Shaking up the status quo
I study the changing nature of work and its impacts on organisations, teams, and individuals. Technological advances and Covid-19 have recently made virtual work (where employees interact at a distance using technology-mediated communication) the “new normal” for most knowledge workers.
Such extensive changes in the world of work raise questions about how organising can and should happen in the future, including questions related to leadership, teamwork, and work design.
Leading creativity can be paradoxical because it often includes destruction, uncertainty, and conflicts – elements that traditional management tries to minimise in order to secure organisational functioning.
Radical or “divergent” creativity destroys the status quo, confuses the social order and organisational identity by suggesting ideas that differ substantially from an organisation’s existing practices. Incremental or “adaptive” ideas, in contrast, imply few changes in frameworks and offer only minor modifications to existing practices and products, and are therefore easier to manage.
Incremental creativity requires exploitative and efficient processes, while radical creativity requires exploration, risk-taking, and differentiation from existing practices.
Niina Nurmi
Professor of Practice, International Design Business Management
School of Business
Unfolded
Aalto University UNFOLDED magazine focuses on contemporary issues dealing with creativity, experimentation, and transdisciplinary co-creation.
Radical creativity
We enable experimental activities that challenge the status quo.
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International educational project at Aalto University funded by the TFK Programme
The Bio-Design for Low Carbon Architecture (Bio-LCArch) project is a collaborative initiative between Aalto University in Finland and Beijing Jiaotong University in China, geared toward demonstrating how bio-based materials can facilitate the construction industry's transition to net-zero emissions.
A!BP attends the 14th Nordic Symposium on Building Physics
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The company established by three anthropologists relied on strong research expertise
Etnografinen tutkimustoimisto Kenno Oy was established in 2014 when its three founders were finalising their master's degree studies at the University of Helsinki and wanted to create an interesting job for themselves.