Management in Creative and Cultural Organisations
How important is team composition for innovation? Discuss your answer with reference to theory and examples from any creative or cultural organisation(s)
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Table of Contents
2.0.Team composition in innovation (Discussion):
The essay presents about how the team composition is significant for the innovation. This is presented by using the theory and the examples from the creative and the cultural organisations. Team composition signifies the mix of the different character people in a team, or the one that has the unit of two or more individuals who could interact in an interdependent way so that they could achieve the common objective framed. The team composition could be homogenous (where all share the same characteristics) or heterogeneous (where each individual is different from the other) (Cohendet & Simon, 2007).  This is considered as the key factor which is influencing the performance outcome of the team. Though there are many, kind of the works which is related to the team work the current study focuses only on the significance of team composition in innovation which is related to the creative and the cultural organisation (Marotto & Roos, 2007).
The collaborative process is the ones that need some kind of the interaction and the coordination with the person in the group or with the team members. The collaborative pairs achieve more eminence in the creative domain. Collaboration is very popular in the educational environments where the students shall be working on different projects. These collaborative processes are involved in the creative and also the similar collaborative processes. Creativity is the process by which the new ideas or the process is created (Gilson, 2017). The creativity is considered more of the exploration process which includes the alternatives while the innovation could be categorised more as the exploitation process where one shall be trying to implement the data in an effective way. The creativity is focusing more on the alternatives exploration (Taylor & Greve, 2006).
Team creativity could be considered as the sum of the creative output of the individual group members. The group members shall be influencing the potential of their peer’s potential for being creative and this shall be affecting their cognitive and also the motivational processes (LevickaitÄ-, 2011). The idea that is shared by the peer shall have potential for cognitively stimulating the other member in the group to be more creative. In order to hear the group member complaining on the potential one need to lower one’s motivation for working hard on the task. Thus, the creativity of each of the individual in the group shall be influencing the others. At the same time the group members complain will have the effect on the others and this might lower their motivation to work hard (Marotto & Roos, 2007). Thus the work of the one member in the group shall be affecting the other group members as well. The team work plays a remarkable role in the creative and also the innovative industries (Cohendet & Simon, 2007).
The videogame industry has a rapid growth and they have the major role in the emerging economy of the creative industries. They shall be producing more influential cultural icons and also the best selling products which represent a substantial portion in the entertainment industry. The products in the video game industry are captivating the entire generation. They are also fascinating the business world through the upsurge of the profitable markets (Cohendet & Simon, 2007). As a cultural product, video game is considered as the complex mix of technology art and also the interactive way of the story telling. The technological part in the artefact need to disappear beyond the magic scenario, the smoothness of the controls and incorporates the realism of the simulation (Gilson, 2017).
Thus these video gaming involves many activities like the development and integration of scenario, designing the interactivity, programming activities, music, integration, etc. The video games industry thus hires the innovators who belong to the different communities as the specialists (LevickaitÄ-, 2011). They shall be into the work of the script writers, game designers and the graphic artists in the 2D and 3D and also the highly talented software programmers. This cultural product is the results of the team work of the individuals and this is not possible by the individual. The team work that incorporates diverse minds, intelligence and the creativity is essential for the combined goal to be achieved in the organisation. The team implemented this through the common tasks, creative discussion and also the interactions (Marotto & Roos, 2007).
The performance of the group has been traditionally put forward as the conceptualisation of the input – process- output model. In such kind of the models the knowledge of the group members, their individual knowledge and also their skills, the composition of the team and the task objectives which is set with the support systems and the interactions that is made among the group members shall be explaining the performance of the group members (Taylor & Greve, 2006). This mode is further developed so that this shall be stressing on the need of the context of the innovation from the perspective of the leadership teams. This shall also stress on the significance of the team composition and also the organisational support that is provided for the team output (Cohendet & Simon, 2007).
The peak performance in the group is very closely related t the Maslow’s (1968) notion of the peak experience. This shall be referring to the brief and also the transient moments of bliss, ecstasy with related to the time and the space (Marotto & Roos, 2007). This is the natural phenomenon which is prompted by the large variety of the triggers. They are elaborated in the subsequent sections. These are the triggers that shall be including the moments of the inspiration of discovery, the unity that is assumed with the nature, exercise and movement, aesthetic perceptions more so in the performance of the fine arts (Cohendet & Simon, 2007).
The group level peak performance implies that the group is very much active in collectively executing the task. In these types of the cases the group level peak performance shall be transcending their ordinary level performance and experiences to the sense of communities and timelessness. Given the team work as well as the cooperation which has been emphasised it shall be useful for studying the timeless in the group level (Taylor & Greve, 2006). The groups and also the team study shows that rather than being an individual they shall be working best on group with regards to efficiency in the productivity, their response time, quality, satisfaction of the customer and also the innovation. The groups shall be sharing the extremely tight bonds among their members and however this is not necessary that all in the group shall be having the personal affinity for one another. The personal feelings have the secondary option to the task that needs to be done (LevickaitÄ-, 2011).
