It outlines the best practices in Human Resources Management, mainly when it comes to triggering and stimulating creativity and innovation within organizations. It sheds the light on what really influences our creative thinking, and how it would affect businesses’ products and services provided within an innovative framework. It highlights the role of HRM in shaping employees creativity within organizations through having an essential role in asserting the company’s culture, working environment, and training programs.

1. PatrickFavre
Grenoble,France
HABIBABOUSALEH
Grenoble,France
HRM Role in
Stimulating
Creativity &
Innovation within
Organizations?
Abstract: This log book outlines the best practices in
Human Resources Management, mainly when it comes
to triggering and stimulating creativity and innovation
within organizations. It sheds the light on what really
influences our creative thinking, and how it would
affect businesses’ products and services provided
within an innovative framework.It highlights the role
of HRM in shaping employees creativity within
organizations through having an essential role in
asserting the company’s culture, working
environment, and training programs.

2. Table of Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
What Triggers Our Creativity?............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Stimulating Creativity within Organizations..................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Organizational Culture ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
HRM and Organizations’Working Environment................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Managers’ Roles in triggering Creativity.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
HRM and Challenges.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 8

3. Introduction
We live in today’s world, where the old fashioned
way of conducting business no longer exists.
Technological advancements and globalization
have shaped our lives and the way business is
conducted. New business models have replaced
the old ones in order to secure survival in today’s
business market, and its fierce competition.
Succeeding is no longer an easy task to achieve.
It requires leading through dynamically complex
and volatile environment, where individuals and
members are driven by operational excellence
and collaboration across different functions and
departments within an organization, while
developing higher quality leadership, talents and
creativity, to unleash new innovative potentials
and possibilities (Burma 2014).
If we really take a moment to look around us,
observe and think, we can arrive at the conclusion
that our surroundings and every aspect of our
environment are the result of creativity and
innovative thinking. As employees are
considered the most valuable asset, Businesses,
organizations and corporations are seeking
adaptation to the
continuously evolving situation by
embracing creative thinking (Burma 2014,
Masnan and al. 2008, IBM Global Business
2015). Creative and innovative people have
the potential and capacities to approach
problems and solutions from different
perspectives, putting ideas together in new
combinations, and thus creating and adding
more value to their work. Knowing that
HRM is the main source of human capital
within organizations regardless of their type
(ex: Public, Private or even NGO),
geographical location (ex: Local, or
International), or size (ex: small, medium or
big), HRM can play a crucial role in creating
the adequate fertile environment for
creativity to constantly grow, prosper and be
stimulated toward innovative outcomes.

4. What Triggers Our
Creativity?
According to Scott Barry Kaufman (2011),
there are situational factors beyond our
personalities which play an essential role in
the type of processing styles we adopt on a
moment to moment basis. It is continuously
shifting without our own awareness, due to
our continuous interaction through our
senses, with the way we observe, touch, taste,
listen or even smell. They all affect our
analytical thoughts, and most importantly our
creativity, which leads to innovation. Thus
understanding our environment is a key
element to boost our creativity.
It is noted that HRM practices have a major role in
understanding the business environment from every
aspect and adapting it within suitable, fertile
framework. This is a key element in stimulating
creative and innovative behaviors, especially
within organizations. These practices, which can be
applied to every environment, organization’s type
or identity, should revolve around our environment
where our senses are in continuous dynamic
interaction in order to soar to new creative heights.
Stimulating Creativity within
Organizations
According to Masnan and al. (2008), IBM Global
Business (2015), Burma 2014, businesses and
organizations around the world agree that the most
valuable asset is their human capital. It contributes
to their everyday development and business
competitiveness. As a result, embracing the path of
innovation within their industries and businesses,
mainly when it comes to creating and adding values
to the products and services
provided, is a must. In addition, understanding that
the authentic outcomes of creativity are innovation,
organizations tend to stimulate creativity to boost
innovation among their employees. HRM can act on
three main levels when it comes assuring qualified
employees, including training and motivating them,
while ensuring proper working conditions suitable
for fostering creativity and innovation (Muscalu et
al. 2012, Lache 2010, Burma 2014, Karlsson 2013,
Marin 2012). These Factors can be classified into
three main paths:
 Organizational culture
 Organization’s working environment
 Managerial Level
.

5. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
According to Martin and al. (2003), Marin
(2012), Stanleigh (2015) organizational culture,
especially in an international environment, plays
a vital role in the success of any organization. It
provides the necessary framework to absorb
creativity, which leads to innovation in the
organizational culture and management
processes. HRM has the ability to create, protect,
and build an organizational culture as it is the
cornerstone for creativity and innovation, as all
the hiring processes, and training programs, and
cultural imperatives placed on the business are
done through proper HRM practices (Stanleigh,
2015). HRM can have an impact over the
organizational culture by addressing the
following four touching points:
HRM and Corporate Strategy: HRM can
improve and assert a proper understanding of the
company-shared vision and strategy which is
future focused to motivate employees to be
creative and innovative (Burma 2014, Karlsson
2013, Marin 2012).
It also highlight the importance of being
HRM and Corporate Structure: Selective hiring
processes are a key element in choosing
diversified, well-structured teams, which have a
great influence on the level of creativity and
innovation that takes place within the working
environment inside any organization.
Diversified, complementary talents between
individuals pushes creativity/innovation to
different heights. Also HRM should stress the
importance of individuals’ relationships. They
should be based on respect and trust, with high
level of openness to others’ points of views, ideas
and perspectives, no matter how different they
can be, not to forget effective channels of
communications (Karlsson 2013, Marin 2012).
HRM in Encouraging Creative Behavior &
Means of Support: It is essential to create suitable
incentives for creativity. Rewards and
recognition are a must but at the same time
rewarding systems need to be matched with each
individuals’ personality to attain the best
outcomes (Martin and al. 2003, Karlsson 2013,
Marin 2012).

