Question 1

Describe the issues in the article can be occurred and triggered at your
workplace (based on your experience and evaluation)

The art of creativity is very important in any business. My workplace deals with
construction and fabrication of steel items. Every employee is responsible to think
creatively in making the decision in their work. These decisions are crucial to develop
the business of the company. From the article I have found a few issues that can be
occurred and triggered at my workplace.

As how A.C Markulla faces the decision of taking the risk of following Steve
Jobs or not to follow him, my company faces this situations often. Often projects would
be offered to our company, but with hidden agendas but many benefits. Without getting
to know the nature of the risks, it is tough to make decisions. In times like this the
manager usually makes a risk-benefit analysis where he analyses all the good and
bad risks in taking the project. Creative approach is important to identify the risks
involved.

There are some who fail to take upon the mantel of creativity at the workplace.
They believe that creativity is just purely for those who r born with it. But they are
starkly wrong. Everyone is capable of being creative. As how the article pointed out,
you dont have to have additional limb or God with you to be creative. At times, the
staffs in my company decline when they are offered positions or tasks that deals with
thinking out of the box. They should be leaping for such an opportunity, because it is
only then they could show their potential to the higher ups.

As how Johnnie lied about the petroleum industry or as how Samuel Slatter
stole trade secrets, sometimes we have to break the social norm to achieve greatness.
I am not asking the staffs to break the law, but what I am saying is that, the staffs could
produce results different than what is normally done. This could show to their superiors

what they could offer to the company. And this might lead to better compensations by
the company. Sometimes doing something more creative and breaking the norm in
the company could show the higher ups that by incorporating these changes into the
organization will keep the company ahead in the business.

Another issue from the article which I would like to talk about is setting a too
high of a benchmark, that it impedes our creativity process. Colleagues or the superior
might have achieved something great, and we might set a benchmark as high as that.
And due to this, we could not achieve the target a times. So setting out a target that
we believe could be achieved is sufficient.

AS how the article pointed out, at times because we try to be professional we

make the affirmation process needlessly convulted and diluted. Managers should learn
how to mingle and appreciate a well doing staff because this could motivate the staff
and at the same time increase the morale of the whole team.

Question 3
Discuss the challenges that exist in the articles that can be applied in the
workplace.

All organizations have creative people and they should be encouraged. But there is
an important distinction between welcoming the occasional out-of-the-box idea and
cultivating creativity as an approach to doing business. Promoting a culture of
creativity requires honing the skills of observation and invention

throughout the

organization and aligning core systems to reinforce the creative process.

Micro managing. Creative people hate being micro-managed. It sets their teeth on
edge. And it prevents them from doing their best work. If you entrust a task to a
creative worker, you are not getting full value from them unless you allow them some
freedom to execute it in their own way. In the organization that I am working in very
often, its a senior creative who cant resist telling people to execute tasks and solve
problems the same way they are used to doing it. It is sufficient just by defining the
goal as clearly and specifically as you can, and then allow people as much freedom
as possible in finding their own solutions to the challenges set.

Professionalism. Feedback is a notoriously sensitive subject, and giving feedback on

creative work is even more difficult than giving feedback on behaviour. There is always
an element of subjectivity in assessing the value of a creative work. Get the feedback
wrong, and you can crush their motivation. And because motivation and creativity are
inextricably linked when you crush one, you crush both. Get it right, and you not only
make the work better, you retain the motivation and enthusiasm of your people over
the long term.

Interruptions. Distractions are not just frustrating; they can be exhausting. By the time
you get back to where you were, your ability to stay focused goes down even further

as you have even less glucose available now. Its no surprise that creatives complain
interruptions are one of the biggest obstacles to producing high-quality work.

