Introduction
Creative management cuts across Arts management and Administrative management. This form of management incorporates creative decision making which is at the core of both strategic planning and decision making. Decision making is therefore a very significant tool in any organization (Lieberman & Montgomery, 2007, p. 45)
Creative Decision Making
A lot of strategic planning tends to tilt more on the organizational structure whereas decision making is more concerned about the utilization of the available funds to administer certain projects within organizations. Therefore, Creative Decision making comes into play so as to combine these two levels in order to come-up with a comprehensive plan that is well thought out and is viable to the organization, in short-run and long-run.
Strategic planning in creative decision making revolves around the current needs of the company and the opportunities available within the organization’s external environment thus creating the need for a SWOT analysis (Marrapodi, 2003, p. 6). The plan also maintains a correlation between the available capital or finances for spearheading the projects within organizations which have to be prioritized in terms of investment return levels and the nature of the environmental trends such as technological, ecological, economic and social factors.
According to Lieberman & Montgomery (2007, p. 52), creative decision making provides a platform for the managers and decision makers to lay their cards on the table, create and develop strategies that take full advantage of the opportunities available to the organization by carrying-out a comprehensive research and evaluation of the organizations.
Evaluations are done on internal environment (structure and culture), external environment and its Operating environment (evaluates competition, substitution, ease of entry and exit and integration forces) (Shambach, 1996, p.1).
On the other hand, creative decision making, strategic planning and performance improvement all trend on the same railway thus a need to find a common platter that entails these three significant tenets of business. An Italian Economist, Vilfredo Pareto (1848) came up with the Pareto 80/20 rule which holds that 20% of all inputs (employees, tasks, projects or events) contribute to 80% of the outcome.
This principle has helped to revolutionize business operations that have made companies more effective and more efficient (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1999, p. 519). This is because companies applying this rue tend to focus more on their core business which in return has a positive result. But according to Bartlett (2010), while creating synergy between creative decision making, powerful strategic management and performance improvement, there is need to incorporate a hybrid principle dubbed 80/20/80 and 20/80/20 rules of strategic high performance.
The 80/20/80 rule holds that if a manager places 80% focus on the 20% of activities/inputs that produce 80% of the results/output, then it means a lot of time, energy and resources should be devoted to the most significant activities. The 20/80/20 rule holds that a manager should place 20% focus on the 80% of activities/inputs that produce 20% of the results. Therefore, less time, energy, efforts and resources should be devoted to the trivial few activities that yield/give poor payoff.
For example, organizations should concentrate less on projects that are not core to their business (Bartlett, 2010, p. 1). These rules assist strategic and innovation managers to harness a team that is performance-oriented which in return gives a lee way to creating right strategies and tactics that are in tandem with the environmental forces and those that capitalize and leverage on available resources (human & capital) in a bid to meet the organizational mission and vision hence this is the primary essence of creative decision making.
Since creative decision making emanates from strategic management and decision making processes, it has a futuristic focus component that dwells on possibilities which give room for proactive creativity. This is because the future is un-certain, but future holds all possibilities.
This makes the future to be an essential part of decision making within an organization (Choban, 2007, p. 5). The three kinds of future that creative decision makers need to put into consideration are: possible future (what could happen), probable future (what is likely to happen) and preferable future (what you prefer to happen) (Marrapodi, 2003, p. 21).
Most decision makers concentrate on the probable and preferable futures but for creative decision makers, they cut across the three definite futures which gives them a more open-comprehensive platform to create strategies that are distinct and more complex as well as practical since they have a more diverse enlightened knowledge and evaluations on the more probable futuristic trends thus giving them an advantage over the opportunities bound to present themselves in the future (Marrapodi, 2003, p. 19). Therefore, creative decision makers are more of possibilists rather than optimists or pessimists; this is because their focus is more inclined to unlimited creativity.
Creative decision making focuses on motivational factors that drive strategies in organizations rather than the methodologies applied (Lieberman & Montgomery, 2007, p. 43). This is because the creative decision makers understand that the basic principle of productivity within an organization is purely people/employee oriented in that if employees are motivated and can proudly identify themselves with the organization, then their productivity increases.
Therefore, employees who feel appreciated for their contribution to the company’s performance and who are placed in sectors that capitalize on their skills and are made to own-up projects that fall within their experiences and skills are more likely to be loyal as well as more productive.
Creative decision makers create teams geared to steer a certain specific project within the organization and thus their management of teams is more of decentralized in nature and encourage team involvement through brain-storming sessions which capitalizes on member participation. They give each member a platform to give suggestions, opinions and strategic positions based on their skills, knowledge and experiences (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1999, p. 528).
Creative decision making processes are ingrained in logical strategic planning which has clear guidelines on the criteria against which the strategic plans are evaluated in respect to the outcomes (Choban, 2007, p. 7).
Therefore, a clear strategic plan and mission needs to be in place which makes it possible for the managers involved in the planning process to focus on the inputs (variables) as well as evaluate the structures of administrating those plans through actions while incorporating the resources available and at the same time determining the additional resources needed to spearhead those decisions.
Conclusion
Creative decision lays emphasis on a creative edge organization method (McGuire, 2008, p. 259), where projects within organizations are broken down into smaller components that enable many individuals within the organization to get actively involved in problem solving as well as decision making. In return, this creates cohesiveness and promotes team spirit within the organization which yields to increased productivity.
Creative decision also seeks to utilize the emotional intelligence of employees, managers and other stake holders involved in decision making where their cognizant skills are used to create new ideas, change problem behaviors, build supportive business community, create innovative solutions, create a motivational spirit and collaborative action and create win-win decisions within teams and groups within organizations.
Reference List
Bartlett, B. (2010). These Powerful Strategic Planning and Decision Making Rules Can Revolutionize Your Business and Your Life. Strategic High Performance Portal. Web.
Choban, M. (2007). Strategic Planning and Decision-Making in Higher Education. West Virginia-Wesleyan College. Web.
Lieberman, M. & Montgomery, D. (2007). First-Mover Advantages. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 9, Special Issue: Strategy Content Research. pp. 41-58. Web.
Marrapodi, J. (2003). Critical Thinking and Creativity: An Overview and Comparison of the Theories. Journal of Critical Thinking and Adult Education: ED7590. Web.
McGuire, K. (2008). Creative Edge Organizations: Business and Organizations as a”Kind” of Focusing Community. The Folio: 256 – 267. Web.
Shambach, S. (1996). Strategic Decision-making in the Information Age. Army War College-U.S. Army. Web.
Teece, D., Pisano, G. & Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 18, No.7, pp 509-533. Web.