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Richard W. Woodman: Creativity and Change

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The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers

Abstract

Richard (Dick) W. Woodman is a unique contemplative scholar who built his name in the field with his scholarship as well as his charming personality and satirical nature. The following chapter covers Dick’s personal history starting with growing up in rural Oklahoma, followed by his service in the US Army, and then his extended contributions to the profession. We discuss his life experiences and some of his lasting influences on the field. Early in his career, Dick helped popularize the concept of creativity in the field of management and organizational behavior by publishing one of the most highly cited and still actively researched theories on organizational creativity (Woodman, Sawyer, & Griffin, Acad Manag Rev 18:293–321, 1993). This was followed with several other important streams of scholarship including an emphasis on bridging scholars and practitioners as well as a focus on strengthening methodologies in organizational change research. In addition to this scholarship, Dick has also directly shaped the direction of research and practice in organizational change and development over the last 30 years as editor of two of the most influential publications: The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science and Research in Organizational Change and Development. We end this essay with a discussion of his lasting legacy in the change arena. Although recently retiring from a 38-year career as an endowed professor at Texas A&M, Dick continues to write and contribute to change scholarship. He encourages us to strengthen change research methodology, and his legacy of scholarship on creativity and change provides the conceptual basis for ongoing research with the interactionist model of creativity. He also challenges the field with two fundamental issues/questions: (1) individual changeability – how does the organization affect, and how do individuals change during and following episodes where an organization attempts to change? and (2) a temporal model of change – how might the field better incorporate an understanding of temporality and change in order to extend beyond the Lewin model by creating a more dynamic process model of change?

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Further Reading

  • Bartunek, J. M., & Woodman, R. W. (2012). The spirits of organization development, or why OD lives despite its pronounced death. In K. Cameron & G. Spreitzer (Eds.), Handbook of positive organizational scholarship (pp. 727–736). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartunek, J. M., & Woodman, R. W. (2015). Beyond Lewin: Towards a temporal approximation of organization development and change. In F. P. Morgeson, H. Aguinis, & S. J. Ashford (Eds.), Annual review of organizational psychology and organizational behavior (Vol. 2, pp. 157–182). Palo Alto: Annual Reviews.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chakrabarty, S., & Woodman, R. W. (2009). Relationship creativity in collectives at multiple levels. In T. Rickards, M. Runco, & S. Moger (Eds.), The Routledge companion to creativity (pp. 189–205). London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kilbourne, L. M., & Woodman, R. W. (1999). Barriers to organizational creativity. In R. Purser & A. Montuori (Eds.), Social creativity in organizations (pp. 125–150). Cresskill: Hampton Press.

    Google Scholar 

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    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lau, C. M., Kilbourne, L. M., & Woodman, R. W. (2003). A shared schema approach to understanding organizational culture change. In W. A. Pasmore & R. W. Woodman (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development (Vol. 14, pp. 225–256). Oxford: Elsevier Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMahan, G. C., & Woodman, R. W. (1992). The current practice of organization development within the firm: A survey of large industrial corporations. Group & Organization Management, 17, 117–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasmore, W. A., Woodman, R. W., & Simmons, A. L. (2008). Toward a more rigorous, reflective, and relevant science of collaborative management research. In A. B. Shani, N. Adler, S. A. Mohrman, W. A. Pasmore, & B. Stymne (Eds.), Handbook of collaborative management research (pp. 567–582). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

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    Google Scholar 

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    Google Scholar 

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    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodman, R. W. (2013). The interactionist model of organizational creativity. In E. H. Kessler (Ed.), Encyclopedia of management theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodman, R. W. (2014a). The role of internal validity in evaluation research on organizational change interventions. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 50, 40–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodman, R. W. (2014b). The science of organizational change and the art of changing organizations. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 50, 463–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodman, R. W., & Bartunek, J. M. (2013). Commentary: Change processes and action implications. In S. Oreg, A. Michel, & R. By (Eds.), The psychology of organizational change: Viewing change from the employees’ perspective (pp. 301–323). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

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    Google Scholar 

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    Google Scholar 

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    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Woodman, R. W., & Schoenfeldt, L. F. (1990). An interactionist model of creative behavior. Journal of Creative Behavior, 24, 279–290.

    Google Scholar 

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    Google Scholar 

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  • Woodman, R. W., & Tolchinsky, P. D. (1985). Expectation effects: Implications for organization development. In D. D. Warrick (Ed.), Contemporary organization development: Current thinking and applications (pp. 477–487). Glenview: Scott Foresman.

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  • Woodman, R. W., Sawyer, J. E., & Griffin, R. W. (1993). Toward a theory of organizational creativity. Academy of Management Review, 18, 293–321.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodman, R. W., Bingham, J. B., & Yuan, F. (2008). Assessing organization development and change interventions. In T. G. Cummings (Ed.), Handbook of organization development (pp. 187–215). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodman, R. W., & Wayne, S. J. (1985). An investigation of positive-findings bias in evaluation of organization development interventions. Academy of Management Journal, 28, 889–913.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan, F., & Woodman, R. W. (2007). Formation of expectations regarding change outcomes: Integrating information and social effects. In W. A. Pasmore & R. W. Woodman (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development (Vol. 16, pp. 81–104). Oxford: Elsevier.

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  • Yuan, F., & Woodman, R. W. (2010). Innovative behavior in the workplace: The role of performance and image outcome expectations. Academy of Management Journal, 53, 323–342.

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  • Zhou, J., & Woodman, R. W. (2003). Manager’s recognition of employees’ creative ideas: A social-cognitive model. In L. V. Shavinina (Ed.), International handbook on innovation (pp. 631–640). Oxford: Elsevier Science.

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Thundiyil, T.G., Manning, M.R. (2017). Richard W. Woodman: Creativity and Change. In: Szabla, D.B., Pasmore, W.A., Barnes, M.A., Gipson, A.N. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52878-6_64

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