CHAPTER 4: PROCESS OF CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

4.1 The Creative Thinking Process

Creativity brings into being something that did not exist before, either as a product, a process or a
thought. Creative thinking is “the process we use when we come up with a new idea. It can be accidental
of deliberate.”

Have you ever woken up out of a deep sleep with a great solution to a problem you’d been struggling
with? That happens to all of us. We come up with our creative ideas by complete chance when we’re
not consciously thinking about them. Developments of products occur much more rapidly using
deliberate techniques (Brainstorming, continuous investigation, questioning and analysis) than by
accident.

Creative Process: The Four-Step Process

Creative Process: The Four-Step Process

BACKGROUND AND KNOWLEDGE

ACCUMULATION

THE INCUBATION PROCESS

IDEA EXPERIENCE

IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION

Phase 1: Background and Knowledge Accumulation

Investigation and information gathering need to be done to look at a variety of perspectives on the
problem. Ways to gather information include reading in a variety fields, join professional groups, attend
professional meetings, travel, talk to everyone about your subject, scan magazines, newspapers and
journals, carry a small notebook and record useful information, and devote time to pursue natural
curiosity

Phase 2: The Incubation Process

The incubation process allows the subconscious mind to mull over the tremendous amounts of
information to gather during the preparation phase. The steps to induce incubation include engaging in
routine, “mindless” activities (cut grass, paint house), exercise regularly, play (sports, puzzles), think
about a project of problem before sleep, meditate or practice self-hypnosis, sit back and relax on regular
basis). New or innovative ideas often emerge while the person is busy doing something unrelated to
the investigation or venture.
Phase 3: The Idea Experience

The idea experience is the stage when the idea or solution the individual seeking is discovered. The
ways to speed up the idea experience:

(Daydream and fantasize about your project, practice your hobbies, work in a leisurely environment,
put the problem on the back burner, keep notebook on bedside to record late-night or early-morning
ideas, take breaks while working). It’s often difficult to determine when the incubation process ends &
when the idea experience phase begins

Phase 4: Evaluation & Implementation

The most useful suggestions for carrying this phase: (Increase your energy level, educate yourself in
the business planning process and all facets of business, test your ideas with knowledgeable people,
take notice of your intuitive hunches and feelings, educate yourself in the selling process, learn about
organizational policies and practices, seek advice from others such as friends and experts, view the
problems you encounter while implementing your ideas as challenges) The most difficult step of a
creative endeavour and requires a great deal of courage, self-discipline and perseverance. If a person
encounters a major problem while moving through the process, it is sometimes helpful to go back to a
previous phase & try again.

4.2 Elements of Creativity

5 Essential Elements for Being Highly Creative By Dan Goodwin:

Create every day.

The key to this flow is creating for a minimum amount of time each and every day.

Keep a Book of Ideas.

Keep an ideas journal / a pocket notebook you carry with you at all times & jot down your ideas as
soon as they hit you.

Focus on Your Creative Strengths.

Take the time to make a list of your creative strengths, to give your confidence a boost.

Get Support.
Get available support from various creative groups or communities.

Experiment and Refine.

It takes time to learn how you can use this medium to express yourself the best ways you can, and
how you can find your unique ways of letting your creativity run free.
4.3 Obstacles to Creativity

4.3.1 Negative Attitudes That Block Creativity

Negative attitudes that block creativity can be described by the expressions below:

“Oh No, A Problem!”

A problem is seeing the difference between what you have and what you want, or recognizing or
believing that there is something better than the current situation or an opportunity for a positive
act.

“It Can’t Be Done.”

It can’t be done is like surrendering before the battle.

“I Can’t Do It. Or, there’s Nothing I Can Do.”

I’m not smart enough, I’m not an engineer, and I’m not an expert. Therefore, I can’t be creative.

“But, I’m Not Creative.”

In reality, everyone is creative; it’s only how we are processing the right side of our brain.
“That’s Childish.”
We often ridicule the creative, playful attitudes.

