Social And Organisational Barriers To Organisational Creativity And Innovation

The Importance of Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

Question:

Analyse the theoretical Concepts underpinning Social and Organisational barriers to Organisational Creativity and Innovation.

The purpose of this report is to provide a brief overview about the social and organizational barriers which the management of an organization face while conducting creative activities in their business process. Creativity and innovation are the tools which help an organization in achieving competence in the target market but it is not easy for the organizations to adopt such tools in their business process (Jain 2014). So, the aim of this report to tell about the issues which an organization face while initiating human resource development, creative leadership, creativity and innovation etc. activities. Further it also tells about the models used in the organization to promote the use of such tools in the organization of increasing its efficiencies. Further the latter part of the report includes the climate of the organization in implementing such activities and recommendations for the organizations to improve themselves. More details about the task are discussed below:

Before initiating the creativity and innovation, it is very important to understand the meaning and importance of creativity and innovation in an organization. Creativity refers the art of creating something new by doing the regular activities business process. And innovation refers to the process of exploiting the creative ideas and creating a new and different way of doing things. In the growing competition, it has become very important for the organization to initiate innovation and creativity in their business so as to gain the competitive edge (Sieczka 2011).

But it is not easy for the organizations to make use of such tools irrespective of their size. For large scale organization it is difficult for them to initiate such big change in their business process quickly whereas for a small scale organization, it is risky for them to make use of innovation and creativity in their business. Further other social and organizational and barriers are discussed below:

• Lack of motivation and trust: It is one of the biggest organizational issue that in order to implement a new business activity, the managers firstly need to take the employees under their confidence then only then can start the process efficiently. But, many times the employees do not trust and support the activities of the leaders of the resulting in failure of the innovation. Teamwork and employee participation is very necessary to achieve success. If the employees are not motivated enough then neither they will provide new ideas to the management nor will they flexibly adopt such techniques (Siedlok, and Hibbert 2014).
• Criticism: criticism a negative approach to every task. Also it is not easy for the management of the organization bar criticism while conducting new and innovative business activities. With this process they lose their confidence which results in failure of the approach. Also criticism is the killer of creative thinking (Nasurdin, Ahmad, and Ling 2015).
• Conservatism and authoritarian management: even the middle managers of the organization maintain the status quo and conflict in case of changes occurs in the principles of the organization. They believe that they might lose their authority and power with the use of creativity and innovation in the organization. Resulting to which, they become rigid towards making such changes in the organization process (Naranjo-Valencia, Jiménez-Jiménez, and Sanz-Valle 2016).

It is very important for the organization develop a positive climate in their workplace so as to promote creativity and innovation. In any organization change can only occur if the people connected to it are positive enough to make such change otherwise its effectiveness would not show in the organizational process. Further in order to implement creativity and innovation in the regular activities of the business, firstly the employees need to trust o the instincts of thee leader and follow the path which he suggests. In this way they can promote such activities in the organization (Kuratko, Covin, and Hornsby 2014).

Challenges and Issues in Implementing Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

Also the leader of the organization also needs to make use of creative leadership kills in their course of action so as to develop creativity in workplace. Creative leadership skills can be utilized in an organization by implementing the transformational leadership in workplace. Transformational leadership model helps the leaders to analyses the need of the employees and organization and develop and mission accordingly and work on them innovatively (Eskiler, et. al., 2016). Under this process the leader utilizes creativity and innovative skills to provide better satisfaction to employees, reach the target and gain the competitive edge as well. Climate for innovation in an organization is directly associated with innovative work behavior of the employees. And innovative work behavior is positively connected with the organizational performance and organizational performance is dependent on the human resource of the organization (Bedford 2013).

Positive human resource in the organization adequately supports the growth of innovation and creativity in the organization and vice versa. If the human resource is not qualified enough to handle the innovation in the organization or is negatively influenced by some other source in the workplace; then it will become difficult for thee organization to sustain creativity in their business activity. Resulting to which, it is very important for the organization initiate human resource development. This framework helps in motivating and boosting up the employees and eliminating the negativities from the workplace. Further the human resource wheel helps the organization developing good workplace climate. Development is primary process of this framework, so with the help of this framework the organization develops the capability to adopt creativity and innovation in their regular activities (Audenaert, et. al., 2016).

