Developing Creativity for Business - Term Paper Example

Creativity in a Business Context Report According to businessdictionary.com creativity is a ‘mental characteristic that allows a person to think outside of the box , which results in innovative or different approaches to a particular task.’ Britannica.com defines creativity as the ‘ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something new , whether a new solution to a problem , a new method or device , or a new artistic object or form.’ Oxforddictionaries.com defines creativity as the ‘use of imagination or original ideas to create something.’ Twenty first century is the era of immense modernization and sophistication. Man’s unending thirst has led to fierce competition in myriad fields. In the present span of tremendous competition , creativity has become a prime requisite for almost all businesses. Sans creativity , the survival of any business is very difficult. Therefore , to flourish and reach new heights in their respective fields it is becomes mandatory for the business owners to enhance and foster creative thinking on individual as well as organizational level. An impressive example of a creative individual is Steve Wosnaik. Apple computer is the fruit of labor of this individual as the gadget is co-founded by him. Reaching this height is because of his qualities like – sticking to the idea even when they are challenged , maintaining individuality , courage to question the people in power etc. Considering a business as a jigsaw puzzle , creativity is one elusive piece that wins the game for the participant. Creativity has become important more than ever before. According to Stephen P. Robbins , following is the three-component model of creativity .Based on an extensive body of research , this model proposes that individual creativity essentially requires expertise , creative-thinking skills , and intrinsic task motivation. Expertise - the potential for creativity is enhanced , when individual have abilities , knowledge , proficiencies and similar expertise in their field of Endeavour. Creative thinking skills – this encompasses personality characteristics associated with creativity , the ability to use analogies , as well as the talent to see the familiar in the different light. Intrinsic task motivation – this is the desire to work on something because its interesting , involving , exciting , satisfying or personally challenging. This motivational component is what turns creativity potential into actual creative ideas. Though these are the basic components of creativity , several others are discussed in the following pages. Thus to investigate the concept of creativity , I have taken the business of supermarket as the topic of my report. According to wordiq.com , a ‘supermarket is a store that sells a wide variety of goods including food and alcohol , medicine , clothes and other household products that are consumed regularly. It is often part of a chain that owns or controls ( sometimes big franchise ) other supermarkets located in the same or other towns , this increases the opportunities for economies of sale.’ According to dictionary.reference.com , ‘supermarket is a large retail market that sells food and other household goods and that is usually operated on a self-service basis.’ According to retailindustry.about.com, ‘Wal-Mart which has more than 8400 stores across the world , is by far the largest retailer in the world. France’s Carrefour is number 2.germany’s Metro AG overtook the United Kingdom’s Tesco chain and claimed third position.’ Due to the intrinsic growth and development of countries all across the globe , the local vendor scenario has been taken over by supermarkets. In recent times , supermarkets have shown a phenomenal growth. They now have in-house pharmacies , florists , catering services , prepared foods such as sandwiches , postal services , etc. Some supermarket chains even offer dry-cleaning services and few have started video-rental service. In a nutshell supermarkets are now providing a one-stop-shop experience. Most supermarkets are equipped with high-tech system tracker which lets the manager know the type of products that people are buying and the types that are piling up unsold. Despite of the implementation of newer techniques each day , supermarkets are facing tough competition from the fellow players. There is a large number of issues that require immediate attention. Some of them are- People often complaint about the lack of all varieties of certain products especially fruits , vegetables and other edible items. The truth behind this problem is that supermarkets predominantly stock only those varieties that possess a longer shelf life. Thus , customers don’t have a choice but to visit the local vendors for their choice of varieties and this is not a good sign for the business. Big supermarket chains like Wal-Mart , Tesco etc thrive well and make huge business primarily because of the eye-catchy post that they are located in. However , smaller chains do not enjoy the benefits of prime location due to their inability to afford a premise in a public hub. Not all customers that visit the store are genuine buyers. Some anti-social elements also visit the outlet in garb of a potential buyer with an intention of stealing products from the store .the impact of theft on any business is self-explanatory. Failures in credit card machines are also a problem. This leads to long queues and causes inconvenience to the customers. Unsold stock of fruits , vegetables and other edible items start stinking which bothers customers. The unsold stock keeps on piling up and the manager often finds it a difficult situation to handle. There are times when the in-flow of customers is quiet large , or during festival days when the consumption of few products rises dramatically , the problem of stock