Breaking order and equilibrium to innovate

In this paper, the author explores the importance of studies on creativity in order to point out the need for a global theory on organizational creativity. Demonstrating that creative processes in the business organization context can be interpreted as processes of situated and distributed cognition in a sensemaking perspective, the paper also aims to consider the system of tools which influences these processes – called “mediating structures” - as well as the traditional levels of analysis represented by the individual-group-organization structure. Compared to previous contributions, the main theoretical thesis is that a firm’s creativity is achieved only if some of these well-established mediating structures are intentionally broken or renewed.