Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation - Essay Example

Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation Student’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: University: Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation In today’s business world creativity, innovation and change defines the pace and direction of any enterprise that is focused towards being a force to reckon with in terms of competitiveness, productivity and profitability. As observed by distinguished and experienced authors, Patrick Dawson and Constantine Andriopoulos, the management of innovation, creativity and change is the most critical role for any organization to thrive and survive as movement into the knowledge economy environment globally is realized. The top management has to come up with strategic plans on how to cultivate and motivate innovation and creativity in order to cope with the dynamic nature of the business world. How far an organization can sustain itself will be determined entirely on how it deals with the aspect of innovation, change and creativity. The three aspects are responsible for new product development and improvement of existing product lines through differentiation (Andriopoulos, & Dawson, 2009). This paper seeks to demonstrate that, creativity, innovation and change as previously stated, are crucial components that will ensure survival in the flexible and dynamic business world. It looks at various views held by different scholars and establishes the need for change and flexibility within organizations. In trying to understand in the impact of change in organizations, it is important to know the essence of innovation and creativity. There is so much talk concerning theories and practices in the realm of management and business. This has revolved around control and co-ordination, more recent arguments concerning fashions of management, and process-based critical views of strategizing and organizing. Emergence of new problems that need more attention, development of new theories and their revision, guidelines that are new take up old versions, and in so doing new bodies of knowledge are developed. More testing in fields of study to come up with enhanced methods of solving problems are enhanced. There is also the growing need for dialogue and collaboration between business practitioners and academic scholars. Theoretical aspects are important in ensuring that right practices are implemented (Cutcher, 2009). Managers are compelled to seek frameworks, models and solutions to assist them in problem solving and give them guidance in the demanding task of business organizations management. There is very little time for conceptual schemes that are complex, and more emphasis is placed on took kits that are simplified that will lead to servicing of immediate needs and chat a new way to better solutions. Consequently, in this time of dynamic and rapid change there is a surging desire for simple solutions to problems that are complex and it raises a considerable tension between practical needs and theoretical understanding. This phenomenon draws attention to need to engage in debates concerning the relationship between practice and theory and the value of dialogue that is reflective (Andriopoulos, & Dawson, 2009). Assumptions to make The changing business environment requires the organization to rethink the way of doing business in order to meet and accomplish flexible and varying needs of customers. There are several assumptions that have to be made in today’s business world. To be innovative and creative is a sure way of being able to deal with change. Change is inevitable, and business organizations have to come up with ways of dealing with emerging trends in their area of specialization. Dawson and Andriopoulos (2009), in their book: Managing change, creativity and innovation, they explore pertinent issues that have to be keenly looked at by business organizations in order to survive and remain relevant in today’s competitive and dynamic business world. Their views and suggestions are supported by much empirical evidence on management of business organization in the present world. Successful effecting organizational change is core to the survival of the company. This is an assumption that is true to all business entities. Achieving the change remains to be the challenge that should be overcome. Diversity in the business world poses an anthill task to research in organizational change. There was need more understanding by drawing critical insights from fields such as narrative theory and organizational discourse. A dynamic business world is guaranteed in the modern era. There is the essence of critical perspectives, which counterbalance, the likelihood of management-centric studies emphasizing on the on the perspective of change agent, as opposed to actions, reflections and meanings of those going through change. The organization should always assume that change is anticipated. Support for critical reflection and adoption of process-approach in interpretation of change is critical. Change has been viewed as movement over time involving wide transformation within the company through to small-scale incremental change. Motivation for change may emanate from a range of sources. It may be in the form of strategies that are proactive, or reactions to internal problems or pressures from external business market. Deciding rightfully on change is defined by evaluation of the existing situation and generation and identification of new ideas concerning direction, choices, and direction of change. It is at this at this juncture where creativity proves crucial. Creativity is the process of thinking that motivates employees to come up with new ideas that are useful (Boxall, & Macky, 2007). Understandings to be realized With the absence of new ideas development, capability of responding to dynamic of reacting to market pressures that are dynamic, or to try and imagine other alternative ways of performing things, organizations are bound to lose their position of being competitive and becoming unresponsive to changing demands of more informed customers. There are many examples of companies that have been rendered bankrupt owing to their nature of not realizing the shifting demand of customers. Human resource practitioners have to understand what kinds of changes are happing in the market. Some have been rendered obsolete. A good business should be able to move with the trends in the market. Some companies have been able to come up from recession through high-quality products and continuous innovation. Apple computers are a good illustration of such companies. Managers have realized that creativity processes should not be left unattended to; they need the maintenance and creation of environments which encourage and stimulate new ideas to come up (Zappala, 2004). For instance, companies which take a stance which is proactive in using suppliers and customers as a main inspirational source, as opposed to only imitating and monitoring what is being done by competitors, are the ones that have the capacity of reaping more rewards in the market and gain more market share having branding awareness that is better in industries in which they are found. The concept of innovation is very important in the business world. Through innovation new ideas are translated into commercial services, processes and products. Science and technology has done a bid deal in aiding innovation and new product development. Innovation and entrepreneurship are