Sample Essay: Creativity And Innovation

Innovation means a new way of doing something (New Oxford English Dictionary, 2008, P. 103). Over time businessmen establish methods and techniques of management, distribution, promotion and marketing. These innovations work for a given duration before they are overtaken by other innovations. An example of innovation is the fairly new concept of Business Intelligence (BI). BI is a set of technologies and processes that enable people at all levels of an organization to access and analyze data (Howson 2007, pp1-3).  This allows for faster decision making as everyone is aware of what is going on in the company, and above all has very accurate information.

Creativity on the other hand, is the ability to innovate. People who are creative are ever looking for new ways, new designs, new fashion, new challenges and new frontiers to tackle. This paper is set out to discuss how employees in any organization, can handle innovation, in a rapidly changing economic environment, to enhance production.

Newcomers and Innovation

Innovators are mostly newcomers. People and companies which arrive usually carry with them new technology, fresh ideas and a new way of solving problems. So in many ways technology actually favors the newcomer. Well aware of this fact, Microsoft Corporation has three Research Centers and six research labs located on different parts of the globe. Tens of computer scientists, sociologists, psychologists, mathematicians, physicists and engineers, cover over 55 areas of research for the sake of new software programs to keep them ahead and competitive in the market. But whereas they easily outpaced the likes of Sony and Nintendo in the computer game market in 2001, they never sit on their laurels. Instead they keep inventing in order to keep ahead of the competition (Chapman 2009).

The danger for the pre existing individuals and organizations is that a whole new playfield governed by new rules is introduced. The latest innovation comes in to compete with old established one using its own rules that the incumbents do not understand. This is the kind of scenario that was envisaged by the Innovation Standard Model. This is where a brand new company comes along to replace and take over the niche of another one; and that competition tends to favor the newcomer.

An example is that of Toyota Motors versus General Motors (GM). GM had to be bailed out by The US Federal Reserve after seriously suffering the effects of 2009 worldwide recession. But its deterioration started much earlier Toyota started chipping away at its market in the 1980s. The Japanese knew that if they tried to outdo their rivals in the realms of motor vehicle design and performance, they were doomed to fail. So they resorted to designing and selling cars that were cheaper and simpler than their rivals. The idea paid off handsomely and cut for them a niche in the US market, something that many people could not have thought possible. By marketing simplicity, durability and competitive price, they managed to cut a niche for themselves. After that they also adjusted their products to fit into the luxury class of their rivals (Tuomi 2002, p 48).

Business organizations are by their very nature, always involved in competition with others for opportunities and resources. In order to enhance their competitiveness, they have to invest heavily in modern technology and ideas. Such technology as computer networking improves the speed at which work is done and the quality of that work. But the most important single resource in the organization is the manpower. Human beings have a distinct great advantage over machines in that they think and make choices while machines can only follow laid down programs or human instructions.

On many occasions firms are forced to face emergent competition.  Such competition is as old as business itself. One form of such competition is where Company A is merchandizing a certain product. Then Company B arrives on the scene with a similar product. The customers then leave their old company to try the product from B. Such a scenario plays out again and again in the business world.

According to Von Hippel (1988, p.4) innovation begins with individuals in the organization. He classifies the sources of innovation as manufacturers, end users and suppliers. There are organizations whose work is to manufacture products for the market. These are the main innovators known by most people. Then there are suppliers who adjust the products they buy before selling it. In contemporary parlance, this practice has come to be termed as value addition. In between are the people who discover for themselves what to use if they feel that what has been supplied in the market is not good enough for them. These are the end users.

People who have grown used to routine roles such as filling in forms, doing manual work, running machines or auditing soon develop a standard way of carrying out the tasks. These routines then become sort of an extension of their character. They tackle the same task the same way day in, day out. If their way of doing it is new and not used before, it may be classified as an innovation. The new method is then adopted by other people in the organization and used in the same way for a long time until another innovator comes along and introduces a new method. Tools too are innovated in this way. Individuals who are dissatisfied with that which is available may feel that they need to come up with something on their own.

