My reflections are based on the following articles: “The weird rules of creativity”, “What a star-What a Jerk”, with an additional reading from the book:”Fashion Entrepreneurship”.

Starting with the first part of the assessment as to:”how I would staff my company, in order to increase its creativity and effectiveness?”
Well depending on the type of business, the value of creativity varies and that is the reason why “The weird rules of creativity” article clearly states that old ways of producing output should not be abandoned.
For instance, in Islamabad (Pakistan); Orient is an old and large advertising agency, which works on the principle of hiring people the old traditional way (Granger, Sterling, 2000):
· They first develop a job analysis to make the job description, which will state in detail of what is expected from each employee; categorised as education level, skill and previous work experience.
· Then the selection of employees is done by many ways via application forms, background checks, employment tests and finally personal interviews (which is widely used and has more value comparatively) (Granger, Sterling, 2000).
On contrary, Ideas Workshop is a small advertising agency, who has a short history of three years in business. They use the above traditional method to get the best experts in the field for the technical aspect of the software’s and printing. But to gain a competitive edge in the market, they use the creative measures established by “the weird rules of creativity.”
They hire people from diverse background, who they dislike, slow-learners, low monitors and people with skills that are not currently needed (Sutton, 2001).
For instance, gay people are not very well accepted in Pakistani societies, but Ideas Workshop employer recognized that they had not only the quality of low monitors but also the a special cognitive ability to think from both the female and male perspectives. Their cognitive skill drove them to experience different things from different background, hence broadening the palette for creative and effective ideas.
Although being a small agency, limited in funds; they took the risk of hiring people whose skills they currently did not need. This contradicts to what is analysed by (Sutton, 2001), which mentions that creativity cost (resource-wise) and this hiring method is not feasible for small agency or new ventures.
In this case, the company had hired a fashion designing student, who apparently looked like an additional cost because her abilities could not be used as a graphic designer nor a copywriter. The company paid her monthly salary and allowed her to use free internet, which was the compensation package for their employees.
So it seems that the article confirmed that the extra hiring personnel were only meant for larger organizations, but here I would disagree. According to (Granger, Sterling, 2000), Ideas Workshop employer had made the ‘’calculated risk”. Firstly, he used the fashion designing student’s analogical reasoning skills in most of the brainstorming session for coming up with creative solutions. Next, to balance the expenses; he chose a smaller office, cut down the extra cost of decorating it and hiring one employee to do multiple chores of cleaning and serving the staff with food.

The second part of the assessment:”Reflection on the Module literature; discuss the piece that struck you most; state whether you agree with it, disagree with it or whether it made you think.”
Both the literature had struck me where starting and maintaining a new venture is concerned, however the “Fashion entrepreneurship” book had just provided me with a deeper insight to the issues discussed.
I agree that the three aspects defined by (Sutton, 2001), which are Management, Hiring, Risk and Randomness are important for creating an effective and creative environment. Nevertheless, I think Management has more weight, as it is the backbone for the organizational culture. Responsibilities like planning, organizing, controlling, directing, hiring, firing and communicating with the employees are all handled by this department.
Therefore, the manager has to be an effective leader, one that can empower others to work together to achieve a common goal. Jane and the Ideas Workshop employer are two different side of the same coin.
Ideas Workshop employer was an effective leader and manager. There was no organizational structure in his small agency. He only used his leadership and management skills to motivate creativity among the team members. He listened to his employees on all issues (engendering trust), involved them in the company’s goal and rewarded them on success or failure and reserved punishment for inaction. (Sutton, 2001).
Although he did not introduce the Open Book Management (OBM) policy, which treats employees like owners and allows them to learn basic business skills, make important decisions as the company’s share holder and rewarding them financially, psychologically and professionally. (Granger, Sterling, 2000)
He did consult the employees on financial numbers, the business and creative strategy in getting many campaigns for the organization. This highlights the point that employees do not only need money as a motivator but being part of a successful team also motivates them. Many employees valued his respect and shared his vision; therefore they made extra effort to help the company grow.
From my analysis on Jane’s case, I think her main problem is her own leadership skill. I agree with all the constructive advises the authors from “What a Star What a Jerk” gave in Jane’s dilemma. I do agree that first she must learn to get over her intimidating feelings for Andy, stop writing her problems to Rick Lazarus (as he’s not present in the situation and his advises may not be much help to her) and lastly construct the employees roles. In parallel, also find out if her subordinates or employees have any other offers being made to them, so that it will give her time to look for replacements.
I disagree that she should get a coach, as it would be an additional expense on her part; all she needs to do is set some aspects of running a team straight and be a motivated leader and all things will fall into place.
For starters she should first define everyone’s role and position, including her own. If there’s already an organizational structure, then all she needs to do is implement it. For the organization structure clearly defines what is expected of each employee, their share of work. This way the individuals would be accountable and would not interfere or perform other additional work (like Caroline acted as a control agent for Andy’s behavior).
Next, to avoid any conflict between Andy and his coworkers and to save him from doing any serious damage to the exiting business; she could allow him to work alone and then just use his contribution later to coordinate with others.
This would however not build teamwork, in that case she needs to make Andy realize his unprofessional behavior and give him an official warning of letting him go, i.e. if he continues not to change. But this warning must also provide the insight of why Jane needs to let him go and explain the consequences of his behavior; which is the degrading of his team’s performance and its indirect impact on the company’s business.
If Andy understands Jane’s and the teamwork’s vision to strive towards the same goal and does change even temporarily in the meetings. Jane’s plan B should be to use the six thinking hats technique during brainstorming session (This is what really struck me from the seminar and made me think).
By carving out roles during brain storming meetings, a team could progress divergently at first but converge their creative thoughts at the end. In the beginning everyone can wear a green hat to carve out ideas and then since Andy is good with criticism, he could wear the black hat when evaluating the ideas, while Jane could wear the blue hat to moderate and control the flow of the creative ideas.
Eventually if Andy does a good job in changing his behavior, I agree with the author Mary Rowe, that he should be rewarded with positive feedback or monetary fund, depending on the results from the change. Alas if he still considers treating others rudely, then Jane has no choice but to fire him and hire a replacement.
In conclusion, I believe that entrepreneurship is a journey, where you need to be highly alert professionally and personally. In my opinion, I would run my organization like the Ideas Workshop employer, entrusting my employees in helping me to build the business as if it was their own.

References:
De Bono, Edward (2000). Six Thinking Hats. Penguin, ISBN 0140296662.
Granger, M., Sterling, T (2000). Fashion Entrepreneurship. New York: Fairchild Publication.
Cliff, S. (2001). What a Star – What a Jerk. Harvard Business Review, September 2001
Sutton, R. (2001). The Weird Rules of Creativity. Harvard Business Review, September 2001