4IpaUJbnm

freedom of operation and independence (support for self-expression, possibility of
applying different approaches, tolerance of uncertainty, promotion of personal
freedom and non-conformism, freedom to experiment, try, make mistakes, start
again, and not be condemned or ridiculed for it);
cooperation (assistance to those who have ideas, open communication, regular
meetings and exchange of ideas, interdependence of group members, peer support, a
sense of togetherness and belonging);
flexible performance assessment strategy (possibility of presenting several creative
results and realising different approaches, no requirement to deliver creative results);
examples of creativity (competent colleagues, creative personalities in a team,
examples of creative behaviour and results);
appropriate physical environment (natural finishing materials, predominance of warm
colours or nice contrasts, abundance of visual elements).
The subcategories are repeating. The first two subcategories are similar as positivity is based
on trust and vice versa. It is appropriate to merge these subcategories into a subcategory of
Positive Trust. Cooperation usually includes sharing experiences and examples of creativity,
therefore such categories as cooperation and examples of creativity can be merged into a
subcategory of Creative Cooperation. This subcategory would have the characteristics of the
previous two. A detailed analysis of characteristics of the environment revealed the need for
another subcategory – Medium of Knowledge Potential (knowing what is known and what is
unknown, intellectual curiosity, a sense of freedom when everyone is not obliged to comply
with the formalities).
An in-depth analysis of characteristics of the creativity-friendly environment gives a scientific
justification for creativity in the knowledge potential accumulated by an organisation, while
the identification of subcategories allows for the construction of a complete instrument for
assessing environmental studies and continuing them in this direction.
Results of the research on creativity-friendly organisational environment
The results of the analysis of literature on knowledge potential, creativity and characteristics
of the creativity-friendly environment serve as a basis for empirical study ‘Analysis of
Creativity-Friendly Organisational Environment’. The study was conducted between
September and October 2015. The purpose of this study was to reveal characteristics of the
environment, which are conducive to creativity, and identify activities which should be at the
centre of attention at an organisation. The object of the study was business environment. To
find out what a creativity-friendly environment is, IT-related companies were randomly
selected for a questionnaire survey. They all had up to 50 employees employed under the law
of the Republic of Lithuania and their financial data met at least one of the following
conditions: (1) the annual income does not exceed EUR 7 million; (2) the value of assets in the
balance sheet does not exceed EUR 5 million. The companies were sent a questionnaire by e-
mail. It was completed by executives, administrative staff and other staff from 17 business
companies. There were 255 respondents in total. The average age of the respondents was
41 years old. Most of the respondents were male with 16 to 20 years of experience in
business (Table 4).
29