Making sense of creativity

Introduction:

Creativity is about the quality of originality that leads to new ways of seeing and new ideas. It is a thinking process associated with imagination, invention and innovation. However, creativity is not just about an idea that is new and different: for and idea to be truly creative it must also be appropriate and useful. 

A number of commentators have found it convenient to distinguish between creative people, creative processes, creative places and creative products. 

People: 

Considerable energy and research has gone into trying to work out the characteristics of creative individuals. Three broad types of individuals have been identified: creative people, innovators and entrepreneurs. Creative people are usually seen as people who generate ideas, innovators and those who take an idea and develop it into something real ( such as products or service or business process) and entrepreneurs as those who take the product to market or implement the process and make it a commercial success. Entrepreneurs in large organisations are referred to as intrapreneurs. 

Studies of creative people show characteristics such as independent thinking, not being affected by peer pressure, good verbal communication skills, imagination and reasonable but not outstanding level of intelligence. Creative people are said to be better at asking the right questions. They also appear comfortable with risk-taking and are open to new ideas. 

Place:

These days a good deal of management thinking argues that the society we live in and the organisational climate, culture and structure have a major impact on creative output. The suggestion is that creative ideas flow where new ideas and challenges are welcomed and where people are encouraged to play rather than controlled and threatened. It follows then that organisations that want to promote creativity might need to look at creating a flatter organisational structure (removing levels of hierarchy) in an attempt to reduce bureaucracy and speed up the creative processes.

Process: 

The creative thinking process is traditionally linked to imaginative thinking which is expansive and divergent in nature (such as brainstorming and lateral thinking) as opposed to evaluative thinking which is convergent in character. Divergent thinking helps people to generate a large number and variety of ideas and approach problems from different angles. The emphasis here is on quantity where an 'anything goes' attitude is encouraged. Convergent thinking on the other hand, is needed to narrow down the output from the divergent phase. The focus here is on quality- making one or two selections from a huge number of possibilities. In practice, the creative process requires a framework which allows for alternating phases between divergent and convergent thinking. 

Product: 

Creative products may arise from a radical breakthrough or a series of small incremental steps. Management methods in the west have emphasised radical breakthroughs, while Japan has built much of its success on small incremental steps. The task of the manager is to encourage and coordinate multi-disciplinary teams working on product development and drive these processes along.  

Employee reward strategies

The function and purpose of employee pay from the company's point of view:

The first function, is to attract someone to do the job. There is a demand for labour in the part the company and the wage is how the company pulls the employees in. The second function would be to motivate employees, because the company thinks that employees like money so the companies pay the employees to fill the job and to motivate the workers.

Different reward system:

There are two basic types of reward system. One's reward system based on time, with payment by the hour. The other method is payment according to effort, or on output or performance. We can call this an incentive pay scheme. In this case, people have a basic rate of pay and then the rest of the pay is tied to how much they do.

The advantages and disadvantages of these reward system: 

There are different advantages and disadvantages. There is a cost involved in paying people by time as you have to try to insure that people work by supervising them. But the advantage of payment by time is that it's simple and also you don't have to think of what to tie the payment to. This brings me to the disadvantages it the payment according to output.You have to find a measure of output that produces the desired results for the company.
You can twist to suit your own personal benefit. The advantage of payment by output is that you get more effort, The disadvantage is that you tend to get a sort of gaining of the system if you like, that's inevitable.

Vocabulary

The nouns below are all synonyms to describe earning, but they have slightly different meanings. look up the meaning in a dictionary before the class.

1- Pay
2- reward
3- salary
4- wage
5- remuneration
6- income

Reading 1

The trends that will change Asia

1- Urbanisation and a growing elderly population are clear global trends. These two demographic swings are also apparent across most Asian countries, along with the polarisation between the new middle class and the poor. 

2- Projections indicate that more than 500,000,000 Asians will move to cities in the next 25 years-almost 2,000,000 people per month. This movement is placing a huge strain on already inadequate transport, electricity, water and sanitation system. 

3- Improved health care is resulting in the elderly living longer. The increase in the elderly population is particularly significant in Japan, where more than 20% of the population is over 65.

4- In Japan, unlike many other markets including much of the West, Japanese pensioners have economic security and considerable buying power. They also command a great deal of respect from society. 

5- This growing demographic group presents unique physical and emotional needs and requires different product design, packaging, marketing and retail distribution. Over the next ten years this group will trigger a surge in products that focus on the elderly, from preserving health and wellness to spicier foods to stimulate aged palates. But these Japanese senior citizens of the future will also be spending money on their grand and great grandchildren, creating a market for premium children's products.

6- In most Asian countries, average household incomes are increasing significantly. This is particularly so in cities: urban households in China have over three tomes more disposal income that rural households, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

7- India, in particular, has experienced dramatic income growth for a large segment of the population in the last two decades. This prosperity has revolutionised consumer aspiration. 