6. HRM and Effective Communication: HRM
can highlight, build and supervise the
implementation of open, transparent
communication policies based on trust and
respect, which have a great influence,
motivating and stimulating creativity and
innovation. Open door policies without any
hierarchical barriers open the flow of ideas
and creative thinking, thus leading to
innovative outcomes.
These elements once merged together in a
fruitful frame, built through effective HRM
within the organization, help in creating a
genuine organizational culture that triggers
creativity, leading to innovation within
organizations and societies.
HRM AND ORGANIZATIONS’ WORKING
ENVIRONMENT
According to Richard Branson, the author and
founder of Virgin Group, a “healthy company
culture starts with treating your employees the
way you want to be treated”. From this
perspective, and according to Richard Florida
and Jim Goodnight (2005), it is important to
value the work over tools by helping employees
show their best through efficient HRM practices
to stimulate their minds, reward their excellence
with challenges rather than materialistic
incentives, and minimize hassles at work.
HRM and Bureaucracy: Creative and innovative
people at work are mainly driven by two key
elements: passion and challenges. Regardless of
their daily functional tasks or the department they
belong to, they crave the feeling of
accomplishment once the task is completed. They
starve for another challenge due to their inner
energy, which is wrapped with passion for the job
they do or the function they occupy. Most
researchers, and among them Hirst, G. et al
(2011), agree that bureaucratic practices constrain
and limit creativity and innovation to a great
extent. So in order to keep employees engaged,
and clear petty obstacles from their way so they
shine, HRM can emphasize the negative effect
bureaucracy has on creativity and innovation
within organizations, by addressing such an
issue with top senior management and
presenting them with new processes and tools,
since such change should start all the way from
top-down.
HR Role in Stimulating Minds: Superior
performance is the consequence of energized
mental abilities. Proper effective HRM training
programs, processes and practices can lead to
major understanding of methodology of
continuous learning and challenges involved to
motivate employees and stimulate their minds
by putting them in challenging working
environments, faced with new dilemmas and
interesting tasks. Training programs can
provide them with the necessary tools, while
putting them in the right direction for
innovation (Lache 2010, Burma 2014, Marin
2012, and Karlsson 2013).

7. HRM is important at this point as it
understands each employees’ mind set,
capabilities and potentials which is also
essential in addressing the type and level of
training programs and processes required
to help employees realize their goals.
In Place Performance Evaluation Systems:
According to Davidson 2011, HRM can
play a strategic role by helping their
organization stimulate and build up
creative and innovative thinking. This is
why HR leaders should realize the
importance of creativity and innovation in
building up a comparative advantage for
the organization they work for. One way is
through putting in place an effective
feedback process (ex: feedback 360o)
through the implementation of effective
performance evaluation systems that
measure individual behavioral
performance.
MANAGERS’ ROLES IN TRIGGERING
CREATIVITY: According to Amabile
(1998), managers play a vital role in
ensuring company culture and boosting
creativity as they are the link between top
management and employees. Company
vision, strategies, policies and procedures
are communicated through them in order to
promote the organization culture. They
have the power to bring people together,
and facilitate the exchange of ideas. HRM
can play an important role in matching
suitable people for managerial positions to
the right roles. Arranging feedback and
questions & answer sessions might also
have a great influence. Furthermore,
continuous managerial training programs
such as Leadership Development Programs
for managers can help them stay in track ,
spur and capture creativity (Lache 2010,
Burma 2014, Karlsson2013).Inaddition, foreseeing
and recruiting what is needed ahead of time can
facilitate the working process and eliminate some
obstacles, which waste time, money and effort.
Also, helping managers in understanding that
avoiding penalizing employees for making innocent
and honest mistakes can help them and the
organization in promoting creativity.
HRM and Challenges
There are many challenges that HRM faces when it
comes to stimulating creative thinking and
innovation. This is a difficult task to achieve,
otherwise everyone would be implementing it.
Three major challenges are summarized as follows:
 Lack of proper leadership style and support
as innovation is driven by time and money.
Organizations try to avoid such a waste as
they operate in a dynamic environment.
 Absence of tangible culture and strategy for
innovation and creativity.
 Employees on every level of the hierarchy
do not fully commit and embrace change as
humans are resistant to change by nature, as
many uncontrollable factors are involved.

8. Conclusion
The creative business world has emerged and it
is here to stay. HRM is essential in stimulating
creativity and innovation on a first level and
then managing it. It is a key factor in securing
a competitive advantage and standing out in the
rising, competitive world. Proper HRM can
help organizations achieve more innovations,
create a culture to support innovative thinking,
and to hire, train and reward, which is a major
undertaking. It can seem daunting to know
where to begin. However, the most important
first step is to start with the first step. It is a
large and exciting change process. Even a small
initiative can help demonstrate the possibilities
of a more robust effort.

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