Creativity in a Design Organization result from several factors, such as
The Quality of Leadership, Structures of Authority and Responsibility,
Work Culture, Work Climate and Specialization or Core Competence of
the organizations.
A Convener of the Design Organization is normally the prime leader of the
unit. A Formal authority to lead an organization is acquired by virtue
of the capacity to reimburse or compensate people who work for the
organization. Besides the capacity to compensate a person in a position
or office (associated with expertise, skill, or experience) also gets a
formal authority. However, something more than such a formal authority
is required to lead a design organization. Some degree of Technical
mastery that derives from superior knowledge, expertise, skill,
experience, etc. is required. Similarly a leader must also have certain
Personality attributes such as: age, sex, race, charisma, bearing,
determination, will power, appearance, height, weight, etc. Formal
authority, Technical mastery, and Personality attributes, all
together constitute the Qualities of Leadership in an organization.
‘Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and
enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the
organizations of which they are members,’ a person in a position or
office of authority, such as a President or a chairperson.
Leaders, who lack any of these features, try to make it up by other
means. Formal authority can be procured by having a financier partner
or associate, or an official appointment. Technical mastery can be
secured by hiring technically qualified associates or employees.
Personality attributes can be compensated by having an indirect or
remote mode of management.
Quality of leadership must vary according to the nature of work in the
organization, but nominally it is the quality of leadership that defines the
work style of the organization. To achieve the first object, organizations
separate out the domain of leadership for the functioning of the
organization from the domain of leadership required to handle a project.
The second fact requires a leader to be as versatile as the project
demands.
Organizations that handle highly variable situations or non-repeating projects
need a very Radical leader. On the other hand organizations with routine
projects will function well under a Methodical leader. An Autocratic leader
overrides the situational differences and imposes a preconceived style. The
autocratic leader expects complete obedience. Such a leadership is works well
for projects that are critical in time, resources and extent. A Democratic leader
would rather mould the situation, so that it can be handled within the ambience
of the personal (leadership) qualities. Employees get full support, status and due
recognition, and as a result show responsible behaviour and self-discipline.
Democratic leaders are ideal for projects involving large user base. A Bohemian
leader develops a style to suit the situation on hand, and are often very useful
in tackling continuously variable situations. A Custodial leader has extra
ordinary economic resources so makes employees dependent on the
organization with security and benefits. The resulting performance is barely
adequate.
Authority and Responsibility in Organizations
Leadership in organization is recognised in terms of authority and
responsibility. Authority refers to the right or prerogative of requiring
action over others, or simply a right to command, whereas,
Responsibility means being ready for the consequences of application
of authority. A leader passes on a part of the authority to selected
subordinates, and makes them responsible for their actions. By sharing
the responsibility a leader strengthens the ultimate authority.
A leader establishes a rational link between the authority and
responsibility. Leaders create a well-balanced structure of authority and
responsibility within their organization through selective participation of
subordinates. A logical and transparent relationship between authority
and responsibility motivates other subordinates to belong to the process.
Members of the organization take on responsibilities as an assignment,
as a perceived duty, as something to reimburse the favours or the
compensations, as a share of power or prestige, or as a compulsion.
Such responsibilities unless accompanied by adequate handout or
recognition of the authority, causes unpredictable responses.
A complex organization will have many layers of leaders, not only with
specific responsibility and authority but also with a unique leadership
quality. To provide a unified structure to these diverse qualities, and
manage them dispassionately, a coordinator or manager is required. A
coordinator's job is to dispense the authorities and responsibilities in a
formal and ceremonial manner. A coordinator or the manager usually
has the power to hire, fire or favour any subordinate. Frequently
initiators or conveners of the organizations hire competent people to
manage an organization, but to devise it qualities of leadership are
required. ‘Managers are people who do things right, but leaders are
people who do the right thing’- Warren Bennis, ‘On Becoming a Leader’.
Work Culture and Work Climate
Each organization has its own distinctive Work Culture. The work culture
is a historical formation. Culture results from the revered formal and
informal systems of past. It is a combination of the collective history,
continua of leadership, residual effects of events and crises, and the
physical spread of the organization in the society. This results in
traditions, routines, taboos, pride, prejudices, etc. that permeate in
every organization. The cultural setting of the organization impacts the
behaviour of its members.