In a world that is increasingly becoming smaller by the day, in terms of international business and communication, there is a need to innovate in order to survive. Success ratings of different organizations depend heavily on their ability to innovate and tackle upcoming challenges. Subsequently, there is a large market for innovations. In 1962, 30% of the entire US population was employed by the information industry. This figure shot up to 50% by 1977 (Freeman 1982, p 4). The numbers show just how many organizations are out there that are interested in purchasing information rather than goods. Many Organizations for instance, spend a substantial amount of their income in carrying out research. The aim of this endless search is to gather knowledge that will help them innovate ways of surviving in the market.

This well developed world of information processing is simply a world of innovation. It involves research organizations, the media, computer software manufacturers and advertisers. Though many individuals are still oriented towards regarding only tangible things as an industry, they are being overtaken by actual events as more and more people are employed by the information age.

Importance of Innovation

Modern times are really challenging times to live in. News breaks out in Teheran and reaches all corners of the world an instant later. When the government there tries to use the age old technique of gagging the press, the internet interaction sites come in handy to help ordinary Iranians get the news out thus circumventing the government.

The example above shows us just how difficult it is to try and survive in a modern age with old ideas. Any government that wishes to retain control in modern times must keep abreast with changes in technology. The situation is even worse for a business organization competing with numerous others that have kept abreast with the times on such matters.

It is much worse for an individual employee in a company. The danger that new employees who are better informed on current issues may just come in and render him redundant, is always there. It is of great importance that such an employee be able to keep abreast with modern developments. Most employees will not, because they find the time tested path of routine easier and more reliable than the risky road to innovation. To console themselves, they tend to retreat into certain comfort zones.

One of the best comfort zones is their masters degree or PhD. The argument that one went to Harvard in the 1970’s and is thus irreplaceable, is a sick joke when it turns out the guy cannot even retrieve a message from the inbox of his e-mail account. Other comfort zones include, “I am too old”, “I am almost retiring” and “It is not that important.” In order to understand this scenario, it is imperative to look at the circumstances that make an individual try to avoid an exercise that is so important.

Talking of comfort Zones, (International Business Machines) IBM shook the entire American racial policy in 1953. The circular announcement by its CEO Thomas Watson that IBM intended to hire the best experts despite their gender, ethnic origin or race caught the likes of Hewlett Packard) HP totally off guard. This was a highly sensitive statement in the highly racially segregated and gender insensitive America of the time. His rationale was that he would have the competitive advantage of hiring sharp brains that had been rejected by the competition. As it turned out he was right. The new policy saw the company experience a steep growth (Slater 1999, pp.14-24). This is an example of a highly daring and innovative project that paid off handsomely.

According to Christensen (2002, pp.10, 32-38) in “The Rules of Innovation”, the main reason of avoiding innovation is the risk factor. Human beings instinctively have an in built fear of the unknown. Among the most outstanding of these fears is that of the consequences of failure. People may inwardly believe that they will really not be able to crack the new technology even if they tried. This fear is however baseless and without any factual foundation.

Christensen explains that, there are some rules to innovation. First, every undesired outcome has a cause. It is up to the organization or individual to find out what the cause is. In other words an innovation cannot just fail. There must be a reason for that failure, even where concerned parties do not wish to find out what it is. Secondly, he also points out that it is important to know all the variables that lead to the outcomes of innovative practices. Once the variables at play are identified, innovation cannot be half as risky as it seems. So what he is saying is that a new innovation always comes with an implicit risk value. This risk may discourage one from adapting such innovations. As a result they end up being left behind.

Many employees also come face to face with the fact that their expertise has suddenly been rendered obsolete. In such a case if they were not making any serious effort to acquire other skills then they are declared redundant.  Several people in the printing press industry are fast being put out of business by the computer. Departments like that have been declared superfluous in quite a number of organizations. In cases like this adapting new technology or innovating new ways of surviving may be the only way out for such individuals. The folly of not having adjusted to the computer whole there was still then comes out clearly.

In “The Innovator’s Dilemma” (2003, pp. 1-4) Christensen explains that the main reason for the success of many business firms is the fact that they listen to their customers. The main reason for their failure as well is that they listen to their customers. He therefore points out that a customer may lead a firm to its success or failure, depending on how it interprets the customer’s demands.

He gives the example of Compact Disc (CD) manufacturing companies in which some 75% of the companies fail every year.  He attributes this failure rate to the fact that the CD manufacturing industry is one of the fastest changing industries eve created. Not only is the size and capacity of the disks in constant change, but their function and price as well.

