In this week’s submission, you will complete Part 1, and you will leave the placeholder language for Parts 2 and 3 as is. Important Note: This Assignment features on
Note: This is a three-part Assignment that is submitted over the course of 3 weeks. This week, you will submit Part 1. You will submit Part 2 in Week 5 and you will submit Part 3 in Week 6. Additionally, you will use the same document for each submission (renaming it each time you submit). In this week’s submission, you will complete Part 1, and you will leave the placeholder language for Parts 2 and 3 as is.
Important Note: This Assignment features one of the Business Skills for Good that you will learn more about and develop throughout your MBA program. This skill, growth mindset, involves the idea that knowledge, skills, and abilities can be developed through effort.
For this Assignment, you will take on the role of an applicant who is seeking a position as a team leader who must engage in and inspire creativity and innovation within the team. The company’s leadership team was impressed with your résumé, especially your previous experience with analyzing and incorporating creativity and innovation into an organization from your role as a consultant. During your first phone interview, the vice president in charge of product improvement, Robert Simmons, emphasized the following needs:
We are looking for a leader who can foster creativity and innovative thought processes in a dedicated team. The position requires a creative mindset and the ability to convey, assess, and implement creativity and innovative ideas and processes. Not only that, the team this person will inherit has a blend of personalities and is suffering from low morale. This leader must be able to create an improved team environment that will bring about positive change for our organization.
Based on the strength of your initial conversation, Robert has invited you back for a follow-up interview with the entire leadership team and has asked you to make a presentation to the team on your leadership approach to creativity and innovation. In addition to sharing your knowledge and perspectives on creativity and innovation, he has asked that you show how you plan to incorporate leadership strategies to enable creativity and innovation and to foster a positive and productive environment within your team that will lead to improved organizational outcomes.
You will develop a PowerPoint presentation that includes detailed speaker notes (or a script) for each slide that you would use if you were delivering the presentation to the company’s leadership team. Also, be sure to incorporate references to appropriate academic sources, such as those found in the Learning Resources, or those in the Walden Library.
BY DAY 7
Submit Part 1 of your presentation (with accompanying speaker notes). Be sure you are fully addressing the following in 4–5 slides, excluding references:
Part 1: Incorporating the Creative Process
- Analyze the importance of the creative process in establishing business practices.
- As part of your analysis, explain ways in which creativity can manifest through business practices.
- Using your own creative process as the basis for your design, propose a strategy of what the creative process could look like for a team in an organization, being sure to include specific stages in the creative process.
- Analyze the impact of a growth mindset on creativity and innovation.
- As part of your analysis, explain how you could incorporate a growth mindset into your creative processes or your creative processes within an organization.
Refer to the Week 4 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
Fostering a Culture of Creativity and Innovation
Your Name
Master of Business Administration, Walden University
WMBA 6020: Fostering a Culture of Innovation
Instructor’s Name
Month XX, 202X
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[Template Notes]
[Note: Delete this slide before submitting your Assignment. This Assignment Template is based off the APA Presentation Template (APA 7) found on the General Templates page of the Walden Writing Center. The template found on this page provides additional information that may be helpful. Be sure to refer to the notes area of each slide for further instructions, including whether a script is needed.]
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Part 1: Incorporating the Creative Process
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Part 2: Incorporating Innovative Leadership for Diverse Teams
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Part 3: Incorporating Innovative Workplace Culture and Practices
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References
[Delete all information in brackets. Include a reference list at the end of your presentation. Reference list entries take the same format they would in a paper. For more information about formatting your reference list, please visit the following site: https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/apa/references.]
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Northeast Business & Economics Association Proceedings, 2017 47
Modeling Creative Processes for Business Performance
Felicia Binkis Megan Killeen Meryl Rosenblatt
Molloy College Molloy College Molloy College
1000 Hempstead Avenue 1000 Hempstead Avenue 1000 Hempstead Avenue
Rockville Centre, NY USA 11571 Rockville Centre, NY USA 11571 Rockville Centre, NY USA 11571
(516) 965-7411 (631) 626-9394 (516) 323-3089
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The main aim of the paper is to explore the use of creative
processes, primarily in service-providing businesses.
