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Small Business Human Resources Workforce Development Your Questions Answered Success Stories

January 2006 — Vol. 83, No. 11

Plato may have had it wrong

 

Necessity might not be the mother of invention after all. Severe deadlines crimp employees’ creativity, as do competition and fear of retribution, according to research by Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile, as noted in the Harvard University Gazette (Feb. 10, 2005). Amabile also found that money doesn’t foster innovation.

What does? Being motivated by engaging, challenging work and “... setting up an environment that’s going to facilitate their ability to get that work done,” she said.

Other research indicates that supportive management, working alongside creative co-workers, and methods that induce upbeat moods, such as rewards for good performance, encourage workplace innovation, while micromanaging bosses stifle it, according to an article in the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology (November 2003).

 

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