Creativity: Organizational Issues

Poor organizational culture
   criticism & judging of ideas, stereotyping, risk-aversion
   no place for humor, playfulness, or artistic thinking
   excessive formal procedures (red tape)
    lack of cooperation and trust among co-workers.
    inappropriately autocratic supervisoes & structures
   resists change in order to preserve company traditions

"natural tendency of organizations to:
Adams (1979, p. 143):

routinize,
reduce uncertainty,
increase predictability,
centralize functions and controls"

3 ingredients for individual creativity
(Amabile, 1988):

expertise in the domain,
skill in crative thinking,
intrinsic motivation to do the task well.

Barriers to "Intrinsic Motivation"

expecting detailed & critical evaluation,
being closely watched,
focusing on tangible rewards,
competing with other people,
having limited choices & resources for the job

How Managers Can Foster Creativity

Goal Setting	clear overall goals,
	latitude in how to achieve those goals.

Evaluation

focus on the work itself (as opposed to the person)
provide informative and constructive help
involve peers as well as supervisors.

Rewards	Give recognition for successful creative effort
	Avoid over-emphasis on rangible rewards for creativity Creativity is easy to starve, but hard to buy

Challenges	An urgent and inportant problem can stimulate creativity,
	Imposing artificial urgency can decrease creativity. *such as competing with another division in the company or having an arbitrary de*adline

betriebsblind
German word for a "blind spot" from long-term association with a particular firm;
Consultants (like Clemon) bring a new perspective to the client's situation.