Creative processes could be considered one of the ways to
improve the company’s performance, as well as increase the
motivation of employees. A company’s performance not
only depends on routine work processes, but also on the
ability to use the creative resources in the most efficient
way. In this case, is it true that creativity is widely used in
large companies? Is it more beneficial to be creative when
the competitiveness is tough? What are the attitude towards
creativity as a tool for boosting business development?
Implementation of new ideas, resource reallocation,
improvement of product line efficiency and other activities
can be optimized with the help of creative processes. This
paper studies the implementation of creative processes in
business development, covering theoretical and practical
aspects for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Keywords Creativity, innovation, business processes, entrepreneurship,
idea development
1 INTRODUCTION
The goal of this study is to explore the use of creative
processes in organizations as a tool for achieving innovative
business practices. The original study was conducted in three
countries, Latvia, Italy and the US, to provide a cross-
cultural perspective across firms of varying sizes. This paper
presents a subset of the research conducted, the findings
reflect the US only.
We begin with a definition of creativity and
entrepreneurship, followed by a review of creative
approaches used by two large, successful companies,
Facebook and Apple. Next, qualitative data was collected
using personal interviews with managers, with the aim of
investigating creative tools used by each firm. Specifically,
we want to identify creative processes in the not-for-profit
service sectors, and how these might be applicable to other
types of organizations.
In the last few decades, creative new businesses have
emerged. The concept of “success” has evolved with the rise
in creative business strategies. Financial success has
extended to public goodwill, corporate social
responsibilities, employees’ satisfaction and customer
loyalty. When competition heightens and resources are
limited, creativity is vital not only to success, but often the
survival of the firm. Whether creativity is applied during
start-up phase, or during a period of maturity or decline, an
offbeat, creative approach to resource usage and work
processes can provide companies with a competitive
advantage. This paper focuses on the use of new processes
for maintaining and improving business performance. It
provides some theoretical concepts, and presents examples,
of companies that have successfully integrated creative
processes into their mission and corporate culture.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
In the course of writing this research paper, both scientific
and educational literature, articles in periodicals from both
United States and Europe were investigated. The main
sources that reveal the theoretical foundations of
“Entrepreneurship” and “Creativity” are derived from the
texts of Cunningham & Lischeron (1991) and Franken
(1994), in which the authors argue the definition and proper
use of the key terms in the corporate world. Robert E.
Franken in Human Motivation reflects that “creativity is
defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas,
alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving
problems, communicating with others, and entertaining
ourselves and others” (1994:48).
Although there is no single, widely accepted definition of
entrepreneurship in the research community, historically
there have been two primary theoretical perspectives which
we considered while conducting our research. One considers
entrepreneurship to be a very specific occupation, related to
Schumpeter’s creative destruction, while the other focuses
on Kirzner’s emphasis on the pursuit of opportunity. Most
assessments are unified by the notion that entrepreneurship
focuses on the creation of an innovative concept or product.
Gartner, Bird & Starr (1992) describe entrepreneurship as
“an individual or organizational behavioral phenomenon, or
a process of emergence … such as organizational formation
and innovation”. They further differentiate entrepreneurship
from non-entrepreneurship which refers to “existing or
customary activities” (1992:8).
Entrepreneurial development today has become very
significant; in view of its key to economic development. The
objectives of industrial development, regional growth, and
employment generation depend upon entrepreneurial
development. Therefore, entrepreneurs play a major role for
state economies. Entrepreneurship involves the creation and
use of innovative ideas, maximization of output from given
resources, creation of new jobs, invention of new
Northeast Business & Economics Association Proceedings, 2017 48
technologies, and all these factors are essential for the
economic development of a country. In light of long-term
forces, such as the rise of digital technology infrastructures,
that are reshaping the global business landscape, a more
applicable definition might be someone who sees an
opportunity to create value and is willing to take a risk to
capitalize on that opportunity; some elements of this are
opportunity spotting, risk taking, and value creation (Hagel,
2016).