Rewards and compensations. Most often employees are not rewarded for their
efforts in producing a creative job. This would most likely deter future creative works.
You can't buy creativity, but you can show that innovation is a key component of your
organization by rewarding the innovative minds in your business

Question 4
Elaborate on how to strategize the human behaviour programs at the workplace
as to improve an employee attitude at the workplace.
.
Forgiving. A forgiving manager is well loved by everyone. A manager should have a
forgiving nature towards the staff at the workplace. When a staff is constantly under
pressure, he or she may not be able to think creatively while being scared of getting
scolded. Staffs should be given the freedom to make mistakes and think creatively so
that they could produce a creative outcome. This creative outcome might not be
possible if they were scared of failures.
Making room. To nature a creative person, he or she should be given the time to rest
because tiredness and ill health will kill creativity. A tired person can still produce a lot
of ideas but bad ones.
Independent and team work. A manager should not lump a creative mind with the
other creative minds. Ones ideas might influence the others mind. So when a creative
person is left to work independently, they will do wonders. Or a creative person could
be left working with a team who will value him or her, so that they could produce a
better result with the help of a team.
Communication. Roles and responsibilities have to be communicated clearly in the
beginning itself to avoid any misunderstanding. A manager should communicate often
with their employee. This will provide a clear path to success not only for those with a
creative mind but others as well. Sometimes this will mean difficult changes, but
remember the most important skill of a leader: never surprise an employee with bad
news. Have a development plan for all, and a get-well plan for those whose
performance lags. Make sure everyone knows the plan.
Involvement. Involving the staffs during the planning and the implantation stage for a
process will gain trust and respect from the employees. And this will make it easier to
gain feedbacks about the environment, operations, job satisfaction and any other
elements that may affect employee attitude.

Question 5
Analyse the implications of the study and any of that can be learnt specifically
at your workplace.

The industry I am working in is the construction and project management industry.

Being creative is what makes a contractor competitive in the market.
Creativity and never relying on the same old concepts and solutions are important in
this industry. By learning how to work creatively, those who have the tendency to feel
stagnant and bored in their work will benefit deeply.
Creation which is the activity of bringing something new into existence is important in
my workplace. Design engineers work day and night to think of a new design for a new
building, or a new kind of support for a roof or a new bridge design. This new and
sometimes more coast saving designs are the reason why we could win the tender bid
at times.
Synthesis which is the act or relating two or more unrelated or related process into
one. Previously time is consumed a lot while in the process of erecting the formworks
to pour the concrete. With new technology and new ideas, we could combine two or
more process so that we could save time and money.
Modification is the act of altering an already available process so that it could perform
better. Working as a project engineer I have to modify previously available process so
that it could work under different set of conditions. The act of new creation is not
possible sometimes because there are set of rules to be followed in the engineering
world.
Elaboration, a process of detailing a process or an activity is also ciritcal in my
industry. Not all engineers are tasked with the creation activity, some do have to
involve in the elaboration part. We add more details, viewpoints and perspectives to
existing information.
Flexibility is also important in my workplace. Sometimes due to insufficient
manpower, some of us have to be transferred to different department. SO at all time
we have to be ready to be able to work under new pressure and new field.

Question 6
Give your specific opinions on the research findings implications based on the
organizational behaviour and management elements such as leadership,
teamwork or communication or any other element in OB and management.
Creativity has always been at the heart of business, but until now it hasnt been at the
top of the management agenda. By definition the ability to create something novel and
appropriate, creativity is essential to the entrepreneurship that gets new businesses
started and that sustains the best companies after they have reached global scale.
But perhaps because creativity was considered unmanageable too elusive and
intangible to pin down or because concentrating on it produced a less immediate
payoff than improving execution, it hasnt been the focus of most managers attention.
Leadership. Part of being a leader is to engage the right people, at the right times, to
the right degree in creative work. That engagement starts when the leader recasts the
role of employees. Rather than simply roll up their sleeves and execute top-down
strategy, employees must contribute imagination. By being a leader, tapping ideas
from all ranks in the organization is necessary, be it the lowest position or the highest.
A leader should also encourage cooperation and enable collaboration. Sometimes
different departments could work together to come out with a better idea. Leaders
should also open the organization to diverse perspectives. Innovation is more likely
when people of different disciplines, backgrounds, and areas of expertise share their
thinking. Sometimes the complexity of a problem demands diversity.
Communication. When people communicate under normal circumstances they tend
to follow patterns. These patterns are the result of family, peers, organizational
affiliations, and culture. The problem with communicating by following conditioned
patterns is communication is far less effective. In working and learning conditions or
when establishing relationships with different groups or cultures; a person will
eventually find his or herself in a situation where conditioned communication patterns
are not the best option. In these instances, a person needs to be creative when
communicating. A person needs to be open-mined, curious, optimistic, nonjudgmental, flexible, and imaginative.

