Page 232 - Solid Waste Analysis and Minimization a Systems Approach

210 THE ROLE OF CREATIVITY, INVENTION, AND INNOVATION IN SOLID WASTE MINIMIZATION

The environment plays a critical role in an employee’s level of creativity. Much
research has been conducted in this field. One notable study from Teresa Amabile pub-
lished in Research in Organizational Behavior in 1988 titled “A Model of Creativity
and Innovation in Organizations” analyzed the variables that motivate or inhibit the
employees of an organization from being creative. Some of the motivators (as could
be related to solid waste management) included

■ Freedom and control over work
■ Good management that sets goals, prevents distractions, and is not overly strict
■ Sufficient resources
■ Encouragement of new ideas
■ Collaboration across divisions
■ Recognition of creative work
■ Sufficient time to think
■ Challenging problems
■ Sense of urgency in getting things done

On the contrary a list of inhibitors include:

■ Lack of freedom
■ Red tape and bureaucracy
■ Insufficient resources
■ Unwillingness to risk change
■ Apathy
■ Poor communication
■ Defensiveness in an organization
■ Poor rewards
■ Time pressures
■ Critical, unrealistic, or inappropriate evaluation

The management team should do their best to exude the motivators and minimize
the inhibitors or demotivators. The overarching concept is to create an environment
where innovative and creative employees can flourish.
Creating and establishing a creative environment is not enough to ensure an inno-
vative organization. It is one piece of the puzzle; the other is hiring creative employees.
The next area that fosters creativity relates to the traits and skills of the individuals
within the organization. The four critical traits of a creative individual are

1 Intelligence
2 Knowledge
3 Personality
4 Motivation

A minimum level of intelligence is necessary for an individual to be creative. It is
important to comment that intelligence is a necessary, but not a sufficient trait for