“What Will People Think?”

There is always a strong pressure to conform and to be ordinary and not creative.

“I Might Fail.”
Failures along the way should be expected and accepted.

4.3.2 The Barriers to Creativity

Barriers to creativity and how to overcome them by Bob Taylor:

“There's Just One Way To Solve A Problem.”

When we try to solve a problem, sometimes our solution clicks and sometimes it doesn't. When it
doesn't work, we should ask ourselves:

• Are we trying to solve the right problem?

We often try to solve the first problem we see or the easiest first.

• Are we solving this problem in the right order?

Often the right solution out of sequence is just bad as the wrong solution.

• Are we using the correct tools?

If not, the solution may take much longer, or it may not be smooth or effective. You might use
another tool in an unusual way to solve a problem.

"I need a new and unique solution, not one that's borrowed or adapted.”

We often think our creation must be totally new. Granted, we shouldn't violate copyrights or patents,
but our work can have small pieces or qualities that have been used many times in many other
works.
For example, artists use and reuse the same colors and media; musicians use and reuse the same
12 notes of the chromatic scale.
Therefore, much of the creative essence lies in how elements are combined, not in finding
completely "new" elements.

"Tools are not my friends.”

Just using tools & materials doesn't make us creative. There are also creations that are:

• Not technically sound and not creative.

This is the stuff you generally "roll your eyes at" when you see it somewhere else, but it
may sneak into your own creations if you're not careful.

• Technically sound but not creative.

This type of creation is produced with much attention to detail but not enough attention to
vision. If you're trapped in this mode, see & try other combinations & possibilities, perhaps
outside the traditional boundaries.

• Creative but not technically sound.

This is typical of those who are less experienced. They see possibilities but haven't
mastered materials and tools yet.

• Creative & technically sound.

This is the best stuff; it's what we strive for.

"I just build it and see what happens.”

Before you start creating, it's important to:

• Get a basic idea of what you are creating.

• Know your customer's expectations and your own.
• Know space/time limitations on your creation.

"My fears or ego interfere with my creativity."

We often fear these things when we try to create:

• New or unexplored territory.

Remember: new areas bring new adventure. If you're prepared, new is good; if you're not,
new can be intimidating.

• Thoughts of failure.
Small mistakes don't cancel out the rest of our creation. Most finished works still have
small imperfections; many have even suffered through corrections of major mistakes.

• Criticism from our audience (readers, listeners, customers).

What will our audience think? Be ready for the positive or negative feedback. Some of
what our audience says may be wrong; some may be true but harsh; & some may be true
& helpful. Screen & use audience feedback to improve your creations.
 4.3.3 Emotional Roadblock to Creativity by James Adams

Emotional Blocks Are Also Important. In The Modern, High-Tech Business And In Many Other
Organizations We Don't Even Acknowledge These At All. The Emotional Blocks Discussed By
Adams Include:
• Fear To Make A Mistake, To Fail, To Risk
• Inability To Tolerate Ambiguity; Overriding Desires For Security, Order; "No Appetite For
Chaos"
• Preference For Judging Ideas, Rather Than Generating Them
• Inability To Relax; Incubate, And "Sleep On It"
• Lack Of Challenge (Problem Fails To Engage Interest) Versus Excessive Zeal (Over
Motivation To Succeed Quickly)
• Inability To Distinguish Reality From Fantasy

4.4 Venture Opportunity and Strategy

Sources of Innovative Ideas

Ideas can be gained through many sources. Listed below are 5 of the sources of innovative ideas.

• Consumers
Monitoring potential ideas and needs, or arranging for consumers to have an opportunity to
express their opinions.

• Existing Companies
Monitoring and evaluating competitive products and services on market.

• Distribution Channels
They’re familiar with the needs of the market. They can provide suggestions and help in
market the newly developed product.

