managing for creativity in japan: risk framework

8/4/2019 Managing for Creativity in Japan: RISK FRAMEWORK

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/managing-for-creativity-in-japan-risk-framework 1/22

www.a-small-lab.com/managing-for-creativity-in-japan/ | [email protected]

RiskMANAGING FOR CREATIVITY IN

A draft framework for understanding Japanese and client “tolerance of uncertainty and ambig perceived by foreign executives in Japan.

- AN ANNOTATED VISUAL FRAME

a-small-lab.comChris Berthelsen ([email protected]

http://www.a-small-lab.com/managing-for-creativity-in-japan/




“...tremendous in

for those that wadefine new roles apromote creativewithin Japaneseorganizations.”

Contents

1. Project introduction.2. Creative climate.

3. Annotated visual framework.

Online Resources

i. Searchable interview excerpt resource.ii. Visual framework poster (A3 Size)iii. Annotated visual framework (.pdf)

Toky







1. Project Introduction

Managing for creativity in Japan is based on a series of in-depthinterviews with Japan-based non-Japanese executives of companies with

primarily Japanese workforces. This ongoing study investigates how suchmanagers perceive the creative climate in their workplaces and developspractical and theoretical frameworks for managing for creativity in Japan.

This report consitutes a preliminary discussion of one dimension of thecreative climate- Risk - “tolerance of uncertainty and ambiguity” asperceived by foreign executives in Japan.

Acknowledgements(i) The searchable interview excerpt resource associated with this project is a featuredresource of the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business Center for

Japan-U.S. Business and Economic Studies (link)

(ii) This project was carried out, in part, while a Monbukagakusho(Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) fundedresearch student at the Graduate School of Commerce and Management, HitotsubashiUniversity, in Tokyo.

(iii) To the managers who generously set aside a couple of hours each to share theirexperiences your help is deeply appreciated. This has been an invaluable learningexperience for me.

2. Creative Climate

Define a product or response as creative to the extenfamiliar with the context in which it was created and/

regard it as being novel and valuable to a suitable dcreative outputs can be viewed as the end result of cognitive process which resides in a person in environment.

This study focuses on the perceptions of theenvironment’, which influence the potential of the perup with creative outputs. This is important because omust find ways to facilitate the creativity of all their they are to sustainably and successfully acheive their environments may impact more heavily on creativity tha‘creativity’ characteristics - In the absence of a environment, potentially creative people will struggle creative output and only a small proportion will sucreative ideas that originate in anywhere but the most accepting areas of the firm will likely die. Organisashould be pursing creativity in order to achieve their stifle it in the pursuit of productivity, control and coordthere is little evidence that there is a trade-off between cother more‘traditional’ organisational aims.


http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/japancenter/info.cfm?doc_id=6726

http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/japancenter/info.cfm?doc_id=6726




While not in itself a measure of creative output, one widely used andaccepted concept of, or proxy for, creativity in the workplace ororganisation is that of the‘creative climate’ - which can be considereda suitable and productive construct for use in diagnosis,improvement and development activities within organisations. Ekvall(1997) characterises climate as being the mix of attitudes, feelings andbehaviours which define work and life in the organisation. Isaksenand Lauer (2002) expand on this idea:

“Climate is an intervening variable that influencesorganizational and psychological processes which, in turn,influence the overall productivity and well-being of theorganization. Climate influences, and is influenced by, theoutcome of organizational operations. Climate affectsorganizational productivity and well-being by influencingorganizational processes such as problem solving, decision

making, communicating and coordinating, the individualprocesses of learning and creating, and levels of motivation andcommitment.”

(Isaksen and Lauer, 2002: 79)

Ekvall’s (1991) model (see Figure 01) places climate as an interveningvariable between the resources of the firm (people, capital,machinery, ideas) and the organisational and psychological processes(e.g. problem solving, motivation), which affect outcomes, one of which is creativity and innovation.

This study takes Isaksen’s adaption of Ekvall’s CCQframework as its starting point, considering nine dimenpositive and one negative) influencing the creative climat

Challenge: The degree of emotional involvement, coand motivation in the operations and goals.

Freedom: The level of autonomy, discretion and inbehavior exerted by individuals to acquire informmake decisions, etc.

Trust/Openness: The degree of emotional safety, andfound in relationships.

Idea Time: The amount of time people can use (anelaborating new ideas.

Playfulness/Humour: The amount of spontaneity, enatured joking, and laughter that is displayed.

Idea Support: The degree to which new ideas and sare attended to and treated in a kindly manner.

Debate: The expressing and considering of many diffepoints, ideas and experiences.

Risk Taking: The tolerance of ambiguity and uncertain

Conflict: The presence of personal and emotional tenshostilities (-ve dimension).

This document focuses on Risk Taking.






Please view the rest of this document in 'one page at a time' mode, not scrollin






Prescriptive Clients






Doing the same thing Need fordiscussion

Intense client servicerelationships

Details!No time!Low Margins!










Trust is more important than experience/skill/talent (People need to be able to comprehend or place you ina category before being able to work with you.)












Rule based art/design/culture

Education System

Fear







(Don't make your clients look/feel bad by knowing more than them






Education System

Fear













Education System

Fear













Education System

Fear


Need forStructure









LESS:Social StatusStabilityRole Structure

B e a m e n t o r




Foreign Companies

Education System

Fear

Need forStructure










Bring a template


B e a m e n t o r




Foreign Companies

Education System

so

Fear

Need forStructure










Bring a template It's hard to change a setsystem


B e a m e n t o r




Foreign Companies

Education System

but

so

Fear

Need forStructure


Long tenure = Deepconnections/relationships =Complacency & Contentment











B e a m e n t o r




Foreign Companies

Education System

but

so

Fear

Need forStructure

Becoming morecollaborative



( l d b bl h d l i











B e a m e n t o r




Foreign Companies

Education System

but

so

so you might deal with this better

Fear

Need forStructure


Non-Japanese willingness toembrace change



(P l d b bl h d l i











B e a m e n t o r




Quicker decision making

Foreign Companies

Education System

but

so


so

you

can

enact

Fear

Need forStructure





(People need to be able to comprehend or place you in











B e a m e n t o r




LESS:Formal Gateposts

Risk to the non-Japanese parent


Foreign Companies

Education System

but

so


so

you

can

enact

Fear

Need forStructure

The Whole Trainset





T i i h i / kill/ l (People need to be able to comprehend or place you in






Consistent quality




Bring a templateKaizen It's hard to change a setsystem


B e a m e n t o r







Foreign Companies

Education System

but

so


so

you

can

enact

Fear

Need forStructure

The Whole Trainset





T i i h i / kill/ l (People need to be able to comprehend or place you in









Bring a templateKaizen It's hard to change a setsystem



B e a m e n t o r







Foreign Companies

Education System

but

so


so

you

can

enact

Fear

Need forStructure

The Whole Trainset




Consistent quality





a-small-lab.comChris Berthelsen ([email protected])




managing for creativity in japan: risk framework

Documents