Creative Process Models of Facebook, Inc.
Facebook was founded in the United States in 2004, by
Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer and chairman
of the board, in a grassroots structure (his college dorm
room). The social network corporation has since grown into
a large company headquartered in in California. The
company employs about 17,048 employees from a range of
diverse backgrounds and fields. The highly influential and
far-reaching site can be translated into 70 different
languages with profits stemming primarily from
advertisements. Liley states, “Facebook's engagement or
interactive advertising may be the future for the industry
where people are encouraged to have a conversation or
dialog on a product” (Liley, 2012:85). Zuckerberg remains
highly involved in the creation process. He sits at a desk
with his employees and when at home is constantly on the
site. He wants to keep the company flexible like a typical
start-up a company. He engages in product creation and test
the products before they are made available to the public. To
describe such a structure, Zuckerberg coins the phrase
“move fast and break things”
(https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/).
One of Facebook’s effective processes is to keep their
employers happy. Their offices are designed purposefully
without dividers or walls to promote the company ethos of
openness. Each branch of the Facebook offices features
outdoor basketball courts, a game room, a large lunch room
with healthy, free menu options, and a laundry room. The
Silicon Valley building includes a rooftop grill with musical
entertainment. Zuckerberg believes the employees need time
to relax and take a break from looking at computer screens
and provides breaks through the use of creative work spaces.
Keeping employees happy helps them work efficiently and
creatively.
Apple Park
Apple announced back in February that it would begin
moving in employees to its new Apple Park headquarters in
Cupertino, California starting in April 2017. The scattering
of thousands of Apple employees across more than 100 sites
in Silicon Valley has rendered more difficult the
collaboration necessary for innovation. Apple places great
importance on employees being physically together at work,
where face-to-face communication is essential during the
beginning of a project and when an idea is incubating. Once
a model emerges from a series of conversations, it draws
people in and gives focus. Envisioned by Steve Jobs as a
center for creativity and collaboration, the goal was to create
an environment to where many people can connect and
collaborate and talk.
3 METHODOLOGY
This paper posits that promoting and effectively using
creativity in business processes translates into business
success. A semi-structured in-depth interview was designed
to collect information for each company to better understand
their:
Offerings or services
Industry demand for innovativeness
Company requirements for innovativeness
Details of processes employed to encourage
creativity, including contexts, experiences, financial
implications, challenges, successes and
applicability to other organizations
We propose that some of these processes and findings can be
applied universally. They can serve as a model for future
companies to use in order to achieve the highest rates of
success.
Manager Interviews
Six interviews were conducted in three countries: Latvia,
Italy, and the US. These interviews were designed by to
examine the various creative processes each selected
companies utilized, and their benefits and challenges. The
company managers discussed their feelings about the
universal application of their methods. Results presented
here represent those interviews conducted for two not-for-
profit companies in the US.
4 FINDINGS
Following are insights garnered from this exploratory
research.
Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York Little is a regional New York non-profit organization
serving the most vulnerable children and families. Little
Flower Children and Family Services of New York: they use
team initiatives, generative discussions, respectful
disagreement is encouraged and strategic planning is done
very collaboratively.
Excerpts From Interview with Corinne Hammons, CEO:
“Little Flower provides residential and community
based programs for over 300 individuals with
disabilities, and foster care to 500 children in
Brooklyn and Queens, among other services… our
ultimate goal is an increase in safety and well-being
for our clients.”
“Our industry changings rapidly and one way we
stay relevant and competitive is to ensure our
programs are innovative and our operations are
efficient, and that we tell our story of success to
potential clients and donors.”
Northeast Business & Economics Association Proceedings, 2017 49
“Open dialogue and brainstorming always lead us
to good ideas … Many of our programs do go
through a pilot phase and we only go forward with
viable ones.”
“Teamwork and joint problem solving have given
us better results and created better organizational
cohesion.”
