When Thinking-Outside-The-Box becomes the Box
(2026) BUSN49 20261Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Abstract
Title: When Thinking-Outside-The-Box becomes the Box - Deconstructing the Paradox of Creative Freedom and Organizational Control
Course: BUSN49, Degree Project in Managing People, Knowledge and Change
Authors: Katharina Ljung, Ronja Gabriela Maier
Supervisor: Stephan Schaefer (PhD)
Purpose: This study examines whether the relationship between creative freedom and organizational control, widely theorized as a paradox, comes to be perceived as an objective feature of organizational life or a discursive accomplishment produced and sustained through the language and practices of organizational actors.
Methodology: The study adopts a qualitative research design grounded in a social constructivist ontology and an... (More) - Abstract
Title: When Thinking-Outside-The-Box becomes the Box - Deconstructing the Paradox of Creative Freedom and Organizational Control
Course: BUSN49, Degree Project in Managing People, Knowledge and Change
Authors: Katharina Ljung, Ronja Gabriela Maier
Supervisor: Stephan Schaefer (PhD)
Purpose: This study examines whether the relationship between creative freedom and organizational control, widely theorized as a paradox, comes to be perceived as an objective feature of organizational life or a discursive accomplishment produced and sustained through the language and practices of organizational actors.
Methodology: The study adopts a qualitative research design grounded in a social constructivist ontology and an interpretivist epistemology, drawing on poststructuralist discourse theory as its primary analytical framework. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of the research and development department at Saucylicious, a food industry organization. The empirical material was analyzed through discourse analysis, organized around three analytical dimensions: construction and definition of creativity, the
perception of creative freedom and motivation, and processes, structures, and constraints.
Theoretical Perspective: Drawing on social constructivist and post-structuralist perspectives, the study examines how organizational discourse shapes what creativity is allowed to mean and how the freedom-control paradox is produced, normalized, and perceived. Central to this framework are a sensitizing concept of creativity as a social achievement, a multilevel
understanding of organizational power, and an understanding of the freedom-control paradox as a discursive accomplishment sustained through normative control.
Findings and Conclusion: The findings suggest that creativity at Saucylicious is defined in predominantly instrumental terms, with little variation across employees. It is pointing toward a normalized organizational discourse where alternative understandings of creativity seem out
of place. The freedom-control paradox does not emerge as a stable, pre-given and objective organizational condition, but as a discursive position whose visibility maps onto the degree to which organizational discourse has been internalized by individuals. The study introduces the concept of the box as a two-layered analytical model: an inner layer of visible structural constraints and an outer layer of organizational discourse operating through power over meaning. When this outer layer becomes internalized, it no longer presents itself as control but as culture, shared values, and professional common sense. The study concludes that thinking-outside-the-box has become the box, and that this transformation is the accomplishment of an organizational discourse that has learned to make its own boundaries feel like freedom. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9233006
- author
- Ljung, Katharina LU and Maier, Ronja Gabriela LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Deconstructing the Paradox of Creative Freedom and Organizational Control
- course
- BUSN49 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Keywords: Organizational Creativity, Creative Freedom, Freedom-Control Paradox, Normative Control, Neo-Normative Control, Discourse, Social Constructivism, Power
- language
- English
- id
- 9233006
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-18 16:41:08
- date last changed
- 2026-06-18 16:41:08
@misc{9233006,
abstract = {{Abstract
Title: When Thinking-Outside-The-Box becomes the Box - Deconstructing the Paradox of Creative Freedom and Organizational Control
Course: BUSN49, Degree Project in Managing People, Knowledge and Change
Authors: Katharina Ljung, Ronja Gabriela Maier
Supervisor: Stephan Schaefer (PhD)
Purpose: This study examines whether the relationship between creative freedom and organizational control, widely theorized as a paradox, comes to be perceived as an objective feature of organizational life or a discursive accomplishment produced and sustained through the language and practices of organizational actors.
Methodology: The study adopts a qualitative research design grounded in a social constructivist ontology and an interpretivist epistemology, drawing on poststructuralist discourse theory as its primary analytical framework. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of the research and development department at Saucylicious, a food industry organization. The empirical material was analyzed through discourse analysis, organized around three analytical dimensions: construction and definition of creativity, the
perception of creative freedom and motivation, and processes, structures, and constraints.
Theoretical Perspective: Drawing on social constructivist and post-structuralist perspectives, the study examines how organizational discourse shapes what creativity is allowed to mean and how the freedom-control paradox is produced, normalized, and perceived. Central to this framework are a sensitizing concept of creativity as a social achievement, a multilevel
understanding of organizational power, and an understanding of the freedom-control paradox as a discursive accomplishment sustained through normative control.
Findings and Conclusion: The findings suggest that creativity at Saucylicious is defined in predominantly instrumental terms, with little variation across employees. It is pointing toward a normalized organizational discourse where alternative understandings of creativity seem out
of place. The freedom-control paradox does not emerge as a stable, pre-given and objective organizational condition, but as a discursive position whose visibility maps onto the degree to which organizational discourse has been internalized by individuals. The study introduces the concept of the box as a two-layered analytical model: an inner layer of visible structural constraints and an outer layer of organizational discourse operating through power over meaning. When this outer layer becomes internalized, it no longer presents itself as control but as culture, shared values, and professional common sense. The study concludes that thinking-outside-the-box has become the box, and that this transformation is the accomplishment of an organizational discourse that has learned to make its own boundaries feel like freedom.}},
author = {{Ljung, Katharina and Maier, Ronja Gabriela}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{When Thinking-Outside-The-Box becomes the Box}},
year = {{2026}},
}