Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

This paper is about changes in the business world. The main goal is to study the implications related to people’s creativity expression owing to work organization in small groups in the Ambev S.C. branch. This is a qualitative study based on a case study. 21 self-management circles and 18 quality control circles in the organization were found. The self management circles are responsible for achieving the organizational main goals and the quality control circles to bring best practices and new ideas. The result shows that quality control circles are more powerful than the self management circles as a space to develop people creativity and organizational innovation. It is relevant to stress that in the CCQs there are more multidisciplinary and common purpose guided to a collective objective desired by all the members of the team. On the other hand, in the CGA´s there are more discipline to accept the common tactics to people reach the objectives of the group and the corporative aims. The conclusion is that the changes in the business environment make the small work group very important to a company’s creativity and a fundamental strategy differentiation in the process of work organization in the context of the business world. Key words: creativity and innovation; team work; organizational changes; self-management cells; quality control circles