Developing creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills in a financial services organisation

SA Journal of Human Resource Management

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Developing creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills in a financial services organisation
 
Creator De Jager, Cherylene Muller, Anton Roodt, Gert
 
Subject management; psychology creativity; creative thinking skills; innovation; ignite; initiate; problem-solving skills
Description Orientation: An important evaluation function is to determine whether creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills can be developed through training and to assess whether these skills, on their own, are sufficient to ignite innovation in organisations. Research purpose: The evaluation question that the present study aimed to address is whether employees in a corporate context, such as a financial services organisation, can develop creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills through an intervention such as a workshop. Motivation for the study: A financial services organisation commissioned the primary author of this article to design a workshop with the intent to develop the creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills of their employees in order to ignite innovation and competitiveness. Research design, approach and method: This study employed mainly qualitative research. Utilisation-focused evaluation (UFE) was employed and findings from the literature review, questionnaires, pen-and-paper tests and interviews were used. The unit of analysis was a niche business unit in a South African financial services organisation.Main findings: From this study’s point of view, the most critical finding related to the confirmation that individuals can acquire creative and innovative thinking and problemsolving skills. The acquisition of these skills, however, is not sufficient on its own to establish a culture supportive of creativity and sustainable innovation. Practical/managerial implications: The development of creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills of employees is not sufficient on its own to support sustainable innovation. Managers should consciously establish determinants on an organisational as well as an individual level to create an environment supportive of sustainable innovation. Contribution/value-add: The present study indicated how a workshop can assist individuals to develop creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills. The acquisition of these skills is not sufficient on its own to ignite sustainable innovation.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2013-05-08
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Questionnaires
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajhrm.v11i1.502
 
Source SA Journal of Human Resource Management; Vol 11, No 1 (2013); 10 pages 2071-078X 1683-7584
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/502/620 https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/502/621 https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/502/622 https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/502/619
 
Coverage South Africa contemporary period 25 men and 26 women attended the workshops; 14 between the ages of 20-30; 28 between the ages of 31-40; 7 between the ages of 41-50 and 2 between the ages of 51-60; Ethnicity was not covered.
Rights Copyright (c) 2013 Cherylene De Jager, Anton Muller, Gert Roodt https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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