Conclusion

Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events it shall be noted that it is very important for the organizations to make use of the innovation and creativity in their business process so as to gain the competitive advantage in the target market. Innovation and creativity works similarly but they have difference in their working. Innovation refers to the process of creating a new product by using creativity in its process where as creativity refers to the process of applying creative ideas in regular business activity. Further it shall be noted that creative leadership is one of the major aspects with the help of business can initiate innovation in their practice. Creative leadership can be applied in the business with the use of transformational leadership process. Further human resource development plays a significant role in implementing creativity in the organization as this type of development help in increasing the thinking skills of the human resource by the process of training and development (part of human resource wheel) and helping them adopt such techniques. Further the human resource wheel helps the workforce to become more efficient as well. The above mentioned report also states the social and organizational issues faced by the organization while conducting the innovative activities. By creating a positive climate all such problem can be resolved in the organization. Thus the report adequately justifies to all requirement mentioned in the task.

Thus, in order to promote and sustain the organizational creativity and innovation activities, the business shall make use of the below mentioned recommendations.

• Clear vision: If the organization will develop a clear vision on the basis of which they have to work and chive their target, then might become easy for them to make use of innovation and creativity in their business. As the business goal of the organization would only get achieved if the employees will make use of innovation, then in order to achieve the target the workforce will work on their skills and initiative innovative activities to accomplish their goals (D’Este, Rentocchini, and Vega-Jurado 2014).
• Collaboration: collaboration is the other word of team build, if good and efficient human resource are collaborated in the organization then there would be adequately flow of ideas and creativity resulting to which innovation will automatically happen. Thus, with the help of collaboration the organization can easily develop innovation and creativity in the organization (Seeck, and Diehl 2017).
• Communication: communication is the tool which helps the flow of ideas and creativity in the organization. In an organization if there is efficient communication then the employees will share their view and ideas resulting to which they would become more positive to make use of innovation to enhance their skills and help the organization to achieve their target as well (Nainman 2017).

References

Audenaert, M., Decramer, A., George, B., Verschuere, B. and Van Waeyenberg, T., 2016. When employee performance management affects individual innovation in public organizations: the role of consistency and LMX. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, pp.1-20.

Bedford, G. S., 2013. 5 ways to promote creativity in the workplace. Viewed on November 28, 2017 from < https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/feature/small-business/tip-of-the-month-creativity.html >

D’Este, P., Rentocchini, F. and Vega-Jurado, J., 2014. The role of human capital in lowering the barriers to engaging in innovation: evidence from the Spanish innovation survey. Industry and Innovation, 21(1), pp.1-19.

Eskiler, E., Ekici, S., Soyer, F. and Sari, I., 2016. The relationship between organizational culture and innovative work behavior for sports services in tourism enterprises. Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research, 69(1), pp.53-64.

Jain, R., 2014. Innovation promotion strategies: A conceptual framework. South Asian Journal of Management, 21(2), p.44.

Kuratko, D.F., Covin, J.G. and Hornsby, J.S., 2014. Why implementing corporate innovation is so difficult. Business Horizons, 57(5), pp.647-655.

Nainman, L., 2017. 12 Ways to Enhance Creativity and Collaboration in Teams. Viewed on November 28, 2017 from https://www.creativityatwork.com/2008/05/15/12-ways-to-enhance-creativity-and-collaboration-in-teams/

Naranjo-Valencia, J.C., Jiménez-Jiménez, D. and Sanz-Valle, R., 2016. Studying the links between organizational culture, innovation, and performance in Spanish companies. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, 48(1), pp.30-41.

Nasurdin, A.M., Ahmad, N.H. and Ling, T.C., 2015, January. High performance human resource practices, identification with organizational values and goals, and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: A review of literature and proposed model. In SHS Web of Conferences (Vol. 18). EDP Sciences.

Seeck, H. and Diehl, M.R., 2017. A literature review on HRM and innovation–taking stock and future directions. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(6), pp.913-944.

Sieczka., K, 2011. Cause and Effect: Barriers to Creativity and Innovation. Viewed on November 28, 2017 from < https://www.trainingindustry.com/articles/strategy-alignment-and-planning/cause-and-effect-barriers-to-creativity-and-innovation/>

Siedlok, F. and Hibbert, P., 2014. The organization of interdisciplinary research: Modes, drivers and barriers. International Journal of Management Reviews, 16(2), pp.194-210.