Introduction
Different approaches and techniques that increase the productivity of public and business organizations are highly valued today. Traditional and outdated management principles may not always be effective in a competitive environment or other challenging conditions. For this purpose, creative ways are promoted, and new approaches are developed based on current needs. To analyze the existing methodological and practical principles of creative problem solving, the Abu Dhabi Sports Council can be used as a target organization.
This board provides services to support the development of sport among the population and, in particular, the youth. Its members promote the interests of activities aimed at maintaining the health of the nation and coordinating various competitions. To achieve the effective and competent leadership of all the processes taking place within the council, the search for new methods of organizing work may be required.
The purpose of this work is to analyze various approaches to increasing the effectiveness of leadership and creative problem solving based on the existing academic literature. Much of the information in the sources used proves that the non-standard ways of control and management help to improve performance and increase the interest of employees in the sphere in which they are involved. The comparative analysis of studies aimed at researching creative problem solving and different methods of management makes it possible to assess the importance of this approach and helps to cope with many organizational challenges.
Theoretical, Methodological, and Practical Contribution
When evaluating the significance of some academic studies devoted to the search and assessment of creative leadership methods, it is possible to receive several valuable conclusions. For instance, Čančer and Mulej (2013) argue that innovative approaches are not limited solely to finding problems. According to the authors, analytical steps are no less important procedure helping to not only identify complexities but also the factors that allow them to be corrected (Čančer & Mulej, 2013).
Myszkowski, Storme, Davila, and Lubart (2015) note that “creative ability is field-specific” (p. 675). For the practical use of essential knowledge regarding the innovative methods of control over the activity of employees and subordinates, the authors offer managers to be open to interaction and realize the problems of a particular industry clearly (Myszkowski et al., 2015). In this case, it will be possible to achieve significant improvements for the better due to the competent performance of the assigned tasks.
Guesalaga, Pierce, and Scaraboto (2016) focus their research on evaluating those strategies that influence consumer interest in specific products and services. In the context of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council analyzed, this work may be useful since the activities of this organization also imply the involvement of the population. Nevertheless, the study by Guesalaga et al. (2016) has a significant limitation, in particular, one target market, which does not allow assessing the methodology for other areas. Giannopoulou, Gryszkiewicz, and Barlatier (2014) suggest combining different forms of creativity in the work environment. Their methodology provides for the application of different approaches – “attracting, stimulating, combining, providing, breeding, opening up, and accepting” (Giannopoulou et al., 2014, p. 23). Such a method can be effective for finding an optimal strategy and introducing it into everyday practice.
For the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, the organization that actively develops one of the country’s most popular industries, it is essential to use modern resource management tools. The approach by Capel (2014) implies an inextricable link between creativity and innovation, which, in the author’s opinion, contributes to increasing the interest of employees in the activities performed. The methodology provides for the evaluation of entrepreneurial literature to find evidence in support of the proposed theory and its possible implementation in practice. Similar ideas by Williams (2013) provide an analysis of existing sources on the topic of promoting activities through important skills.
As he remarks, leadership competencies in problem-solving should be based on coordination and cooperation, which, in turn, is easy to implement in practice (Williams, 2013). Such ideas allow noting that analytical approaches in management are interconnected with active measures aimed at encouraging the success of employees and their involvement in the work process.
The contribution of Waddock, Meszoely, Waddell, and Dentoni (2015) to the issue of creative problem solving is in the authors’ setting the current trends that exist in the management field and their benefits. According to them, leaders’ flexibility is one of the key aspects that allow achieving high-performance results. Therefore, if the leadership of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council adheres to a maneuverability approach about subordinates, productivity can increase.
Johansson, Witell, and Rönnbäck (2013) note that individual leadership skills are a valuable criterion for assessing the performance of any organization and implementing appropriate changes aimed at solving certain problems. The methodology of global analysis of various sources (interviews, literature reviews, case studies) helps to consider the topic comprehensively and find justifications for the proposed theory.
In the context of attracting young people as active representatives of the population, the Abu Dhabi Sports Council can benefit from the work of Calma (2013), which considers strategies for engaging and developing valuable skills that are necessary for effective goals achievement. As a justification, the factors have listed that influence the work process positively – critical thinking, oral and written communication, and other skills. According to the author, the practical significance of this study lies in the fact that the benefits of promoting the aforementioned attainments are given, and value orientations are presented (Calma, 2013).
The theme of problem-solving with the help of topical and promising methods is the subject of Vora’s (2013) study, who has observed this field throughout the whole research practice. The outcomes given by the author is the result of many years of practice, which is summarized in the need for changes within the organizational structure through sustainable management if no development occurs (Vora, 2013).
