A Psychological Taxonomy of Organizational Innovation: Resolving the Paradoxes

The process of innovation involves numerous contradictions not adequately addressed by business-oriented approaches, in particular the problem that what seem to be mutually antagonistic factors are involved. Psychological research on creativity, especially the 4 Ps (process, person, product, and press) and the paradoxes of creativity offers a framework which can be drawn upon in order to resolve these contradictions. When the Ps and the paradoxes are mapped onto a phase model of creativity expanded to go beyond generation of effective novelty to encompass implementation of the novelty, they yield a differentiated taxonomy of innovation. This offers a framework for goal-directed research, as well as insights into how to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a particular organization and into how managers can direct the innovation process in an optimal way.