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PROMOTINGINNOVATION
AND
CREATIVITY
AMONGST
EMPLOYEESUBMITTED BY-
SUBMITTED TO-
Pallavi kumari
Marlyn mam
Section R1904
Roll no.-B27
IntroductionThe need for innovation permeates every organization from top to bottom for employees, but
not every organization is adept at generating creative solutions to its problems. As a senior
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executive, what can you do to promote innovation and creativity that is manageble and
measurable at every level of the company, including:
small improvements whose cumulative effect adds up to big savings in day-to-day
processes
major changes that revolutionize jobs, products and services
Breakthroughs in strategic thinking that could redefine the nature of the organization?
We can create a six-part system for managing creativity and creating an environment where
ideas can be better assessed and adopted and these are:-
decide what operations to target for improving innovation
prepare the workplace for innovation
implement behavioural suggestion systems
generate innovative alternatives
choose from among innovative alternatives
adopt innovations throughout the organization
Numerous commentators have argued that enhancing the creative performance of employee
is necessary step if organisations are to achieve competitive advantage. When employee
performs creatively, they suggest novel and useful products, ideas or procedures that provide
an organisation with important raw material for subsequent development and possible
implementation.
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION DAY
Launched in 2001 by a group in Toronto, Canada, this day is now celebrated in more than 43
countries. April 15th was chosen as Creativity and Innovation Day in honor of Leonardo da
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Vinci who was born on this day. This day marks the beginning of a week full of activities
and workshops aimed at fostering creativity and innovation. The website dedicated to this
special day provides a variety of resources including articles, research studies, posters and
ideas for activities that encourage creativity whether in the classroom, in the office or in
everyday tasks.
Distinguishing between creativity and
innovation
It is often useful to explicitly distinguish between creativity and innovation.
Creativity is typically used to refer to the act of producing new ideas, approaches or actions,
while innovation is the process of both generating and applying such creative ideas in some
specific context.
In the context of an organization, therefore, the term innovation is often used to refer to the
entire process by which an organization generates creative new ideas and converts them into
novel, useful and viable commercial products, services, and business practices, while the
term creativity is reserved to apply specifically to the generation of novel ideas by
individuals or groups, as a necessary step within the innovation process.
For example, Amabile and shermaine montefalco et al. (1996) suggest that while innovation
begins with creative ideas,"
"...creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is a
necessary but not sufficient condition for the second."
Although the two words are novel, they go hand in hand. In order to be innovative,
employees have to be creative to stay competitive.
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BUSINESS CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION (To build an
innovative culture):-. More and more, todays competitive climate requires organizations to
institutionalize the process of innovation - to plant the seeds of creativity
that could utterly transform a business. Creativity necessarily involves the
destruction of old - and sometimes comfortable and perfectly good - ways
of doing business. But for companies willing to take the risk - and for
leaders committed to building innovative cultures - the first requirement
is to understand the creative process, and the second is to commit to
policies that support the creative process.
The Four Stages of the Creative Process:In order to build an innovative culture, leaders first have to understand the four keys stages
of the creative process, based on the work of Teresa Amabile, Ph. D. - a psychologist at the
Harvard Business School: The four stages are:
1. Preparation: this is the stage where the creative person or team becomes
immersed in the problem. Its an information gathering stage, and when the effort is
a collective one, it involves the forming of roles, areas of special individual interest
and the (sometimes loose!) coordination of tasks. The creative process can sometimes
stall - or temporarily appear to stall - at this stage, especially when lots of possibilities
yield no immediate, transformative insights.
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2. Incubation: in this stage, the original problem may appear to be on the back
burner, even forgotten or neglected, but the mind is still at work. Not the logical,
linear mind - the part we use most when awake - but the part that dreams, synthesizes,
and makes new, weird, original connections. For a team effort, this can mean that the
group may not meet for a while, appearing to let the project fall by the wayside. But
people will still be thinking, or have ideas occur to them in the shower, or write down
thoughts on cocktail napkins, etc.
