Creativity and the art of disguise: switching between formal and informal channels in the evolution of creative projects in large organizations

The extant creativity literature suggests that creative projects evolve in organizations through either formal or informal channels. A unique of its kind longitudinal study of a creative communications campaign in a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 multinational corporation, explored how and why creative projects evolve by accessing both visible and underground (hidden) organizational channels. The findings show that creative projects used four versatile subprocesses to move along these two channels: selective concealment; strategic use of time; exploitation of hierarchical and knowledge gaps; and shared wins framing. The study informs the development of a dual-channel process theory of creative evolution with implications on creativity and project management streams of literature; and offers a practical creativity management tool for the design and implementation of creative projects in complex organizations.