“We have launched several matrixed teams in the
last two years (e.g. Risk Management, Health Care
Management) … we have seen a significant
improvement in both in internal communications
and effective planning which have prevented
problems and also led to new initiatives.”
“We do work closely with peer organizations to
collaborate on projects and share best practices. For
example, we are part of one collaborative where we
are co-owners of a Children’s Health Home, one of
just a few chartered by New York State.”
“This work is essential for our future financial
sustainability, because our innovative new program
ideas allow us to expand our services and bring in
new revenue.”
Rotacare (US)
Non Profit Primary Care Medical Services. Rotacare
believes in dividing large groups into smaller working
groups that can build a core group to effectively bring about
change. Of critical importance are the links across the
various organizational units, such as merging teams of
doctors with nurse and practitioners in order to find effective
solutions.
Excerpts From Interview with Dennis Greely, Treasurer:
“The Mission of Rotacare is to facilitate free health
care for the relief of pain and suffering to those
who have the most need and the least access to
medical care. Rotacare has a team of 100 +
volunteers that includes MD’s, Nurse Practitioners,
Nurses, translators, social workers and others who
facilitate patient access to medical care. In addition,
we refer patients that need specialized care or
services to medical partners to treat our patients.”
“Their main goal is to keep their patients out of
emergency situations and improve their quality of
life.”
“In the medical service industry, one needs to be
creative to be able to listen and diagnosis ailments.
The industry is always changing with medical
advances and insurance/regulatory changes.”
“Rotacare needs to be creative to forge partnerships
with hospitals and other doctors’ offices to provide
care.”
“We foster communication and teamwork where
appropriate by realizing that sometimes dividing
large groups into smaller working groups can build
a core group to effectively bring about change.”
“Medical services is one of the fastest changing and
complex businesses. There are ever changing public
and private insurance. There are new medicines,
new treatments, changing population demographics
etc. We need to be creative to adapt to the changing
environment.”
“We have recently set up working sub-committees
on our Board. These committees are smaller and
nimbler than the large Board group meetings. The
initial benefit has been to identify organizational
strengths and weaknesses. Next step is to create a
plan and action steps.”
5 CONCLUSION
Having garnered greater insight into the use of creative
processes in Little Flower and Rotacare, we have determined
creativity to be highly necessary for both non-profit
organizations. As such, it is crucial that creativity be
streamlined in both companies as to maximize its positive
effects on business performance. We found that as
companies in the small to medium sized business range, both
Little Flower and Rotacare could benefit from some of the
structured creative business processes popular in larger
companies.
Following the preliminary research and field interview
portions of our study, we affirmed our initial hypothesis that
effective implementation of creative processes is essential to
the successful performance of any business attempting to
compete in the current market. The modern successful
business is one with the ability to adapt to the ever-changing
business environment and consumer population. Successful
businesses regularly brainstorm, implement, and evaluate
new processes as well as allocate adequate funding, research
and development, and time to such processes. As these
processes and their implementation are often considered
secondary by businesses in both the for-profit and non-profit
sectors, by creating new processes, companies gain the
ability to differentiate themselves from competitors and plan
for long-term goals. These processes also aid in allowing
companies to better serve consumers. The most sustainable
processes were analyzed in relation to three constraints:
feasibility, questioning whether the technology needed to
power the design solution is available or within reach,
desirability, determining if the solution is desired and
suitable for the customer, and viability, predicting if the
design solution aligns with the business goals. Creativity
must be implemented on every level, from assembly to
advertisement, with definitive structures on each level to
allow for the most efficient processes. Each of the
company’s members must work in cohesion toward a shared
common goal, while avoiding internal discrepancies.
The cost and time required for the implementation of
creative processes in businesses should not be
underestimated, but companies that believe in their creative
element often achieve success and stability in their market
field. The LEGO Company, for example, made a complete
recovery from the brink of bankruptcy in less than ten years
through combining creativity with effective management.
Following unsuccessful attempts at bringing the classic toy
Northeast Business & Economics As
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