Mobilizing Creativity and Innovation in National Bank of Oman - Coursework Example

MOBILIZING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION Executive Summary In the prevailing scenario of business, innovation and creativity of business houses are considered to be the most essential factors related to the growth and development of the business process. The firms are focused on developing innovative strategies which can fuel their growth. This report reflected the personal learning process and knowledge about the innovation and creativity of the researcher. The researcher reflected the process of learning and the various techniques used to understand and implement innovate and creative work practices in the real-life work place, National Bank of Oman. The second part of the report focused on analyzing the innovation and creativity existing within the work practices of NBO with the help of the Amabile model. The researcher has also provided suitable recommendations based on the findings of the study and linked them with the existing problems faced by NBO. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Reflective Account 4 Business School Activities: 5 Work Development in Creativity and innovation module 9 Recommendations 11 Creativity and Innovation: National Bank of Oman 11 Company Background: 11 Amabile Conceptual Model 12 Work Environment for Creativity in National Bank of Oman: Amabile Model 14 Encouraging Creativity: 14 Autonomy Freedom 15 Resources 16 Pressures 16 Organizational Barriers to Creativity 17 Leadership 17 HRM of NBO 17 Conclusion 18 Recommendations 18 Introduction Innovation and creativity are the two most essential variables that allow an organization to thrive in the dynamic and challenging business environment. As competition is increasing in all the segments of the international market place, the need for the companies to engage in a continuous process of innovation and creativity has enhanced. Firms are always trying to generate a source for generating competitive advantage through which the brand can gain market advantage against its competitors. The ability of a business to enhance their competitive advantage has often been associated with their ability to create and innovate. Colella and Miller (2009) mentioned that organizations often confuse the use of term creativity and innovation while designing their competitive or functional strategy. In the words of Bate (2008), creativity is related to the psychological ability to generate new ideas, whereas, innovation is the process of developing new process for managing an existing steady method. However, both creativity and innovation are correlated concepts. Concentrating on these definitions and observations, this report will further analyze the utilization of creativity and innovation in personal development of the researcher and also to apply different models and approaches associated with creativity and innovation on the National Bank of Oman for practical analysis. Reflective Account In this segment of the report, I would like to present my personal observations, learning and applications that I performed during the Creativity and Innovation Module classes. I will try to highlight the changes in my perception regarding this module, my present skills and the factors where this module has helped me in personal life. Furthermore, I would also like to utilize the knowledge gained while studying this module on the selected organization, National Bank of Oman. In order to begin with, I would like to reflect my curiosity regarding the changes taking place in the business segment all over the world and the responsive change in their internal functions and their overall business performance. I was not sure how to connect the various terms and methods being studied with the practical scenario of the business world. For instance, how can an organization innovate and change its entire system for improving their potential strength or how do the market responses influence the business decisions and urge them to compete at a higher level. These were some instances where I could not establish any link between the two ends of the statement. Lack of knowledge and practical experiences were the primary barriers in my case. Hence, when the creativity and innovation module started, most of my questions were starting to unravel. I learnt that creativity and innovation are two different concepts but they are inter-related to each other. I came to know why and how organizations engage in innovative systems and utilize creativity for enhancing their business performance. I would like to reflect the learning and knowledge gathering process during the module teaching process. Business School Activities: First of all, I would like to state that the module activities taught in the business school helped me in improving my knowledge and skills regarding the aspects of innovation and creativity. Our module began with the process of problem solving and related it to the utilization of innovation for changing the outlook towards the various approaches associated with the concerned system. I would like to cite an example for further explanation of this point. During the first week of our module, we were asked by our tutor to provide with an example of innovation that we have observed in the recent past. Most of the students were stating facts gathered from the business world where the innovation strategies of many firms were reflected. However, we were not able to properly explain to our tutor the exact point where innovation was initiated. Our tutor gave us a simple example which made it crystal clear for me to understand the process of innovation. He asked us to point out one mistake in