El derecho a la libertad de pensamiento y expresión de funcionarios del

Discussions have already noted that exploratory work suggested that leadership is crucial to growth orientated small organisations. Primary research revealed the strength which effective leaders conveyed to their organisations through the application of appropriate visions and strategic goals. This finding resonates with the wider literature (Moultrie and Young, 2009; Kempster and Cope, 2010; Houghton and DiLiello, 2010) although the exploratory study highlighted the fact

34 that small organisations often struggled to find what might be termed ‘effective’ leadership. Again, this issue is covered in the present literature (Phelps et al, 2007; Kempster and Cope, 2010) although it is not made clear what ‘effective’ leadership for creative idea generation might be. This is therefore a point that can be held up as worthy of further investigation.

Two overarching concepts emerging from primary research were distributed (McCrimmion, 2005; Spillane and Diamond, 2007) and servant (Parolini et al, 2009; Sendijaya and Pekerti, 2010) leadership. These concepts were not overtly mentioned by any research participant however organisation structures and processes appeared to include elements hinting at their existence. One particular example of possible servant leadership characteristics occurred during an interview with one owner/manager who proposed that his role was simply to provide an “environment” that was conducive to creativity. Based on this evidence it is certainly arguable that there perhaps needs to be a particular focus on understanding whether distributed and/or servant leadership has a positive impact on idea generation in SME environments.

Creativity itself was the subject of much debate during exploratory work with some individuals remarking that they found it difficult to locate within a business context, seeing the term as something which was more appropriate to the arts instead (Robinson, 2001). Creativity was perhaps best described as ‘non- process thinking’ and several participants suggested that they felt most creative when engaged in discussions with other individuals, building from the ideas of one another. Despite this emerging as a dominant theme, several different definitions of creativity were uncovered. Some of these revolved around

35 ‘eureka’ moments and others around the ultimate output, i.e. tangible ideas which could be developed into products or services. Because of this divergence it can be argued that the nature of creativity, and by extension, idea generation, needs to be assessed in greater detail. Mapping this finding back to current literature suggests that there are different views of the concepts (see, for example, Powell and DiMaggio, 1991; Davis and Scase, 2000; De Jong and Den Hartog, 2007; Klijn and Tomic, 2010), it is therefore of fundamental importance to understand the nature of creative idea generation.

A further concept which, despite it not being mentioned overtly, was hinted at widely during exploratory work was the notion of ‘collective creativity’ (Chaharbaghi and Cripps, 2007; Catmull, 2008; Sarmiento and Stahl, 2008). Individuals often suggested that they felt most creative when involved in group discussions, building on and improving the ideas of others. This was a commonly held view during exploratory work and due to literature that exists on the subject (see, for example, Chaharbaghi and Cripps, 2007; Catmull, 2008; Sarmiento and Stahl, 2008) it arguably needs to be understood more fully here. What exactly is it about the “collective” that encourages idea generation? This is a key question that this literature review will need to explore.

Putting the nature of creativity aside for a moment, two further interconnected topics which arose from the exploratory study were trust and the notion of error. During the initial literature search it was found that there is a theoretical relationship between success and failure in an entrepreneurial organisation (Burns, 2008). This understanding is depicted in figure 2.1.

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Figure 2.1: Success and Failure in an Entrepreneurial Organisation

Source: Burns (2008) Page 124.

Permission to reproduce this diagram has been granted by Palgrave Macmillan

Findings from exploratory work corroborated the understanding that organisations occasionally fail when pursuing new ideas. Despite failure being a necessary step in the creative process, it was also said that more successful organisations would build in measures to carefully assess and filter ideas, hence reducing the likelihood of future similar error(s). Primary research discovered that it is important for an owner/manager to have trust in his or her employees, although the word ‘trust’ was not adequately defined. These findings around trust and error perhaps need to be developed further during this study, relating these concepts specifically to idea generation rather than the broader creative process.

A penultimate area of interest is ‘vision’. The initial literature review within the exploratory study discovered that vision was very closely associated with the dominant ideas and theories surrounding leadership. During primary research it was apparent that there was no universal formula for what an effective vision is, although it was clear that leaders need to assess their goals and articulate an Success Zone Number of failures Number of successes

37 ‘appropriate’ vision for their organisations. It was said that the environment which the leader creates through his or her vision and behaviour is a crucial factor in allowing creativity and innovation to take root. In more than one study organisation it was clear that loose structures were deliberately adopted in order to facilitate the leader’s vision although this finding was not linked back to the literature. A new search reveals that literature exists on the ‘environment’ for idea generation (Johnson, 2010) and the relationship between leadership and vision (Powell and Dodd, 2007; Ucbasaran et al, 2010). These avenues could therefore be pursued by this thesis.

The final focus of exploratory work was organisational culture (Schein, 2004; Catmull, 2008; Mintzberg et al, 2009). Nearly every individual questioned during primary research arrived at a different definition of the term ’culture’. One business specialist suggested that culture can be impacted at numerous different levels, from individual behaviour through to the prevailing culture of an industry or a country. Key findings from primary research were summarised in the following diagram.

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Figure 2.2: Key Facets of Culture

Source: Perkins (2010, p50)

Perhaps the most important finding from figure 2.2 is that many of the words and phrases seem to be describing the ‘environment for creativity’ (Johnson, 2010) within organisations. Contributions including ‘ambiance and atmosphere’, ‘ethos’ and ‘behaviour’ provide validation for this assertion. This adds further weight to the belief that it will be important to understand the ‘environment’ for creative idea generation during this study.

With all of these considerations in mind, the territory of this thesis has become somewhat clearer with concepts such as leadership, the environment for

CULTUR

E

Attitude Ethos Attitude Value Sets Environme nt Perception - Internal & External Diversity & Difference Ambiance & Atmospher e Spirit & Passion Involvemen t Recognitio n Structur e Behaviour Trus t

39 creative idea generation, error and trust being highlighted by exploratory work. A further area of interest stemming from the nature of creativity is the ‘human factors’ which are at work in organisations. These might include the concept of ‘flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) and social networks (Bruggeman, 2008). It is important at this point to reiterate the overarching aim of this thesis, which is;

“To explore the various organisational factors external to the individual that encourage the production of creative ideas in SME environments; what is their

importance in a variety of organisational contexts?”

This present study is not concerned with internal factors that affect an individual’s predisposition toward idea generation; it is solely concerned with understanding the effect that factors external to the individual have on the idea generation process. The guiding aim should be kept in mind whilst reading the remainder of this chapter which begins by examining the nature of creative idea generation.

In document INFORME No. 103/13 CASO INFORME DE FONDO ADAN GUILLERMO LOPEZ LONE Y OTROS HONDURAS (página 67-98)