Creativity: The Fuel of Innovation

Abstract

Market-leveled changes occurring in the health care industry require new and creative models of organization, management, and service delivery. One of today's primary management challenges is the development of organizational cultures that value innovation, change, and creativity. The adoption of an ethic of innovativeness allows the organization to stretch the limits of individual and collective knowledge, skill, and ability to meet complex consumer needs. Creativity within organizations is influenced by management practices in conjunction with creativity-relevant work group skills. A common wisdom exists that professional nurses are creative in finding solutions for complex patient care needs. The expansion of this creativity within organizational systems will allow for the evolution of professional nursing practice, improvement in care delivery, and organizational performance.

The relationship of individual characteristics, perceived worksite support and perceived creativity to clinical nurses' innovative outcome

“…The finding that worksite support, identified as supervisory and colleagues' support, correlated positively with clinical nurses' perceived creativity not only verifies the seminal work conducted by Lin et al (2007) regarding the effect of supportive behaviour on employees' creativity, but also is consistent with other research findings (Madjar et al 2002, Amo 2006. Many researchers have suggested that organisations must recognise the importance of creativity and its potential to boost profits and therefore provide a supportive environment to increase employees' creativity (Gilmartin 1999, Hughes 2006, Sohn & Jung 2010. However, this study did not find a relationship between creativity and innovative outcome.…”

“…Creativity and innovation 'Creativity' and 'innovation' are often used interchangeably, but they actually represent two different concepts (McLean 2005). Innovation begins with perceived creativity, and creativity lays the groundwork for innovation (Gilmartin 1999). Creativity can be seen as an innate ability, whereas innovation is the interactive result of perceived creativity and the environment; in other words, an innovative person has the ability not only to generate new ideas but also to transform the ideas into new products or services (Gilmartin 1999, Rank et al 2004, Alves et al 2007.…”

Innovative behaviour: the effect of structural and psychological empowerment on nurses

“…This result may be explained by the fact that other organizational factors than structural characteristics moderate the influence of psychological empowerment on innovative behaviour. Culture and climate are often put forward as determinants of innovative behaviour (West & Wallace 1991, Gilmartin 1999, Lubberhuizen 1999). Considering the results of this study, showing impact and informal power as important to innovative behaviour, connection can be made to a moderating culture type that emphasizes external orientation and flexibility (van Linge 2006).…”

“…Innovative behaviour of nurses, who are close to patients, is necessary if they are to be active participants in reaching organizational aims and, in a wider context, the aims of health care. van Linge (2006) draws a distinction between reactive and pro‐active innovating, the first being the most frequently observed among nurses (Tonuma & Winbolt 2005), but the latter a common wisdom (Gilmartin 1999). Therefore, it is important to gain insight into the determinants of innovative behaviour, which is a form of performance behaviour.…”

The Innovative Ward Project:promoting innovation in healthservice delivery.

“…Being innovative or creative can be daunting in an environment that is largely designed to maintain the status quo. In the past, conformity and predictability has been promoted within the nursing profession to produce efficiency and thus creativity has been suppressed (Gilmartin, 1999). Berwick and Thomas (1998) maintain that defending the status quo is the dominant professional response in medicine, with only some physicians acknowledging that medical action or inaction has contributed to the problems facing health care.…”