Creativity, Innovation and Enterprise - Research Paper Example

Table of contents 0 Introduction 2 2.0 Methodology 4 2 Advantages if interviews 4 2.2 Disadvantages of interviews 5 2.3 Merits and demerits of internet research 5 3.0 Findings 6 4.0 Analysis of the findings 7 4.1 Creativity 7 4.2 Innovation 8 4.3 Enterprise 9 5.0 Recommendations 10 6.0 Conclusion 10 7.0 References 12 An innovation/creativity audit of an organisation Introduction The Zaghir Sons Group of Companies is a company that is based in Yemen, engaging in a wide variety of business activities including trading, semi manufacturing as well as general contracting (company website, 2009). The company was started in the late 1960s, by the Al-Zaghir brothers in Taiz city, when it was at the time specializing in contracting and trading of electrical materials. Since then, the company has recorded a lot of growth, which has seen a great expansion in their general trading division, with the establishment of many showrooms and exhibitions all across Yemen. The company trades with electrical equipment of many forms and from a wide variety of manufacturers. They also engage in re-selling, that is selling from recognized vendors of the world’s leading electrical products manufacturers. Under contracting, the company has served both the private sector businesses as well as the government in their projects, with its role oscillating between implementing and executing the projects and supplying the materials and equipment to be used in them. The company also added another branch into their business since its founding, the semi manufacturing division, which is mostly concerned with the assembling of electrical parts obtained from a variety of international manufacturers to end up with completed products which are then sold to the public through their general trading division, or used in the contracting division to assist in the contract material requirements. As a result if increase in business for the company, it founded a subsidiary/sister company in the United Arab Emirates, specifically the city of Dubai, Electromechanical Engineering Ltd. This is a report of an audit study that was carried out on the company to establish the level of creativity, wherein the sources and components of creativity will be investigated, as well as the different aspects of the same, such as personal creativity and organizational creativity and the process of creativity, such as idea generation through brainstorming amongst others. Innovation in the company will also be sought out, historically, in that the record of the company as far as innovation is concerned will be examined, the context in which the innovation is undertaken, which includes the environment provided for by the company policies, the innovation strategy followed and the sources/reasons for engaging in developing the innovations that are obtained. The evaluation of the enterprise of company under study will focus mainly on the entrepreneurial prowess of the same both as a whole as well as a personal level; both entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship will be considered. The management composition will be examined so as to identify key managerial skills and match these against the characteristics of entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs that are identified will also be categorized into various types as they are found out. The Zaghir Sons Group of Companies was chosen for this study because of its rich history and unique management philosophy and superb growth history. Apart from this, the researcher had access to the company which made the data collection much easier. Methodology The data gathering method that was adopted by the researcher was interview, comprising of visits to the company, telephone conversations among others. Internet research was also used extensively for the purpose of getting an independent picture of the company in question in relation to the subject of the study (Evaluation research team. 2009). The internet was also used to obtain a better understanding of the process of the research so as to ensure that the findings, recommendations and conclusions all have a solid basis. Advantages of interviews The interview approach was most extensively used during the interview, because of various reasons for instance, the interview placed the researcher in direct contact with the company under study, which would give them the perfect opportunity to develop a more concrete understanding of what the respondent is saying. Also, any areas of ambiguity can be easily classified at the spot which means that the end data that the researcher obtains is more representative of the actual facts of the company under study. The researcher is also give the opportunity to ask follow up questions and build up on the respondents responses, giving them the chance to gain as much information as they can about the company, both that which they had planned to ask as well as other information that is volunteered by the respondent, which he/she feels is relevant to the question at hand (Evalued, 2009). The method also opens up avenues for further communications and consultations, derived from the personal contact that is developed from the interview, the interview can extend further from the basic visit to such other communication as telephone clarifications of the issues that were raised during the visit, additions that the respondent feels are of importance as well as updates of new developments within the company that are likely to have an influence on the research. Disadvantages of interviews Interviews have quite a few shortcomings that presented a challenge for the researcher during the course of the study. These include the fact that the method is resource intensive, both in terms of finances, as the researcher had to make several trips to the venue of the interview as well as time, which was a particular challenge both to the researcher and respondent, since when the interview was underway little else could get done by either, and since the respondent was a cog in the company’s operations machinery, his time was quite valuable and scarce. They also lack the clarity of written responses, which might give occasion to misunderstanding by the researcher of the responses given by the interviewee. Despite these challenges, the researcher still opted to go ahead with the method and most of the data collected during the study was obtained in this way (Trochin, W 2008). Merits and Demerits of Internet research As far as the internet is concerned, and apart from the aforementioned benefit of obtaining unbiased information on the company under study, there is the benefit of being the most abundant source of cheap information available, as well as being convenient