Highways, Alleys and By-lanes: Charting the Pathways for Ideas and Innovation in Organizations

The present paper introduces a view of how ideas develop in organizations that goes beyond the traditional focus on either individual or structural conditions for creativity and innovation. An interview study was conducted with key actors in a large Swedish telecom company. A model was then constructed where idea development is viewed as a process of combining and integrating various informal, yet powerful qualities of the organization. The paper argues that successful idea development depends on the capacity of actors and ideas to move on ‘organizational highways, alleys and by–lanes’. A number of suggestions are presented for how to stimulate the processes of creativity and innovation from this perspective.