3. Illumination: Without warning, ideas or innovations can come any time - the
aha! or eureka! experience. More commonly, there is no immediate killer
insight, but some new angle that may occur, or some sudden, burning, unexplainable
need to return to work on the problem - often a sign of creative labor pains. When
the creative project has been a team effort, sometimes the only thing needed is to get
the original group members together again after a period of time, and then pow! -
the spontaneous exchange among them can bring forth an idea that no one member
could articulate alone.
4. Execution: This is the stage that separates mere creativity from successful
innovation. New ideas require action, stubborn determination, and ability to build
change coalitions while marketing the idea to critical skeptics. Perhaps more than
anything else, it takes courage and persistence. Since the execution stage is more
about social skill than it is about the technical skill that produces the innovative idea,
this is the stage where organizational management can be most actively helpful in
promoting business creativity.
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Some business practices that create innovative
culture
Leaders who want to create an innovative business culture must understand the steps of the
creative process, but that alone is not enough. To promote business innovation, executive
leaders should commit to the following business practices, and institutionalize them in the
culture - by training managers in these practices and then doling out promotions and rewards
to those who employ them successfully.
1. Select the most promising innovators, but encourage unexpected surprises: To build
innovative hothouses in an organization, executives may want to cull out the most
promising idea-generators and provide them with extra resources. Those are the
people who can benefit most from the buffer zones in step two. But the other
practices listed in this section should be generalized throughout the organization, if
possible, so that innovators in unexpected places will have the room to produce ideas
and results. Leaders should train other managers to understand the stages of the
creative process, and evaluate managers based on their ability to promote and
shepherd through to completion new ideas that they encounter.
2. Create buffer zones for the most innovative people: Creating buffer zones means
building a kind of protective cocoon around creative people or around the innovative
teams within an organization. That means eliminating the ways that policies or other
work pressures get in the way or discourage the information gathering involved in the
preparation stage. It also means being sure that the tools and resources are available
when creative people go looking around for data or answers to questions. The
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executive leader for such a group should do the advance work and run the
interference necessary to let creative people go through the preparation stage without
interference or harassment.
3. Give innovators room to play: For innovators, anything they can do to mess
around with the kinds of data or projects that they see as helpful - will be helpful.
That can be hard to remember when they seem to have lost their minds, or to have
lost their focus! But during the incubation stage, activities that may look like useless
diversions - that may not even look like work - are all necessary to allow the deeper
parts of the brain to solve a problem and make new connections. For typical results-
oriented executives, this can be hard to do - especially when the creative team
happens to be a team of executives working to create a new business process. The
senior executive who may have assigned the task may be hard pressed to let his
innovative team have the time and space to produce truly transformative solutions.
The key to letting people have room to play is to refrain from judgment of their
activities or methods.
1. Give innovators room to play: For innovators, anything they can do to mess around
with the kinds of data or projects that they see as helpful - will be helpful. That can
be hard to remember when they seem to have lost their minds, or to have lost their
focus! But during the incubation stage, activities that may look like useless
diversions - that may not even look like work - are all necessary to allow the deeper
parts of the brain to solve a problem and make new connections. For typical results-
oriented executives, this can be hard to do - especially when the creative team
happens to be a team of executives working to create a new business process. The
senior executive who may have assigned the task may be hard pressed to let his
innovative team have the time and space to produce truly transformative solutions.
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The key to letting people have room to play is to refrain from judgment of their
activities or methods.
Resist the temptation to look for immediate results: Any team can develop
incremental solutions or recommendations. There is no business or technological
process that cannot be improved through study and modification. But to build a
culture that truly encourages innovation, the pressure to get immediate results will
yield only incremental improvements, and the need to meet deadlines can sometimes
kill the creative process before the illumination stage. While it is true that deadlines
can focus creative teams and encourage timely ultimate illumination, setting
deadlines should not be overused because they often will interfere with the creative
process. Close communication with creative people working on a project can help
leaders develop a feel for when setting a deadline will help, rather than hinder the
process.
