Module Code - BMA5000
Module Title: Creativity for Business
Assignment: S2. Individual Report
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Abstract
This report has examined the role of creativity in an enterprise. It helps understand the determinants of creativity and its importance for the organisation. The core aim of the report is to demonstrate what creativity is and why it is crucial for the enterprise's success. It shows the reasons why an organisation should encourage creativity among its employees and try to be creative in its operations. It will contain the concept of creativity with some authors' definitions, significance of creativity, data analysis and appendices. Creativity is not about chaos but about implementing and envisioning new solutions to challenges and promoting a positive environment where innovation is embraced (Forbes, 2024). Moreover it is beyond traditional thinking, surrounding the capability to authorize as well as inspire team members to generate new ideas and new perspectives. It is about getting out of the confines of the current state of things and fostering an ever-evolving and dynamic nature of the business geography. To understand the practical examples of the implementation of creativity, an interview was conducted in which some questions were asked about the personal viewpoint and use of creativity in the enterprise of the interviewee.
Introduction
Creativity is described as the capability to produce ideas that are adaptive as well as real. Several authors describe creativity as the general of usable and new thoughts that can be used in solving issues, processes, procedures as well as products. The creativity of people is an important factor in establishing novel ideas, and it contributes to innovation. Moreover, the capability of developing creative products is a crucial lever of sustainability and profitability in organisations. Because of globalisation and the capacity for marketing services and products internationally, the influence of creativity and the creative enterprise is now seen at the international economic level (Ameen et. al., 2022). Creativity is described in different contexts, involving the psychology behind it and the implementation of creativity in marketing. Various theories and definitions assist in conceptualising creativity in marketing activities. It is indicated that more creative people can make more word relationships to a motivation than a least creative person. Creative thinking includes grouping the “associative elements” into useful and novel amalgamations. The enhanced attentiveness in creativity has happened during the period of important societal changes because of rapid developments and shifts in technology. Technologies are changing the manner of thinking, working, playing, living and creating capabilities of humans. Furthermore, creativity is an important construct widely used across disciplines in policy frameworks, academic work and practice (Henriksen et. al., 2021). There are also new alignments among various understandings of creativity and transdisciplinary as well as hybrid approaches to design, creativity and technology. Participation in creativity has been enhanced by the advantages offered by digital technologies, like the creation of virtual environments, massive creativity, etc.
Generally, the topics of creativity and business do not come together in the same conversation. Many individuals believe that enterprise is all about earning profits, while creativity is about imagination and art. So, there is no connection between the concepts together. Creativity in enterprises is a manner of thinking that challenges, motivates and assists individuals to search for innovative solutions as well as build innovative opportunities out of issues. It is the reason why certain enterprises shock surprise people with novel, amazing ideas, while others just follow the beaten paths. It is the source of inspiration and innovation (Ausat et. al., 2023). Innovation and creativity do altogether in the world of business. No business wants to provide plain and stale services, solutions and unattractive products which no one needs. The businesses need to come out of their zone of comfort, stimulate creativity and explore brand-new solutions. The business environment is changing continuously. In traditional businesses, it was enough for the enterprises to reduce the prices to win over competitors. But the economic situations have transformed, and now there is nothing that can’t be offered by saturated markets. Organisations must explore better methods of keeping buyers attracted and interested in their offerings. Moreover, with creativity in businesses, individuals can get the ability to solve problems and issues easier and faster in comparison to past circumstances. It assists the business in finding unique ideas that keep the buyers interested as well as engaged, which is important for the growth of the enterprise.
