The socio‐spatial nature of organisational creativity: experiences along the road toward transdisciplinarity

This paper sets out to explore characteristics of transdisciplinary organisational research in practice and in particular how the process of research may be shared and co-produced by both university and business. The case studies presented here outline recent work conducted through ‘Innovation Futures’, a Sheffield Hallam University project which aims to contribute to the development of a region-wide culture of innovation and to create strong links between businesses and the University. The multidisciplinary team, based across Sheffield Business School and the Cultural, Communication and Computing Research Institute, has worked with numerous companies from the manufacturing and service sectors in the last three years. Through a strong process of collaboration throughout the stages of problem structuring,problem investigation, and realisation of findings in practice, the work has sought to help businesses improve processes and, ultimately, performance via a range of analytical measures. By employing a holistic approach to understanding the social-cultural nature of the workspace through the integrated use of Social Network Analysis, Space Syntax and participatory design methods, managers have been able to develop a much greater level of reflexive management practice through their experiences of collaborative research. There is increasing recognition that organisational creativity is not formed through the innate attributes of the individual but is instead a wholly social process involving complex phases of interaction thus making the socio-spatial environment of the organisation, within which such phases are carried out, a key determinant of success. This environment is both shaped, and also shapes, those within it through the requirements of organisation and it is through the experience of transdisciplinary boundary spanning that both academic institution and business can help form research driven management practices.