out is a common problem faced by most supermarkets. Today’s customer is tech-savvy and empowered with a powerful tool called internet. Also , powerful players of the market are making constant efforts to attract more and more customers ; it is becoming increasingly difficult for the smaller chains to even retain their existing customer base. Advertising is also a common problem for most chains. In some cases people are not even aware of the presence of a store and even if they are , they have little or no information about the products , discounts , schemes etc. Enhancing Creativity According to Stephen P. Robbins , ‘A study of lifetime creativity of 461 men and women found that fewer than 1 percent were exceptionally creative . But 10 percent were highly creative and about 60 percent were somewhat creative. This suggests that most of have creative potential , we just need to learn to unleash it. And this creative potential is trapped usually only when exposed to a decision-making process.’ Below are some prescriptions for enhancing creativity as given by Stoner , freeman and Gilbert. Welcome to change- new ideas when implemented will certainly bring about certain change in the organization. The members of the organization should understand the fact that change is for their benefit and for the benefit of the organization as a whole. Motivate new thinking – the managers and all the people in the power should encourage their subordinates to come up with new and fresh ideas. Sam Walton who happens to be the CEO of Wal-Mart also accepts that the main driving force behind the success if Wal-Mart is motivation. Encourage interaction – a permissive , friendly atmosphere plays a vital role in fostering creativity within an organization. The members should be provided ample opportunities to interact with the managers and fellow colleagues as it brings about a substantial exchange of information. This flow of ideas serves as an effective tool to handle problems. Learn to tolerate failure – creativity is coming up with new ideas. It is not necessary that the idea that looks good on paper will always work in real also. The managers should understand this and should be ready to accept a failure if any. Objectives should be clear – the task should be discussed in detail so that the members get a clear insight about the problem and can work efficiently. Freedom – though the members should be provided with a set of guidelines , they should be given enough freedom to think creatively on a given subject. No pressure – the members should be trained to tackle any problem. Creative ideas emerge in a relaxed mind. Rewarding successes – rewarding a creative individual will motivate him/her to perform even better. Also it will evoke a sense of competition among the fellow colleagues. Recognition can be offered in any tangible form such as a small increment in the salary , bonus etc. for example , the associates of Wal-Mart receive rewards in form of bonus or in form of profit shares. Diversity – people from diverse backgrounds are usually more creative than the ones from homogenous backgrounds. Thus people from diverse backgrounds should be recruited in the organization. Multi-faceted people – the organization should try to recruit multi-faceted personalities as they are definitely more creative. Most people are blessed with the skills of creativity. Today’s extremely qualified executives very well understand the importance of creativity in any business . however , some stereotyped habits and old organizational patterns often act as barriers to creativity. Following are some factors that act as obstacles and solutions to jump over them. Following set patterns – a creative breakthrough can never be achieved with over-allegiance to accepted methods and by following limitations. Solution – both executives and subordinates should understand that some guidelines are essential but a strict ruling system creates a mental block. Fear – feelings of anxiety and fear amongst the members of an organization is a barrier in creative thinking. Fear of how fellow colleagues will react to the idea and the phobia of becoming a subject of laughter , often limits the creativity of an individual’s mind as he/she tries to avoid mistakes. ‘what if the idea did not work in practice ’ is also a common fear. Solution- the subordinates should understand that failure should not be considered as a personal insult , but should be used as an instrument to get motivated to perform even better. Also the executives should not insult or punish the member in question in any way even if the idea does not work out. Pressurizing reward system – getting award and acclamation for good performance is an expectation by all humans. However , a system that pressurizes members to perform at a jet pace without any mistakes is stressing both mentally and physically. Solution – members should be continuously encouraged to perform better and better with an assurance of a suitable reward n exceptional performance. Once promised , a reward should be granted to the deserving candidate so that he des not feel cheated and fellow candidates also get motivated to perform better. Lack of adequate resources and funds – lack of ample funds for experiments often limits the domain of creative thinking of an individual. This is because members feel that even if they come up with an exceptional idea , the company does not own sufficient resources to transform their ideas into activity. Solution – the expenditure should be planned in such a way that a sum is available for experimenting with new and fresh ideas. Executive insecurity – there are times when even novel ideas are rejected by top-level executives as they feel insecure from the candidate. This acts as a barrier in creative thinking as subordinates hesitate to present new ideas with a notion that ‘the boss will