the present education system of our country and what should be done to solve that. After each of us gave a brief answer to the concerned question, our tutor stated that the changes proposed for improvements in the education system are the process of innovation. Meanwhile, the methods used for drawing up a different perspective towards problem solving can be termed as creativity in the decision making. This one example helped in my understanding of innovation, creativity and their usage of problem solving process. This activity was just the beginning of more integrated processes related to the innovation and creativity aspects which can be implemented by business firms. The second example I would like to link with my personal reflection was completely based on understanding innovation. Our tutor had asked us to draw 5 dots in a blank page randomly and asked to connect them using 3 lines. Most of us had not drawn the dots in a straight line and were not able to perform it. Noticing our problems, our tutor stated that the instructions were to join the dots with lines and not just straight lines. This was an eye-opener for me. I came to realize how simple the process was and yet it seemed difficult. I was able to understand that innovation or creativity can be developed when the thinking process changes. All I had to do was think from a more basic level and focus on the specific instructions and follow the chain of activities which can fulfill the requirements. I was able to connect this activity with the problems faced by my organization, the National Bank of Oman. The primary problem of NBO was related to the audit process. Because of limited integration within the internal teams of the business, NBO was not able to pull up all the documents required for the audit process and this had turned into a recurring process that resulted in delaying every next audit. I thought of the entire process of audit and then focused on the individual tasks being performed within the audit process. On discussing these issues and my view point on it with my manager, we arrived at a decision of changing the existing process of audit being implemented by the business. We noticed that the internal functions of NBO were designed in a recurring manner which was delaying the audit process. Also, the entire audit process was often paused because of unavailability of documents. We could observe some unrecognized processes and rules being followed by the employees which were complicating the audit process. On the other hand, the delayed audit process was also preventing the top level managers from making the strategic decisions and objectives of National Bank of Oman. Based on these observations, I and my managers decided to change some of the basic rules being followed by the workers. It was decided that the employees can start the audit process from any specific point without waiting for the missing documents. The fundamental target for the employees was changed from following individual aspects of the audit process to the completion of the overall tasks within the given time period. I came to realize that the key element for enhancing or embedding innovation in the business structure is to assess the boundaries of the work process. For instance, after evaluating the priority of the tasks I was able to decide on focusing on the overall target time for the audit process rather than the singular milestones of the audit process. However, I was also cautious regarding the factors related to the accuracy and quality of the audit of National Bank of Oman as employees can miss the detailed analysis involved in auditing while concentrating on the final timeline of the system. Nevertheless, this instance taught me the importance of determining the boundaries of the work for solving the problems faced in any work methods. The next activity conducted during the module of innovation and creativity was to move the rings from one column to another. In this activity also, I was not able to perform mainly because I was afraid of failure and also that other members doing the activity will do it before me. Apart from this, I was also not confident regarding the rules and regulations of the activity which made it difficult for me to concentrate and conduct the process. I came to realize that in order to be creative, the fear of failure must be removed and a clear understanding of the requirements and the problem needs to be gathered. I studied that Hannan and Carroll (2007) had mentioned the three primary stages of the problem solving processes which were to assess the problem and define it clearly, generation of ideas and selection of the appropriate idea and finally to evaluate the implications of the idea in context of the concerned problem. Brenda and Hy (2008) stated that creativity comes with a challenge; one must be able to focus and follow the idea without the fear of losing. The most basic and important aspect related to creativity is the thought process of an individual (Chatman and Spataro, 2008). The thinking process of a person signifies their ability to generate creative ideas and implement them in the concerned situation. The changes in the decision making processes also influences the efficacy of the ideas and their relevance to the addressed problem. Chorng, James and Clifford (2007) noted that most of the scholars focus on analytical thinking for developing ideas. Analytical thinking is the process of comparing the existing knowledge with the contemporary scenario to generate the most revenant solution to the problem Longenecker and Fink (2009). I observed that this process was similar to what I do at my workplace for solving problems and fulfilling my duties. However, I was not