Mobilising Creativity and Innovation

Mobilising Organisational Creativity and Innovation
Creativity is among the crucial factors of a performing business environment in
contemporary society. Creativity is the process of changing visual, imaginative ideas into reality.
If you imagine an idea but not actualise it into existence, it means you are only imaginative and
not creative. Creativity involves having visual imagination and converting it a real activity.
Innovation means the creation or improvement of a product or service to add value and enhance
the performance efficiency (Polzin, Flotow and Klerkx 2016 pp. 40). In the business world
competition in the market has necessitated the need for innovation and creativity to design
market niche. Organisational creativity and innovation play an essential role in improving the
efficiency of the employees. At the same time, creativity helps in realising new ideas and
allowing the workers to showcase their imagination levels. Innovation in the engineering field
will play an essential role in Haya Water; achieving its objectives of producing treated water in
an eco-friendly environment (Olsson et al., 2019 pp. 251). Creativity in using modern technology
in the treatment of water and other projects will see the company in achieving more efficiency
and protecting the environment against harmful products.

Creativity and innovation concept

Creativity is one of the crucial factors of production to be considered in an organisation.
Mobilising creativity in an organisation has a significant effect on employee satisfaction and also
improved productivity (Cardoso et al., 2012 pp.28). Creativity has various benefits, including;
increasing productivity of the company. Encouraging employees of Haya Water Company to
think outside the box and availing the necessary resources for exploring the new ideas is
significant to the most effective solutions. There will be a sharp increase in the production of the

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treated water, and also environment-friendly methods will be used. It also helps in solving
organisational problems. Creative problem solving will provide a business edge that is necessary
for enhancing the market niche and staying ahead of other competitors in the market segment.
Creativity ideas can come from your employees, customers and other stakeholders; however, it is
vital to put in place the ideas so that the organisation can realise efficiency in the production
procedures (Dawson and Andriopoulos 2014 pp. 103). In recent, creativity has been considered
as one of the most treasured factors in increasing the productivity of a company and maximising
profits. Introduction of new ideas creates a variety of solving organisational competition.
Firstly, there have been approaches used in addressing creativity in the business market.
The theoretical process involves various dimensions. Psychodynamic creativity arises when there
is tension between the conscious and the unconscious reality, where the unconscious drives the
fact into expressing it publicly (Nakano and Wechsler 2018 pp. 238). In this creativity, one tends
to show the unconscious mind in an accepted manner. There is the psychometric approach where
the I.Q. and personality are measured to determine the level of creativity an individual may
possess. In this approach, it involves science and in deciding the creativity level. On the social
personality approach, it was suggested that various variables could be used to determine the
creativity level. Its focus on personality, motivational and social-cultural environment in
determining creativity of a person. It is believed that the creativity of an individual can be
affected by the environment and personal attributes. Everyone in the day applies problem-
solving creativity to day life. In this approach, an individual in a specific situation has to make a
solution from the event (Ali et al., 2016 pp. 64). The theoretical approaches help in
understanding the dimensions of creativity and how one can use the knowledge in creating and

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developing creativity among the employees of Haya Water Company. Sustainable production of
treated water will need high levels of creativity in the organisation.
Additionally, there have been models designed to monitor creativity in a company. The
componential model involves both the psychological and social factors for an individual to be
creative in ideas. In this model, four components are derived from a person and the social
environment. Individual attributes like relevant skills, motivation for the concept and creativity-
relevant process play a vital role; the working environment created by the management is a
social factor that is considered in this model (Amabile and Pratt 2016 pp. 172). These
components influence the creative process of a company if not handled well. Confluence model
is designed in a way there is a combination of various components to gain a creativity response.
Social-cultural and the attributes of a person are merged to get a better response. Interactionist
model consists of two or more parts working in correlation creativity response. In this response,
the outcome of creativity is affected by the operation of all the components whereby if one factor
is influence, then the whole creativity response will be changed. The various models designed in
determining the creativity response helps in indicating how multiple components can be applied
to get a better response. Haya Waters Company will benefit greatly in using the models so that
they can cage the creativity responses from the employees (Nayak et al., 2011 pp. 6). Having a
creative team of employees in the company will lead to working on the Water projects that the
company has set up in an efficient and less costly move. Creativity helps in cutting production
costs.
Moreover, the componential approach by Teresa Amabile focused on the individual-
psychological level in responding to creativity and innovation in an organisation. In this model, it
explains the individual contribution in an organisational environment towards achieving the

