Creativity and innovation across organizational levels

Question : Discuss about the Creativity and Innovation Across organizational Levels ? Answer : Introduction: The concept of sustainability has been an important part of businesses over the past few decades. The concept of Human Resource Management (HRM) deals with the treatment of human resources within an organization. On the other hand, innovation has been one of the major factors for the success of businesses (Storey 2014). In order to be innovative, the organizations are not only required to bring creativity and innovation in its products and services but are also required to bring innovation and creativity in the HRM practices. For obtaining organizational objectives, the organizations are also required to invest in human resources, provide proper training and act innovatively. In order to be successful, the organizations are required to use creativity and innovation in keeping the employees satisfied and increasing their efficiency (Armstrong and Taylor 2017). Analysis: Ooredoo is an Oman based telecommunication company founded in 2004 that provides voice and data services. The company is also listed at the Muscat Securities Market. Ooredoo is one of the largest telecom companies in terms of market capitalization. The company has also been awarded as the best Organization with innovative HR Practices at the Asia Pacific HRM Congress Communication Awards 2012. The company defeated leading companies such as Coca-Cola, Tata motors, Deloitte and ING Investment Management (Mitchell, Obeidat and Bray 2013). The company has more than 1000 employees who are the dedicated family members for the company. The company has implemented numerous programs for building a caring work culture that strives for excellence. The company considers itself to be a peoples company as it strives to maintain an energetic and positive work environment. With the help of several unique initiatives, the members of the company thrive and develop in a dynamic environment that includes an open plan working space for all the employees including the Chief Executive Officer. This form of layout encourages effective communication among the different departments and it also encourages personal interaction. The company has introduced Face mail every Wednesday when the members of the organization meet to solve the issues and queries rather than just sending e-mails (Howe-Walsh,Turnbull and Boulanouar 2015). The company uses creativity in its human resource management practices in order to make the work interesting, rewarding and motivating. The company has a separate department namely People experience department that conducts various motivational as well as awareness workshops, communicates staff benefits and manages the weekly activities of the teams. This is termed by the company as take a break challenge (Afiouni, Rul and Schuler 2014). The company is also involved in bringing the employees together so that they can share their experiences. The company involves its employees in the discussions regarding its future plans via a two day annual event that is termed as All hands. Another innovative strategy that was introduced by the company is Flash all hands, which enabled the members of the company to informally gather at a short-term notice in order to celebrate achievements and to know about various exciting announcements. The company is also involved in empowerment of women in order to encourage their participation in the communication process. Approximately one-third of the employees of the company are female members and the company assists them in achieving their goals. Therefore, the company has efficiently utilized creative leadership in its human resource management. Creative leadership involves engaging the right kind of person, at the appropriate time, to the right degree in creative work (Henker, Sonnentag and Unger 2015). Creative leadership encourages, captures and implements imaginative strategies and solutions that are capable of producing uncommon results that redefine an organization. The company has initiated several creative programs for managing its human resources that has led to the success of the company. Figure 1: Framework of creative leadership (Source: Dinh 2014) Creativity is an essential part of all organizations as it helps an organization to gain competitive advantage over the others. Creative leadership involves providing flexibility to the employees in the workplace. Establishment of effective communication between all the levels of the organization is very essential. Proper flow of information and involvement of the employees in important decisions of the company make them feel wanted (Daft 2014). Innovation in the strategies of managing the human resource becomes very essential because the efficiency of the employees lead to the success of the organization. Therefore, through creative leadership the companies must ensure proper interaction with their employees and provide them enough flexibility to come up with their ideas and thoughts. Plan to promote creativity in Ooredoo: The following is the plan to promote innovation and creativity in the company: The leaders of the Ooredoo shall evaluate whether the skills and talents of all the employees in the organization are utilized to their maximum capacity or not. The leaders shall involve the employees in significant job roles so that they feel that their contribution is very essential for the functioning of the company which in turn shall increase the loyalty of the employees towards the company. The leaders shall to understand that creativity and innovation are not an easy task for everyone. The leaders shall emphasize more on the utilizing the creativity of the team in the development of the employees as well as the company rather than emphasizing more on the productivity. The leaders shall discourage relationship conflicts in the teams and shall encourage task conflicts such that the debates among the employees result in more effective solutions. The leaders shall ensure that the organization inspires the employees to work more efficiently by interacting with the employees on a weekly basis and knowing their causes of grievances and satisfaction. Conclusion: The report mentioned the case study of Ooredoo, which is an Oman based telecommunication company that provides voice and data services. With the help of several unique initiatives, the members of the company thrive and develop in a dynamic environment that includes an open plan working space for all. The company is also involved in bringing the employees together so that they can share their experiences. The company involves its employees in the discussions regarding its future plans. The company has used creativity and innovation in its approaches of managing its human resources. It can be stated that creativity is an essential part of all organizations as it helps an organization to gain competitive advantage over the others. Creative leadership involves providing flexibility to the employees in the workplace and establishment of effective communication between all the levels of the organization. Therefore, from the case study of Ooredoo, it can be stated that the company has effic iently managed its human resources by involving them in various activities of the organization as well as in the decision making processes. With the increase in competition, the companies are not only required to come up with innovative products and services but also come up with innovative strategies in the management of human resources. Allowing the employees to take part in the activities of the organization encourages them to come up with their own innovative ideas that can be very useful to the company. Therefore, creative leadership helps the company to differentiate itself from others and gain competitive advantage over them. Recommendations: The organizations must promote organizational creativity and innovation and sustain them in order to achieve long-term profits. The following are the recommendations through which an organization can promote organizational creativity: The leaders of the companies must ensure that the skills and talents of all the employees in the organization are used to their maximum capacity. It is the responsibility of the leaders to involve the employees in significant job roles so as to make them feel that their contribution is very essential for the functioning of the company. The leaders are required to understand that creativity and innovation are not an easy task The leaders must emphasize more on the creativity of the team rather than emphasizing more on the productivity The leaders are also required to encourage task conflicts such that the debates among the employees result in more effective solution The leaders must ensure that the organization inspires the employees to work more efficiently The leaders must ensure that they hire creative and talented people rather than highly educated people with less innovative skills and creativity The above recommendations shall ensure that the creativity of the employees are utilized to the maximum extent and it helps the organization to achieve its objectives and goals. Bringing the employees together so that they can share their experiences and by involving the employees in the discussions regarding its future plans shall enable the organizations to achieve their ultimate objectives. 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