Changing workplaces in the creative process in creative industries – the case of advertising and music

Abstract

Based on qualitative interviews with senior executives from advertising and the music industry, this paper argues that the organization of creative work is shaped by specific and varying workplace geographies. Work in creative industries can be understood as trans-local processes, making specific use of the physical environment of different workplaces and relating workplaces embedded in different logics to one another. The results of the study show that in the creative process, work is carried out in multi-local work arrangements. Starting with the differentiation of team and individual workplaces -derived from the literature dealing with physical environments of creativity supporting workplaces -the paper argues that a relational understanding of multi-local work arrangements should focus on the relation of 'exposure' and 'protection' provided by each workplace. Exposure and protection are densely interwoven in creative work processes, and mainly refer to the protection of working processes and thoughts from disturbances and a planned exposure to inspirational surroundings that can be realised at specific locations. The paper develops protection and exposure as mutual dependent concepts, influencing the multi-locality of workplaces.Zusammenfassung: Auf der Grundlage qualitativer Interviews mit Geschäftsführern und leitenden Angestellten aus Werbeagenturen und Musikunternehmen wird in diesem Beitrag argumentiert, dass kreative Arbeitsprozesse durch spezifische physische Arbeitsorte sowie durch den Wechsel zwischen unterschiedlichen Arbeitsorten beeinflusst sind. Arbeit in der Kreativwirtschaft wird als trans-lokaler Prozess konzeptualisiert, der in mehrere Logiken eingebunden ist und Vorteile unterschiedlicher physischer Arbeitsumgebungen nutzt. In diesem Beitrag werden Arbeitsorte mit den Konzepten "Schutz" und "Ausgesetzheit" verbunden. Einerseits ermöglicht Schutz konzentrierte Arbeitsprozesse und die Entwicklung eines kreativen Flusses durch die Bereitstellung einer störungsfreien Arbeitsumgebung oder eines Rückzugsraumes. Andererseits können Orte Arbeitende auch sozialen Konstellationen oder eher ungewöhnlichen und inspirierenden Atmosphären aussetzen, die neue Eindrücke vermitteln und Interaktionen ermöglichen, welche die Entwicklung neuer Ideen unterstützen. Schutz und Ausgesetztheit werden als relationale Facetten von Arbeitsorten konzeptualisiert, die zugleich gegenseitig voneinander abhängig sind.

‘And Since I Knew About the Possibilities There …’: The Role of Open Creative Labs in User Innovation Processes

“…Just as the user group is not strictly prescribed, the function of OCLs in specific processes is not predefined. Growe and Mager (, p. 262) point out that ‘workplaces are also associated with different phases of the creative work process’. Based on the empirical cases, the following differentiation of OCLs in innovation processes can be derived: (i) the OCL was used for one specific step; (ii) the OCL was used as one workplace among others at the same time; and (iii) the OCL was the physical centre of the innovation throughout the process.…”

“…Particularly, the latter form has received growing scholarly attention within the last years (Bathelt & Henn ; Cohendet et al ; Maskell ; Growe ). Authors also increasingly study the ‘micro‐geography’ (Flögel & Zademach ; Growe & Mager ) of places and its effect on knowledge creation, the function of places as material ‘archives’ conserving aspects of previous creative activities (Sjöholm ), or the interplay of different places in daily work routines (Brennan‐Horley ). Even though the single foci of the cited works are diverse, they all reflect on the importance of local sites in processes of knowledge creation.…”

Creativity-enhancing work environments: Eventisation through an inspiring work atmosphere in temporary proximity

“…Studies dealing with creative processes and the physical environment argue that varying and flexible workplaces (Haner 2005;Allen/Henn 2007;Growe/ Mager 2018) are important in providing a feeling of security (Martens 2011) and in encouraging curiosity (Lewis/Moultrie 2005). Recommendations about providing varying and flexible workplaces mainly cover the availability of different workplaces that either enable interaction (Haner 2005;Lee 2016) or provide private spaces to promote 'flow' (Csikszentmihalyi 2010) in creative work.…”

“…The importance of the possibility to retreat from the everyday working context is also confirmed in the literature (see Growe 2018a). However, not only the bare possibility to retreat is important here, but the possibility to work in a specific place with a work-supporting environment that, however, may differ between the work processes (Flögel/Zademach 2017;Growe/Mager 2018). "The physical environment is important.…”

“…Here, not only does the unusual atmosphere play a special role in itself, but unusual materials that are rarely used in everyday working contexts can also help to break through well-worn and habitual thought patterns (see also Growe/Mager 2018). "Of course, that's inspiringother furniture, other smells, other….…”