| Abstract [eng] |
The COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020 has shaken the world and led to a deep crisis, many changes, and uncertainties in various areas. The effects of the pandemic are still being felt and will have a long-term impact. Both public and business organizations have faced many different challenges in managing the performance of their employees and the survival of the organization and are therefore seeking certainty and clear prospects for the future. Many scientists, analysts and others have already predicted that this great shock will usher in a new era and create a "New Normal" with high levels of uncertainty and many new trends that the pandemic has brought with. Various changes have already taken place in the areas of socio-culture, technology, health, as well as labor standards and practices and employee performance management. “New Normal” refers to the possibility of various disruptions that are initially a concern for most organizations, therefore it is important to emphasize the aspects of responding quickly to uncertainties, adapting to change, and focusing on employee performance management to enhance employee creativity and its drivers. Recent scientific literature since the beginning of the pandemic has highlighted the creativity of workers as one of the most important aspects in the "New Normal" and seeks to unleash the potential of creativity to meet challenges, adapt effectively to change, implement the latest trends in today’s situations, and take advantage of emerging opportunities in the work environment. In addition, successful management of employee creativity and strengthening the drivers of creativity help organizations adapt to change in a crisis, regain a sense of security, increase competitiveness, foster growth, and innovation, and discover new and more effective solutions and opportunities. The most mentioned drivers of employee creativity are following: leadership (especially change-oriented, transformational and creative); an organizational culture and an organizational climate conducive to creativity and innovation; challenging and empowering context of work tasks; an inspiring, calming and comfortable physical work environment; innovative and creative thinking and ability of employees to solve problems creatively; employees' willingness to take smart risks; employee well-being, job satisfaction, strong internal motivation, tendency to be creative, etc. Although some organizations face challenges in fostering and managing employee creativity in the context of the ‘New Normal’, there is a growing encouragement to seek creative solutions to problems, to move to creative management practices, to develop new strategies for the training and management of creativity, and to develop modern employability competencies related to creativity, leadership, and entrepreneurship. Thus, the object of research of this project is the factors promoting employee creativity. The aim of the project is to reveal the factors promoting employee creativity in the conditions of the "New Normal". Tasks implemented in the work: the concept and characteristics of employees' creativity were presented; the factors promoting employee creativity have been analyzed, emphasizing the conditions of the “New Normal”; research methodology and theoretical model were developed; the factors promoting employee creativity in the conditions of the “New Normal” were studied, and recommendations have been prepared. The analysis of the results of the research revealed that that two-fifths of the respondents feel very creative in the context of the "New Normal" and are involved in various creative processes. It was also found that two-thirds of respondents have strong intrinsic motivation, and high job satisfaction is characteristic of almost three-quarters of respondents. Respondents lack the most creative self-efficacy – confidence in their creative abilities, as only a third of respondents said that it is highly typical for them. Competence-related self-efficacy was one of the best rated personal aspects, as seven out of ten respondents agreed that it was strongly characteristic of them. Three out of five respondents strongly agreed that the strong impact of an empowering physical work environment is felt in their organizations. Almost half of the respondents strongly agreed that the impact of the empowering work context is strong. Two out of five respondents feel a strong impact of creative leadership. Organizational innovation climate was rated the worst, as only one in four respondents strongly believes that its impact is strong. Regression and correlation analysis of the research data confirmed the hypotheses that intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, creative self-efficacy, competence self-efficacy, organizational innovation climate, creative leadership, empowering work context, and empowering physical work environment indeed stimulate employee creativity in the conditions of the “New Normal”. |
