R. Pellissier Department of Business Management,

University of South Africa.

F. SousaPresident, Apgico, INUAF, Loulé,

Portugal.

CONTENTSCONTENTS

• Setting the scene

• Research objectives

• Proposed model

• Applications

Organizational innovationOrganizational innovation

CreativityCreativity

CPSCPS

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND DESIGN

• Development of a system to enhance creativity in organizations

• Conceptual modeling

• Verification

3

CREATIVITY & INNOVATIONCREATIVITY & INNOVATIONCreativity ‘ ..a process that results in novelty which is accepted as useful, tenable, or satisfying

by a significant group of others at some point in time’ (Stein, 1994)

Innovation‘ ..the intentional introduction and application within a role, group or organization of ideas, processes, products or procedures, new to the relevant unit of adoption, designed to significantly benefit the individual, the group, organization or wider society’ (West and Farr, 1990)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Creativity

‘ .. cognitive and emotional processes taking place at the individual level’ (Sousa, 2007)

Innovation‘The processes of implementation, relying on organizational communication and power.’

‘ .. a social, spatially embedded, interactive learning process that cannot be understood independently of its institutional and cultural context .’(Cooke, Heidenreich, & Braczyk, 2004; Lundvall, 1992; Freeman, 1998).

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CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

EntrepreneurshipSeize opportunity.Group activity

CreativityCreative discovery.Individual activity

InnovationCommercial exploitation

Redefine leadership,processes, systems,

culture, meaning, organisation.

Organizational activity

radical

incremental

architectural

modular

Systems linkages

Components/core concepts

Product, process, service innovationOrganizational innovationProduct, process, service innovationOrganizational innovation

Cognitive training method for the development of critical and creative thinking abilities, represented in the mental skills of data conceptualizing, analysis, synthesis and evaluation, as well as in the process of gathering information through direct observation, experimentation or reflection. Allows for the training of leadership and team work skills.

Uses a series of tools and structures with ill defined problems, the latter of which do not have a single possible solution, or problems that have not produced satisfactory solutions using other problem-solving methods.

Steps: problem finding, fact finding, problem definition, solution finding and decision implementation.

Each of these steps has two moments: •Divergent -the group tries to find the maximum possible number of alternatives;•Convergent - only one alternative (or just a few) is selected.

The process continues until a system of organizational innovation is developed. Other central aspects of organizational innovation (management control measures, knowledge management, organizational communication and culture, and employee commitment) will be addressed in this cycle, for instance the outcomes of the change process that will establish (if successful), a different culture in the organization.

If successful, the model will allow for the creation of a culture of innovation within the organization, including more and more of its constituents, as more development projects become profitable innovations (Basadur & Patton, 1993).

CPS PROCESS

CREATIVITY AND PROBLEM SOLVING

Creativity as innovation • As the product of that communication process, creativity appears

connected to what is perceived as new and useful by someone other than its originator, or as the putting to use of an idea (Kanter, 1983), in the domains of production, adoption, implementation, diffusion, or commercialisation of creations (Kaufmann, 1993; Spence, 1994).

Problem solving • Creativity relates to problem definition.• Innovation relates to decision implementation requires a series of

problem definitions, in order to carry out a decision or an idea, thereby making it difficult to separate these concepts at an organizational level.

• There is no difference between organizational creativity and innovation (Basadur , 1998)

Innovation:Decision

implementation

Creativity:Problem definition

Management requirements

Identification of existing theories

in use

Managers and creative

individuals team up

Project teams

Project implementation Perceptual

maps of creative leaders

METRICSCOMMITMENTCOMUNICATIO

NKNOWLEDGE

CULTURE

Problem finding

Problem identification

Problem solving

MODEL FOR ORGANIZATION-WIDE INNOVATION

Management requirements

Identification of existing theories

in use

Perceptual maps of creative leaders

Pro

ble

m fi

nd

ing

Problem solving

CPS1 - Outer

CPS2i - Inner

MODEL MODEL (PERFORMANCE, KNOWLEDGE, COMMITMENT,(PERFORMANCE, KNOWLEDGE, COMMITMENT, CULTURE, COMMUNICATION ) CULTURE, COMMUNICATION )

Formation of project team & CPS

training

Innovation (Product/Process)

Solu

tion

im

ple

men

tati

on

CPSThe Outer Level (CPS1)Step I – Problem Finding - is aimed at identifying the existent

problems in the organization. The first action consists in a pre-consulting with the administration, aiming at gaining its involvement, so that the main problems may be identified. Next comes the organizational diagnosis, in order to assess the existent management support to a creative climate in each organizational unit. The next action is interviewing creative managers and drawing their perceptual maps, to provide the administration with a deeper understanding of the identified problems. Finally, the designation of a first creative team (managers and employees), to initiate the CPS procedures.

Step II – Problem Solving - is the implementation of the CPS methodology with the creative team. It consists of an initial action of training in CPS procedures, followed by the necessary work sessions, from problem identification until the definition of an action plan, within the framework defined by the administration.

Step III – Solution Implementation - is the application of the action plan, made by other people than the CPS team, to produce a specific innovation project. In this stage more personnel is included into the process, giving way to the training of further teams in CPS, in order to develop and maintain innovation sub-projects.

Step IV – Model Evaluation – Solution implementation will proceed with the development of management control measures, to evaluate the implications of each innovation project in the company’s performance. Organizational culture and employee commitment towards innovation will be subjected to pre and post-assessment, using the organizational climate survey and the creative leaders’ questionnaire. Also, the improvement in organizational communication and knowledge will be appreciated by qualitative evaluation, interviewing the same leaders that were interviewed in the first step, after a defined period of project development.

The Inner Level (CPS2)

Step I – CPS Procedures - following Min Basadur’s problem solving approach: These consist of three distinct phases – problem definition, problem solving and solution implementation, and eight actions: problem finding, fact finding, problem definition, solution finding, solution evaluation, action planning, gaining acceptance and taking action.

Step II – Project Implementation - The project team will implement the innovation plan drawn out of the decision chosen together with the administration, thus providing opportunities to establish further project teams. This way, a system of transformation of the individual and team creativity into organizational innovation can be established.

MODEL REQUIREMENTS

• Top management commitment

• Innovation culture

• Relying on the organization’s talented people

• Project teams follow a creative problem solving approach

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IMPLEMENTATION CPS process

Data conceptualizing, analysis, synthesis and evaluation, gathering information through direct observation,

experimentation or reflection.

Problem finding, Fact finding, Problem definition, Solution finding and Decision implementation.

Each of these steps has two moments: 1. Divergent, in which the group tries to find the maximum

possible number of alternatives; 2. Convergent, in which only one alternative (or just a few) is

selected.The process continues until a system of organizational innovation

is developed.

Departamento

Mean

2,5

2,0

1,5

1,0

,5

0,0

Abertura a ideias

Conflito e poder

Ambiente divertido

Empenho no trabalho

ORGANIZATIONAL DIAGNOSIS

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PERCEPTUAL MAPPING

CONCLUSION

As the creative problem solving tools have already demonstrated their usefulness in finding solutions and helping organizations to improve, what remains to be proved is the value of selecting and organizing creative people in an organization, by giving them time, space, knowledge and the opportunity to team up and direct their individual creativity to the organizational problems.

The process of developing organizational creativity is complex and not a linear one, with ups and downs, which can only give rise to a culture of innovation with the management’s total commitment.

Future research will allow for testing of the model, in its wide complexity, and will provide new insights into the process of organizational creativity.