able to understand the reasons behind my failures in the workplace instead of following a copy book method. I came to realize that the existing knowledge base has to be developed with the inclusion of the changes in the concerned situations which makes the knowledge relevant to the problem. Prajogo and Sohal (2008) stated that no two situations can be similar based on the reasons of their occurrences or the result of their occurrences. I also came to realize that in order to be creative; the scope of thinking has to be widespread and not narrowed down to any particular objective or goal. I noticed this from the Gorilla activity where I was focusing on counting the number of balls and did not notice on the Gorilla. This was a failure in the observation process and also signifies that my thought was preoccupied with the balls and I was determined to count the accurate number of balls and forgot about the activity of the Gorilla. This again is a fault in understanding the requirements of the activities. I could relate my work practices with this activity also as in the audit process; I was more concentrated towards the financial documents and calculations of National Bank of Oman rather than understanding the policies and procedures used by the bank to frame their financial documentation process. The final activity in the module was a group activity where brainstorming technique was used for problem solving. The brainstorming process uses creative thinking to generate new ideas. This activity was one of the most interesting segments of the module. I was also able to implement brainstorming in my daily work practices where I could be the part of a creative thinking team and suggest new ideas. MacLeod and Clarke (2009) stated that brainstorming promotes the idea generation process by reducing the chances of failure. I noticed that brainstorming does not include criticisms and thus the fear of being wrong is reduced. However, I feel that nullifying criticisms can also result in degrading the quality of the ideas as casual ideas may flow in. Work Development in Creativity and innovation module The process of developing the activities was really challenging for me. I was not confident if I could successfully achieve the set benchmarks and pass the module and also improve my performance at my workplace. Nevertheless, learning about the various problem solving techniques helped me in understanding the requirements and the needs of the module. I studied various problems solving process such as Osborn Creative Problem Solving Approach and it helped me in generating a clear understanding of the problems and to develop appropriate ideas for solving them. The Osborn Creative Problem Solving Process is based on six primary stages namely, objective finding, fact finding, problem finding, idea finding, solution finding and acceptance finding. Figure 1: Osborn Creative Problem Solving Process (Source: Hurson, 2008, p.53) Based on the above given model, I designed my problem solving approach. I used different techniques for assessing the fundamental requirements for each stage and developed the H and W techniques separately. The most relevant and basic questions were only considered such as what is the importance, why did it happen, when did it happen, how did it happen, etc. This activity helped me in solving my work place issues and I was also nominated to be the supervisor for the current task as a reward. Recommendations Based on my experience of creative and innovative learning process, I would like to recommend that the foremost criterion for creative thinking is to lose the fear of being wrong. Once an individual is confident about his/her thought process and understands the problems clearly, creative thinking is easy. I would also like to say that psychological barriers are among the key problems faced in innovative learning processes. In order to generate effective ideas, one needs to properly ascertain the requirements and reduce the pre-assumed rules and regulations associated with the problem solving approach. Creativity and Innovation: National Bank of Oman In the words of Lussier and Achua (2009), creativity and innovation are the two driving forces for business growth and improvement in the existing scenario. Most of the firms in the contemporary scenario are trying to adapt to the changing environment and organizational requirements by developing creative and innovative ideas. In this report, the primary focus will be to analyze the creative and innovative considerations involved in the internal functions of the National Bank of Oman. The report will also include analysis of the individual segments of the company to assess the incorporation of creative thinking in each department. Company Background: The National Bank of Oman is the first public bank of the country and was established in the year 1973. The company is presently having 68 branches of which 2 branches are multinational and operates from outside the Kingdom of Oman (National Bank of Oman. 2015). The employee base of the Bank is mostly formed by Omani locals but there also exists some level of cultural diversity in the workforce of 1345 (National Bank of Oman. 2015). The service range of NBO is well developed and established considering the requirements and demands of the customers as well as the national economy. The challenges faced by the company are mainly related to market competition from existing private sector banks such as Bank Muscat, Bank Sohar, etc. The mission of NBO is to enhance the quality of its service with continuous innovation in their service process. Amabile Conceptual Model The Amabile model for organizational creativity is based in the factors which influences the