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Enhancing Creativity Through “Mindless” Work: A Framework of Workday Design

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  • Kimberly D. Elsbach

    (Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616)

  • Andrew B. Hargadon

    (Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616)

Abstract

We propose that organizations use a new framework of workday design to enhance the creativity of today’s chronically overworked professionals. Although insights from creativity research have been integrated into models of work design to increase the stimulants of creativity (e.g., intrinsic motivation), this has not led to work design models that have effectively reduced the obstacles to creativity (e.g., workload pressures). As a consequence, creative output among professionals in high-workload contexts remains disappointing. In response, we offer a framework of work design that focuses on the design of entire workdays rather than the typical focus on designing either specific tasks or very broad job descriptions (e.g., as the job characteristics model in Hackman et al. 1975). Furthermore, we introduce the concept of “mindless” work (i.e., work that is low in both cognitive difficulty and performance pressures) as an integral part of this framework. We suggest that to enhance creativity among chronically overworked professionals, workdays should be designed to alternate between bouts of cognitively challenging and high-pressure work (as suggested in the original model by Hackman et al. 1975), and bouts of mindless work (as defined in this paper). We discuss the implications of our framework for theories of work design and creativity.

Suggested Citation

  • Kimberly D. Elsbach & Andrew B. Hargadon, 2006. "Enhancing Creativity Through “Mindless” Work: A Framework of Workday Design," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 470-483, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:17:y:2006:i:4:p:470-483
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1060.0193
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ouchi, William, 1981. "Theory Z: How American business can meet the Japanese challenge," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 82-83.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mehmet Güney Celbiş & Pui-Hang Wong & Karima Kourtit & Peter Nijkamp, 2021. "Innovativeness, Work Flexibility, and Place Characteristics: A Spatial Econometric and Machine Learning Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-29, December.
    2. Scott Sonenshein, 2016. "Routines and Creativity: From Dualism to Duality," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 739-758, June.
    3. Abdul Majeed & Dr. Sabarani B. Ghazali, 2018. "The Mediating Role Of Intrinsic Motivation Between Transformational Leadership And Creativity ," Acta Informatica Malaysia (AIM), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 2(1), pages 1-3, January.
    4. Shao, Yan & Nijstad, Bernard A. & Täuber, Susanne, 2019. "Creativity under workload pressure and integrative complexity: The double-edged sword of paradoxical leadership," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 7-19.
    5. Rodet, Cortney S., 2022. "Does cognitive load affect creativity? An experiment using a divergent thinking task," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    6. Lee N. Davis & Jerome D. Davis & Karin Hoisl, 2013. "Leisure Time Invention," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(5), pages 1439-1458, October.
    7. Christel Lane & Daniela Lup, 2015. "Cooking under Fire: Managing Multilevel Tensions between Creativity and Innovation in Haute Cuisine," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(8), pages 654-676, November.
    8. Isin Guler, 2018. "Pulling the Plug: The Capability to Terminate Unsuccessful Projects and Firm Performance," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 481-497, September.
    9. Cortney S. Rodet, 2021. "Experiments on creativity and work design," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 600-613, August.
    10. Martin Ratzmann & Robin Pesch & Ricarda Bouncken & Carla Martínez Climent, 2018. "The Price of Team Spirit for Sensemaking Through Task Discourse in Innovation Teams," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 321-341, June.
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