2. Commit to driving the best ideas through to implementation: Innovators are seldom
the best salespeople for their ideas. They are, by nature, more likely to work in
isolation, play with their ideas, or generally rub others who are less creative the
wrong way. The business leader who wants to encourage innovation must act as the
first-line filter to test the best ideas and solutions, choosing which ones are the right
ones to see through to fruition. Then the executive advocate must commit to the
internal sales and marketing project to build coalitions that will bring the new idea
into a reality. This takes courage and persistence, and an ability to work the political
and social process involved in getting others to adapt to innovation. This is
important, not only to reap the rewards of innovation in practice, but to encourage
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other innovators by showing them that their best efforts will actually be adopted and
see the light of day - in your organization, and not your competitors!
Leaders who want to encourage business creativity must be sure also to build talent driven,
positive cultures that place a value on learning. To see if your organization fits the bill, heres
one quick test: can any employee at least two steps removed in the organizational chart
openly ask a question that challenges a firmly held opinion of the CEO? If the answer is
no, then your organization is probably not as open as you think it is, and youll need to
reassess your culture if you genuinely want to promote innovation - and reap innovations
rewards.
Engaged Employees Inspire Company Innovation
and creativity
For innovation, business leaders aren't necessarily looking to traditional sources, like
research and development departments, to contribute big new ideas. Rather, they're
counting on ideas from their employees, customers, and partners to help drive the
organization forward. And engaged employees are most likely to contribute those
innovations, according to a recent Gallup Management Journal(GMJ) survey of U.S.
workers.
GMJsurveyed U.S. employees to discover what
effect employee engagement may have on team-level innovation and customer service
delivery. Gallup researchers studied employee responses to several items about innovation in
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the workplace to see which factors differed most strongly among engaged employees (29%
of respondents) and those who were not engaged (56%) or actively disengaged (15%).
Gallup research has shown that engaged employees are more productive, profitable, safer,
create stronger customer relationships, and stay longer with their company than less engaged
employees. This latest research indicates that workplace engagement is also a powerful factor
in catalyzing "outside-the-box" thinking to improve management and business processes as
well as customer service.
When GMJresearchers surveyed U.S. workers, 59% of engaged employees strongly agreed
with the statement that their current job "brings out [their] most creative ideas." On the flip
side, only 3% of actively disengaged employees strongly agreed that their current job brings
out their most creative ideas.
.
Graphical representation of creativity on the job amongst
employee
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THREE COMPONENTS OF
CREATIVITY
MOTOROLA APPROACH TO CRATIVITY AND INNOVATION
AMONGST EMPLOYEES
Motorola is an electronics company that is well known for making products like
cellular phones and pagers. They have achieved a high level of success throughout the world
by being innovative and promoting creativity among their employees. This companys
prosperity is dependent upon developing cutting edge technology and in new product design.
To accomplish these goals, Motorola actively encourages employees to generate creative
ideas, challenge conventional thinking, and look towards the future.
There are many practices Motorola uses to be successful and improve employee
creativity within the organization. Some of these methods include employee empowerment
and risk taking, training and education techniques, participative management, and team
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collaboration. This paper will address how Motorola manages creativity and innovation in
the workplace and describe the effects of their approach on employee performance.
Training and Education
Motorola has a distinct corporate culture and core set of values that affect how
employees perform and their level of creativity. Motorola strongly believes in preparing
their employees through education and training. Every worker is required to go through 40
hours of training each year, and they are provided with additional educational opportunities
like attending professional conferences and workshops (Inside Motorola: Benefits). There is
also a school, called Motorola University, which is an important tool designed to train
Motorola recruits.