There are two clear issues that come out of these arguments. The first is that too much innovation within a limited period is not only confusing to the customers but to the organizations as well. Innovation is a continuous process no doubt. Conversely, moving it too fast can turn out to be suicidal for two reasons. First, customers may get so used to change that they get addicted to it. So they will demand more and more change even when it is not really necessary. Secondly the industry never really settles. When the industry fails to settle down, then naturally the number of casualties is as high as those in a speeding train that derails.

On the other hand, not listening to the customers is suicide. When they ask for a certain kind of disk, they should get it. That is the only practical way of surviving in the business. So the entrepreneur has to balance the need to please customers and the need to stay in business. That is what he refers to as the innovators dilemma. Whatever the case, the firms that survive in the business are the ones which know when to listen to their customers and when not to.

Another problem identified in this highly innovative market is the fluidity in prices. Some of the products lose as much as 50% of their price value within a duration of less than one year. As disks which are smaller and more versatile are innovated, the prices of the old ones fall steeply thus totally disrupting sale value and immediately putting some of the companies in the red. So this is a highly competitive industry with a high turnover. It shows innovation at its best and at its worst.

Advantages of Innovation

As has been noted earlier, innovation is the doorway to progress in any field. Doing things in a new way not only allows industry to develop but also breaths in a fresh new lease of life into the world of entrepreneurship. Without it industry will stagnate and no new things will be there to be found. This kind of stagnation does not auger well for a human race that faces new and increasingly complex challenges in a world that does not bother to respect any kind of rules human beings would like to put for it.

Secondly, innovation enables workers to remain relevant in an ever changing work environment. New demands are place on their shoulders everyday which call for fresh new approaches. Employees who are not willing to take the gauntlet on this will surely soon find themselves becoming irrelevant and thus redundant.

Another thing is that there is a whole industry that runs purely on innovation. This is a mass employing industry that takes in all sorts of people including salespersons, broadcasters, sportspersons, researchers and even preachers. It is an industry abuzz with money that is reducing the problem of unemployment and enabling young people to learn large amounts of money.  A cursory glance into the lifestyles of American Basketball players and Europe based footballers indicates just how much money they are earning and clearly proves why they are super earning superstars. Innovators brought advertisers and the media into the mix. The result was a fast expanding industry kept afloat by consumers who could not just resist products advertised by their favorite idols.

Another advantage is the way a huge market has been created for fast moving products that are easily perishable or disposable. This has resulted in sales that have pushed many organizations faster up the economic larder in the past two decades alone than it ever did before.  There is a lot of money in circulation which has been put to use in more innovative ideas. With better and faster communication channels propped up by the fast innovations in technology, the market for products produced anywhere in the world can be found at the furthest corner at the touch of a button.

Another issue that is of paramount importance is that innovations have made the era of an information superhighway a reality. Apart from the rioters in Tehran, it is possible to know of job opportunities or research material in a country far away from ones own. Internet communication has enabled people to get employed without ever leaving the country, to have academic conference discussions with scholars across the world without ever leaving their own living rooms.

Gadgets such as the mobile phone have proved to be useful in activities such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA. Many families used mobile phones to locate their relatives at times even communicating to those who were buried under the rubble. Quite a number of people were confirmed to be alive by this means. Another instance was in 2008 during the American Presidential campaigns when highly innovative fundraising programs using the cell phones and the internet were used to raise the largest amount of money ever for the democratic Candidate Barrack Obama.

Without innovation then no more discoveries will be made that will add to the knowledge of humanity. It is the responsibility of the current generation to come up with solutions that will be applied by future generations to survive in a world with new challenges, some of which have been created by the current generation. Such new challenges include global worming, environmental degradation, depletion of the ozone layer and over exploitation of the non- renewable energy sources. It remains the role of the entrepreneur to contribute his share by enterprisingly distributing ideas and resources for the enablement of this process of innovation for the survival of the entire species.

Innovation keeps many undisclosed truths increasingly available to people so that they can expand ideas and opportunities. Inventions must not only keep coming up, but the channels must also be kept open to ensure that more discoveries are made. In any case if our immediate predecessors were not innovative, we would not be enjoying some of the benefits we do today.

Disadvantages

Most innovations end up in failure. The few that do succeed sometimes do not justify the cost of the investment put into the ones that fail. Research organizations charge large amounts of money to support their activities. In many companies a fully fledged research department with permanent employees is in place that continually carries out studies and what they need is just an assurance of continuous funding. This is cheaper than outsourcing. Sometimes people set off to research on one thing but end with something entirely different that does not add any value at all.

