HUMAN MANAGEMENT FOR CREATIVITY IN INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between organizational characteristics and the space for creativity in innovative organizations with aims at contributing to rising discussions on the integration between human management strategies and innovation. Organizational characteristics were structured according to different models developed by different authors, to include organizational structure, philosophy and values and policies and human resources. Also based on the contribution made by different authors, it addresses the encouragement to creativity, workplace, and organizational resources and hindering factors. The exploratory-descriptive research employed a qualitative-quantitative approach, and it is presented in six chapters. It was performed in four medium-and-large size companies, most of which are located in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba, of the State of Paraná (Brazil), from different sectors and at varying technological stages, chosen for their history of innovations in place and innovative activities. Major findings integrate innovation management and human management to the organizational strategy with the objective of yielding results from any form of innovation. In those innovative organizations the space for creativity is interspersed with practices that value people and the results they achieve, and how clearly the organizational strategy is perceived by all employees. Practices that are coherent with those values and more flexible structures further addressing group work are factors that encourage creativity in innovative organizations. Most evident human resource policies and systems (that foster space for creativity) are those which lead to the development of people in the organization. Practices that are conducive for the employee to feel supported in their creative abilities are mainly related to constructive feedback they are given, which strengthens the cycle of confidence; to the assessment of performance associated to professional development; and to incentives offered for collectively-attained results. Findings from this exploratory study observed positive-influence organizational characteristics in the space for creativity of innovative organizations, suggesting there is a wide range of themes for future study.