Definitions Paper

Definitions Paper

Introduction

In order for an organization to maintain a competitive advantage in today's market, they must constantly reinvent themselves. They must pay close attention to short term goals so that they may be evaluated and adjusted in order to remain profitable and reach the long term goals of the organization. Three processes that play an import role in assuring success are creativity, innovation, and design. This paper will define, compare and contrast these three processes and explain their importance in meeting organizational objectives.

Innovation

Innovation can take on different meanings depending on an individuals or groups perspective, but what is clear is that innovations consist of creativity and implementation. An idea has to be created for innovation to thrive making the creative process the first step in innovation. After an idea is created the implementation process is used to bring the idea to life. Where creativity may be an individual effort, implementation requires the use of a team. Implementation is comprised of idea selection, development and commercialization. Creativity is still used during the implementation process as well. For innovation to work processes, procedures, and structures need to be in place to allow timely and effective execution (Von Stamm, 2008).

Creativity

Von Stamm (2008) stated, "If implementation is putting an idea into practice, creativity is coming up with the idea in the first place" (p. 2). This makes creativity a very important part of innovation. This does not mean that creativity is sparked from out of thin air. Creativity is sparked from existing information about a particular subject or body of knowledge. This existing knowledge is just as important as the idea created. Most creative people have years and years of experience and knowledge in their area of expertise. There has been debated as to whether anyone can be creative or if creativity is a gift of select individuals, but the overall consensus is that everyone can be creative just on different levels and in different ways.

Design

Design can take on many different meanings but in the context of innovation there are three relevant interpretations. Design is the tangible outcome, a creative activity, or the process by

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