They’re eternal questions in business: Does management control
kill creativity? How can organizations manage efficiency within
innovating processes? Do control and creativity call for a balance
within processes of innovation—or is balancing a bad
idea? The answers to these questions are probably bedeviling
entrepreneurs and executives everywhere around the world.
While a controlled working environment has its advantages, too
much control can hamper the creativity, as well as the ability to
innovate, that leads to new products and to growth and profitability.
The article addresses these issues by offering
insights from a medium-sized company in the fashion industry
that has used formal and informal control tools to manage its
need for both standardization and innovation