Creativity
Successful businesses work as the best mixture of creativity and business. Effective entrepreneurs can find an unidentified issue and then develop an enterprise to resolve it. They have learned to mix the big picture, issue, and the daily picture or specifics of business operations. It can be seen that several projects often fail, but a business entrepreneur is praised for starting innovation. Sometimes, people overlook the capacity to sustain creativity in business. The promotion of creativity in a workplace can assist an organisation in creating innovative and unique solutions as well as offerings. Creative members of the teams are able to differentiate an enterprise from its rivals and attract a new customer base (Iskandar et. al., 2022). Creativity in the enterprise is the capability workers possess that permits them to create imaginative and novel ideas in the context of products, processes or materials. Companies can utilise creativity in the offices to build innovative ideas or a more positive and unified workplace environment. The process of creativity also includes asking questions or watching the issues from different viewpoints. These skills and qualities can assist in promoting more productive collaborations as well as brainstorming among the team members. Encouragement of creativity in the business can assist the business in achieving success.
Several authors have defined creativity through different definitions. Some are as follows:
Romey’s point of view, creativity is the capability to mix things, ideas, approaches or techniques in a novel manner. On the other hand, it was identified that creativity is ordinarily described as the capability to generate new alliances that are compliant in some manner (Google Sites, 2024).
According to the theory of Sternberg, creativity is the commitment to purchase low and sell high in the world of thoughts. Rhodes defines that creativity is affected by aspects of the personality and environment. Moreover, Plucker states that creativity is the engagement among process, aptitude, and environment, which produces a useful product and novel within a social context (Reiter-Palmon et. al., 2020). While according to Keith Simonton, creativity is the act that arises out of a viewpoint of the environment. Furthermore, As Mumford states, creativity produces useful and new ideas and products. On the other hand, effectiveness and originality are the standard definition of creativity.
This is how different authors define creativity. It can be said that the enterprise must assess new circumstances rapidly and create strategies to navigate them to manage changing consumer and market trends. With creativity, enterprises can meet existing and potential challenges and think long-term (Reiter-Palmon, et. al., 2020). By establishing regular creative thinking processes and brainstorming, individuals can continue to create innovative ideas that would meet the current and future preferences and priorities of the markets.
Importance of Creativity
According to Gafour and Gafour (2020), creativity is the capacity of a person to produce or use original and unique ideas to solve problems innovatively. It is the act of using their imagination to solve the problem of reality and improve it using the connection of hidden patterns. As expected, creativity is one of the characteristics of an individual that sets them apart from the rest of their colleagues and even provides them with a competitive benefit. It opens many doors for the employee to complete complicated tasks without facing many problems. Various benefits of creative thinking include but are not limited to the provided points:
Productivity: According to Shafi et. al. (2020), creativity is known to make employees more productive as they can solve problems with innovative ideas, and they are able to use their talents and diverse capabilities which makes them accept challenging and risky tasks. Creativity inspires individuals to use their ideas and use the available information and resources for the effective production of results. By making the boring, mundane tasks creative and interesting they tend to get involved in more tasks and fulfil their duties effectively
On the other hand, Chen et. al. (2020), stated that adaptability is also importantas itsability of an individual to modify their behaviour and adapt to their environment which would facilitate them with easier adjustments to their surroundings. Adaptability and resilience are known to be enhanced when the individual is more creative. As creativity helps them by making them more comfortable with the ambiguity in their environment and they are much more open to the inevitable challenges. Adaptability is of prime importance for employees working in an organisation that has incorporated digital technologies in their surroundings for increasing productivity. The introduction of digitalization has caused organisations to change their entire working system and routine every now and then. Adaptability which is enhanced by creativity is important for surviving internal as well as external changes.
While, According to Jamaluddin et. al. (2021), multidisciplinary is another benefit of creativity as creativity allows the incorporation of diverse fields for inventing new and innovative solutions for a problem that cannot be solved by using the principles of just one discipline. Creativity adds shaping and purpose to the mundane tasks of employees. Research has also been done on the relationship between the creativity of the individual and their instinct for learning, which produced positive results. When employees include creative actions in their daily tasks, they get the perception of a better meaning in their work and their purpose seems more purposeful
Tan (2021), stated that creativity promotes innovation as its most important use of creativity is known for giving the ability to find innovative solutions to challenging tasks. It enables the individual to adopt a risk-taking attitude and embrace multiple challenges in their working schedules. Because of their innovative techniques for solving a critical problem, employees tend to be more self-confident, which benefits the organisation. Employees are sought after and appreciated for the efforts that they put in for the company, which also benefits them with competitive benefits.