to acquire and analyze. Probably the biggest disadvantage of this method of research is its lack of credibility, since it is only rarely that information on the World Wide Web is regulated or verified. Findings of the study The Zaghir Sons Group of Companies was founded in 1968, as a company engaged in contracting and trading in electrical goods. After decades of continual growth, it opened a sister company in Dubai, within the United Arab Emirates, Electromechanical Engineering Ltd, whose managing director, Mr Nazem Abdurrahman is the respondent of the interview that was undertaken. During the interview it was established that the company strives to foster creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship using such methods as using their commercial division to open up subsidiaries in areas of interest but outside the company’s main business, such as real estate and the petroleum industry. An active research and development department supplements the manufacturing division by developing the product range of the company thus offering the market a more comprehensive brand especially in terms of health, safety and environmental considerations. The scope of work in the contracting and projects department has been extended to cover non traditional areas such as plumbing, which has led to a lot of innovation as the company tries to acclimatize to the new domains. Expansion beyond the borders of Yemen into such economically viable business destinations as Dubai and China creates the need to innovate so as to gain relevance in the new markets. When asked about the current level of creativity, innovation and enterprise in the company, the respondent alluded to the development of dedicated showrooms for the main products and power distribution agencies, which were novel to the organization at the time of inception. He also mentioned the company’s commitment to improving the management and encouraging idea generation by continuously training current employees through the provision of educational scholarships as well as the training of new generation managers in preparation for taking over the reins of the company. As mentioned above, the construction project division’s strategy of diversifying into non-conventional areas of operation such as decoration, plumbing and painting has already been successfully implemented in several projects. The company’s product range and volume has also been enhanced to provide for the current market demand as well as meet new targeted areas’ requirements. The question arose in connection to the need for innovation within the company, to which the respondent answered to the effect that since the company’s original market was in the electromechanical supplies and services, there have been an influx of new market players, which have greatly increased the level of competition within the industry, forcing the companies to resort to innovation to survive. The innovation is spread throughout the industry and therefore those who are left behind will be the first one to collapse, and therefore there has never been a greater need to innovate than now. On the effect of innovation on various departments, Mr Abdurrahman replied by saying that the development of routines through repetitions and reinforcements, as well as employing new ways of managing people has been a big success driver for the company, as well as the introduction of creative money management approaches which have drastically brought down inefficiencies in the finance department. The impact of the innovation and entrepreneurship on the workforce of the company has been remarkable, with positive changes being seen in such areas as the organization structure, which was changed to a division oriented hierarchy, which had the effect of including more employees in idea generation and flexibility in the working processes. Innovation has also led to the effective definition or role and objectives which when coupled with effective leadership has led to more efficiency in the organizations activities. By extension, this has also led to good coordination between teams within the organization. Improved communication within the organization as well as without has resulted in the development of better ways of conflict resolution as well as enhanced liaison with other organizations. The impact of employee training on the creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship was described as taking the form of the enabling of effective knowledge acquisition, participating in risk management strategies, building alliances across knowledge bases as well as building links with diverse and extensive networks. Analysis of study findings The above findings from the onset show that the organization has an impressive record as far as creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship is concerned. For the sake of clarity, each of these aspects shall be analyzed one at a time. Creativity In a demonstration of creativity, the company has an active research and development department which is responsible for the development of new products, ideas as well as markets. The department is comprised of professionals from a variety of fields affecting the business such as economics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, social sciences among others. It is department that is has led to the development of a market relevant range of products, increased the relevance of the company’s products in foreign markets as well as sought out and identified opportunities outside the company’s core business, which after being taken advantage of have given the business an edge over its competitors as well as reducing the dependence on once income string that was initially posing a threat to the company’s viability (Robinson, 1998). This has contributed to the organizational creativity as a whole which in comparison to the industry in which it operates is quite impressive. On a personal level, the organization through constant training and the development of a free communication atmosphere has continued to foster creative effort from the employees, which has led to creative ways of handling the various aspects of the company’s business, most especially in the personnel department where creative ways of job allocation and evaluation have been developed, mostly by the personnel themselves. This is because lower level employees are being involved in the development of ideas especially those that affect them most. Innovation The free creativity atmosphere that has been developed as described above has led to the emergence of many innovations. These have been observed at all levels of operations within the organization, straight from top level management, with the development of new ways of doing things, as well as new