creative and innovative work practices of a company. The Amabile model recognizes five special elements which influence the creativity within a work group. These factors include the encouragement of creativity, the autonomy of function, resources, pressures and organizational impediments to creativity. Each of these elements needs to be incorporated in the wok process in relation to the concerned group of employees for understanding the business practices of the firm (Williams, 2009). The model of Amabile has been depicted in the below diagram: Figure 2: Amabile Creative Model (Source: Williams, 2009, p.456) From the above given figure of Amabile Model, it can be noticed that each element has been further segmented into sub stages which lead to creativity in the work process. For instance, the encouragement of creativity can be performed at an organizational, supervisory and work group level where each of these parties will motivate the employees with rewards and incentives against their creative contributions (Brenton and Driskill, 2010). Similarly, the process of problem solving by questioning or the resource analysis segment or understanding the problems faced and reducing the work stress are also directed towards achieving creativity within the work process of a firm. Work Environment for Creativity in National Bank of Oman: Amabile Model Encouraging Creativity: Organizational Engagement The process of organizational encouragement can be performed through various methods such as organizational meetings, performance appraisals, etc. In context of NBO, the bank has developed a steady policy of departmental meetings to be performed every two months for assessing the performance of the employees and rewarding them on the basis of their creative working aspects (Yan, 2011). The meetings also include encouragement for the employees via monetary as well as incremental rewards such as incentives and promotions. However, there are certain criteria which help in assessing the relevancy of the ideas and also providing the directions towards the employees considering the business requirements. Supervisory Engagement The process of supervisory encouragement is based on the ability of the managers to design a clear and transparent work process for the employees that can help them in developing their ideas regarding the completion of the work. The supervisory engagement is largely based on the fluency of the communication between the employees and the managers of the organization (Tellis, Prabhu and Chandy, 2009). NBO has established as long-term plan for the supervisory engagement. At the beginning of each financial year, the supervisor or the departmental heads are asked to prepare the annual work plan for the bank. This year long plan is then segmented into various activities and distributed among the employees. The employees assess the efficiency of the plan in relation to its clarity and alignment with company policies and objectives. As the year progresses, each activity mentioned in the plan is discussed at an operational level so that the work process can be updated and also the employees can have appropriate information regarding their roles and responsibilities. Work Group Support Work group support or creative team build-up processes are based on the ability of the team to accept diversities in ideas and work practices among its members (Poškienė, 2006). The work group practices of the business firms are engaged with the communication, integration and collaboration among the members of the team. At NBO, the process of work group support begins with the basic level of team development. The top management of the bank has developed policies for selection and formation of teams within the company. These policies are flexible in nature and allow the employees to design the team in accordance to the nature of the work at hand. Regular training and development activities are also a key part of the work group support process at NBO. Autonomy Freedom One of the fundamental considerations of the Amabile Model is the need for freedom to form a creative work process within the business structure. The autonomy or freedom relates to the process of question forming or the process advancing on the solutions related to any particular work process. The National Bank of Oman has not involved any strict policies that reduces the ability of the employees to frame decisions and but have only considered the importance of meeting the deadlines and achieving the desired quality in their work process. This also allows the employees to select their preferable work method and complete the work within the given time without hampering the quality; this shows the importance of freedom in organizational practices. Resources In relation to the Amabile model of creativity, resources refer to the adequacy of the items required by the employees to complete their work in the desired manner. The resources here refer to the human and technical resources. In NBO, there is a separate department that considers the resource requirement of all the functional departments of the bank. They allocate the necessary resources to the employees on the basis of their need. However, the resource team also has to acquire permission from the top management of the bank in context of the resource requests of the employees. Nevertheless, there are only few instances in the history of NBO when the required resources have been denied by the top authority of the bank. Pressures According to Lyons, Chatman and Joyce (2007), pressure in the work environment can be of two types namely, positive pressure and negative pressure. The challenges faced by the business houses in relation to the productivity of the employees