Creativity Under the Gun Hbr Analysis

Litmus Corporation is an international chemical company which was formed with the merger of Kohl Inc., and Litmus Chemicals in 1992. In 2003, the company came across a new business opportunity to develop a lightweight plastic more durable with wider areas of applications than what they had developed for one of their clients – Lenore. The product was to be developed by its operational research team called Hyatt Team, led by Stanley Carmine as team leader and Miles Grady as the lead engineer. Miles was tensed with the fast approaching project deadline while Stanley, being the team leader, wants to reduce his stress and provide him such atmosphere which can boost his creativity and confidence to complete the project within the defined timeline. As is apparent from his logs, Miles is a creative person who tends to perform better in his comfort zone and is able to achieve his peak productivity either in a peaceful and solitary environment or along with a supporting companion with less amount of officials works. Lack of such favourable circumstances reduces his efficiency leading to delay in meeting the targeted results. The same were the issues he faced in the Neostyrene project such as external distractions which includes telephone calls, reports, impromptu meetings, or lack of proper functioning equipment. In addition to that he has weak stress management skills. In order to help Grady to reduce his stress levels and increase his efficiency towards project completion, Carmine may offer him one or both of the two solutions. First, Grady’s work load can be reduced by providing some internal help from his subordinates in terms of sharing the clerical works (which may or may not be possible depending upon the company policies and structure) or by bring a new assistant on-board. However, hiring a new employee will add more cost to the company and is time consuming in terms of training and getting the new comer accustomed to the new company functioning pattern. Although, hiring an assistant would help Grady finish the projects in time and will ultimately help the company to save time which can be utilized in developing more business.