The Work Climate results from the recent working of the organization.
A climate reflects the quality of current leadership. An organizational
climate is directly related to the leadership and management style of the
leader, based on the values, attributes, skills, and actions, as well as the
priorities of the leader. It is seen as the empathy the organization
creates in its members, clients and collaborators. An individual or a short
term leader cannot easily create or change the culture because it very
deep rooted. Culture influences the characteristics of the climate by its
effect on the actions and thought processes of the leader. A leader can
hope to mould the work culture by improvisation of the work climate.
Specialization or core competence of the organizations
Organizations come into being with specific aims. All organizations intend
to specialize in tasks that are analogous to their aims. But specialization
is acquired through repetition of opportunities. Specialization leads to
an economy in the operations. It also upgrades the organization's
capacity to deal with larger or complex tasks. Specialization, is perceived
as an innovative activity, that causes enough synergies, to make the
organization behave like a self-correcting or continuously adjusting
biological entity. An Autocratic leader may stimulate an organization
towards an acute specialization in only one or few fields, whereas a
Bohemian leader may dissipate the energy and de-focus the goals of
the organization. A Democratic leader will continuously review and
revise the aims of the organization, and plan the resources, to make the
organizations creative.
Creativity in Organizations
Organizations thrive on new ideas, concepts, innovations, etc. A creative
environment comes about by many factors. There should be teamwork
spirit, willingness to help each other, commitment and dedication to
assigned tasks, trust with fellow workers. Personnel should have access
to appropriate resources, including facilities, equipment, information,
funds, and people. If work is challenging or tasks are intriguing than
there is an attraction to handle it. Staff members should have some
control on tasks they carry out and freedom in deciding how to accomplish a task. A manager or leader who sets clear goals and is able to
communicate well with subordinates, encourages creativity. Existence of
defined and surprise rewards encourages creative efforts. A collaborative
atmosphere sets in, when the staff shares the vision and goals of the
organization.
In any well knit organization, creativity comes about, through several
layers of activities, carried out by individuals with many different talents
and personality traits. ‘It operates like a relay race, but the participants
have no idea who will take over, at which level and when’. Often the
racers have no idea, whether they were running forward or backward,
i.e. towards or away from the finish line or goal.
Organizations become and remain creative when roles that personnel
are required to play, are very definite. Where there is a
knowledgeable and visible structure, one knows who is going to take
over at what time and at which level. A creative idea or concept will be
accommodated, supported and carried through, if necessary, by even
changing the goals of the organization. The leaders of such organization
are sensitive, and have a ready mechanism to improvise the goals of
their organization on a continuing basis.
Creativity fails to spread in an organization because there is:
1 Fear of ridicule.
2 Fear of theft of idea (loss of authorship or patent)
3 Lack of time
4 Lack of competence to further the idea
5 Lack of power and resources to further the idea
6 Lack of buyers / takers of different ideas
7 Lack of compensation
In organizations where obnoxious quality control checks, evaluations,
secret reportage, etc. abound, personnel come under pressure and
become sterile. Promotions other than on qualitative criteria, allocation
of resources other than on needs based assessments, Recognition of
wrong members, delayed or inadequate compensation, etc. are some
other factors that vitiate the working of an organization.
A good leader makes the personnel realize that real measure of
creativity is in the gains or advantage an organization gets. This is a
difficult proposition, as it requires a very high degree of transparency in
accounting and auditing processes. Everyone must clearly realize what
an effort will cost, and how much benefit the organization will get out of
it. Creativity is both a personal and group pursuit. A personal
innovation must have confirmation of the larger group, and the group’s
achievement must remain impersonal.
Creativity is not in specialization (capacity to excel in limited fields) nor
in generalization (capacity to handle many different situations) in any
field. Specialization means being proficient, to consistently sustain the
technical superiority, whereas Generalization means being efficient or
productive, but not at the cost of quality.
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