• Federal Government
The files of the patent Office contain numerous new product possibilities; they can suggest
other more marketable product ideas.
New product ideas can come in response to government regulations. Table 4.3 shows
Malaysian Patent based on field of technology from 1993 to March 2016 studied by the
Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia.

• Research and Development

R&D department is often better equipped and enables the entrepreneur to conceptualize
and develop successful product ideas.
 Malaysian Patent Based on Field of Technology From year 1993 to June 2016

SECTION
YEAR TOTAL
A B C D E F G H
1993 -
5,337 5,763 8,388 482 1,094 2,097 4,473 6,683 34,317
2008

2009 656 633 837 53 119 185 488 497 3,468

2010 364 390 599 22 75 125 274 328 2,177

2011 404 402 693 28 90 126 283 366 2,392

2012 445 424 722 25 72 101 328 384 2,501

2013 523 393 840 36 98 108 315 378 2,691

2014 538 430 729 27 154 150 331 403 2,762

2015 542 494 642 25 161 198 352 494 2,908

JUNE
301 227 506 20 79 91 108 239 1,571
2016

TOTAL 9,110 9,156 13,956 718 1,942 3,181 6,952 9,772 54,787

Rogers’ Stages of Innovation

Rogers defines the innovation-decision process as the "process through which an individual (or
other decision making unit such as a group, society, economy, or country) passes through the
innovation-decision process".

Knowledge Stage
Recall of information, comprehension of messages, knowledge or skill for effective adoption of
innovation. (Exposure to its existence, and understanding of its functions)

Persuasion Stage
Liking, discussion of new behavior with others, acceptance of the message, formation of positive
image of the message and innovation and support for the innovative behavior from the system.
(The forming of a favorable attitude to it).

Decision Stage
Intention to seek additional information about the innovation, and intention to try innovation. i.e to
reject or adopt innovation (Commitment to its adoption)

Implementation
Acquisition of additional info about innovation, use of innovation on regular basis, continued use
of innovation. (Putting it to use); and
 Confirmation Stage
Recognition of the benefits of using the innovation, integration of the innovation into ongoing
routine, and promotion of innovation to others. (Reinforcement based on positive outcomes from
it).

The Need of Innovation

The Importance of Innovation

The idea of innovation is widely accepted. Innovation is part of many companies’ activities. The
dominant companies have demonstrated an ability to innovate. The industrial revolution of the 19th
century was fuelled by technological revolution innovations. (Trott, 2005)

Innovation is the engine of growth (Schumpeter, 1934, 1939, 1942). Schumpeter argued that
modern firms equipped with R & D lab have become the central innovative actors. (Trott, 2005)

Reasons for Importance of Organizational Creativity (Wayne Morris: A Survey of

Organizational Creativity)

• Competitive edge
• Find niches in the market
• Reduce internal costs
• Promote efficiency and effectiveness
• Motivate people
• Attracting or retaining staff
• Problem solving
• Improve morale
•
4.5 Enhancing Individual and Organizational Creativity

4.5.1 Enhancing Individual Creativity

The Top 10 Keys to Developing Personal Creativity

Believe you’re Creative

Everyone is or has the potential to be creative.

Broaden Your Interests

Consciously seek out what you’ve not sought out before. Be open to new experiences or new sources
of information.

Prepare To Create
Gather information, hunches, impressions, colors, textures, and sound.

Look For (Make) Connections

Look for relationships between things that are not related.

Break Habits
Breaking a little habits can shake up the system to allow new connections to happen, new points of
view to form.
Provide the Right Environment
Some prefer to listen to music or others prefer silence once they’re in creative flow.

Provide Time to Create

Provide time to sleep on it, and time away from home’s or work’s demand.

Persevere
Don’t give up on yourself / your project.

Maximize All of Your Senses

Utilize all of your senses to gather & process information.

Forget How Much You Know

Learn to look at things with a fresh eye.

Key individual roles within the innovation process

Key individual Role

Technical innovator Expert in one / two fields. Generate new ideas & see new
ways of doing things

Technical / commercial scanner Acquire vast amount of info from outside

organization, through networking

Gatekeeper Keeps informed of related developments

Product champion Sell new ideas to others in the organization.