Motorolas training and education programs have set a high standard for teaching
workers how to behave in the workplace. Motorola University was established in 1980 to
serve as a learning centre for employees. It now has branches all over the world and instructs
workers about a wide variety of business topics by combining traditional schooling with
hands on learning. They learn not only by reading manuals or attending lectures, but by
inventing and building their own products as well (High Performance Working Research
Project). Motorola University does not dwell on abstract concepts or theories. It
concentrates primarily on the application of concepts to the business world and how to deal
with performance issues. This program creates a practical link between education and
business strategies that can guide employees to make informed decisions.
Motorola also employs innovative training through a distance-learning program.
They use technologies like CD-ROM courses, satellite broadcasts, and virtual classrooms on
the Internet to keep employees skills up to date in a rapidly changing industry. Motorolas
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unique training practices lead to more knowledgeable and competent employees because
their skills are continually advancing. Distance learning also makes training more efficient.
It allows numerous employees to be trained simultaneously at regional centers and reduces
the time and travel costs it would take to educate them elsewhere. Motorola has stated that
distance learning will continue to grow in the future, and it will someday make up as much as
40% of their entire training program.
Participative Management
Motorola Universitys curriculum is based on very clear objectives aimed at
preparing employees to be leaders in the workplace. It stresses the importance of change and
points out that there must be shared responsibility for change across the entire organization.
Motorola University has helped the organization evolve from a view of change as
something done to others for the benefit of a few to a view of change as something done
collectively for the benefit of the whole (High Performance Working Research Project).
Therefore, Motorola encourages employees to be accountable and have a stake in the
company by awarding them with significant opportunities to contribute to organizational
change.
An interrelated principle Motorola teaches is that innovation is more likely to occur
when employees participate in finding solutions rather than waiting for them to occur
elsewhere. Motorola wants workers at all levels to incorporate organizational changes within
their everyday jobs instead of deeming change as purely a function of management. Finally,
Motorola University teaches its workforce to think with a broad perspective that extends
beyond the organization. The goal is to avoid narrow-minded thinking, which can restrict
imaginative ideas and solutions.
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Team Collaboration
Another interesting technique Motorola uses is a competitive event between teams of
employees throughout the organization. This competition is called TCS, and is aimed at
promoting idea sharing and improving total customer satisfaction. The top teams from
Motorola branches all over the world come to Orlando participate in this event. Each team is
given a 12-minute time limit to make a presentation about what they have done to meet
customer needs over the previous year. They must describe how they applied problem
solving techniques, teamwork, creative solutions, or new processes to enhance customer
satisfaction. They also have to show that their accomplishments were consistent with the
companys five main initiatives: six sigma quality control, total cycle-time reduction, profit
improvement, participative management, and leadership.
An example of a winning team at the TCS was the ROOTS team from China. This
group demonstrated resourcefulness and innovation through a plan to that resulted in a 40%
increase in the amount of paging products sold to area suppliers. ROOTS coordinated with
both new and existing suppliers in China to create a close distribution network that was more
efficient and lucrative for Motorola (High Performance Working Research Project). This
illustrates the kind of innovation and progress Motorola wants all groups to strive for.
The TCS competition is a fun occasion for everyone involved and includes a paid trip
to Orlando, Florida for the finalists. However, it is also a learning tool. Many ideas are
exchanged between teams and new cross-cultural relationships develop. It is also an exercise
requiring teamwork and spirited employee participation. One Motorola executive described
the TCS event as the personification of our empowerment program. The TCS has
emphasized the use of teams in a creative setting, and Motorola has seen teams become more
cooperative and effective since the competitions inception.
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The chairman of the board at Motorola observed that the TCS encourages employees
to become more involved in generating and implementing new ideas. He said, The
intangible benefit is that, once people see that you're interested in their ideas, they feel better
about being part of the corporation and part of their business unit. Motorola believes this
type of employee participation and recognition leads to greater levels of loyalty and lower
turnover. Since around 40% of Motorola employees are regularly involved in team activities
during their normal workday, the TCS is a useful instrument to bring out their creative spirit.
It teaches them to find innovative and intelligent solutions consistent with the companys
commitment to customer satisfaction.
A common model of group collaboration at Motorola is the use of cross-functional
teams to complete tasks. Workers from different departments like sales, engineering, market,
and research and development are frequently combined to work jointly on projects.
Employees are also taught how to use techniques like effective communication and conflict
resolution in a group setting. Motorola believes that with the proper training, cross-
functional teams can accomplish tasks more quickly than dividing them up between each
division (Besemer). In fact, because of cross-functional teams, cycle times have reduced by
60%-70% in engineering and manufacturing areas and 90%-95% in administrative and
service processes. They have also seen that combining knowledge and diverse perspectives
of several departments often leads to more creative solutions than traditional methods
(Hurley).
Empowerment and Risk Taking
Motorola has strived to ensure continuous improvement and lasting success by
following fundamental principles that emphasize change. One principle is known as
leadership of renewal, which stresses the need for change to stay ahead of the advancing
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technology market. Motorola has tried to create a corporate structure that can anticipate and
manage change in order to gain a competitive advantage. A key aspect of accomplishing this
is to teach managers and lower level employees to take a proactive approach toward change
(Winston).
Another standard they adhere to is called renewal of leadership. At Motorola it is
important that employees have freedom to take risks and utilize creativity. Therefore,
Motorola looks for managers who can inspire and empower subordinates rather than inhibit
their creative freedom through rigid authority or control. Their renewal of leadership system
uses an intricate 360-degree feedback program for all divisions of the company. This allows
every worker to get opinions about their strengths and areas needing improvement from
peers, managers, subordinates, and customers. Motorola also has a structure that encourages
the rotation of managers from all levels of the organization. This is done to reenergize
managers and ensure that problems will continually be looked at from a fresh perspective
(Winston).
An essential concept the Motorola Corporation advocates to their employees is to
think the unthinkable. The notion here is to think differently and find innovative solutions to
any type of problem encountered. To encourage this initiative, Motorola passes power on to
their employees to make critical decisions and tells them it is okay to make mistakes. Open
to new ideas, devoted to nurturing, and encouraging those who question the oldest
assumptions and propose the boldest changes--these are enduring characteristics of
Motorola (High Performance Working Research Project).
Motorola also encourages their employees to exhibit desired performance through
rewards and positive reinforcement. Counter-intuitive thinking--the thought process of
standing against the crowd and challenging conventional wisdom--is prized, encouraged, and
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rewarded. In fact, it is the basis on which Motorola's success is founded. Motorola is very
good about giving their employees a high level of autonomy and encouraging independent
thinking. This results in a greater sense of confidence and creative freedom while on the job.
In order for workers to consistently apply the values that Motorola preaches, they
must be properly motivated. Thus, Motorola offers many extrinsic rewards to employees
that can make them feel appreciated and motivate them to be successful. The company
provides extensive training each year for all employees, tuition reimbursement for attending
school, sports and recreation facilities, and promotions based on achievement rather than
tenure (Inside Motorola: Benefits). These incentives, along with competitive salaries, can
help workers feel a greater sense of commitment and purpose for their jobs. It is also
common for people to be more productive and creative when they are valued and feel
comfortable in their surroundings. The preceding examples illustrate why so many
employees view Motorola as a first class organization and are passionate about their careers.
Looking ForwardMotorola has implemented a system to ensure that everyone, from executives down
to regular employees, is always thinking towards the future. The company continually
reevaluates and reinvents its business structure to meet current demands, and has shown that
they are not afraid of making drastic changes when necessary. This type of progressive
attitude emulates from the top of the organization downward. Therefore, employees at
Motorola are more willing to make suggestions and express their creative visions because
they are given freedom to try new things and have the unwavering support from management
to take risks.
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Furthermore, Motorola calls on their personnel to contemplate a number of questions
that will impact the future of the organization. They ask challenging questions such as: what
will our organizational structure look like in 2025? How does our structure need to be
different to support our vision? What new technologies will be needed? What skills will our
managers need for the growth and the changes we are experiencing? (High Performance
Working Research Project) These types of thought provoking questions necessitate creative
responses from employees and reveal the need for continuous innovation in a dynamic
industry.
ConclusionInnovation and creativity have clearly been a driving force behind Motorolas
prosperity. Over the years, Motorola has proven itself to be revolutionary through both their
product design and in the way they interact with employees. Motorola has been a leader in
the technology market because of their emphasis on continuous improvement and their
ability to adapt to change. Some elements of Motorolas creative plan include employee
empowerment, participative management, team collaboration, and innovative education and
training. Their goals are for workers to exhibit independent thinking, creative problem
solving, and leadership ability. It is evident Motorola encourages creativity and innovation
from their employees, and this has contributed greatly to the organizations success.
ROLE OF ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE TO ENCOURAGE
CREATIVITY TOWARDS INNOVATION
An organizations climate, or work atmosphere, represents the primary backdrop that
influences employees beliefs about their work environment. The climate affects the setting
and ongoing adjustment, as well as employees expectations about what the organization
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desires and expects of them. When we are interested in fostering creativity and innovation in
our organization, we must consider to what extent the organizational climate is conducive to
opportunity, encouragement, and support. This is especially important because we know that
most creative people are particularly responsive to workplace climate factors. Additionally,
key aspects of an organizations climate for creativity will serve as effective starting points
for creativity-related interventions. It is likely that large numbers of employers will need to
gain a strong understanding of how to target these interventions based on climate. A 2006
survey of corporate leaders conducted by SHRM indicated that 73.6% rated
creativity/innovation among the most critical emerging content and skill areas over the
next five years.
An organizations climate is generally comprised of influences from different sources of the
employees experiences such as their jobs, groups, and environmental factors. Through the
Kenexa Creativity series of articles (featured in the previous four issues of Kenexa
Connection), we have identified and discussed various influences from the workplace such as
working in groups and the influence of leadership on creative endeavors.
Climate factors such as leader support, autonomy, challenging work, adequate resources,
work group support, and positive supervisor relations all influence employee creativity.
Examples of leader support and positive supervisor relations include removing obstacles,
supporting and championing team members ideas, inquiring regularly about work and
progress, recognizing good work (both privately and publicly), helping when problems arise,
and asking for ideas. Autonomy relates to the perception that employees have the
independence to decide how they will approach their jobs.
Furthermore, social relationships, other than those with the supervisor, influence creativity
and innovation. Employees who feel their participation is encouraged are more likely to feel
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that their creativity will be supported. Communication between peers, supervisors, and
subordinates is clear, open, and effective. Employees who experience a more positive peer
group are likely to be more creative than those who do not encounter support and intellectual
stimulation. These positive relationships are characterized by open and honest
communication and trust. Employees will also find it easier to engage in creative efforts
when they feel that the debate and discussion of ideas is encouraged and supported in the
organization.
It is also important for employees to perceive support from top management. Senior
leadership must make it clear that they desire creativity and innovation. Part of the
employees experience of the importance of creativity and innovation will also come from an
encouragement of flexibility. It is necessary for employees to feel that the organization and
its leaders are accepting of risks and will tolerate the uncertainty and ambiguity that is often
associated with creative efforts. Employees who perceive their jobs or tasks as a challenge
are more likely to be creative. The job or tasks should be complex and interesting, but should
not be overly taxing or unduly overwhelming to the extent that creative energies are
diminished.
The climate factors discussed here provide a starting point for designing organizational
efforts and processes to encourage creativity. However, before interventions are designed, it
is important to assess your organization for its creative climate. Organizational survey items
such as My ideas and suggestions count, In this company there is open and honest two-
way communication, I often do work that challenges me and my abilities, We have an
environment where new ideas can be tested quickly, and In my work group, we learn from
unsuccessful attempts to innovate, will provide a basis for understanding your organizations
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climate for creativity. Only after you understand your climate can you develop an appropriate
plan for encouraging future creativity.
So a better organisational climate isnecessary for innovation and creativity.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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