Teamwork. Collaboration is a key part of how a team works. Quite often, to work
effectively to meet commitments in a self-organizing, cross-functional team, you need
to be creative as well. While teams can be creative, team creativity doesnt just
happen. The relationship between teamwork and creativity is complicated, and by
understanding it you can be more effective as a team. Organizations try to encourage
creative thinking using techniques like improvisation and brainstorming. At times the
mere presence of other people can boost ones performance. A balance of extroverts
and introverts is important for an outstanding team.

Question 7
Describe the lesson to be learnt from the reading of the article.

Understanding taking risk is part of moving forward and reaping ten folds of
benefits. As how A. C Markkulla took the leap of faith in trusting Steven Jobs,
sometimes we have to just have faith and take the risk. The chances are there that the
opportunity might be a failure, but there is the equal percentage that that opportunity
might be a golden goose. A lot of entrepreneurs have been successful because they
did not stay on the safe side and decided to leap into the business and thus they reap
the benefits of their risk undertaking.
You dont have to be a genius to be creative. As how the article has stated creativity
is not the result of the amount of intelligence that one has, rather it is more of those
who can think out of the box. Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Bill Gates showed
less competence in their studies in school. So we have to push away the mindset that
we are not capable of making something creative, be it be a new creation or a
synthesis or a mere modification. Hard work and perseverance is the foundation for a
person to be creative and successful.
Sometimes you just have to go against the flow. Most of the great inventors
achieved success because they went beyond the border and had what it takes to
achieve the results. If they had just followed the general public, we wouldnt have had
electricity or lights today. Galileo envisioned about how the world revolves around the
sun, and he got killed by the church for that. Even after knowing the danger of going
against the church is punishable by death, he went ahead and published his findings.
Due to that, even till this day we remember him.
No idea is too small and all ideas have potential to change the world. If you have
had a brainstorm of a creative idea, no matter how small it is, pursue the idea till the
end. This small creative ideas is what makes a difference in our life. Take a screw for
an example. It is a small metallic object with a raised helical thread around it, but it is
capable of holding two other much larger objects together.

Question 8
Lists the seven (7) key definitions that you can find from this article and
elaborate.

Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. This act could
come in the form of invention, or a drawing, or a literature, or a song or any creations.
The sole reason why humankind is distinguished with the rest of the animal kingdom,
is because of our creative mind. We keep moving forward despite failures and this is
why we have civilizations today.
Creation is a form of creativity, a process of bringing something into existence. Some
would argue, if there wasnt creation by God, we wouldnt be here today. Creation is
not creativity as a whole, but only a part of it.
Synthesis is a combination of two related or unrelated element, to form a connected
whole. Two vastly different elements could be synthesized together to form a new
element. This is a form of creativity as well. Synthesis of a cake and a shovel becomes
a cake server. This in a way is one of the most important part of creativity. Some of us
might not be able to create something new, so synthesizing two or more items to create
a new piece would be important as well.
Modification is the act of altering something that already exist so that it can perform
better, or in a new environment, or a new function or to be used for a different function.
Sometimes, the most simplest modification could work in a big way. In the beginning
wheels were made of wooden and had very limited usage, but after modified into
rubber, it has been very versatile.
Nobility is the quality of being noble in character. But in this article it mentions
sometimes you have to put aside being noble and your ethics and pursue what you
believe to be right. This in a way might bring changes to the perception of many,
Professionalism is important but sometimes being a professional mind, we hinder the
process of being creative. For example the creative mind of a child is sometimes
stunted by parents or teacher, while they are being professional.

APPENDIX