Project leader Provides the team with leadership & motivation

Sponsor Provide access to power base within the organization.

4.5.2 Enhancing Organizational Creativity

From the survey of organizational creativity, Morris summarized 10 top factors in enhancing
organizational creativity:

• Time
Most of Morris’s respondents raised the issue of time as the most important factor with regard to
enhancing organizational creativity than any other factors. People know that when they make
space and time in their day just to think and be creative they will work well and enjoy more of their
work.
Time pressure was also identified as a real barrier to creativity. This is supported by a study
completed by Teresa Amabile in 1996 the results of which are recorded in Amabile’s words in the
December 2004 issue of Fast Company in which she says:
“In our diary study, people often thought they were most creative when they were working under
severe deadline pressure. But the 12,000 aggregate days that we studied showed just the
opposite: People were the least creative when they were fighting the clock. In fact, we found a kind
of time-pressure hangover -- when people were working under great pressure, their creativity went
 down not only on that day but the next two days as well. Time pressure stifles creativity because
people can't deeply engage with the problem. Creativity requires an incubation period; people need
time to soak in a problem and let the ideas bubble up.
In fact, it's not so much the deadline that's the problem; it's the distractions that rob people of the
time to make that creative breakthrough. People can certainly be creative when they're under the
gun, but only when they're able to focus on the work. They must be protected from distractions,
and they must know that the work is important and that everyone is committed to it. In too many
organizations, people don't understand the reason for the urgency, other than the fact that
somebody somewhere needs it done today.”

• Competence of Staff
Competence of staff was highlighted as the second most important factor in enhancing
organizational creativity. Morris’s respondents also mentioned that having the ‘creativity tools’ at
their disposal and the training required to use them well such as brainstorming and de Bono’s six
hats. But, the majority took a much more general perspective of competence perhaps best
summarized by the comment:

▪ “If I know that I can rely on my staff, that they are technically competent, then I am able
to rely on them to push the boundaries of their technical competence into the areas of
the unknown or the new –to come up with creative and innovative ideas.” – Manufacturing

▪ “Just because someone is technically competent doesn’t mean that are capable of
producing new and creative ideas. Some people are simply not competent of confident
to do so. It is beyond their capability.” – Education and Training. Several of the
researchers quoted in the literature review identify characteristics of creative people but
these are more attitudinal and cannot really be defined as competencies. Amabile in Fast
Company again:

“The fact is, almost all of the research in this field shows that anyone with normal
intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work. Creativity depends on a
number of things: experience, including knowledge and technical skills; talent; an ability
to think in new ways; and the capacity to push through uncreative dry spells. Intrinsic
motivation -- people who are turned on by their work often work creatively -- is especially
critical. Over the past five years, organizations have paid more attention to creativity and
innovation than at any other time in my career. But I believe most people aren't anywhere
near to realizing their creative potential, in part because they're laboring in environments
that impede intrinsic motivation. The anecdotal evidence suggests many companies still
have a long way to go to remove the barriers to creativity.”

• Space or Resources to Pursue Ideas

Appropriate space and resources enhances organizational creativity. This priority was closely
linked to time but also included the physical space required to ‘trial’ new ideas and the finance
required to fund such a pursuit. A number of respondents from the manufacturing sector talked of
Lockheed’s ‘Skunkworks’, 3M’s commitment to giving flexible time to staff to try new ideas and the
concept of the innovation incubator.
Another aspect raised here was the organization of internal space within a business – open plan
versus separate offices. Responses were mixed with people giving views as to the positives and
negatives of both open and closed space. There was, however, agreement that access to both
types of space was necessary to enhance creativity.
 “I am at my creative best when I can balance the need for access to people and resources with
time for me. I do my best thinking when I am jogging in the morning but then I need people to test
my ideas against – and sometimes that is hard.” – Local Authority
“We have got several hundred thousand dollars of good ideas rusting away because the person
involved with them didn’t have the time to plan properly or the resource to trial before
implementation. They failed. He got fired and it wasn’t his entire fault. This is not an uncommon
situation in my experience.” – Manufacturing

