The routines of creation: crafting training to achieve better creation

Thesis defended on the 2 th of March 2015

Abstract :

"Creative industries” seem to demonstrate a permenant capacity to adapt and reinvent themselves. Though seldom studied in management, these industries today, serve as research platforms for new management practice, better adapted to uncertainty and change.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the paradox of organised creation through the study of the origins, characteristics and effects of routines and of their close link with creative industries. The terms "routine" and "creation" are contradictory: “routine” implies the standardisation and stability of behavior, while “creation” assumes a high level of uncertainty and changes in the course of an activity. Nevertheless, the "routines of creation” cover a reality on both an individual and organisational level: the daily life of a creator is organised around daily rituals and thus, naturally, "creative industries" use processes and structures to organize collective creation. Our study is based on an in-depth analysis of how “training” serves as a mechanism to transfer routine in the following three case studies: the training of artists in the Cirque du Soleil, the design academy at Ubisoft and the Equestrian Show Academy of Versailles.

The results of this study lead us to argue that not only is there no contradiction between creation and routine, but that the transfer of routines of creation contributes to an organisation’s ability to incorporate flexibility favorable to creativity. More precisely, the following three main findings support this argument. First, we observe that an organisation emerges and develops from it’s creator vision, through a recruitment strategy and training system. Second, we characterise the “routines of creation” through two types of routines: macro-routines, a knowledge transfer mechanism of the creator’s vision to support and maintain the identity of the creations of the organisation, and micro-routines that drive change within the organisation by providing an environment favourable to talent development. Third, it appears that the transfer of these routines serves as a source of "resilience" for the company's creation, i.e. its ability to persist and multiply its success over time.

Mots clés : creative industries, routines, training, transfer, résilience

Composition of jury: