The notion of creativity, its stages, and hypotheses
The notion of creativity, its stages, and hypotheses
creativity To begin, consider the notion of creativity. Creativity is defined as "new and useful ideas related to solving specific problems or assembling and recombining known patterns of knowledge in unique forms." It is not limited to the technical side because it excludes the development of goods and related processes, as well as market preparation, but it also includes machines, equipment, manufacturing methods, and improvements. Training outcomes and job satisfaction in the workplace, which leads to higher productivity Because creativity is defined as an individual's unique perspective on a phenomenon, it can be said that creativity necessitates the ability to detect the presence of a problem that needs to be addressed, the ability to think differently and creatively, and finally the ability to find an appropriate solution.
Second, there are different levels of creativity. Creativity manifests itself on a variety of levels, including 1. Individual creativity: so that workers have creative creativity to develop work, either through innate characteristics they enjoy, such as intelligence and talent, or acquired characteristics, such as problem-solving, for example, and these characteristics can be trained and developed, which helps the individual's intelligence and talent.
2. Group creativity: such that there are distinct groups at work that collaborate with one another to put their ideas into action and improve something, such as an artistic group in the production department, for example.
3. Organizational creativity: there are companies that stand out for their level of performance and work, and their work is often modeled after and idealized by other organizations, and in order for organizations to achieve creativity, individual and collective creativity is required. At the organizational level, numerous academics have distinguished between two forms of creativity, namely:
1. Technical creativity: It is concerned with the product, whether it is a good or a service, and it is concerned with production technology, that is, the organization's fundamental operations that result in goods or services.
2. Administrative creativity: It is directly tied to the organization's organizational structure and administrative process, as well as indirectly to the organization's essential operations. Taylor categorizes creativity into four degrees.
1. Expressive Creativity: In this type of creativity, originality and efficiency are less important.
2. Productive Creativity is concerned with the creation of a machine, a product, or a service.
3. Inventive Creativity: This refers to the development of new approaches.
4. Creative Innovation: This refers to the constant development of ideas that leads to the learning of new abilities.
5. Emergence Creativity: This type of creativity is uncommon since it necessitates the creation of whole new concepts and assumptions.
The next point to consider is why businesses should embrace creativity. The following are some of the reasons:
The shifting conditions that organizations face today, whether they be political, cultural, social, or economic factors, need organizations responding to these changes in a creative way that preserves the organization's existence and continuation.
2. Technical and technological innovation in the field of goods and services, their production methods, and the shortening of their life cycle make it imperative for organizations to respond to this technological revolution and the changes that this entails in the organization's structure and management style in creative ways, allowing them to increase their profits and ensure their market share among the competition.
The polar opposite of the most appropriate solution, in which the organization seeks to elicit creative solutions that have never been used before to address non-routine or exceptional problems by adopting organizational, mechanical, and organic structures, rather than developing routine solutions to address cases or problems that have been previously addressed (previous experiences).
Fourth, there are theories of creativity. A number of academics, authors, and management experts proposed concepts that were known as theories and were given names. Different approaches to creativity were proposed in these theories. They also looked at the characteristics of organizations and the elements that influence them. These are the theories:
1. March and Simon's Theorem (March & Simon, 1958): This idea described creativity by addressing the challenges that organizations experience. For example, some organizations suffer a gap between what they are doing and what they are expected to accomplish, so they strive to generate alternatives through the research process. They ascribed the performance disparity to external reasons (changes in demand or changes in the external environment) or internal elements (lack of prosperity, study and awareness, alternatives, and ultimately innovation).
2. Burns & Stalker's Theory (Burns & Stalker,1961): Through their discoveries that the most appropriate structures contribute to the application of creativity in companies through the automated pattern, they were the first to confirm that different organizational structures and structures are beneficial in different instances. The organic design is built on the engagement of members of the organization in making choices, and it helps the process of gathering and processing data and information.
3. Theory (Wilson; 1966): He described the process of creativity as consisting of three stages aimed at introducing changes in the organization, namely: realizing change, proposing change, adopting and applying the change, and realizing the need or awareness of the required change and then generating and applying proposals, with the creativity rate assumed. The complexity of the tasks (bureaucratic) and the diversity of the preservation system differ in these three stages, and the greater the number of different tasks, the greater the non-routine tasks, which facilitates the realization of creativity, collectively and the absence of conflicts, and incentives have a positive effect on generating suggestions and increasing Contribution of the majority of the organization's members.
4. Mill's theory (Harvey, 1970): They profited from what (March & Simon) and (Burns & Stalker) offered; their concentration was on understanding creativity via the amount to which systems employ routine-creative solutions for what is regarded as creativity (case and solutions). They defined the types of problems that organizations face and the types of solutions that they can use by realizing the issue (the problem) through what the organization needs to do to confront it or crystallizing it (that is, how the organization responds) or research with the goal of estimating any possible actions that the organization might take or choosing the solution (selecting Optimal alternative) or redefinition in the sense of receiving feedback information about the most important issues. Exceptional adoption of organizational, mechanical, and organic structures as the organization seeks to develop routine solutions to address cases or problems previously addressed (previous experiences) while also seeking to evoke creative solutions that have not been used before to address non-routine problems.
They also discussed aspects that influence both innovative and regular solutions, such as the size and age of the organization, the level of competition, the level of technological progress, and the level of formality in communications.
5. Hage and Aiken's hypothesis (Hage and Aiken, 1970): It is regarded as one of the most comprehensive theories because it addressed the various stages of the creative process as well as the factors that influence it. It interpreted creativity as a change in an organization's
programs manifested in the addition of new services, and it identified the stages of creativity as follows: * The evaluation stage: this refers to the assessment of the system and the amount to which it has met its objectives, as indicated by (March & Simon). * The preparation step entails getting the necessary work skills as well as financial assistance. * Stage of application: Beginning to complete creativity and the possibility of resistance. Organizational habits and attitudes are part of the routine. With the development in professional specialties and variety, the variables impacting creativity are becoming increasingly diverse and complicated. *central *official *production * Job satisfaction and efficiency 6. Theoretical framework (Zaltman and others, 1973): According to this idea, creativity is divided into two stages: the initiation stage and the application stage, both of which include partial stages. They are not individuals, and they used the theory (Hage and Aiken), but they added other elements to describe the organizational problem, such as interpersonal interactions and conflict resolution methods. *production * Job happiness and productivity 6. Theoretical framework (Zaltman and colleagues, 1973): This theory considers creativity to be a two-stage process with half stages: initiation and application. They are not unique, and they used the theory (Hage and Aiken), but they included other elements to describe the organizational problem, such as interpersonal interactions and conflict resolution methods.
Fifth, qualities and characteristics of a creative personality The first is intelligence.
2. Self-assurance in his ability to attain his objectives.
3. To have a certain level of education and culture.
4. The capacity to put the creative person's innovative thoughts into action.
5. The capacity to elicit information so that he does not regard things as flaws, but rather examines them and raises doubts and skepticism on a regular basis.
6. He has a wide range of social connections and interacts with others, benefiting from their perspectives.
7. Concentrates on one-on-one work to demonstrate his expertise and capabilities. There is some selfishness present.
8. He frequently passes through an insecure infancy stage, which heightens the pressure to establish his existence and self-worth. He might be from a dysfunctional family, a destitute household, or a well-to-do area.
9. Opinion consistency, bravery, daring, risk-taking, and risk-taking. When introducing ideas that have never been offered before, the testing phase necessitates bravery.
10. Working without laws and restrictions is ideal.
11. Curious, research-oriented, and unhappy with the current quo are characteristics of creative individuals.
Sixth: Organizational barriers to creativity According to certain research, organization-level innovation may be hampered for the following reasons.
1. Maintaining the social situation and avoiding negative conflict as a result of disparities between the organization's current culture and the culture that the transition required.
2. Desire to keep well-known ways and methods of performance, since originality in the workplace necessitates additional costs for the company to endure in the beginning.
3. Reluctance to lower the value of an existing item or service's capital investment.
4. The unwillingness to change the current arrangement because of the expenses of doing so.
5. For a long time, the bureaucratic structure has been proven, and the bureaucratic culture has been consolidated, with the attendant desire of those in power to preserve it, as well as the obedience and loyalty of subordinates to them, or the desire of privileged owners to preserve their privileges.
Dr. Randa Al-Zuhri also mentioned some of the challenges that our Arab world faces, including:
1. The fear of failing.
2. Don't take any chances.
3. Become used to the situation.
4. A lack of autonomy.
5. Be resistant to change.
6. Laws' inertia.
7. There is a lack of group support.
8. There is a lack of excitement.
9. Public chastisement.
Failure will result in a tenth punishment.
Methods of communal creative thinking (number 7) There are a variety of approaches from which businesses can pick one based on the nature of the problem to be solved. These methods include:
1) Brainstorming, which was created by (Osborne) and requires the following essential requirements to be successful:
* Never criticize an idea.
* Encourage as many ideas as possible to be reviewed.
* Work on expanding your ideas since each one creates another.
This approach needs a group of people to assemble, and the session's chair invites them to give as many unusual and implausible ideas as they can while avoiding criticism, and then write down their thoughts to pick the most acceptable one.
2) The Nominal Group approach: This method was developed by (Delik and Van Dovan), and it avoids dealing with group member connections. Its major goal is to limit the control of one group member's thoughts over the thinking of others.
To write down the problem that has to be handled for each individual on a sheet of paper.
* The chairperson then presents his ideas, which are not debited until all of the group members have completed stating theirs.
* Then allow for open conversation while avoiding criticism.
Following that, each participant discreetly examines the ideas provided, and the chairperson considers the ideas that have piqued the most interest before the voting is repeated to make a final conclusion.
3) The Delphi technique, which was developed by (Dalki), does not require members to be from the same location. Participants' opinions and ideas are returned to them, and the process is repeated until everyone agrees on the proposed solutions.