The physical environment or setting can influence the degree to which divergent thought processes
are used. Divergent thinking has a broad, relaxed focus of attention that requires a sense of
psychological safety and peacefulness (Isaksen 1983). An environment that was conducive to
creativity was also mentioned by some respondents with one commenting,

“That having appropriate music, art work and ‘creative stuff’ around gets my creative juices going
but I don’t think that my tastes would appeal to all. I’m not sure how you get agreement on that sort
of thing.” – Education and Training

• Open Communication & Full Information Sharing

Open communication of organizational changes, decisions, and policies and opportunity to voice
concerns, understandings and ideas and ‘being heard’ enhances organizational creativity. Trust
was regarded by many as the cornerstone of effective communication and information sharing.
More than half of Morris’s respondents mentioned a lack of open communication and information
as a major blocker to organizational creativity.

“For me one of the major barriers is an environment where people undermine each other,
information is not shared and there is no credit given to creativity.” – Hospitality

Almost all respondents talked of the need for open communication and full information sharing.
Some spoke of information on a ‘need to know’ basis but the general consensus was that people
will select what they need to know and it is best to let them make that decision rather than keep
information from them.

“It is essential to have access to information – creativity is often spurred by hitch-hiking on new
ideas that flow past the alert mind – often converting them to a new situation or means of
application.” – Information Technology

“When I know that I am being trusted with all the information I need it makes me feel like I am
valued and I can make decisions based on the whole picture not just on bits of it.” – Dairy Industry

Several respondents commented on how communication is delivered and information is shared

as being important.

“If the boss takes the time to speak to staff in person it makes them feel more important. It’s often
not what they say but the fact that they have made the effort especially if I am able to respond
and know I am going to be heard. I know that if I am feeling good about my boss and the
information I am getting then I am likely to want to contribute more and the business certainly
gets more from me.” – I.T. Industry

One respondent took the view that “In the past, lack of information was a bottleneck in business.
But today with electronic mail, electronic newsfeeds and intranets we have 'information overload'.
• Supportive Organizational Structure
A supportive organizational structure will enhance organizational creativity. This factor and its
priority in the list of enhancers came from combining a number of factors from the list of
enhancers and barriers. This factor was described by one respondent as, “a supportive
environment where problems are fixed without blaming or scape-goating.”
Most responses related barriers. The term ‘restrictive bureaucracy’ was used by several people.
There was agreement that is supported by the literature that organizational structure can inhibit
or foster creativity and innovation.
The problem with organizational structure though, is that it is the result of many factors, including
history, organic growth, strategy, operational design, product diversity, logistics, marketing, client
base, supplier base and so forth. Therefore, I suggest that what managers need, are not recipes
for complete structural change, but insights into the properties of fostering structures that can be
adapted into the existing structure.
To start, it would be useful to analyze the preferred structures against the not so preferred. Given
that there are many definitions of types of organizational structure, I have selected a model that
a number of the respondents could relate to – the mechanistic versus the organic organization.
Mechanistic structures have centralized control and authority, clearly defined tasks, vertical
communication links, obedience to supervisors, rigidity and inflexibility. Respondents agreed that
this type of organization would be unlikely to enhance organizational creativity.
Organic structures – those which have decentralization of authority, tasks loosely defined,
horizontal communications, greater individual authority, flexibility and adaptability – were seen to
be more likely to enhance organizational creativity. King and Anderson (1990) assert that one of
the conditions for organizational creativity was group structure that was organic rather than
mechanistic.
However, all bar four of the respondents interviewed said that their organization fell into the
mechanistic category. My professional experience shows that the above can be misleading. For
example, flat organizations are generally preferred and hierarchical ones not, however, even flat
organizations are in reality hierarchical. Importantly, if we have a mechanistic structure, what
factors might allow us to move in the right direction without wholesale change?
Some answers given by various respondents include having a structure that allows and
encourages direct communication links to decision makers, communication and information flow
between departments, tangible progression of ideas from problem to solution to product
development to commercialization, and creative teams working outside but linked into the
organization, whose culture, processes etc permeate through the existing structure.

