Q1.

​ ​What stands out as key motivational support from Litmus corp towards creativity
in its employees?

● Job Enrichment:​ What stands out as key motivational support from Litmus Corp
would be the special attention towards creating a scientific workplace, a place which
spoke of innovations and creativity. The company recruited premier thinkers and
scientists from around the world and distinguished itself with constant advancements
in the field. Much more than any other intrinsic or extrinsic factor, Litmus Corp.
provided all opportunities for employees to 'enrich their own jobs', become satisfied
as a result and show more creativity in their work. To further instill the values, every
research and development team within the company was named after a famous
scientist, in tribute to science and motivation. For example, the Hyatt team was
named after celluloid inventor John Wesley Hyatt, and this association improved
employee motivation to exhibit more creativity in their work and in the process, live
upto the legacy of the namesake.

● Drive To Acquire:​ One of the major emotional drives that employees need to fulfill to
keep themselves motivated is the 'drive to acquire'. This phenomenon applies to
goods, experiences as well as events, and tends to be relative and insatiable. This
drive is most easily satisfied by an organization's 'reward system'. The team at
Litmus Corp. strongly believed in the positive prospects of the business which would
benefit not just the company but them as well, with the potential for raises and
promotions. Carmine and his teammates knew very well that if the business took off,
their salaries and bonuses would undoubtedly benefit.

Q2. Analyze Miles Grady’s personality and derive an understanding of his creativity
If we think of classifying Miles as per one of the 16 MBTI personality types, he would
probably be classified as an ISTJ (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging).

1. Introverted:​ The reason behind this would be the fact that Grady prefers to work in
an environment where the stakes are not high and in a low pressured environment.
Another fact that supports this inference is that he was able to deliver a breakthrough
solution for the client needs when he worked alone, but now that he is working in a
team, he is struggling to deliver on time. Another aspect that supports the argument
is the fact that he is not able to say no to the administrative activities that are involved
along with the research project. Being a technical person, his job is mainly to work on
the product solution, but the administrative workload is causing him to stress out
resulting in an inability to focus on his primary task.
2. Sensing:​ ​ ​Miles Grady prefers to work according to the guidelines and order. His
journal entries clearly state that he is not happy working on the reports and going for
the meetings which he feels are unnecessary for a person like him who is supposed
to be involved in technical activities
3. Thinking:​ Miles’ approach to a problem is always logical. Considering the journal
entries made by him in the initial days of the project and the latest ones, we can see
a transition in his thought process and the conclusions based out of them. In the
 initial days when the test results of polystyrene experiment seemed promising, Miles
was confident enough to say that he will be able to deliver the product before the
deadline. But eventually, when most of efforts were dedicated in doing the
administrative tasks and the fact that the test conducted were not giving the expected
output (the material was not drying), Miles started to think that the Hyatt team will not
be able to deliver within the deadline.
4. Judging:​ Some of the statements made in Miles’ journal like, ‘Except for Stan
peeking every now and then, no one really bothered me today’ and multiple
instances where he mentioned that how the regular meeting and reports hampered
his routine research activities state that Miles Grady in a person who likes to keep
control in his hands and is not comfortable doing work which does not lie in his area
of interest.
We can also classify Miles’ personality using the Big Five personality Model. Here we would
analyze his personality on the basis of the Five dimensions:
1. Conscientiousness:​ Miles is a person who would score high on this dimension. A
conscientious person is the one who is responsible, organized, dependable and
persistent. Miles is very responsible towards his work, to the extent that he
undertakes the administrative work even though he has no job satisfaction for the
same. He is highly dependable person, which is the reason the team decided to go
further with the project post completion of the Lenore project. Hadn’t he been not
dependable, the team would have agreed to his wish of going for the Neostyrene
Project.
2. Emotional Stability: ​Miles though ranks higher in the previous dimension, he would
not score high on emotional stability, the reason is that he is at times affected by
other activities or distraction and that impacts his creativity at work. He gets affected
by what happens with him during the day.
3. Extraversion - ​Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive and sociable. Seeing
these attributes we would come to know that Miles is not an Extravert and so would
not score high on extraversion. He prefers to work alone and doesn't like much
interaction at work. He is not very keen in attending social events like the case
mentions about one of his daughter’s concert. He wishes to stay at work.
4. Openness to experience -​ Miles is selectively open to experience. He is only open
to experience that he receives while he is researching or doing the trails on the
project. However he is not keen at the experiences he gets, or the new people he
meets due to the administrative work. He would score medium on this dimension.
5. Agreeableness - ​Miles is an important person in the Hyatt Team and everyone
agrees to that. They could not go forward without him and the team actually was
coaxed to undertake the task by Miles himself. On these aspects, Miles would score
decently on the Agreeableness dimension. He could be much higher if he was
extravert and would take keen interest in interacting with new people.