known to go hand in hand. In the two instances, new opportunities and markets are identified and used in the attainment of profits and growth. Economic forces in the market are viewed as encouraging the need for new services and products in markets that are rapidly changing. Cultural barriers and social impediments have been discovered to be crucial in the determination of successful change. Change management is the use, and uptake new ways of performing things, selecting and generating ideas, transforming ideas into innovations, and pushing the company forward to meet dynamic demands of the business environment; is a business that is complex. The processes of creativity, innovation and change interlock and overlap (Gollan, 2005). However, as many businesses try to manage change through innovation and creativity they are bound to face employee resistance within the organization. For a number of reasons, employee within an organization will object to any effort to introduce a new thing. Introduction of a new strategy is bound to be met with resistance from workers. Workers sometimes will not want to experience disruptions from the introduction of new methods of doing things. Research has demonstrated that contradictions in the strategy are an important reason why resistance precipitates within organizations. With this challenge being eminent in business, need for adequate training to equip employees with the required skills cannot be overemphasized. Business organizations need to pick up the cue and come up with ways of letting their workers understand the importance of organizational change. Preparation for change is the only way to expect a smooth transition during organizational change. Being conservation and traditional does not help the business to adjust to changing needs of customers and emerging trends within the business realm (Cutcher, 2009). Activities involved As pointed out by other distinguished scholars, change is one thing that is constant in business. The ability to deal with change and its drivers of creativity and innovation are very important. There are different drivers which result in the workplace performance. Technology has played a crucial role in ensuring there is innovation and creativity. Coming up with product prototypes and product testing methods, have made businesses to be more efficient and focus more on meeting the immediate needs of the customers. Technology has enhanced communication and connectivity. Feedback systems have been installed to determine satisfaction of customers in the service industry. Enhanced communication has also led to useful sharing of information. Work reorganization to achieve job enrichment and more involvement by the worker has enabled employees to be more resourceful and require minimum supervision. Employee selection has become a sensitive area that require special human resource department to handle it (Andriopoulos, & Dawson, 2009). It should be noted that corporate governance and corporate social responsibility has become a very important aspect in the business world. Corporate governance has gained dominance and importance in the past years as organizations battled with frauds and bankruptcies together with decreases in jobs and organizational value. These are activities that have to be incorporated in the running of the businesses. Nevertheless, the emphasis on agency approaches, together with is the focus on control devices, regulation and codes of professionalism has developed a gap that links value of organization and governance through the engagement of stakeholder. Researchers have indicated that new models of governance and new perspectives need to be developed. Emphasis should be on those which embed and identify employees as being a significant part of the firm’s external and internal systems. Future studies will require models that are powerful for interpretation of transformational process. This interpretation will need to map human resource practices innovations in a deeper theory of governance within the organization (Zappala, 2004). The culture of the organization is responsible for cultivating innovation in its members. Culture has an effect on long term effectiveness and performance of the organization is widely and powerful recognized by observers and scholars. Culture is viewed as an organizational variable which is very important to the success or failure of the organization. Introduction of changes to culture creates away of creativity and organizational performance. Organizational change cannot occur without looking at the culture of the organization to see the ease of implementation. An organization has to study keenly its culture before deciding how best to implement change. Huge disruptions to companies can cause undesirable destabilization that will make some of the employees to lose focus in their quest for growth and profitability. Striving to achieve change should not be outside the normal operations of the business that can result in undesirable disruptions. Creativity, innovation and change have to be embedded in the organizational processes step by step so as not to result into confusion (Young, & Thyil, 2009). Conclusion Dynamism, flexibility and competitiveness, are some of the terms that define today’s business world. Aggressiveness and understanding market trends are the only sure ways of getting to know the changing customers demands and the unpredictable business environment. Change, innovation and creativity occupy a special place in the processes of any organization that want to remain relevant in a competitive world of business. Managers have to adjust their ways of doing business, and through the organizational culture, encourage creativity and innovation. Profitability without any effective method of ensuring creativity and innovation may drive the business out of the market. With shifting customer demands, organizations have to come up with shroud ways of occasioning organizational change to encourage innovation and creativity. A deeper interpretation of the need for theoretical and practical models of effecting change is needed in order to come up with brilliant ideas that con be turned into commercial products, services and processes. As it has been aptly put, change is the only constant variable in the business world since it is ever there. Reflection on ways of improving the performance of an organization should focus on encouraging change, innovation and creativity. The desired outcomes should be used to monitor the direction of change in organizations. References Andriopoulos, C., & Dawson, P. (2009). Managing change, creativity and innovation. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publication Ltd. Boxall, P., & Macky, K. (2007). High-performance work systems and organizational performance: Bridging theory and practice. Asian pacific journal of human resources, 45 (3), 261-270. Cutcher, L. (2009). Resisting change from within and without the organization. Journal of organizational change management, 22 (3), 275-289. Gollan, P. (2005). High involvement management and human resource sustainability: The Challenges and opportunities. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 43(1), 18–33. Young, S., & Thyil, V. (2009). Governance, employees and CRS: Integration is the key to unlocking value. Asia Pacific journal of human resources, 47 (2), 167-185. Zappala, G. (2004). Corporate citizenship and human resource management: A new tool or a missed opportunity? Asian Pacific of human resources, 42 (2), 185-201. Read More