8- At the same time as average income is rising, there is still a vast segment of Asians households that live in over low income, particularly in India but also in rural China too. This income disparity has implications for the the grocery industry, which needs to rise to the challenge of serving the needs of low-income consumers. To deliver this, our industry will need to work together and with governments and communities to develop  innovative products and services. 

p.s: 1- please have a copy of this article while you are coming to the class on Monday. 

2- please read it once and if there is any vocabulary that you don't know, find the meaning before the class.

see you on Monday,

professional life 2-lesson one

Future uncertainty

Theory: STEEP analysis

"Nothing can be certain except death and taxes"

Benjamin Franklin, scientist and one of the founding fathers of the USA

A STEEP analysis is a commonly used tool in business that companies and organizations use to make sense of their wider macro-environment. The theory is widely taught in business schools. 

A STEEP analysis is used to identify the external forces affecting how individual companies compete within their industry sector. These external forces within the wider macro-environment consist of Socio-cultural, Technologies, Economic, Environment and Political factors. 

Socio-cultural

This aspect focuses its attention on forces within society such as family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and the media. Social forces affect our attitudes, interests and opinions. These forces shape who we are as people, the way we behave and ultimately what we purchase. For example, in many countries in the world, people's attitudes are changing towards their diet and health. As a result, these countries are seeing an increase in the number of people joining fitness clubs and a massive growth in the demand of organic food.

Population changes also have a direct impact on organisations. Changed in the structure of the population will affect the supply and demand of goods and services within an economy. Falling birth rates will result in decreased demand and greater competition as the number of consumers fall in developed countries. Conversely, an increase in the global population is currently leading to calls for greater investment in food production. Due to food shortages African countries, such as Uganda, are now reconsidering their rejection of genetically modified foods. 

Technology factors

Technological advances have greatly changed the manner in which business operate. Technology has created a society which expects instant results. This technological revolution had increased the rate at which information is exchanged between stakeholders (customers, suppliers, employees, government, etc). A faster exchange of information can benefit business as the are able to react quickly to changes within their operating environment. However, an ability to react quickly also create extra pressure as business are expected to deliver on their promises within ever-decreasing timescales. Customers can now shop online 24 hours a day for their homes, work, or on the move from their phones. Technology will continue to evolve and impact on consumer habits and expectations. Organisations that ignore this fact face extinction. 

Economic factor

All businesses are affected by national and global economic factors. National and global interest rates and tax policies will be set around economic conditions. The climate of the economy direction how consumers, suppliers and competitors behave within society. For example, an economy in recession will have high unemployment, low spending power and low confidence. A successful organisation will respond to economic conditions and respond appropriately. In this global business world organisations are affected by economies throughout the world and not just the countries in which they are based or operate from. For example, cheaper labour in developing countries affects the competitiveness of products from developed countries.

Environmental factors

Companies and organisations are increasingly aware of the huge impact the natural environment can have on the other STEEP factors and on business in general. Factors include global warming and climate change, increase pollution levels, deforestation, etc. If, for example, there are adverse weather conditions in India, consumers throughout the world will pay more for tea at their local supermarket. Environmental factors are particularly important when it comes to the question of energy and the decreasing availability of natural resources such as oil, fresh water and minerals such as iron and uranium. 

Rapidly increasing competition for these resources is leasing to rising prices and in some cases to wars and large-scale social unrest. 

Political factors

Political factors can create advantages and opportunities for organisations. Conversely, they can place obligations and duties on organisations, Political factors include legislation such as the minimum wage, employment law and environmental legislation. An example of tough environmental laws in California, which became the first state in the USA to regulate emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxin from motor vehicles. Vehicles with high levels of emissions simply cannot be sold any longer in California  Regulations and laws are not just at a national or a local level but are increasingly coming from international bodies such as EU and the WTO (World Trade Organisation) on issues such as market regulations, trade agreements, import taxes, etc. Failure to conform to these legal obligations can lead to sanction such as fines, adverse publicity and imprisonment. 

exam

Dear all

Your exam will be tomorrow 11.02.2013 at 16.30. 

good luck

SWOT

SWOT analysis (alternately SWOT Matrix) is a structured planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a product, place or person. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favourable and unfavourable to achieve that objective. 

Setting the objective should be done after the SWOT analysis has been performed. This would allow achievable goals or objectives to be set for the organization.

Strengths: characteristics of the business, or project team that give it an advantage over others

Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the team at a disadvantage relative to others

Opportunities: external chances to improve performance (e.g. make greater profits) in the environment

Threats: external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project

Identification of SWOTs is essential because subsequent steps in the process of planning for achievement of the selected objective may be derived from the SWOTs.

First, the decision makers have to determine whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the objective is NOT attainable a different objective must be selected and the process repeated.

Users of SWOT analysis need to ask and answer questions that generate meaningful information for each category (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) in order to maximize the benefits of this evaluation and find their competitive advantage.