Q3. What impact does the situational context have on Miles Grady’s creative output?

Miles Grady knew that Project Neostyrene would need maximum contribution from his end
as he was the one who almost single-handedly who introduced the use of polystyrene in the
production of non-disposable dishware. Litmus Corporation had many business ideas in line,
waiting for the management’s approval.

Project Neostyrene would require to modify the thermoform required to be added to it to

make the older version more flexible and strong. Grady was certain that he would be able to
make the chemical alterations, but was unsure if the time frame given to his team, Team
Hyatt, would be sufficient for the same.

From the case, it is evident that Grady’s productivity was linked to the intensity with which he
was able to focus on his work. From the Litmus Lab Logs, it is evident that he enjoyed his
work and also the looming deadline on days when he was allowed to focus on his area of
interest. In the log on 5/5/2003, Grady goes on to mention that he finds the deadline
‘exciting’ when he was left alone to spend time on his work.

Grady’s entry on 3/28/2003 shows that his job involvement is high as though he worked for
about half a day, he did not feel the stretch of the work. This shows that he immensely
enjoys research and development and does not shy away from working hard, as long as he
is allowed to focus single-mindedly on his work.

Grady dislikes administrative work, or any work that would call for his effort apart from the
product development. For instance, in multiple log records, he mentions that after spending
time on various meetings, phone calls and administrative work, he could not work more on
the mold samples. He also mentions that he finds meetings unnecessary when he could get
things done as the deadline approaches.

Grady greatly derives motivation from and is greatly influenced by the outcomes of the
product tests. From his Lab Logs, dated 12/17/2001, he was delighted with the little
improvement in the flexibility of polystyrene. He even predicted that his team may have the
product prototype ready within 3 months.

On the other hand, in his log entry dated 6/3/2003, he was worried about the trail that did not
go as per his expectations. With the failure in the trial, he was demotivated and thought that
they will never be able to launch the new type of polystyrene. Thus, we can infer that he is
low on emotional stability at work as he is unable to cope with unexpected events.

Thus, Grady is someone who is most comfortable working on a single task at a time, and on
something that is of his liking. He would dislike any deviation from his planned work such as
a failed trial or administrative work, and the pressure of impending deadline. He is less
creative under time pressure.

Q4. Analyze the interpersonal conflict between Miles and Stanley

The conflict that really exists between Miles and Stanely is not one that is quite evident.
However, a closer look at the case dynamics can help us understand that there is
interpersonal conflict that exists. It can be analysed by seeing the types of interpersonal
conflict :
 ● Usefulness:
○ Functional - ​Here, Miles has issues with the administrative work that he is being
given. The 3/25/2002 entry in the log tells us clearly that he doesn't like the work
that he is subjected to except the experimentation and research. However, he has
to do the work and does not shows his disregard for the same. But this is a conflict
between Miles and Stanley.
● Nature:
○ Task - ​This type of conflict is related to goals. Now it might seem that both Miles
and Stanley are part of the same team and have a single goal. But while we pay
attention to the working behavior and objectives of the two characters, we would
understand that Stanley is more concerned with the task to be completed in the
deadlines and that it would turn out to be profitable venture for the organization. For
Miles, though he is mindful of the deadlines and the economic aspect for the
project, he is more excited to find a solution to the experimental work. He is not as
concerned about the deadlines and the economic aspect as Stanley is. Stanley is
even having a hard time in explaining how important Miles is in this task of the
Team Hyatt. Hence, there is a difference in the primary goals of Stanley and Miles.
● There is also an interpersonal conflict that we come to understand from the log dated
12/17/2001 of Miles. He kind of doesn’t likes one of the behaviors of Stanley. He
mentions Stanley peeking into his work. It is very subtle but is one of the minor
conflicts that occurs. It is related to trust issues between the two characters in the
case.

Q5. What is the core problem Stanley is staring at? What can be one possible way to
resolve the problem?

The core problem that Stanley is staring at is understanding what would lead to stirring up
Miles’ creative breakthrough, so that the prototype is ready before the deadline. The possible
way to resolve the problem is that from the logs he is studying, he should understand what
sort of preferences Miles has. Miles is the person that likes to work alone without any
peeking and works quite fine with deadlines but however does not prefer to do the
administrative work.
Possible way to resolve the problem -
● Delegate the administrative work given to other members of the team for the time
being. This would motivate and lighten the overall mood of Miles. This is important
because he is the key person related to the task on hand.
● Stanley should have a one-on-one conversation with Miles, wherein he should talk
about what are the other things that are bothering him for now. The reason is that
Miles work very efficiently as per his log when he is comfortable at his work. Stanley
to convey the message that what is Miles importance and what he clearly expects
from Miles.