Creating conditions for creativity and innovation in organizations

Competing in the technology marketplace in the 21st century will require constant adaptation to shifting market demands. The most successful organizations will have an environment where creativity and innovation are occurring consistently at all levels of the organization, and in all functions. This paper discusses how complex adaptive systems can be seen as a model for adaptive organizations and postulates specific healthy (adaptive) and dysfunctional (maladaptive) attributes consistent with complexity concepts. Theoretical concepts are deconstructed to real world strategic approaches. An ongoing organizational assessment and intervention is summarized as evidence that these concepts have validity in the creation and sustenance of organizational innovation and vitality.