Control vs. Creativity

They’re eternal questions in business: Does management control kill creativity? How can organizations manage efficiency within innovating processes? Do control and creativity call for a balance within processes of innovation—or is balancing a bad idea? The answers to these questions are probably bedeviling entrepreneurs and executives everywhere around the world. While a controlled working environment has its advantages, too much control can hamper the creativity, as well as the ability to innovate, that leads to new products and to growth and profitability. The article addresses these issues by offering insights from a medium-sized company in the fashion industry that has used formal and informal control tools to manage its need for both standardization and innovation.