The team creativity could originate with either the idea or the suggestion of the single individual and further they are developed, worked and elaborated by the team. In many of the teams the organisation is considered as the lead creator and this is where the ideas are considered as the seed for their projects and the teams shall subsequently develop (Cohendet & Simon, 2007). Example: many of the Apple products are on the basis of the ideas that are generated by the individuals like Stephen Wozniak, Burrel Smith or Jony Ive as these are the ideas which are further developed and also worked on by the individuals. On the converse aspect the creativity could also generate from the collective aspects. The idea could emanate from the unit and the unit as the team could work for refining and also developing these ideas. Example: in the case of the string quartets the role played by the second violinist shall be critical for the creative ideas which is bring brought forward and further selected and the ways the conflicts are handled and the paradoxes are addressed so that the ultimate success with the quartet (Gilson, 2017).
Though the creativity is considered as vital in almost all the jobs the definition of the creativeness could vary and this shall range from the minor (or incremental changes) adaptations or the changes in the work that is performed or this could move to the more radical breakthroughs with the introduction of the complete new process or the products. Though it is argued in many of the articles that the creativity and the innovation are different they are argued in the interchangeable manner in reviews (Taylor & Greve, 2006). But for the teams who are in the creative industries to distinguish between the creativity and the innovation is salient as some of the process shall be stifling for the preparation while the generation of the other novella and the useful suggestions may not be similar with the ones that is hindering the implementation. If the team is engaged in the creativity then they need the members who shall be able to generate lots of ideas on the free wheel and they must have the ability to take risks (Cohendet & Simon, 2007). On the other hand if the team is engaged in the aspect of the innovation then they must be inclined to more rational decision making and need to gauge the appropriateness in relative to the novelty for the minimising of the foolishness (Marotto & Roos, 2007).
This line of the demarcation gets further blurred when the team is working in the virtual world. These are the findings which suggest that since the communication shall be more often focused in the technology mediated teams and the generation of the idea could be interwoven on the basis of the development, refinement and also the evaluation and implementation (Cohendet & Simon, 2007). To have the team members they shall be bringing up a completely new or the radically different kind of the suggestions and the stop for the process or the product which is flawed so that there are time to play with these ideas and the challenge for the status quo so that they shall be discussing these ideas which might be once considered as unrealistic get passed. The study by (LevickaitÄ-, 2011) also stated that the number of the ideas which is created by the individuals is lesser compared with that of the group.
For the teams who are working in the creative industries this gives an idea that often exposed the idea that is required for the cooperation which is essential for the success of the teams under certain kind of the conditions or even by the other pressures and the deadlines where they shall be able to focus their attention on the provided task. The main goal for the employees is in freely engaging in the process of the creation so that they are not driven by the budgets, production schedules or the bottom line. In the case of the creative industries these are the distinctions that happen always (Cohendet & Simon, 2007). Example: in the Fashion houses they look for the developing of the testing the new looks and the styles (which is a radically creative outcome) for the catwalk through their couture lines and at the same time they shall be maintaining a ready to wear (i.e., an incrementally creative outcome) which has the mass appeal and the ones that which can be sold on the high street so that profit could be made in return on the funds through the cutting edge creations made (Marotto & Roos, 2007). The tensions and also the paradoxes which have been discussed earlier have the designers who seek in the creation of the outfits which shall make the headlines than that of filling the cash registers.
Team work is considered as the paramount here and it is argued that greater creative firms like the Georgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent which will not be a success had they did not have a successful teams. Team diversity however could be considered as the double – edged – sword as they are more likely to have a negative effect than the positive performance. Hence, Teams however contribute more for the innovation and the creativity compared with that of the individual performance.
- Cohendet, P. & Simon, L., 2007. Playing across the Playground: Paradoxes of Knowledge Creation in the Videogame Firm. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28(5), pp. 587 – 605.
- Gilson, L. L., 2017. Creativity in Teams: Processes and Outcomes in Creative Industries. 1st ed. London: Industries.
- LevickaitÄ-, R., 2011. Four Approaches to the creative economy: General Overview. Business, Management and Education, 9(1), pp. 81 – 92.
- Marotto, M. & Roos, J., 2007. Collective Virtuosity in Organizations: A Study of Peak Performance in an Orchestra. Journal of Management Studies, 44(3), pp. 387 – 413.
- Taylor, A. & Greve, H. R., 2006. Superman or the Fantastic Four? Knowledge Combination and Experience in InnovativeTeams. The Academy of Management Journal, 49(4), pp. 723 – 740.