Creativity is key to flourish innovation and effective collaboration is critical to the development of entrepreneurial firms. Prof Yaping GONG and Prof Sam GARG of the Department of Management will share their research findings and thoughts on employee creativity in organizations and effective collaboration with the board for successful strategies.

Let One Hundred Flowers Blossom: Employee Creativity in Organizations

Creativity is the foundation of organization innovation that enables firms to compete in the dynamic and competitive marketplace. In this talk, Prof Yaping GONG will present research-based findings on what promote or inhibit employee creativity in the workplace. He will discuss key motivational, knowledge, and skill drivers of employee creativity (e.g., intrinsic motivation, creativity skills, observing, questioning, networking, associating, and experimenting) as well as important work environment factors (e.g., leader tolerance of failure, time pressure, workday design, and autonomy) that facilitate or inhibit creativity.

Brining Silicon Valley Inside: Effective Collaboration with the Board for Successful Strategies

Entrepreneurs need creative product, but a key challenge they face in their growth phase is managing the key internal stakeholders, in particular the board of directors. Prof Sam GARG tracked several Silicon Valley ventures with rare access to their board meetings and interviews with board members and executives. His findings and insights will be helpful to CEOs, investors and board members who are interested in effective collaboration in new ventures as well as established public firms.