The Transformative Moments of Creativity and Innovation in Management and Organization: Identity, Subjectivity, and Engagement in the Hospitality Labour Process

Project Ref:PHDBU1702. The aim of the research project is to explore the transformative moments of creativity and innovation in the labour process. The research will focus on the synchronicities of identity, subjectivity, creativity and innovation and how these processes would impact on management and organization. As such, the research project is underpinned by three main research objectives; the critical analysis of extant knowledge on the creative transformation of labour power; the critical exploration of the impacts on the employment relationship of identity and subjectivity; and the critical examination of creative potential and output where identity and subjective would mutually reinforce interrelations in the employment relationship.

The research will take place in the context of the hospitality industry, a sector that is currently the fourth largest sector in the UK economy and that provided 256,000 jobs in Scotland in 2014 (Oxford Economics, 2015). Employees within the hospitality industry might be considered vulnerable due to improvised management, low trade union representation, and inexperienced HRM (Boella & Goss-Turner, 2013). This vulnerability may be subjugated when emotional labour would be engaged to meet both the needs of customers, and self-esteem through customer service (Boella & Goss-Turner, 2013). These tensions would require employee creativity whilst the development of “hard brands” would limit the need for personal initiative in order to deliver consistency (Boella & Goss-Turner, 2013).

A paradox emerges when the need for individual creativity is countered with HRM practices which may aim to homogenise the work force to create consistency. However identity and subjectivity as multifaceted and evolutionary would limit attempts within the employment relationship to fixity (O’Doherty, 2009). In addition, HRM practices have been shown often to be counterproductive in relation to creativity, as illustrated by Microsoft’s use of staked ranking (Allen, 2012). Therefore a critical exploration on the effects of such practices on creative identities and the scope for innovation in intensive emotional labour employment is highly relevant and significant from both the employee and organisational perspectives.

The research will be encouraged to develop ethnographic case studies within the hospitality sector that would allow for the collection of rich quantitative and/or qualitative data sets. The research would aim to explore the experiences and responses of a cross section of management and employees with key positions represented.