Exploring Employees’ Creativity at Work in a Government Institution

Abstract

This study is about administrative employees in a  government institution and the need for change in their mindsets and skills, particularly on the aspect of developing creativity. Shergold (2018) warned that in this age of digitization, jobs in the public service are threatened. With the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where robots have begun to take over some work, humans must do what robots cannot do – take courage and rely on one‘s creative capacities to perform work. For change to be enduring, it must begin with the mindsets (i.e., motivations,  aspirations and personal work values) because mindsets precede human behaviors. This study is anchored on the following theories and concepts: Theory U, changing mindsets and creativity. Survey, in-depth interviews and observations were used to gather data. Results show that employees have the potential to form new mindsets and skills. Although they have low levels of creativity, they have the potential to raise this through Positive Organization  Development (POD) interventions to shift to the desired state. The mean age of 43 indicates middle age, with several aged 22 and above. These mostly young employees will be open to innovations at work. For a paradigm shift to materialize, some elements of the organizational culture must be revisited by way of interventions patterned after the Blondin Organization Planning System.