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As competitive pressures mount, firms are attempting to do more with less – and far more quickly. They are downsizing, using teams, and pushing the time to market. These trends promote polychronic behavior in that they require additional variety in the tasks, activities, and roles that individuals must handle simultaneously. Although evidence suggests that creativity and polychronic preferences are positively related, demands for polychronic behavior appear to be defeating – and resisted – in creative venues such as R&D. This paper addresses this apparent disjunction by focusing on the definition of polychronicity, emphasizing the critical role of agency and the need to count as activities the not particularly visible workings of the mind. The paper proposes, in part, that among creative workers, individual creativity is more related to polychronicity than to monochronicity. Further, volition will play a moderating role in that the relationship between creative performance and either chronicity will be stronger the higher personal agency is in choosing tasks and schedules.

The implementation of cross-functional teams (CFTs) is a significant organizational change. Using a multilevel perspective as a lens, we develop a conceptual framework for CFT implementation that analyzes contextual requirements, the role of interventions, and the effects on organizations. Our analysis suggests that using CFTs should be viewed as a double-edged sword: Certain management interventions are needed to unleash benefits to organizations, groups, and individuals involved in CFTs, but these interventions can produce counterproductive effects that in turn require remedial solutions. Additionally, interventions that focus on one level of CFT effectiveness can produce unintended multilevel outcomes.

In current era, firms are facing difficulties in aligning their capabilities with the hallmarks of the knowledge-intensive economy. Notwithstanding the fact that employees’ creativity ensures competitive advantage through innovation, firms are unable to reap the required level of performance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the linkage among knowledge processes, employee creativity and firm performance. Moreover, the current quantitative study measures the moderating effect of a knowledge-intensive culture on knowledge processes and employee creativity.

Surveys were conducted in eight services sector organizations operating in southern Punjab, Pakistan, and responses were obtained from 197 employees selected at random. To test the exposition using an empirical data analysis approach, three core hypotheses are drawn, and to test these hypotheses, multiple regression analyses, Preacher and Hayes (2004) mediation analysis and Aguinis (2004) guidelines were applied on 197 responses.

The results explain that knowledge processes have a positive impact on firm performance and employee creativity partially mediates their stated relationship. Moreover, a knowledge-intensive culture has a strengthening effect on the relationship between knowledge processes and employee creativity. In-depth investigation outlines that knowledge acquisition, sharing and application are more influencing processes to enhance firm performance. Furthermore, knowledge conversion and protection do not hold significant relevance with firm performance but are supportive elements for other processes.

In order to have a sustained performance, firms have to initiate steps to promote employees’ creativity by deploying an optimal mix of knowledge processes and flourish a knowledge-intensive culture in routine organizational life. Moreover, knowledge processes are important to promote creative behavior in employees that will lead to incessant innovation and firm performance.

This study gives meaningful thoughts to unexplored areas in the field of knowledge management. First, the indirect effect of knowledge processes on firm performance through employees’ creativity. Second, the importance of knowledge processes to enhance employees’ creativity in the presence of a knowledge-intensive culture. This study gets together the dynamic constructs in the field of knowledge management, such as knowledge-intensive culture and employee creativity, and describes the linkage between knowledge processes and firm performance.