working Paper

Helping You Help Me: The Role of Diagnostic (In)congruence in the Helping Process within Organizations

By: Colin M. Fisher, Julianna Pillemer and Teresa M. Amabile

Through an inductive, multi-method field study at a major design firm, we investigated the helping process in project work and how that process affects the success of a helping episode, as perceived by help-givers and/or -receivers. We used daily diary entries and... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Knowledge Management; Performance; Cooperation

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2009
Chapter

Creativity, Improvisation, and Organizations

By: Colin M. Fisher and Teresa M. Amabile

Although the literatures on both organizational creativity and organizational improvisation have been expanding in recent years, the links between these literatures have not been deeply explored. This chapter explores those links to create a conceptualization of... View Details

Keywords: Body of Literature; Innovation and Invention; Organizational Culture; Research; Creativity; Theory

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27 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, February 27, 2018

Academy of Management Journal Deep Help in Complex Project Work: Guiding and Path-clearing Across Difficult Terrain By: Fisher, Colin M., Julianna Pillemer, and Teresa M. View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Mar 2008
News

THE 6 MYTHS OF CREATIVITY

Creativity’s reputation as a mysterious, unknowable trait (something of a myth in itself) has led to some erroneous ideas about what it is and how it functions in organizations. Here, Professor Teresa View Details

Keywords: Arts, Sports, Language, Driving, and Other Schools; Educational Services; Management

Web

Globalization - Faculty & Research

2030s: Toward a Realistic Scenario for Coexistence , edited by Chris Chivvis, C. Fred Bergsten, Edoardo Campanella, John Culver, Rosemary Foot, M. Taylor Fravel, Eric Heginbotham, Evan S. Medeiros, Meg... View Details

Web

AASU50 - Alumni

Kimberly A. Kispert, MBA 1981 George L. Van Amson, MBA 1982 Kym M. Nelson, MBA 1983 George Ellis, MBA 1984 Gail S. Morales, MBA 1985 Robert R. Davenport III, MBA 1986 Stuart A. Taylor, II, MBA 1987 Arnold J. Lewis, MBA 1988 Belinda C.... View Details

April 2001
Article

Beyond Talent: John Irving and the Passionate Craft of Creativity

By: T. M. Amabile

Although laypeople and creativity theorists often make the assumption that individual creativity depends primarily on talent, there is considerable evidence that hard work and intrinsic motivation-which can be supported or undermined by the social environment-also play... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Performance; Performance Improvement; Motivation and Incentives; Personal Characteristics; Situation or Environment

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26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52652 In Pursuit of Everyday Creativity By: Amabile, Teresa M. Abstract—Creativity researchers have long paid careful attention to individual creativity,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2004 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Lumen and Absorb Teams at Crutchfield Chemical Engineering, The

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Elizabeth Schatzel

Large discrepancies have developed between two elite technology development teams at Crutchfield Chemical Engineering in terms of motivation and creativity. To investigate, Paul Burke, director of corporate technology development, commissioned a study of the day-by-day... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Managerial Roles; Projects; Groups and Teams; Behavior; Creativity; Motivation and Incentives

November 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Creativity under the Gun at Litmus Corporation

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Yana Litovsky

Teaches students to diagnose the circumstances under which time pressure can facilitate or hinder creativity. A team's creative "genius", Miles Grady, who previously conceptualized a revolutionary material for an important new product, must now significantly change... View Details

Keywords: Situation or Environment; Creativity; Innovation and Management; Problems and Challenges

2022
Article

The Turn Toward Creative Work

By: Spencer Harrison, Elizabeth D. Rouse, Colin M. Fisher and Teresa M. Amabile

In this Academy of Management Collections essay, we curate a set of articles from the Academy of Management family of journals that showcase the evolution of creativity research within organizational scholarship. The articles reveal a shift from the study of... View Details

Keywords: Creative Work; Creative Process; Creativity; Organizational Culture

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July 1995 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Cambridge Technology Partners (A)

By: Teresa M. Amabile, George P. Baker III and Michael Beer

Cambridge Technology Partners uses a highly innovative product strategy, supported by a human resources strategy, that has been very successful. However, high growth rates jeopardize product quality while tension about relative compensation levels between sales and... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Compensation and Benefits; Organizational Culture; Quality; Human Resources; Relationships; Innovation and Invention; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

02 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 2

PublicationsThe Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work Authors:Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer Publication:Harvard Business Press, 2011 Abstract The... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2012
Article

How Leaders Kill Meaning at Work

By: Teresa Amabile and Steven J. Kramer

Senior executives routinely undermine creativity, productivity, and commitment by damaging the inner work lives of their employees in four avoidable ways. This article is based on analysis of hundreds of work diaries from professionals describing everyday events that... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Creativity; Performance Productivity; Motivation and Incentives; Innovation Strategy; Performance; Strategic Planning; Leading Change; Balanced Scorecard; Mission and Purpose