Reduced Stress: As per Zhang et. al. (2020), Creativity allows the individual to look at a situation from an entirely different perspective. It permits them to focus on a way to find the solution rather than looking at the situation as a despair. This positive mindset lets employees be stress-free and they are also enabled with a solution-seeking frame of mind. It helps employees to have a good balance between their work life and personal life, which is good for their mental health.
Other than this, Amin et. al. (2020), stated that creativity helps individuals to identify opportunities for growth as creative thinking challenges their belief system and with diverse outlooks in the same situation lets them observe positive points in a challenging situation which are hard to find in an obvious drawback of the situation. Creativity aids employees in expressing their traits and the unique factors of their personality in their work. This expression makes their work more passionate, and they tend to make their work more demonstrative and passionate, making it more meaningful. The development of self-confidence and self-esteem is another benefit of the creative mindset. Using creative solutions in their work gets them acknowledgement, making them feel seen and appreciated. They can tackle various challenges effectively and increase the sales and effectiveness of marketing strategies.
While Aldabbas et. al. (2023), Creativity is adopted in many organisations for the sake of increasing employee engagement and the collaboration of the company with other competitors and within the company. Creativity allows individuals to deal with the complex demands of their customers without losing their temper, and they strive towards genuinely finding a solution. Organisations can make use of creativity to increase the engagement of their employees and incorporate innovative methods for solving tricky problems. They can promote creative thinking to increase the adaptability of their employees and motivate them to grab opportunities. They can mention various important benefits of creativity for promoting a creative mindset (Aldabbas et. al., 2023). The main use of a creative mindset in an organization can be seen in their method of approaching the customers, which is enhanced by the involvement of creative employees who will be capable of understanding the requirements of customers in a better way. This is called the customer-centric approach.
According to Naim (2022), Companies can make use of creative work culture by including effective communication methods for a supportive and healthy work culture in the workplace. It will also help them with the management of their customers. Creativity also gives the company various competitive benefits because of its ability to combat new challenges introduced in the market because of its innovative thinking. It also helps them build better team management skills, which again is beneficial for them as a team with the “we-feeling”, tends to help each other and work efficiently.
Data analysis
The secondary and primary research both have been considered in the report tocollect the qualitative data set on creativity and its importance in business. The secondary sources includearticles, journals, books and official and reliable websites. The data used for the report is subjective data which is also known as qualitative data. An interview was taken of a person in which several questions were asked regarding the company and sector in which he is employed, the use of creativity in his company, the effect of creativity in improving performance, behaviour of the company regarding acceptance and adoption of creativity etc. These questions helped get practical knowledge about the implications of creativity in an enterprise. It was identified through the interview that creativity is used in organisations for several reasons. The fusion of strategic thinking and creativity has now become a necessity for companies to grow and succeed. Traditional skills of enterprises are important for managing resources and managing operations, integrating creative skills into the thought process of business can be the key to fostering adaptability, fostering innovation and driving overall growth as well as success (Robbe Groskamp, 2024). The high-growth enterprises are more likely to permit creativity to grow than the negative-growth peers. Creativity is seen to be a major force in driving innovation. The leaders of business with creative skills are found to think beyond conventional boundaries, and motivate team members to explore new approaches as well as ideas (Griffin and Grote, 2020). Innovations do not come from the traditional thinking approach. Innovation comes from knowing about the creative process. Creative people are naturally able to think unusually.
In the context of business, this interprets the capacity to look at the challenges from different viewpoints. When individuals face obstacles, creative individuals are seen to bring new and unique solutions that are not found to be immediately apparent. Creative people are more comfortable with changes and ambiguity (Griffin and Grote, 2020). They can consider disturbances not threats but opportunities for innovation and growth. Enterprise leaders with skills of creativity motivate team members through periods of risk by inculcating an adaptive and positive mindset. This capacity to adapt to change positions enterprises to capitalise and examine potential trends proactively.