Other approaches to encouraging creativity and collective thinking include:
Quality Circles: A group of volunteers gathers to discuss an issue and provide recommendations for how to fix it.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management concept that focuses on continuously improving a product by evaluating organizational procedures, with the primary objective of
satisfying the customer and holding all employees in a single company accountable for attaining that goal.
The eighth point is about management techniques that have an impact on innovation. 1. The challenge: by placing the correct person in the proper work that is relevant to his experiences and talents, he will be able to unleash his creativity, whereas dwelling in the wrong location would cause irritation and a sense of threat.
2. Freedom: It is allowing an employee to choose how to complete the task assigned to him, as this fosters self-motivation and a sense of ownership; however, some managers constantly change goals or fail to set goals, while others grant freedom in name only, claiming that employees lack the ability to come up with creative solutions.
3. Resources: The two most essential resources that impact creativity are time and money, and their distribution must be done with great care in order to stimulate creativity in everyone; on the contrary, uneven distribution leads to discouragement, and the greater the workspace, the more it is moved. More imaginative thinking.
4. Workgroup characteristics: The more harmonic and integrated a workgroup is, the more it contributes to the development of creative thinking abilities and the sharing of experiences, as a result of:
The member's strong desire to help the team accomplish its objectives.
Each member's effort to assist others, particularly in tough situations
* The need that each member is aware of the specialized knowledge that other members will discuss.
5. Motivating supervisors: Because most managers are usually busy and under pressure to produce results, they overlook successful and failed creative initiatives. It is vital to encourage self-motivation so that the employee takes on the work, feels enthusiastic about it, and contributes to it. Successful organizations seldom associate creativity with monetary benefits. The manager and the manager are meant to meet. Or the supervisor of creative ideas who approaches them with an open mind rather than with criticism, postponing a response, or displaying a reaction that kills creativity.
6. Nurturing Creativity: Encouraging supervisors to emphasize creativity, but creativity is truly supported when the organization's leaders care about it. They must establish a system or confirmed values to appreciate creative efforts and consider that creative work is a top priority, and participation in information, decision-making, and cooperation are among the values that Nurture creativity.
Ninth: Creativity Principles
Many managers of international companies and organizations have developed a set of leading opinions in the field of innovation and creativity, and in order for organizations to develop and their methods to be creative and creative, some basic principles should be considered by them, whether they are managers or decision-makers, and these principles are as follows:
1. Allow any idea to be born, grow, and thrive as long as it is headed in the right direction and has not yet been stifled by a mistake or failure. Many possibilities have become facts, and the chances of success in them have become realities. Innovation is based on creativity, not imitation of others, so it must be nurtured. Individuals are allowed a lot of leeways when it comes to creating, but this leeway must be focused on the most critical tasks and goals.
2. People are the organization's strength, and taking care of their growth and nurturing makes them the largest, best, most inventive, most lucrative, and the award should be based on merit and decency.
3. Individuals are respected, encouraged, and developed in order to offer them chances to participate in decision-making and contribute to the organization's success, ensuring that they do their best to complete tasks to the best of their abilities.
4. Abandoning regularity and decentralization in dealing fosters originality, which is comparable to the foot's stability for growth and success.
5. Transforming work into something more than a job, and it would be like that if we turned the activity into duty and the obligation into an aspiration and an illusion.
6. Continuous renewal of the soul, thoughts, and ambitions, which can only be achieved if the individual feels integrated into his work, because work is not only a job for the individual, but it also allows him to build himself and his personality, and this real feeling pushes him to explore the creative energy inherent within him and employ it in the service of goals.
7. Always looking to the top will motivate individuals to work harder and achieve more because the feeling of satisfaction with what has already been accomplished returns inversely to everyone and returns the institution to standing on what has already been accomplished, which is a decline, loss, and failure over time.
8. Creativity should not be a second or duplicate copy in the country, but rather a pioneering and unique copy, so other people's experiences should be examined and analyzed as well, taking the good and leaving the bad so that our activities are a collection of positives. According to the inventive approach, organizations are either a leader, a follower, or a copy. It is repeated, and leadership is a difficult and demanding process that must be accomplished in order to do it; otherwise, we will become followers or repeaters, which isn't very useful.
9. We should not discard a good idea that lacks implementation mechanisms; rather, we should keep it in mind and present it to discussion from time to time, as many new ideas emerge over time, and repeated discussion may provide us with the ability to implement it,
as the first and second discussions may not have reached their full maturity. Other attempts have resulted in the completion of the task.
10. Learning by doing should be prioritized since it is the most effective approach to build skills, increase activities, and integrate people into tasks and positions.
Individuals, particularly decision-makers, have natural delinquency to stay as they were, because many of them are comfortable with the most routine and habits that have taken place and become familiar, because change necessitates high determination and a fresh breath, especially since the new is frightening because it is an unknown fate, and innovation is by its nature delinquent. Caution: There is a lot of risk and guts involved, therefore it's critical for people to think that their creative work will benefit them and the business by putting them at the focus of more attention and respect.
