f) Organisational Culture. We can all be more creative, so what is stopping us? Often people complain of some degree of evaluation apprehension – this manifests itself in many ways but two of most common are a fear of seeming unintelligent or unoriginal. Some cultures are more risk averse than others, others do not manage competition well and yet others engender friction by misallocating resources.

g) Organisational structure. Many theories argue that certain structures, such as hierarchical and mechanistic, hinder creativity and innovation. Whilst these theories generally tend towards validity, there are many reasons why a business has a particular organisational structure - history, logistics, market segmentation, product line, strategy and so forth – therefore it is unreasonable to ask a firm to change it. Ultimately, what managers need, is a knowledge of properties of a fostering structure so that they may incorporate those elements into their existing one.

This field yields much interesting data. For example, many respondents argued that all structures, even those so-called flat structures, are in reality hierarchical.

Some very simple changes can be implemented. These include:

i)Direct communication links to decision makers. ii)Cross-divisional information flow. iii)Tangible progress of ideas.

Part 2 of Managing Creativity & Innovation will discuss Group Structure, Knowledge, Networks and Collaboration, Radical and Incremental Creativity and Innovation, Structure and Goals, Process and Valuation.

Kal Bishop, MBA, http://www.managing-creativity.com

These signed documents are then returned to any one of company’s 20 depots across country, where they are scanned by depot staff. At this point documents are automatically indexed and uploaded to a TokOpen data centre where they are stored alongside corresponding original despatch note in appropriate folder. If a discrepancy is indicated on scanned delivery note, this automatically triggers a warning for a customer service agent distribution to investigate.

If necessary invoice can be amended before sales invoice is issued. This has to take place within 72 hours of delivery. All document access, workflow and investigations are performed using a standard Web browser, which ensures that system can be quickly deployed with minimal administrative overheads.

Where customers’ own GRNs are received, these are scanned and read automatically, matching delivery line items with corresponding items from despatch notes. The system is flexible and allows a ‘many to many’ relationship – more than one delivery note relating to more than one GRN for a single customer order.

The process is further complicated because customers use different product codes for goods delivered, and documents are returned at different times. The system automatically consolidates this process and matches different documents and line items to original order. All documents relating to an order are stored alongside one another within a single delivery folder at data centre.

Where a discrepancy arises, a customer service agent is automatically alerted and instructed to investigate situation and amend invoice. Other documents, including claims from customers for damaged goods, are also scanned into relevant delivery folder.

Converting paper chase into an online document flow

TokOpen’s Workflow is used to manage transaction and make adjustments on company’s system. This cuts out need for printed documents, and converts traditional paper chase into a controlled online document flow.

TokOpen highlights relevant deliveries to appropriate customer service staff managing that customer account. This ensures that when invoice is issued it is correct, and will not be contested by customer, resulting in late or non-payment.

TokOpen also ensures that all delivery documents are available online across whole enterprise. If an invoice is contested, authorised members of staff anywhere across country can retrieve all information about transaction using a standard Web browser.

Additional benefits delivered by TokOpen system include:

• Improved management and monitoring of hauliers’ performance • Faster response times for customer service enquiries • More time for customer service staff to be deployed on other duties