The Arts and Business - Essay Example

WHERE IS THE INTRODUCTION? YOU’VE JUMPED STRAIGHT INTO THE RESEARCH WITHOUT INTRODUCING THE AIM OF YOUR ESSAY.) Creativity and Innovation has always been at the heart of organization endeavor. Most companies are surviving and staying in the competitive market due to creativity and innovation they have embrace over the years. Due to the importance of creativity and innovation in businesses, this paper will discuss the importance of “creativity in business”. Then the paper will move forward to discuss how creativity can be conceptualized in organizational theory, human resource management, and finally in organizational culture and innovation. The paper will also discuss various theories and principles in the realms of creativity, social change and management innovation and used to guide our paper. Harvey and Novicevic (2002) highlight several elements of hyper-competition. Firstly, competitive advantages for companies nowadays are becoming fragile and very difficult to sustain. Therefore, most companies have become aware of this challenge and are continuously updating their competitive advantages. Moreover, strategies are losing their long-term effect and companies have found the need to formulate new strategies so as to gain temporary competitive advantages. In addition, technologies, life cycles of products, relationships and the like are becoming shorter and shorter. Harvey and Novicevic (2002) also state that new industries are emerging while conventional industry boundaries are becoming blurred. In wake of this, competition that is found in the global market is becoming increasingly intense and fierce; therefore, companies must constantly change in ashort timeframe (Howkins 2002). Under the business circumstances presented above, organisations do not have many options. but to rely on creativity and innovation for their growth. (NO CONNECTION HERE) Creativity in business is a vital ingredient for a business to prosper in many areas of its operations (Close & Donovan 1998). “Creativity cannot be easily defined but it will depend upon different contexts in which it has been used” (Close & Donovan 1998). But according to Close & Donovan, (1998), an organisation is said to be creative when some of its staff do something which will affect the organisation positively. According to Davis Charles, he sums up creativity as doing something new in the company that has not been done in the past years in the company. According to Charles Davis, creativity involves conception plus invention plus exploitation. But according to (Walker-Kuhne 2005), he identified creativity and innovation in a company to be important tools for survival for any company, and to some degree this is reflected in reality.Most books of business creativityattempt to focus around collaboration, organisational structure, and teamwork. Management teams in many organisations are becoming more and more worried; new products and services that are being invented are changing the competitive dynamics in ways that most organisations are not able to anticipate (Throsby 2001). New businesses or competitors entering the market are bringing with them new fresh business models, which have invaded the traditional competitive dynamic. Most companies have been forced to be creative and innovative; they are using new channels to market their products. As a consequence, market leadership is changing hands from time to time, and competitive advantages companies used to enjoy are no longer sustainable in the long run. Therefore, in a competitive market, organisations need to adapt to these changes brought about by creativity, and evolve rapidly in order to be successful in the new market environment (Robinson & Stern 2000). One possible solution for companies is to embrace creativity and innovation into their organisational operations. When an organisation encourages creativity and innovation into their operations, creativity and innovation will help the companies to increase their capacity to respond to fresh consumers or increase their capacity, and ultimately the companies will be in a position to achieve competitive advantage. However, organisations should realise it is not possible to have competitive advantage over its competitors for a long time. Therefore, organisations need to embrace creativity and innovation to migrate as quickly as possible from one competitive advantage to another (Robinson & Stern 2000). (IS ALL OF THIS TOTALLY LINKED TO THE ESSAY QUESTION? IT IS NOT CLEAR.) Organisational creativity theory will relate to work environment in order for creativity to thrive. However, some questions still remain unanswered.Why is it that some companies are able to bring many new innovations after many years, and their creativity and innovation encourages growth of the company for many years? For example, 3M has hadhundred years of innovation and creativity, while other companies have been unable to succeed in the same field of technology. Many organisations are faced witha multitude of competitive pressures, ranging from increased technological change, globalisation of markets, consolidation, and uncertain economic environments. In order for companies to prosper in spite of these pressures, companies must be creative and produce innovative products, practices and services that improve their competitive position in the market place. Many studies have found that an organisation’s creativity and innovative is directly related to important outcomes such as product quality, market value and profitability. Considering that staff creativity in any organisation