Creativity is important in reforming organisations and developing business operation

The role and position of creativity in the media industry have changed. This was discovered in the research project ‘Creative leadership in media management’, lead by Professor of Practice Nando Malmelin from the Aalto University School of Business. The project analysed media professionals’ thinking about creativity and the concepts that govern this thinking.

According to the study, the conditions for creative journalism have weakened, as professionals of journalistic work find that there is less and less time for creative thinking and generating new ideas. Striving for commercial success is emphasised in creative work.

In the development of the magazine industry, the focus of creative activity is moving from individual-based creation of journalistic content to developing new concepts, forms and channels of publication. Creativity is also considered important when media organisations and operating methods are renewed, which emphasises the importance of creativity management and collaboration between the operations. 

The survey studied the conceptions of creativity among the editorial staff in the Finnish magazine industry. The three largest companies in the magazine industry in Finland participated in the study: Sanoma Magazines, Otava Media and A-lehdet Oy.

The research project was funded by the Helsingin Sanomat Säätiö foundation and it was implemented at the unit of Organisational Communications of the Department of Management Studies at the School of Business.

A book edited by Malmelin and Mikko Villi has also been published on the research project: Mediajohtaminen – Näkökulmia uudistuvaan media-alaan (‘Media management – Perspectives on the reforming media industry‘, Gaudeamus, 2015).

The results of the study have been published in the following articles:

1. Malmelin, Nando & Nivari-Lindström, Lotta (2015): Rethinking creativity in journalism: Implicit theories of creativity in the Finnish magazine industry. Journalism, 2015, DOI: 10.1177/1464884915620272.
   http://jou.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/12/23/1464884915620272.abstract
2. Malmelin, Nando (2015): Luova tuho? Luovuuden asema media-alan käytännöissä ja tutkimuksessa. Media & viestintä, 38(1), 2015.
   https://journal.fi/mediaviestinta/article/view/62105

Further info:
Nando Malmelin
Professor of Practice
Aalto University School of Business
tel. 040 524 8094
nando.malmelin@aalto.fi