THE CONCEPT OF CREATIVITY

Creativity is the ability to bring something new into existence. It is the ability to
come up with innovative solutions to needs and to market them.

It is the ability to produce work that is both unique and appropriate. In business an
entrepreneur’s creativity is often the different between success and failure hence
creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.

One’s creative potential

Most people speak of creativity without knowing quite what it means. Creativity a
basic characteristic built into all human beings and almost completely absent in
animals. It involves seeing novel relationship between things and as such it is
closely related to intelligence. It involves converting the random, the mediocre or
the dull into something with form, style and originality

Characteristics of creative individuals

Creative people usually possess the following characteristic as listed below.

 They usually have originality. Creative people are capable of doing

something that no one else has done. They think of an idea, redesign it and
make something new out of it.
 They are independent thinkers. Creative people always think for themselves.
They are observers and analysts who gather all the information they can and
then analyse it to come up with their own analysis.
 They promote growth and change. Creative people search for change
constantly. They do not restrict themselves to using the same old way of doing
things. They learn to change for the better, so that they can grow and prosper.
 They are flexible. Creative people are flexible and always learn the current
inventions.
 People are challenged daily to be flexible in work, relationships, life and learning
new things in general.
 They are innovative. They have the courage to try new things and build
something out of the ordinary. Innovation and having courage are necessary for
creativity.
 Ambitious: creative people understand that no task is too small for them to
handle. They are ready to take on a lot of work at once and they know they can
produce good results
 They normally ask questions. They always ask questions and ask people to
explain what they mean and the things they don’t understand. They don’t accept
things as they are.
 They are Sensitive, people who are creative are sensitive to the world and
their environment so as to raise their creativity
 Search for better ways to do tasks, they focus on what they do and find new
possibilities and new ways of doing things
 Open minded: Creative people tend to be open to new ideas and new ways of
thinking since they are constantly thinking about their life and things from
different perspectives.

By Kimuli Fred 0752818204

CREATIVITY PROCESS
 Preparation/immersion (knowledge accumulation). This involves gathering
data, opinions and speculation to obtain an inner depth grasp of the problem at
hand.
It is kind of brainstorming exercise eg if you are a writer, this means looking at
old pieces of work and trying to decide where to go from there.
 Investigation, involves developing a solid understanding of the problem,
situation or decision at hand.
 Transformation, involves viewing the similarities and differences in the
information collected
 Incubation/gestation. It involves allowing the mind to continue thinking over
the problem and possible solutions. It involves making the necessary
connections that are made in order to lay the idea.
 Illumination / insight. It involves building inspiration. This may come abruptly
by revelation. E.g. this is the moment for a writer when an idea just hits them
and they need to grab a piece of paper in order to remember it.
 Verification and application. This involves testing the ideas, alternative
solutions, possibility for their applicability before picking the most suitable
solution.
 Implementation, this involves transforming the idea into reality

OBSTACLES TO CREATIVITY IN BUSINESS

 Negativity/negative thinking. This involves the tendency to focus on the

negative aspects of problems and expand energy on worry.
 Thinking that you are not creative This results from the lack of self
confidence
 Language barrier. Some people cannot communicate so as to get the required
information to be creative. This limits them from being creative as they shy
away from others
 Fear of failure. Fear of looking foolish or being laughed at hinders creativity.
Failure is a necessary condition of and stepping stone to success.
 Limited or lack of quality thinking time. The over-stressed person finds it
difficult to think objectively at all. Unwanted stress reduces the quality of all
mental processes.
 Over-conformance with rules and regulations. A tendency to confirm to
accepted patterns of belief or thought i.e. the rules and regulations hampers
creative thinking. Some rules are necessary, but others encourage mental
laziness.
 Culturization: This is the reason we lose our creative abilities. Some cultures
are not creative and therefore cannot foster people to be so
 Wrong assumptions. This hinders creativity such as assuming that the failure
of a business is due witch craft, inherited bad lack from parents etc
 Application of too much logic to a problem or situation slows down or hinders
creativity.
 Dehumanising mass media. This involves spending a lot of time immersed in
popular culture i.e. televisions or listening to pop music
 Unfavourable or poor working conditions or limiting the freedom of workers
in the business also limits their creativity.