Creative thinkers are found to make better decisions with their capability to arrange information quickly and think creatively in stressful situations. This swiftness is found to be a crucial asset in companies where the situations of the market can shift quickly, permitting enterprises to mitigate risks and grasp opportunities at the right time. Creative skills improve the abilities of business person to communicate effectively with different stakeholders (Anderson, et. al., 2021). Whether addressing investors, employees, or buyers, a creative communicator can provide rigid thoughts and ideas in a compelling and clear way. This skill is important in making sure that every person in or outside the enterprise understands the mission, vision, and strategic objectives of the company. Creativity also changes demonstrations from regular to better experiences. Business individuals with skills of creativity use engaging narratives, visual storytelling and innovative technologies of presentation to engage the attention of their audiences. This makes the information more attractive and has a long-lasting impact on the audience. Moreover, business individuals with skills of creativity identify the significance of building a work environment that motivates creativity. They promote a tradition where workers feel authorized to bring thought without fear of rejection or judgment. This promotes a feeling of relationship as well as ownership between the team members and contributes to enhanced productivity and innovation. Creativity thrives in inclusive and diverse environments.
Leaders having creative skills eagerly seek assorted viewpoints, understanding that different perspectives lead to better innovative results for any issue. By promoting a comprehensive culture, the business people make sure that their team provides several ideas as well as experiences to the table, improving the process of creativity and contributing to better results. Furthermore, creative skills allow businesses to sympathize with the buyers and identify their demands and needs more deeply (Chouyluam et. al., 2021). By following a customer-centric approach, they can predict progressive pain points and preferences. This interpretation permits the development of services and products that line up more relatively with the buyers' expectations, enhancing satisfaction and loyalty. Creativity plays an important role in drawing engaging and memorable customer experiences. From the setup of a physical market to the human interface on a digital platform, creative thinking leads to building encounters that palpitate buyers on a psychological level.
Conclusion
It is found that creativity is a crucial component for any business to survive, compete with the competitors and satisfy the customers in the long-run. It is not only about unique thoughts but also new and innovative ideas that help the business in standing itself apart from the competitors. Creative businesses are more likely to handle situations in a better way in comparison to less creative enterprises. It is among the most essential skills that a business may need to survive. In the current scenario, businesses differ from those in the traditional days. Businesses need continuous changes intheir processes, thoughts, ideas, problem-solving, management activities and offerings. Businesses are seen to be stronger if they implement creativity into overall operations. Creativity is not only important for entrepreneurs but also crucial for the employees working over there. The aim of the report was to understand the role and significance of creativity in the business.
References
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Interview script
Interviewer: Hello! How are you? Interviewee: Hi! I am all good. Interviewer: Are you currently employed and if yes, then in which sector? Interviewee: Yes. I am employed in IT sector in digital marketing field. Interviewer: Okay so tell me do you thing creativity is important in an organisation? Interviewee: Yes. As I am in digital marketing profession. So as per my thoughts, creativity is extremely crucial for an organisation. Interviewer: How does your organisation encourage creativity among employees? Interviewee: My organisation encourages creative risk-taking, provide resources, appreciate initiatives, reward creativity, encourage collaborations and also encourage individuality. Interviewer: Wow. That’s great. Now tell me how creativity has benefitted yourself and colleagues? Interviewee: I was appreciated for the past project that was handover to me as the whole plan and design was created by me and it was extremely creative that the client was extremely happy and satisfied with the provided services. Interviewer: Okay. So tell me the benefits or detriment examples of creativity brings to the workplace. Interviewee: I think creativity helps in problem solving, improving perspective, learning, collective thinking, overcoming prejudices and promotes emotional intelligence at the workplace. Interviewer: Okay. Thank you for sharing your viewpoints. Interviewee: Welcome sir.
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Appendix 2: Interview plan
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