things to be done, in different locations and territories. The process of innovation that has been adopted by the company is that survival oriented approach, where most of the innovations are directed towards ensuring the long term sustainability of the business, since the company is operating amid conditions of intense competition within the industry following an increase in the number of players. As a result, the company has developed innovative approaches to their product offerings, as seen in the inclusion of painting and decoration as part of the services that are offered by the contracting and project division. There have also been innovations in the management and organizational structure of the business, which have increased the interaction of employees among themselves as well as with entities outside the organization. Enterprise By using continual training of existing staff and recruiting highly skilled personnel, the entrepreneurial spirit of the organization is kept alive and vibrant. Also, through creativity and innovation, new opportunities are continually being identified by the company both internally and externally. To be an entrepreneur, one has to have qualities such as energy and drive, risk taking, a good communicator as well as an avid problem solver, qualities that are all encouraged by the organization structure of the company. There have been four types of entrepreneurs that have been identified, the promoters, otherwise known as the optimists, the innovators, the scheming inventors and the people oriented organization builders. All these distinctions are based on the opportunities that the individuals are faced with, and their success is a function of how they respond to the situations. From the findings, it is clear that each of these kinds of entrepreneurs would find themselves quite at home at company where the study was taken, since the innovator would benefit from the company’s policy of encouraging innovation both at a personal as well as organizational level. The inventor would find himself most at home at the research and development department, where he would put his inventing skills to most use developing new products, processes and markets for the company. For the promoters, the company’s expansion into new markets as was explained earlier would put their promotion skills to maximum use since there is need for the company to establish a foothold in the new territory. Finally for the organization builder, the flexible division based organizational structure would be the ideal place for him/her to develop new teams and coordinate their operation for the maximum return to the company. It is therefore clear that the company has almost all the bases of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship covered, based on the testimony of one of the firm’s top officials. Recommendations From the above analysis, it is clear that the company under study a relatively high score as far as innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship is concerned, as it has been seen that the historical, current and prospective future situation of the same is concerned. I feel however that much more can be done in terms of increasing the arena that all of the above three concepts are employed. By this I mean that more should be done to expand the reach of the company, which although has grown exponentially since the founding of the business in the 1960s, and has transcended the borders of the parent nation, is still confined in Asia, whereas there are vast growth opportunities elsewhere in the world, such as South America and Africa, where some of the world’s fastest growing economies are found. More autonomy may also be granted to the management of the company’s showrooms and exhibitions, so as to encourage their creativity and innovation in selling and promoting the products that are offered by the company, since an autocratic management is a sure way of stifling creativity, since it potentially turns the employees away from the management, and without creativity innovation has little chance of flourishing, and without these two, entrepreneurship would be an truly uphill for anyone, not to mention the psychological element that affects all three concepts, which is quite delicate and susceptible to distortion if management is perceived as overbearing by the employees. Conclusion The study of The Zaghir Sons Group of companies, more specifically its sister company, the Electromechanical Engineering of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, was done with the purpose of ascertaining the level of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship that currently exists at the company, the history of its development and current efforts towards it development and future sustenance. The method of data collection that was chosen for this particular study was dominantly personal interview, although some of the information that was gathered was obtained from the internet. Various considerations were weighed before it was decided to use the interview as the method of data collection, but amongst the alternatives available, it was best suited for both the researcher and the respondent. Consequently the researcher made several trips to the offices of company of interest and compiled a data that was to be used in the evaluation of the company. After the compilation, the data was compared against the indicators of the existence, development and encouragement of creativity, innovation and enterprise, with each concept being analyzed in detail. After an opinion was developed of the situation of the company in relation to the three study variables, recommendations on improvement avenues were offered, which although are purely a matter of opinion, are derived from both the findings of the study as well as information in current and expected future trends in business especially in the industry in which the company understudy operates. References Zaghir Sons Group of Companies, Company website retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 13, 2009 URL: http://www.zascogroup.com/ The Evaluation research team. (2009) ‘Data collection methods for program evaluation: Interviews’ Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 13, 2009 URL: www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/evaluation/pdf/brief17.pdf Evalued (2008), ‘Advantages of interviews’ Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 13, 2009 URL: www.evalued.bcu.ac.uk/tutorial/4c.htm Robinson, G. A. (1998). ‘Corporate creativity: How innovation and improvement actually happen’ The Strategic Venture Association (2006) ‘Fostering corporate innovation’ Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 13, 2009 URL: www.strategicventureassociation.com/ Read More