never approve our ideas ’. Solution – the executive should understand that it is his moral duty to acknowledge all such ideas that can take business to new heights. Logic- examining all ideas in the light of analysis and logic often restricts creative thinking. Relying solely on logic excludes imagination. Solution – ideas should first be noted down and should be examined in the light of practicality and not logic. Analyzing negative aspects – focusing only on the negative aspects of a problem and analyzing everything to the extreme possibilities limits the potential of creativity. Solution – rather than focusing too much on negative aspects , the subordinates should be taught to seek and explore the opportunities in a given situation. Assumptions – assuming consequences and a calculative attitude often acts as a barrier to creativity. Assuming that a certain idea will not work because f its failure in the past will stop the individual from even presenting the idea. Solution – subordinates should be bold enough to challenge assumptions and include new ideas to make a stupendous breakthrough. According to creativity.netslova.ru, ‘Davis lists six barriers to creativity which are summarized below- Barriers to creativity Learning and habits which lead to stereotypic ways of thought and action. Rules and traditions which restrict , inhibit or prohibit personal initiative ( including Organizational barriers characteristic for bureaucratic structures ) Perceptual barriers ( perception set , functional fixedness ) Cultural barriers , which are culturally specific manifestations of the other type of barrier. Emotional barriers ( anger , fear , anxiety , hate and even love ) Resource barriers ( shortage of people , money , time , information etc.)’ Till now I have discussed why creativity is important , barriers and ways of overcoming creativity. Now I shall discuss and some theories of creativity proposed by eminent scholars and evaluate their role in the business of supermarkets. Lateral thinking- The term lateral thinking was coined by Edward De Bono. According to the freedictionary.com , lateral thinking is a way of solving problems by rejecting traditional methods and employing unorthodox and apparently illogical means. According to Lall and Sahai , de bono identifies four critical factors associated with lateral thinking- 1) Recognize dominant ideas that polarize perception of a problem. 2) Search for different ways of looking at things. 3) Relax the rigid control of thinking. 4) Use chance to encourage other ideas. Lateral thinking and creative thinking are often considered synonymous. Lateral thinking deals with the emergence of new ideas and concepts in old ideas are broken apart. This replacement causes a drastic change in the way of analyzing things which otherwise were considered in the same light. Thus , the aspects that are involved are- Lateral thinking Dismissal of old emergence of new Ideas ideas There are certain techniques that aid in fostering lateral thinking- Brainstorming – according to brainstorming.co.uk brainstorming is a conference technique by which a group attempts to find a solution for a specific problem by amassing all the ideas spontaneously by its members. (Alex Osborn ). A process designed to obtain the maximum number of ideas relating to a specific area of interest. A technique that maximizes the ability to generate new ideas A part of problem solving which involves the creation of new ideas by suspending judgment. In short , brainstorming enables a group to generate number of ideas in a given problem. Searching for alternatives- even if a satisfactory solution is concluded , a quest for increasingly better solution will always work Challenging assumptions- assumptions should be challenged in order to break free from the shackles of old ideas. Most players in the field of supermarkets offer a variety of choices in order to attract more and more customers. For smaller chains and for that matter even well-established chains need to come up with brand new ideas in order to retain the existing customers and attract more and more .Since , lateral thinking involves an individual to think out of the box , it will prove to be an excellent theory for the business of supermarkets. Discussing , random ideas will enable the manager to come up with new methods to attract customers. The customer of the present day world does not care about the supermarket that he buys the product from , but about the quality and price of the product. Devising new ways to deliver fresh product at a suitable price will require a good dose of creative ideas. Synthetic thinking – According to lexic.us synthetic thinking is the combination of ideas into a complex whole. This is basically associated with compiling pre-existing ideas in order to reach to new conclusions. Since the customer of today is highly empowered with the tool of internet , he/she is aware of the products , quality and discounts provided by most supermarkets. There is a lesser possibility that the customer will get attracted to something he/she has seen before. Instead the interest will be shown in something which is new. Thus , in my opinion this theory is not very useful in the business of supermarkets. Morphological thinking – According to ideaconnection.com, Fritz Zwicky , the brilliant astrophysicist who discovered what we now call dark matter , devised his own method for systematically structuring and investigating the many possible relationships of complex problems. It basically involves breaking down of a problem into simple parameters , placing them in a matrix and then searching creative combinations. Though some combinations may have existed in the minds of the individual , however, there are some which never occurred and if implemented can bring spectacular results. The steps involved in morphological