Innovations are very expensive. They use up a lot of resources which could be used for other pressing needs. The numerous excursions into outer space have cost trillions of dollars yet they have so far yielded very little that can further the cause of humanity so far. Many organizations find themselves in a situation where they invest so much in the field of research which sometimes ends up revealing nothing.

Innovation is also a high risk exercise that is replete with accidents and incurable diseases unlocked by the ever inquisitive nature of man. Allegations have been made that certain individuals must have performed experimented that bequeathed us with terrible problems in the past. Nuclear weapons caused damage to people in the Second World War which have transcended generations. The Russian Kalashnikov cannot bear to look at his innovation the AK 47 for all the damages it has done to humanity. Though he insists that he only had good intentions, some said thank you and immediately put the gun to use for performing evil tasks.

Innovations may also create disruptive technologies. This kind of technology disrupts the way people look at markets and thus causing a new demand. This new demand disrupts the existing products in the market thus causing sudden falls in prices. The effect of this is many companies with stocks that do no seem to move.  The end result is that companies cannot keep up since they produce a lot of redundant material that forms a huge backlog of dead stock (Thomke 2003, pp 1-2).

There is generally a high failure rate of innovations that result in a waste of funds. Companies set aside a lot of funds and time for innovations whose findings do not see the light of day. This is precisely what has discouraged certain organizations from venturing into this field for fear of failure.

Another major problem with innovation is the way it encourages consumerism. There are people who replace their machinery and electronics ever year. In this way they end up using cash they would have spent on something else again and again. This practice has led to the stagnation of certain important domestic projects like provision proper housing for the family and higher education. When people put aside such crucial projects just to keep up with consumer trends, then there is something seriously amiss.

Yet as Albert Einstein so ably put it: Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. So whereas these experiments are expensive and time consuming, they are also inevitable. One can surely not hope to succeed without trying. Those who do not venture do not get hurt, but they do not discover anything either.

Many companies have also taken to the shortcut of discussing issues instead of experimenting. Such are terrified into self-deterrence by the fear of failure. It is all too common to hear of high profile meetings in five star hotels in which experts in different fields facilitate discussion on well known and well documented knowledge. Ultimately, they feel that they have done something useful.  They believe that they have boosted the betterment of their welfare as a company.

Experiments on the other hand, generally underline the success of many big companies. These are the ones who keep on probing without any fear about failing since they have accepted constant failure as part of the show, provided that every effort is made to conduct the experiment itself correctly. These are the innovators who keep on popping up with new technology such as plasma television and digital Global Positioning System. They will keep on coming up with more and more to help us tame our wild planet and liven up our existence on it.

As Schumpeter (1996, p 4) puts it, it would be wrong to assume that the laws we have at the moment are the correct and perfect ones as so we do not need to find out any more. Experimentation and inquiry must continue to take place. People who become complacent with their level of knowledge do not add anything to the knowledge of humanity and should not complain when they are left out. This he says applies both to individuals and organizations.

To take this argument further, let us take the case of cloning. For years it has been believed that it takes a man to impregnate a woman. The whole idea of a physician fulfilling that purpose medically was unheard of.  Today it is a reality, albeit with hiccups here and there.  There is no doubt in the minds of many observers that with time and persistence, the persons involved will make it work. Arguments about morality from indignant self-righteous campaigners notwithstanding, so long as they keep at it, they will get something out of it (Tuomi 2002).

He further postulates that future survival of all of us may depend on that one experiment some of us are so vehemently opposed to. More importantly, the survival of the automotive engineer depends on how quickly and efficiently he modifies his car. Sitting back and marveling at their innovative design of three years ago means getting slowly out of business.

Conclusion

All factors considered, it is fairly difficult to live in the modern world without being ready to innovate or learn to use other people’s innovations. The only way to avoid redundancy altogether is to keep sharpening oneself through research, education, discussion and a little bit of experimentation. Claiming that one is too old does not work anymore since the world is changing at such a high speed that simply taking a break for one minute can be very costly.

References

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Howson, C 2007, Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer Application, New York: McGraw Hill.

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Schumpeter, J 1996, History of Economic Analysis, Harvard University Press, Boston.

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