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highest creativity levels (Soetema et al., 2019 pp. 114). The dynamics of the creative process in
the model provided an insight into how the company can improve on the approach to encourage
creative responses. The model highlights the external factors like management and society
influence the creative process. For instance, team creativity may not be as a result of individual
effort. An individual may be motivated to do an assignment due to various reasons, for example,
an interest or passion, enjoyment satisfaction or even pressure of deadlines. Employees are more
creative when they are intrusively motivated since all the individual resources are channeled in
achieving the goal. Organisational creativity is positively affected by the leadership through the
policies and strategies towards achieving creativity and motivation. Organisational creativity
requires a set of resources and necessary skills to attain the set goals (Nakano and Wechsler 2018
pp. 244). At an individual level, factual knowledge helps in combining the resources to come up
with a new product or service in the organisation. For instance, the experience will help Haya
Water employees to innovate a new production method for treated water; this is achievable
through creating thinking and problem-solving skills.
Additionally, creativity at the organisational level is going through various faces. Firstly
the management statements and action plans are stated, all the needs and objectives for creativity
are shared and discussed within the organisation to evaluate how the employees perceive the
concept (Dawson and Andriopoulos 2014 pp. 82). The next stage is gathering and allocating the
necessary resources needed; research is carried out to see how the whole process of innovation
will take place. The context is applied to the market context to evaluate if it will meet the market
demand. The third stage is production ideas, where all ideas from the relevant sources are
collected. There can be project teams to generate ideas or ideas can be collected from individual
employees. Trial of the suggested ideas kicks in to get the best innovation plan that fits the

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organisation's objectives and market need. Finally, the development of innovation starts. All the
resources allocated to innovation are put in place for the working of creation; market tests are
done to get the response about the innovation (Ali et al., 2016 pp. 49). Good feedback will
indicate the success of the idea while negative feedback means there is a need for improved to fit
in the market segment. Organisational innovation leads to enhanced efficiency in the operations.
According to componential model, a personal creativity model can be analysed into four
major stages. Firstly, task presentation where the need to solve a problem or come up with new
ideas is created. I t can also be started by an external force like an assignment or deadline from
the organisation. It is followed by gathering the necessary information that is needed in the
process; also, the resources that may be used are collected at these stages (Cardoso et al., 2012
pp. 58). A review of knowledge and skills is critical at this stage since you can build on the
weaknesses. It is followed by the generation of ideas where one or more possibilities are created
towards solving a problem. Task motivation and creativity-relevant process affect the idea
generation. The final stage is idea validation, where the creativity is assessed and checked
against criteria and the set objectives. Amibale focused on both the external and individual
components affecting the creative process. The dynamics of creativity and innovation should be
well handled by the management so that there can be a positive influence on the organisation.
The Amabile diversify the levels of creativity, and also it could integrate various components
into the creative process (Amabile and Pratt 2016 pp. 179). However, it is difficult to identify the
optimum levels and to measure all the features is challenging. The investment model (Sternburg
and Lubart) asserts that the intellectual threshold, personality, environment and styles of thinking
to be the main components of the creative process.

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The Agile innovation framework is an essential component in the innovation of water
treatment equipment. The goal of an innovation model is the creation of an idea and adding value
on a good or product continuously. Innovation models help an organisation in driving new
products and service in the market niche and attaining success (Ali et al., 2016 pp. 29). The first
stage of innovation is the idea generation, where several ideas are chosen. It is followed by
concept development and evaluation of a good idea by identifying the ideas that suit best the
organisation. For instance, in the Haya Water Company, an idea about producing more treated
water with less emission of poisonous gases will be more suitable to the company objectives.
The development of the concept is done, and trials are carried out to determine the effectiveness
of the innovation. Finally, the implementation of the organisation is carried out. Organisational
innovation is caused by market demand and the technology pull; also, the management can
decide to have a design for enhanced efficiency (Soetema et al., 2019 pp. 97). The agile
framework focuses on providing methods and structured processes to help in the two phases of
the process. The first phase is the idea generation and identification, while the second phase is
the market launch.
Additional Agile innovation framework provides integrated methods which include,
design sprints and thinking used in various stages of innovation. The structure provides roles and
meetings for operation and optimisation of the workflow (Amabile and Pratt 2016 pp. 161). The
Kanban Maturity Model (K.M.M.) provides the necessary transformation steps that lead to
increased innovation in an organisation. There is a need for the Haya Water Company to
consistently provide innovative output for efficiency. The various innovation in an organisation
includes, ad hoc innovation which is done on the day-to-day activities and the outcome is
unpredictable. The defined innovation has identified organisational needs, and there is more