• Personal Authority To Initiate Change / Individual Empowerment

Personal authority and employee discretion enhance organizational creativity. Respondents

talked about the need to know that had the personal authority to initiate change. When asked
how they knew whether they had it the responses fell into two categories – those who empowered
themselves and gave themselves the authority required and those who waited for others to give
them the authority or empower them.
People in both categories talked about the anxiety and stress that at times accompanies
empowerment. An interesting perspective arose in conversation with two of the respondents. It
was suggested that rather than use the term empowerment it is helpful to look at perceived
individual employee discretion -- how much freedom the individual feels he or she has. For
instance, a member of a so-called compliant organization may in fact have high levels of personal
responsibility or a role involving the management of significant risk. The more complex the task,
the more discretion - freedom to choose how things are done - will be given to employees. This
contrasts with the adaptive organization where individuals may have significant creative
discretion - freedom to choose what is done. Basadur (1997) and Amabile (1998) both talk of the
importance of adaptability in enhancing organizational creativity.
 Ideally, then, empowerment of employee results in increased initiative, involvement, enthusiasm,
innovation and speed, all in support of the organization’s mission.

• Creative Leadership

Leadership is a critical factor in enhancing organizational creativity. In fact, without supportive

leadership very few of the other creativity success factors could be sustained.

Teresa Amabile in Fast Company:

“Taken together, these operating principles for fostering creativity in the workplace might lead
you to think that I'm advocating a soft management style. Not true. I'm pushing for a smart
management style. My 30 years of research and these 12,000 journal entries suggest that when
people are doing work that they love and they're allowed to deeply engage in it -- and when the
work itself is valued and recognized-- then creativity will flourish. Even in tough times.”

This is supported by the respondents.

“Leaders have a big part to play in enhancing organizational creativity. While individuals should
take responsibility for their own areas, a leader has a big impact on the organization dynamics
and environment that individuals operate in and it can become increasingly frustrating for
someone to be inspired and creative when their leader isn’t supportive.” – Education and Training

“It is the critical role of our leaders to understand and embrace this notion, share that which is
necessary and then lead their department in the pursuit of opportunities within that.” – Printing
and Publishing

“As MD, leadership is the key to success in regards to creativity in the workplace. The MD sets
the vision, goals and culture that all must live and breathe. Creation of a culture that allows and
enhances innovation is the key to re-invention.” – Education and Training

When asked if a leader needs to be creative themselves the responses were mixed.
• The leadership has to be creative, and lead the organization creatively.
• The leader did not have to be creative but needed to recognize and reward creativity and
remove the barriers to it happening.
• Leader needs to provide the environment and encouragement that facilitates and
rewards creativity.
• Leader need to allow mistakes in a safe environment.
• Leader need to provide adequate resourcing to allow the time for creative thought.
• Leader should not let issues fester, or you get a cold environment where people are
demotivated, even blatantly hostile sometimes.

Leadership, though not necessarily creative leadership, enhances organizational creativity.

• Motivation of Staff
Positive motivation enhances organizational creativity, Amabile in Fast Company:
“There's this widespread notion that fear and sadness somehow spur creativity. There's even
some psychological literature suggesting that the incidence of depression is higher in creative
writers and artists -- the de-pressed geniuses who are incredibly original in their thinking. But we
don't see it in the population that we studied. We coded all 12,000 journal entries for the degree
of fear, anxiety, sadness, anger, joy, and love that people were experiencing on a given day. And
we found that creativity is positively associated with joy and love and negatively associated with
 anger, fear, and anxiety. The entries show that people are happiest when they come up with a
creative idea, but they're more likely to have a breakthrough if they were happy the day before.
There's a kind of virtuous cycle. When people are excited about their work, there's a better chance
that they'll make a cognitive association that incubates overnight and shows up as a creative idea
the next day. One day's happiness often predicts the next day's creativity.”