analysis. According to creatingminds.org, the steps involved in morphological analysis are- define the problem- identify the objective of the creative session , defining the problem in a short and clear statement. Identify attributes and values-list the things about the situation that can be varied or changed in some way. select a subset of two to six variables to investigate further. These will normally be significant parts of the situation. Combining items- find a way of combining items from the lists you have created. If there are only two lists , then a matrix may be used . Repeatedly combine selections of ideas generated , forcing all items together to build creative solution. Do not worry too much at this time if the ideas are not particularly feasible as they may be developed at a later stage or used to trigger other creative possibilities. Select ideas to use or develop into practical solutions to your problem. Considering as an employee of Wal-Mart, I am now undertaking a hypothetical task of combining different products to offer lucrative discounts to the customers. Thus , the problem is finding suitable combinations of products. Keeping in mind various departments at Wal-Mart as per walmart.com , I find two departments the products of which may be combined to design lucrative offers. Health and beauty baby and kids products Clothing feeding Health and safety furniture Bedding and decor Diet and nutrition no yes yes No No Oral care no yes yes No No Personal care yes yes no No Yes Vision no no Yes No No Vitamins no yes yes no No Home medical no yes yes no Yes Thus , we can notice that many different options are available for the manager to chose from. This theory will work very well for supermarkets as multiple compositions are possible. This can also be regarded as a hit-and-trial method. Since , combining products t design offers is a regular requirement , this technique can also be applied to all other departments. Assessment of creativity Measuring creativity in an organization is important in several contexts. It provides a clearer picture of the creative potential of the employees , thereby making it easier for the managers to select individuals for various job assignments , planning and promotion to deserving candidates. Creativity can be assessed by any of the following ways- Mock drills- assigning hypothetical situations and asking the employees to suggest solutions can be a good method. The manager will be able to understand that which candidate is suitable for which assignment. Tests- general aptitude tests can also provide a substantial information on the levels of creativity. Finding a problem and then solving – this can be done by allotting topics and asking the employees to first find the main problem and then propose suitable solutions. Self assessment- employees can also be asked to self-assess their creative potential. This method has dual benefit as both the manager as well as the employee himself gets a knowledge about his creative skills. Awards and recognition- while recruiting new employees , previous awards should be considered as a measure to assess the creative levels of an individual. Creative ideas should be analyzed and implemented in order to achieve a breakthrough in business. Progress of any business is best reported by its customers. Since , customer satisfaction is the prime target of all business. Thus, customer’s feedback is the most important tool for monitoring the progress. This can be achieved by circulating customer feedback forms at all outlets. Also , the forms should be analyzed and the weaknesses pointed out should be solved immediately. Another effective means of measuring progress can be thorough analysis of sales so that the manager can gauge that whether the customer is buying more or less after making the requisite changes. In the end I would like to conclude this business report by outlining various creative ideas already implemented in the field of supermarkets. Online sale is one such method that clearly deserves an applause. Also , remaining in touch with customers through the use of social-networking sites may also prove to be beneficial as it would provide a forum for discussions where customers can freely express their views and can also suggest changes. Thus , in this assignment I learnt an important aspect of creativity that not only does it help in providing solutions to a problem , but it also helps in better understanding of the problem as a whole. References Brainstorming , Infinite Innovations Ltd. , viewed 26 Feb. 2011. Creativity , Business dictionary , viewed 24 Feb. 2011 Creativity , Encyclopaedia Britannica ,Encyclopaedia Britannica Online , viewed 24 Feb. 2011 Creativity , Oxford Dictionary Online , viewed 24 Feb.2011. Gorny Eugene , Netslova.ru (2007) barriers to creativity. Dictionary of Creativity : terms , Concepts , Theories & Findings in Creativity Research. Viewed 25 Feb. 2011 Farfan Barbara . 2010 world’s Largest Retailers by Country- Top Global Retail Companies List . Viewed 22 Feb. 2011. Lall Madhurima. And Sahai Shikha (2006) Entrepreneurship . India : Excel Books. Lateral Thinking , Collins English Dictionary . Viewed 26 Feb. 2011. Morphological analysis . Viewed 23 Feb. 2011 Morphological analysis .Viewed 23 Feb. 2011. Robbins Stephen P. Organizational Behaviour . India : Pearson Education (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Stoner A.F. James , Freeman R. Edward , Gilbert R. Daniel , JR. Management . India : Pearson education (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Supermarket , viewed 24 Feb. 2011. www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/supermarket Supermarket , viewed 24 Feb. 2011 www.wordiq.com/definition/Supermarket Synthetic thinking . Viewed 27 Feb. 2011. Wal-Mart stores , viewed 26 Feb. 2011. www.walmart.com/cp/All-Departments/121828 Read More