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Dynamic Perspectives on Creativity pp 189–206Cite as

Polyphonic Orchestration: The Dialogical Nature of Creativity

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Part of the book series: Creativity Theory and Action in Education ((CTAE,volume 4))

Abstract

In this chapter, we aim to propose and develop a dialogical account of creativity. While creativity is often understood as a feature of a person or products, we offer a different account. We believe creativity is not a static “object” (personal trait or product feature) but rather the dynamic and evolving quality of the relationships we develop with others within a shared cultural environment (Glăveanu VP, The creative self: effect of beliefs, self-efficacy, mindset, and identity. Academic Press, Waltham, 2017). The chapter builds on an extensive ethnographic fieldwork of innovative idea development in organisational settings. Our focus is thus on the concrete case of creativity in multidisciplinary groups in order to illustrate and develop further the concept of Polyphonic Orchestration (see Ness IJ, Eur J Innov Manag 20:557–577, 2017). The empirical research we build on showed that when leaders are open to co-construction and dialogue in the groups, the chance of succeeding in building a creative culture improves considerably. This is in contrast to the way leadership is often viewed as a set of managing strategies, almost coming in from the “outside”, to manage the creative processes. The concept of Polyphonic Orchestration portrays creativity at once, as an individual and social, personal and cultural process. This notion is central, we propose, to a dialogical account of creating as it brings forward the pre-condition of dialogue and points to the necessity of guiding the social exchanges that are at the heart of creativity.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Ingunn Johanne Ness

  2. Webster University, Bellevue, Switzerland

    Vlad Glăveanu

Authors
  1. Ingunn Johanne Ness
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  2. Vlad Glăveanu
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Correspondence to Ingunn Johanne Ness .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Ronald A. Beghetto

  2. Marconi Institute for Creativity, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Giovanni Emanuele Corazza

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Ness, I.J., Glăveanu, V. (2019). Polyphonic Orchestration: The Dialogical Nature of Creativity. In: Beghetto, R.A., Corazza, G.E. (eds) Dynamic Perspectives on Creativity. Creativity Theory and Action in Education, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99163-4_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99163-4_11

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99163-4

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