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High Workload is Disastrous for Innovation Capacity

 

Minimising high workloads and providing sufficient challenge and support: essential factors for unlocking the creative potential of employees. Leadership encouragement, the right resources, and organisational hurdles do not significantly affect creative potential. The role of managers mainly lies in creating a climate in which creativity and innovation are valued.

This is apparent from the thesis of master's student Ben Chini and prof. Dr Marjolein Caniëls of the Open University. The study entitled 'Developing Organisational Creativity' was conducted among 319 employees of Vodafone Netherlands, where Chini works in the technology department.

 

From creativity to innovation

To measure what employees perceive as obstacles to creativity, Chini and Caniëls surveyed more than 300 employees of Vodafone Netherlands. The online questionnaire included questions about organisational support, leadership encouragement, freedom, resources, team support, challenge, workload, and administrative hurdles. If organisations provide sufficient support and challenge and ensure that high work pressure does not or hardly occur, they optimally support coming up with new ideas and taking risks. This, in turn, benefits the innovative capacity of organisations.

 

Implications for managers

Although leadership encouragement does not directly affect the utilisation of creative potential, the study's results have implications for managers. They can ensure that there is an organisational climate in which creativity and innovation are valued. If that's the case, employees are more willing to put time and effort into creative behaviour and accept the chance of failure.

 

Creative climate

"Innovation in an organisation often starts with a single creative idea, which could potentially come from any employee," says Ben Chini. "Yet not everyone translates it into action, indicating that certain organisational factors hinder it. With this research, we have shown that employers should not only hire people with creative skills but also create an environment in which they can express them."

 


 

About the author
Based in Odesa, Ukraine, Anastasiia Shtankova is a trilingual (English, Russian, Ukrainian) graduate of the Sukhomlinsky Mykolayiv National University. For as long as she can remember, Nastya has had a passion for writing. As the content manager for Finance4Learning, she manages to combine business with the pleasure of writing. She is responsible for generating, curating and marketing content relevant to the company’s target audiences.

 

About Finance4Learning
Finance4Learning is a Benelux-based provider of student finance helping individuals realise ambitions and educators drive sales. Finance4Learning typically finances students following upskilling or reskilling courses in e.g. Business Analytics, CyberSecurity, Data Science, Digital Marketing, Growth Hacking, Leadership, UX/UI Design and Web Development. Courses are often provided in a bootcamp format. Finance4Learning is backed by two very reputable organisations - Banco Santander (no. 4 in the world) and the European Investment Fund - and provides access to a €50 million learning & development fund on an exclusive basis.