The creative ways of encouraging employees’ activity are considered as a result of leaders’ initiatives, and corresponding theoretical concepts are offered, for instance, “without proper talent management, change initiatives will falter” (Vora, 2013, p. 625). All the aforementioned academic studies may be useful for the Abu Dhabi Sports Council since the representatives of the organization’s leadership can implement the presented methodologies and practices as a rationale for targeted interventions.
Compare and Contrast Analysis
Analyzing all the listed studies from similarity, it can be noted that they all encourage active leaders’ positions and, on the contrary, condemn passivity and commitment to outdated work principles. For instance, Čančer and Mulej (2013), Capel (2014), and Giannopoulou et al. (2014) agree on the importance of applying innovations in the modern management environment. By the same principle, it is possible to compare the studies of Williams (2013), Vora (2013), and Calma (2013) who argue that personal skills solely play a key role in achieving success and high-performance outcomes.
Waddock et al. (2015) present fundamentally different conclusions and state that flexibility is an essential aspect of work, which leaders should adhere to establish a favorable atmosphere among colleagues. Despite the differences between these approaches, they still have common features, in particular, assertions in favor of supporting the stable position of managers as key coordinators of the problem-solving process.
Although many studies are similar to one another, distinctive features can also be found. The Abu Dhabi Sports Council is the board that represents the interests of the population at the city and country level and is the organization with serious goals and perspectives. However, not all of the above articles may be used as direct guidelines for the introduction of certain innovations. For instance, the work of Guesalaga et al. (2016) is relevant because the authors use a multi-method approach and consider the issue of problem-solving in the context of different scales. They use a variety of ways to obtain the necessary information (interviews, online surveys, and other methods) to receive a comprehensive picture of the situation and different participants’ views. A similar position belongs to Johansson et al. (2013) who resort to various ways of obtaining information on the effectiveness of certain creative methodologies that may be beneficial from different perspectives.
Nonetheless, not all of the mentioned authors focus on the scope of the issue. Myszkowski et al. (2015) use a different approach, analyzing the behavior of a rather narrow circle of people. Despite the similarity of their opinion on the importance of individual qualities, in the context of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, this article will not be useful enough because of its limited conclusions. The organization under consideration is not only large but also significant in terms of its functions. The council’s management is competent to implement exclusively those strategies that are verified and consistent with the objectives of the chosen course.
However, if the results of previous approaches are too limited by the scope (the number of participants, and enterprise size, and other conventions), interventions based on such information will be unreasonable. When using the results of such research in a large state agency, the outcomes may differ from those presented in this or that article. Theoretical concepts should have practical justification for becoming the basis for changes within the Abu Dhabi Sports Council. Therefore, the approach that encourages leaders’ flexible work and stimulates employees’ initiative seems the most preferable.
Conclusion
The comparison of the existing academic literature on creative problem solving is a useful method that allows obtaining valuable knowledge concerning the possibility of using different approaches and techniques in the practice of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council. This organization can introduce different ways of analyzing the productivity of employees, but the concept of leaders’ flexible work and encouraging subordinates’ activity is one of the most successful ones. Other methodologies may be limited to different frameworks – the number of participants, the size of enterprises, and other factors. Therefore, the use of the described approaches in practice should be based on the specifics of the described council and the direction of its activities.
References
Calma, A. (2013). Fixing holes where the rain gets in: Problem areas in the development of generic skills in business. Journal of International Education in Business, 6(1), 35–50. Web.
Čančer, V., & Mulej, M. (2013). Multi-criteria decision making in creative problem solving. Kybernetes, 42(1), 67-81. Web.
Capel, C. (2014). Mindfulness, indigenous knowledge, indigenous innovations and entrepreneurship. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 16(1), 63-83. Web.
Giannopoulou, E., Gryszkiewicz, L., & Barlatier, P. (2014). Creativity for service innovation: A practice-based perspective. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 24(1), 23-44. Web.
Guesalaga, R., Pierce, M., & Scaraboto, D. (2016). Cultural influences on expectations and evaluations of service quality in emerging markets. International Marketing Review, 33(1), 88-111. Web.
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Myszkowski, N., Storme, M., Davila, A., & Lubart, T. (2015). Managerial creative problem solving and the Big Five personality traits: Distinguishing divergent and convergent abilities. Journal of Management Development, 34(6), 674-684. Web.
Vora, M. (2013). Business excellence through sustainable change management. The TQM Journal, 25(6), 625-640. Web.
Waddock, S., Meszoely, G., Waddell, S., & Dentoni, D. (2015). The complexity of wicked problems in large scale change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(6), 993-1012. Web.
Williams, P. (2013). We are all boundary spanners now? International Journal of Public Sector Management, 26(1), 17-32. Web.