Motivated staffs are essential to having a creative organization. Most of the research’s
respondents took it as given – no motivation – no creativity.

“If I am motivated I will be more creative but the reverse is also true. I have seen people get into
upward and downward spirals and it can be catching.”

• Clear Organizational Goals

It needs to be noted that while respondents talked about testing out new ideas, occasionally
failing and having fun this needs to be considered against the background of having to meet
organizational goals.

A creative environment for them is not a soft one but it can be a frustrating one. Several raised
the issue around lack of clarity regarding goals and outcomes and the waste of creative energy
that goes into simply defining the goals let alone working to achieve them. Where goals are
clearly defined most respondents were more than able, in fact, expected to be left alone to
achieve them. In fact, comments were made that creative people are more likely to take the
initiative when goals were clearly defined. The importance of aligning organizational goals with
personal goals was also raised.

Several authors have claimed intention (Nonaka), alignment (Robinson & Stern, 1998), or shared
vision (Senge, 1990) to be of vital importance for organizational creativity. If the intention
(organizational goal) is not conceptualized and collectively communicated to the employees as a
vision, the authors claim the individuals would not be able to evaluate or justify the result of a
creative act.

Senge (1990) suggests is that in order to be creative a person needs to have a vision. However,
if a vision at all is needed, it does not have to be a company provided vision. It is suggested and
supported by some respondents, that what people become “excited” about is the opportunity to
work with things in which they are interested no matter what the organizational goal is.

“My department has done all the visioning stuff – and we have goals for everything – but the
reality is that if I get excited about something I will do the work I have to do as quickly as I can so
I can get onto the exciting stuff. I still try to meet my goals but if I wasn’t able to do some of this
other stuff it would probably drive me nuts. Isn’t most work boring?” – Manufacturing

It seems that being able to act rapidly, to seize new business opportunities as they emerge, and
to create new knowledge for a previously unanticipated need are now far more important than to
stay focused and march in the same direction. Having clear organizational goals may not be an
enabling factor for enhancing organizational creativity.
• Appropriate Reward

When asked to define ‘appropriate reward’ only a small number of respondents raised the issue
of money citing the fact that “it’s money that brings me to work but it certainly isn’t money that
gets the beat work from me”.

Amabile in Fast Company:

“The experimental research that has been done on creativity suggests that money isn't
everything. In the diary study, we asked people, "To what extent were you motivated by rewards
today?" Quite often they'd say that the question isn't relevant -- that they don't think about pay on
a day-to-day basis.
Bonuses and pay-for-performance plans can even be problematic when people believe that every
move they make is going to affect their compensation. In those situations, people tend to get risk
averse. Of course, people need to feel that they're being compensated fairly. But our research
shows that people put far more value on a work environment where creativity is supported,
valued, and recognized.
People want the opportunity to deeply engage in their work and make real progress. So it's critical
for leaders to match people to projects not only on the basis of their experience but also in terms
of where their interests lie. People are most creative when they care about their work and they're
stretching their skills. If the challenge is far beyond their skill level, they tend to get frustrated; if
it's far below their skill level, they tend to get bored. Leaders need to strike the right balance.”

Rewards do matter to enhancing organizational creativity but they must be appropriate and each
person will decide what appropriate is for us – if given the opportunity.

Conclusion

Organizational creativity is important to the future sustained success of organizations. Creativity and
innovation are two responses to a market that are likely to give organizations a competitive edge. It can
be concluded that it is possible to enhance creativity and innovation by implementing a range of
behavioural, structural and cultural initiatives. Although these may vary from organization to
organization there seems consensus between the literature and my research that certain factors must
be in place if organizational creativity is to be enhanced.