are strongly related to the pressure on the workforce. The positive pressure here refers to the increase in work because of promotion or increment of the roles and responsibilities of the employees. NBO reflects both types of pressure in their work structure. The employees have to tackle pressure from the growing customer base as well as the small number of workers is also putting pressure on the existing employees to enhance their performance. Organizational Barriers to Creativity The organizational barriers to creativity arise from strict and rigid work structures, limited flexibility and communication and lack of clarity in the role delegation process (Lau and Ngo, 2007). Amin and Akbar (2013) also added that business houses often face problems in creativity generation because of improper human resource practices. In case of NBO, the lack of creativity is related to the compensation and reward structure. The compensation structure of the bank does not correspond to the market standards which is dissatisfactory for the employees. The limited nature of the monetary rewards demoralizes the employees and reduces their commitment and engagement in the work process. As a result, the creativity generation of NBO is not at its optimal level. Leadership Price (2007) stated that leadership is the factor which determines the difference between the potential and actual performance of a business firm. The challenges faced by the business houses can be linked with its leadership practices and approaches and the relationship of the leader with the employees. Jassowalla and Soshittal (2009) noted that the employee base of a company can perform better when they are able to share their vision with that of the company and it is the leader who designs and develops this mutually shared platform. In context of NBO, the bank has a mutually supportive leadership policy that urges the employees to think in a creative manner. HRM of NBO The human resource process of a business is the primary component for framing the organizational performance level and generating a creative approach among the employees. The process of designing the leadership approach is also related to the human resource policies of the business. In context of NBO, the human resource process can be analyzed in four primary segments namely recruitment and selection, rewards and recognition, performance appraisal and measurement, training and development process. The recruitment and selection process of the bank is designed in accordance to the need of each individual department and is performed mainly with offline recruitment process. The rewards of NBO include both monetary and psychological recognition for the employees. The reward structure of the company reflects a healthy relationship with the employees. The training and development and the performance measurement and appraisal have been set in a correlated manner. The employees are trained on the basis of their performance which allows the bank to focus only on the specific weaknesses of the employees. Conclusion The report has been developed in two primary segments. The first segment reflects the ability and understanding of the researcher to think and develop creative and innovative approaches, whereas, the second part is focused on the place of work of the researcher. The reflective segment has provided a thorough analysis of the learning process and its utilization in the practical field of work by the analyst. The second segment of the study reflected the precise operational segments and practices of National Bank of Oman in respect to creativity and innovation in their daily practices. Recommendations The recommendations for the NBO developed on the basis of the above performed analysis are given below: The first recommendation will be to solve the compensatory problems which is demoralizing the employees and reducing their performance level. The second recommendation for NBO will be to ensure that all the departments have the necessary raw materials required for functioning in the desired manner. The bank should consider about external influences on the employee performance such as competition and customer reaction to the service offerings. Finally the bank has to neutralize or balance the work pressure on the employees for ensuring creative practices among the workforce of NBO. Reference List Amin, Z. and Akbar, K. P., 2013. Analysis of Psychological Well-being and Turnover intentions of Hotel Employees: An Empirical Study, International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, 3(3), pp. 662-671 Bate, S., 2008. Strategies for Cultural Change. 4th ed. 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London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills National Bank of Oman. 2015. About Us. [Online] Accessed at: [Accessed 23rd May 2015]. Poškienė, A., 2006. Organizational Culture and Innovations, Engineering Economics, 1(46), pp. 45-50 Prajogo, D.I. and Sohal, A.S., 2008. The multidimensionality of TQM practices in determining quality and innovation performance—an empirical examination. Technovation, 24,pp. 443-453. Price, R. M., 2007. Infusing innovation into corporate culture, Organizational Dynamics, 36(3), pp. 320-328 Tellis, G. J., Prabhu, J. C. and Chandy, R. K., 2009. Radical Innovation Across Nations: The Pre-eminence of Corporate Culture, Journal of Marketing, 73, pp. 3–23. Williams, R., 2009. Managing employee performance. 4th ed. London: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Yan, J., 2011. An Empirical Examination of the Interactive Effects of Goal Orientation, Participative Leadership and Task Conflict on Innovation in Small Business. 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