By Kimuli Fred 0752818204

 Competition in the present environment hampers motives for creative
output. Concerns with job advancement or opportunities as opposed to job
stability or security affect motives to be creative at work.
 High conflicting goals and objectives. These also hinder creativity.
 Noisy environment, which do not provide quite enough time for reflection and
introspection.
 Competition. In the present environment hampers motives for creative output,
concerns with job advancement or opportunities as opposed to job stability or
security affect motives to be creative at work.
 Demands for quick production of results
 Belief, having a strong belief in something limits response options and the way
things are perceived from outside world

TECHNIQUES FOR DEVELOPING A CREATIVE ABILITY

 Thinking beyond the invisible frame works that surround problems/situations

 Recognizing when assumptions are being made and challenge them
 Developing/adapting ideas from more than one source
 Transferring technology from one field to another
 Being open and prepared to use chance on unpredictable things/events to
advantage
 Drawing on the experience’s of other individuals business to widen the field of
vision
 Practicing for tune i.e. having a wide attention span and range of interests
 Exploring thoughts processes and the key elements of the mind at work in
analysis, valuing and synthesing
 Note down thoughts/ideas that apparently drop into the mind unsolicited so that
they are not forgotten
 Using analogy i.e. improve imaginative thinking to find models or solutions in
nature, in existing products/services or in other organisations
 Trying as appropriate to some times make the strange familiar and the familiar
strange to spark new ideas
 Knowing when to leave a problem i.e. remain aware but detailed
 Tolerating ambiguity and occasionally live with doubt and uncertainty
 Stimulating own curiosity in everything and the skills of observation, listening,
reading and recording

You have received shs. 60,000,000 to establish a social enterprise aimed at

establishing public health
a) Formulate guidelines for coping with change in business

Policy guidelines for enhancing creativity in Musaazi social Enterprises

MUSAAZI SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

P.O. BOX 122, KAMPALA (U)
TEL: +256432455678
Email: Masaazisocial@gmail.com

By Kimuli Fred 0752818204

 GUIDELINES FOR ENHANCING CREATIVITY
 Workers shall think beyond the invisible frame works that surround
problems/situations.
 Assumptions shall be recognized when are being made and challenge them.
 Ideas shall be developed from more than one source.
 Workers shall transfer technology from one field to another
 Workers shall note down thoughts/ideas that they come across so that they are
no forgotten
 there shall be Use of analogy i.e. improve imaginative thinking to find models
or solutions in nature, in existing products/services or in other organizations
 Workers shall be prepared to use unpredictable events to their advantages
 Workers shall stop narrow minded thinking and widen the field of vision.
 There shall be suspending judgments to encourage the creative process and
avoid premature.
 There shall be patience so as to avoid leaving a problem until solution emerge
 There shall be stimulation of curiosity and the skills of observation, listening,
reading and recording.
 Every worker shall avoid premature criticism
 Every worker shall make connections with points that are irrelevant or buried

Characteristics of non-creative person

 Not able to think positively about a problem
 Too busy or stresses to think objectively
 Very self-critical
 Timid in putting forward a new idea
 Prone to apply logic as a first and last resort
 Unable to think laterally
 Always goes with what others say

IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY

 It increases awareness by paying attention to insights and sounds that are

ordinary ignored
 It leads to development of new and original ideas and using the existing ideas as
an initial point
 It is used to update products and services
 It enables an entrepreneur to make proper use of limited resources
 It is used to promote products and services of a business
 It solves everyday problems in business

Sample questions for creativity

1. a) Define the term creativity as used in entrepreneurship education

b) what are the characteristics of creativity individuals
c) what the techniques of enhancing creativity in the business

By Kimuli Fred 0752818204

Activity
Tugume Family Restaurant (TFR) has been in existence for over twenty years. The
success of TFR is attributed to the founder Tugume, who is said to be visionary and
with high business acumen. Tugume has been able to build a stable and motivated
workforce over the years. He is credited for having a listening ear and many of the
innovations have come up as a result of suggestions from his workers and
customers.

By being innovative, TFR enjoys such benefits as reduced costs of production and
improvement in corporate image. Bringing up the business to this level was not all
that easy, but Tugume’s creativity enabled him to make the restaurant competitive.
Among other things, Tugume has harmonised the services of all the restaurants in
the TFR chain. TFR serve a variety of dishes to meet the tastes of various
customers. They have specialised in serving non-fried traditional dishes but fast
foods are also served to meet the preference of young people. Tugume came up
with an outside catering service. People make orders on sms or online and food is
delivered to their homes.

Tugume studied the process through which the various dishes go in preparation
before the dish is served and then he ascribed time for each process. In addition,
Tugume ensured that the tastes of various dishes remain consistent by defining the
right ingredients for every dish, its cooking time and the appropriate temperature.
To ensure effectiveness in management, Tugume has appointed supervisors for all
his restaurants who make sure that the waiters and waitresses pay attention to the
needs of customers who are served to their satisfaction.
Tugume promotes his business and reaches the market through various media like
television, radio, newspapers, business cards, sms, and direct contact to customers.
Required:
a) Distinguish between creativity and innovation.
b) Explain the different types of innovations covered in the case study.
c) Discuss the benefits of innovation to Tugume Family Restaurant.
d) Explain how an entrepreneur can foster innovations in a business venture.

End

By Kimuli Fred 0752818204