Tension and Invention (Paperback)
Language: English
Published by New York University Press, New York, 2026
- Softcover
- New
Seller: Grand Eagle Retail, Bensenville, IL, U.S.A.Grand Eagle Retail
AbeBooks seller since October 12, 2005
Condition: New
£ 34.24
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Paperback. How friction, diversity, and tension drive breakthrough ideas in business, technology, and cultureIn the popular imagination, innovation is associated with the lone genius. Innovation, however, is never the product of one individual, but rather occurs through the combined efforts of a network of people. But how do these networks operate? In Tension and Invention, Balazs Vedres and David Stark argue that generative tension is the critical, yet often unacknowledged, mechanism that drives innovation.The authors deconstruct conventional accounts of organizational behavior that equate efficiency with efficacy in creative endeavors. Using a diverse variety of empirical case studies including jazz combos, business groups, and video game developers, Vedres and Stark show how friction, far from being a liability, actively precipitates invention in contexts of radical uncertainty. The result is a theory of innovation on how disjuncture and dissonance, when structurally organized, can be harnessed for discovery.Offering a compelling theoretical and empirical basis for rethinking the foundations of creative production, Tension and Invention delivers a powerful message: creativity is not born from smoothness or consensus, but from the productive struggles of difference. Invention happens because of tension, not despite it. Innovation arises from the purposeful clash of diverse perspectives rather than solitary genius. Friction and tension within interconnected networks fuel breakthrough ideas, as demonstrated by vivid examples from jazz combos to video game developmentrevealing how creative struggles spark genuine discovery. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…
Seller Inventory # 9781479847792
- Title
- Tension and Invention (Paperback)
- Author
- Balazs Vedres
- Publisher
- New York University Press, New York
- Publication year
- 2026
- Condition
- new
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1479847798
- ISBN 13
- 9781479847792
How friction, diversity, and tension drive breakthrough ideas in business, technology, and culture
In the popular imagination, innovation is associated with the lone genius. Innovation, however, is never the product of one individual, but rather occurs through the combined efforts of a network of people. But how do these networks operate? In Tension and Invention, Balazs Vedres and David Stark argue that generative tension is the critical, yet often unacknowledged, mechanism that drives innovation.
The authors deconstruct conventional accounts of organizational behavior that equate efficiency with efficacy in creative endeavors. Using a diverse variety of empirical case studies including jazz combos, business groups, and video game developers, Vedres and Stark show how friction, far from being a liability, actively precipitates invention in contexts of radical uncertainty. The result is a theory of innovation on how disjuncture and dissonance, when structurally organized, can be harnessed for discovery.
Offering a compelling theoretical and empirical basis for rethinking the foundations of creative production, Tension and Invention delivers a powerful message: creativity is not born from smoothness or consensus, but from the productive struggles of difference. Invention happens because of tension, not despite it.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
David Stark is Arthur Lehman Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center on Organizational Innovation at Columbia University. He is the author of The Sense of Dissonance: Accounts of Worth in Economic Life, and editor of The Performance Complex: Valuations and Competitions in Social Life and Practicing Sociology: Tacit Knowledge for the Social Scientific Craft.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Grand Eagle Retail
Bensenville, IL, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since October 12, 2005
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