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constancy measurable. In the supported innovation, the procedures and practices are put in place
for the employees to practice, which helps in maintaining a market share. The aligned process,
the innovated output is measurable, and there is a big difference of the earlier output (Nayak et
al., 2011 pp. 4 ). Lastly, there is the synergised innovation with output generating a competitive
advantage to the other companies. The model provides insightful information on the best model
that fits the Haya Water Company for the innovation process that has been advocated by
employees.
The organisational climate has played a vital role in adapting and understanding the
complexity of creativity and innovation (Nakano and Wechsler 2018 pp. 138). In the new
framework, the complexity of companies has been influenced by various factors like
technological changes disruption from employees and management and change in the
organisational behaviours. There have been adaptive companies characterised by teams working
in interconnectivity and can work on the current objectives. There is teamwork and employees
are able to solve a conflict. To achieve the best management one is required to fully understand
the adaptive complex systems which illustrate the various aspect of the complexity of a
company. Equilibrium of a company is at a high risk of achieving its objectives; hence it is
necessary for changes to create innovation and creativity in an organisation. Disruption of the
equilibrium can be achieved by amplifying the positive feedback or dumping the negative
feedback about certain operations of the company (Cardoso et al., 2012 pp. 41). Adaptive
organisations should change to cope up with competition from other market participants. For
instance, Haya Water Company introduced e-learning in October in the technical, managerial
and organisational levels to counter the technological changes and competition from other
participants.

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Adaptive organisations are an advocate for equivalency in the creative process. It is
characterised by order-chaos dynamic due to unpredictable outcomes from innovation; however,
it is evenly distributed in the company. Many organisations are embracing the adaptive concept
so that the employees can be motivated into doing more design to create equilibrium (Dawson
and Andriopoulos 2014 pp. 59). The state of balance poses various like providing a false picture
of the company since it may be viewed as an attribute. It also discourages the firm's culture and
core values of innovation. There is a need for a company to mobilise its stakeholders on working
on innovation for the betterment and maximisation of the market shares. Innovating other
methods of providing treated water and other services will help Haya Company in maximising
the market share.

Barriers of Mobilization Process

Mobilisation of creativity and innovation has been hindered by external and internal
factors. One of the major external factors includes the regulations and policies towards
innovation. Numerous government procedures are required for innovation centres to operate;
hence there is a minimum organisation that supports innovation (Zeleny 2012 pp. 450). The
internal factors affecting the internal innovation of Haya Water Company include inadequate
financial budget, management conflicts, poor organisational culture and inadequately skilled
employees. There have been financial constraints in Haya Waters whereby a few resources have
been allocated for creativity and innovation. Most of the funds have been used in the
development of water projects in various parties of the country, leaving fewer resources being
available for use. The overall budget that the government allocates to the Haya Company is
based on the major projects for water treatment this has been a major hindrance to the growth of
innovation and creativity in the Company (Torugsa and Arundel 2016 pp. 399). There has been

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management interest conflict whereby some of the top management officials do not support the
need for innovation influencing the innovation process.
Additionally, poor organisational culture has hindered the innovation process. An
innovative culture is determined by good leadership, the shared values and vision of the
company and working practices. Haya Water Company has had a problem in setting an
innovative culture mainly because of the changes in the leadership. With changes in direction, it
has been hard to implement innovative ideas and a good follow up (D’Este et al., 2012 pp. 485).
There have been changes in the technological changes used in water services and water
treatment. The equipment used in treating water are costly and need expert knowledge. It has
been a challenge in implementing innovation with the latest technology considering the financial
costs that are necessary for the water treatment machines. Also, skilled employees play an
essential role in the innovation process. Getting employees with the relevant skills in the water
treatment process has been a great challenge.

Recommendations and conclusion

For effective mobilisation of the creativity and innovation process, there should be an
organised culture that encourages teamwork, innovation and creativity. The organisational values
should be centred towards innovation and creativity to enhance cooperation among the
stakeholders. Also, there should include innovation centres and incubators where any design is
natured to implementation. This will encourage many individuals to be involved in creativity and
innovation programmes. Accessibility of various national innovation centres will enhance the
whole process. The Haya Water Company budget should focus more on the mobilising
innovation sector (D’Este et al., 2012 pp. 487). There should be more protect that implement the
creativity of the company so that it can compete favourably in the market. The company should

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adapt to the changing technological world and use the necessary technology to enhance creativity
and innovation. The water treatment process requires the use of the latest technology to increase
its efficiency and creativity levels. The employees of the company should be motivated so that
they can participate more in creative ideas. With all the recommendations put in place, there will
be enhanced increased production of treated water.
In conclusion, the study sought of espousing the salient features of Haya Water Company
noting the challenges, barriers, models and recommendations. Effective competition of Haya
Water Company in the market is enhanced by the level of creativity and innovation. There have
been various models that describe the process and how it influences the productivity of a firm
(Torugsa and Arundel 2016 pp. 415s). The componential model illustrates how individual
components and other factors work interdependently in achieving creativity and innovation
process. The Agile conceptional framework, which clearly demonstrates how a company can
soar high and overcome barriers, is well discussed in the study. Lastly, unless the above-
mentioned recommendations are taken into consideration and implemented, Haya Water
Company will not achieve the set objectives and vision.

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