Evoq© Software: A Springboard to Creativity

: The focus of this paper is on two levels of creativity. The first level is that inherent to natural language; the second is organizational creativity. The purpose of the content analysis software we are developing (Evoq©) is to highlight the natural creativity of language in use (first level of creativity). By focusing on the links (associations and disjunctions) between terms in discourses, Evoq© uses “plurivocity” of contextual meaning as a source of creativity (first level). This cannot be done by classical language analysis methods that center on linear causality. The software is, therefore, an interesting tool for researchers who conduct organizational analysis. It enables them to enhance the second level of creativity—organizational creativity—thanks to the concepts and visualization offered by the tool. As illustrated by two empirical examples, Evoq© enables the researcher or consultant who focuses on discourses in one or many organizations to detect the terms of references and presuppositions in speech, the semantic universe in which speakers are embedded. And this is the first step in a process of creativity in organizations. By highlighting assumptions, contradictions, or paradoxes in organizations, it is then feasible to create alternatives in these settings.