provides the foundation for creativity and innovation within the company. Therefore, it is important for companies to provide platforms in which their employees are creative in their work (Robinson & Stern 2000). Concurrent with the increasing importance of creativity and innovation in companies, a considerable number of companies have shifted their work from individual jobs to team-work structures (Florida 2005). Organisations have found that team-based work structures offer access to different skills and perspectives. In addition, many studies have found that team-work structures enhance the creative and innovative capacity of their employees. Team-work structures in an organisation have been found to offer members the opportunity to interact with employees from different backgrounds and who have different approaches and perspectives to their job (Hesmondhalgh 2007). This diversity of viewpoints that is found in team-work structures is thought to bring new pathways of thoughts and actionsfor members of team-work structures, and ultimately stimulate ideas from many sources in looking for ways to performa task. Therefore, organisations should find ways in which creativity can be enhanced and this can be through team-based work structures (Robinson & Stern 2000). There are many studies that are based on creativity and innovation in many research perspectives. Many of these studies have been carried out in service-related and advanced-technology sectors. According to Simon (as cited in Garud 1999), an organisation’s creativity and innovation is fostered through decision-making processes. Simon (as cited in Garud, 1999) in his model of creativity states that in order for creativity to produce a successful innovation it should be accomplished in steps. Creativity will begin with an idea, then idea analysis, adoption, and finally implementation. However according to Caves (2000), creative and innovative processes in an organisation focus on four stages of exploring or searching, inventing or creating, choosing or deciding and finally applying or implementing a creative idea. Caves (2000) goes further to say that, in order for organisations to get good results, creativity and innovation need to be nurtured. This point is supported by Delbecq (1985) when he compared low-innovation companies with high-innovation companies. (WATCH YOUR TENSE – YOU NEED TO MAINTAIN ALL PRESENT TENSE.)He differentiates between ‘low’ and ‘high’ innovation companies; high-innovation companies have at their disposal funds or resources that have been earmarked for development and research (Walker-Kuhne 2005). On the other hand, low-innovation companies usually ack commitment and resources, and most times they suffer. According to Delbecq (1985), creativity and innovation are based on the following elements: the obstacles against innovation, the motivation to innovate, and resources availability in the organisation.In the past, many theorists have explored stimulants, motivation and obstacles as a means for recognising the making and destroying forces to creativity and innovation in an organisation (Hesmondhalgh 2007). In an era where creativity and innovation is important for businesses to succeed and sustain themselves, human resources have become an increasing importance in organisations. According to Kozlowski (1987), HRM (Human Resource Management) should be rooted in thecompany’s strategy in order to facilitate creativity and innovation. This point is highlighted by Roberts (1988) who believes that 4 dimensions of strategy, structure, staffing and system support are tools that willprioritise creativity and innovation in the organization, and ensure the company employs qualified employees. In past years,the relationship betweenHRM (Human Resource Management) and creativity and innovation has been conceptualised in different ways. One perspectiveassumes that a HRM (Human Resource Management) system is made up of specific applications that influence creativityindirectly. In addition, a study by Amabile (1997) showed that not only does job appraisal, induction and training impact creativity and innovation, but the influence of these activities may differ according to the types of creativity (i.e. explorative versus exploitative). In the “contingency theory model” (IS THIS A BOOK OR THEORY TITLE?) developed by Schuler and Jackson (as cited in Garud 1999) and Miles and Snow (as cited in Garud 1999), characterized an organization such as: external market, size, industries, consumer interest groups, technology, government, customer and competitors. (MORE?? THIS IS NOT ENOUGH)are important factors that can be used to determine appropriate HRM (Human Resource Management) practices for creativity and innovation strategies (Schuler &Jackson; Miles & Snow, as cited Garud 1999). According to the “componential theory of individual creativity”(IS THIS A BOOK OR THEORY TITLE?) developed by Amabile (1997),creativity generation in an organisation involves three components: intrinsic task motivation, creative-thinking, and expertise. (THIS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE – WHAT ARE THE THREE COMPONENTS EXACTLY?). Many studies on psychology demonstrate that extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivational factors significantly drive creativity and innovation in an employee. Several research findings have shown extrinsic motivators, such as gifts, salary increment, allowance will not make an employee in an organization to be creative (THIS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE – WHAT DO YOU MEAN?) (Osborne et el 1999). While, according to Amabile (1997), employees will be creative and innovative when their motivation comes from a source of satisfaction, pleasure, passion and personal interest. In addition, Amabile (1997) also said that innovation and creativity in people can bestimulated and at same time be destroyedby environment factors. Consequently, creativity and innovation is frequently destroyed in organisations by other factors such as downsizing short-term profit maximisation initiatives and productivity(du Gay &Pryke 2002). A good environment for individuals and teams in an organisation is crucial for people toshare creativity and innovation (Walker-Kuhne 2005). Some organisations such as 3M are using leveragability as a key component of fueling creativity and innovation. For example, 3M has over 100 different groups oftechnologies that fuel new and innovative products (Garud 1999), and these new products are made intellectual properties of the company and can be accessed by other groups inside the company. In 3M, agreat deal of innovation was fostered through creativity that was not related to their division; instead, ideas were shared from one division to another (Garud 1999). The amount of organisational resources set aside for innovation and creativity initiativeshas been seen as a key factor that will enable organisations to succeed in their creative and innovative ideas (Hartley, 2005). For example, if an employee comesup with a creative idea and the company does not have resources or funds to make that idea a reality, then the idea may suffer or diminish due to lack of resources (Howkins 2002). This point is also supported by Delbecq (1985) who found that inmost low innovation companies, many of their innovations and creativity failed to be realised because of lack of project ownership and resources set aside for such projects or human resources. Delbecq (1985) and Garud (1999)go further in suggesting that organisations should make creativity and innovation a priority and they should allocate enough time to generate new ideas thatare keyfeatures of highly innovative companies. For example, 3M has a management practice that encourages staff to spend 15 per cent of their time on creative ideas which the company has not thought of (Garud 1999). When an organisation has multiple views and perspectives contributing tocreativity and innovation (Kattwinkel 2003) these views and perspectives will increase the degree of creative and brainstorming generations in the creative process. In other studies, organisations that generate creativity have also been found to rely on creativity to build a strong market base performance.Frequently, many new products, ideas, and processes will make the company profitability grow.And thesewill form new competencies that will make the company grow in the future, and gain a competitive advantage in the market. (YOU’VE ALREADY MADE THIS POINT! SEE MORE COMMENTS) (THIS IS JUST A COLLECTION OF RESEARCH, THERE IS NO LINKING TO THE ESSAY QUESTION AT ALL. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT EACH PARAGRAPH DIRECTLY ADDRESSES THE CONTENT OF THE ESSAY QUESTION AND THAT ALL THE PARTS ARE LINKED TOGETHER BY A COMMON ARGUMENT.) References 1. Amabile, T. 1997,‘Motivating creativity in organizations: On doing what you love and loving what you do’, California Management Review, Vol. 40, no. 1,p. 39-58, retrieved 2nd August 2011, Business Source Complete Database 2. Caves, R 2000, Creativeindustries: contracts between art and commerce, London, Harvard University Press, p.23-30 3. Close, H & Donovan, R. c 1998, Who"s my market: a guide to researching audiences and visitors in the arts,Redfern, N.S.W, Australia Council, p. 35-50 4. Delbecq, A & Mills, P 1985,‘Managerial Practices that enhance innovation’, Organizational Dynamics,Vol. 14, no. 1,p. 24-34, retrieved 1st August 2011, Business Source Complete Database 5. Gay, P &Pryke, M 2002,Cultural economy: Cultural analysis and commercial life,London, Sage, p.25 6. Garud, R 1999, 3M Innovation: A process for mindful replication, London, Sage Publisher, p. 1-5 7. Hartley, J 2005, The Creative Industries, Malden, Mass., Oxford Blackwell Pub, p. 15-18 8. Harvey, M &Novicevic M 2002, ‘The Hypercompetitive global Marketplace: the Importance of Intuition and Creativity in Expatriate Managers’, Journal of World Business, Vol. 37, no. 2, p.127-138, retrieved 7th August 2011, Business Source Complete Database 9. Hesmondhalgh, D 2002,The cultural industries, London: Sage, p. 23-35 10. Howkins, J 2002,The Creative Economy: How people make money from ideas, London,Penguin Publisher, p. 40-46 11. Kattwinkel, S 2003,Audience participation: Essays on inclusion in performance, Westport, Conn., Praeger, p. 23-30 12. Kozlowski, S 1987, ‘Technological Innovation and Strategic HRM: Facing the Challenge of Change’, Human Resource Planning, Vol.10, no. 2, p. 69-79, retrieved 9th August 2011, Business Source Complete Database. 13. Osborne, D, Wheeler, J & Elliott, D 1999,Selling the performing arts: identifying and expanding audiences for music, dance and theatre, a research report commissioned by the Australia Council and prepared by Woolcott Research Pty Ltd., Surry Hills, N.S.W, p. 2-15 14. Robinson, A & Stern, S, 2000,Corporate creativity: how innovation and improvement actually happen,San Francisco, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, p. 34-56 15. Throsby, D 2001, Economics and culture,Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 35 16. Walker-Kuhne, D 2005,Invitation to the party: building bridges to the arts, culture, and Community, Theatre Communications Group, New York, p. 16-30 Read More