Journal of Management 2004 30(4) 453–470 A Little Creativity Goes a Long Way: An Examination of Teams’ Engagement in Creative Processes Lucy L. Gilson * Department of Management, School of Business, University of Connecticut, 2100 Hillside Drive, Storrs, CT 06269-1041, USA Christina E. Shalley College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, 800 West Peachtree, Atlanta, GA 30332-0520, USA Received 10 October 2002; received in revised form 30 April 2003; accepted 25 July 2003 Using surveys and interview data this research examines teams’ engagement in creative pro- cesses. Results of cluster analysis indicated that the more creative teams were those that perceived that their tasks required high levels of creativity, were working on jobs with high task interdependence, were high on shared goals, valued participative problem-solving, and had a climate supportive of creativity. In addition, members of the more creative teams spent more time socializing with each other and had moderate amounts of organizational tenure. Implications for management are discussed. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Recently, creativity has been theorized to be a critical process necessary for individuals, groups, and organizations faced with complex and interdependent work (Drazin, Glynn & Kazanijan, 1999). Creative processes have been described as important because they can enhance the potential for creative and innovative outcomes, and possibly result in increased overall performance (Kanter, 1988). Concurrently, the teams literature has begun to more closely examine the process component of the traditional input-process-outcome framework. Work by Cohen and Bailey (1997) and Marks, Mathieu and Zacarro (2001) have sought to more clearly delineate a number of team and member characteristics that should be associated with team processes and differentiate team processes from their inputs. Based upon these recent trends in the literature, the aim of this research is to specifically examine the role of creative processes. In doing so, we hope to offer an initial empirical * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-860-486-3504; fax: +1-860-486-6415. E-mail addresses: lgilson@sba.uconn.edu (L.L. Gilson), Christina.Shalley@mgt.gatech.edu (C.E. Shalley). 0149-2063/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jm.2003.07.001