By D.R.P Upananda
Lecturer
Faculty of Management Studies
The Open University of Sri Lanka
Technology is everywhere. In a tech-savvy business ecosystem, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become the beating heart of creativity and innovation within organisations. AI can deal with massive datasets, detect patterns, and automate complex tasks that previously required a lot of human intervention. This AI integration often results in organisational creativity. However, when companies integrate AI into their business ecosystem, one long-standing belief is being called into question: that knowledge sharing is the catalyst that unlocks the full creative potential of AI. Knowledge sharing is undoubtedly important, but it is not the game-changer we once thought, especially in the context of AI-powered environments.
AI Capability
AI is the ability of a computer or machine to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, like learning, problem-solving, understanding language, and making decisions. This integration of AI is only possible when there is a proper backbone for AI. AI capability is a synonym for this backbone. Simply, it means an organisation’s ability to develop, use, and manage artificial intelligence technologies to improve its work, make better decisions, and create new value. In terms of resources, AI capability consists of access to large, unstructured, or fast-moving data, network infrastructure, access to internal and external talent with the right technical skills, the ability of management to understand business problems and direct AI initiatives, inter-departmental corporation, and coordination, the ability to embrace to change and radical decision making with a high level of risk-taking behaviours, etc.
AI Capability and Organisational Creativity
Having this AI capability eventually results in creative endeavours within the organisational boundary. Many managers believe that the use of AI may diminish human creativity by reducing opportunities for original thinking. However, AI can also be a good companion, as specific categories of AI have the potential to enhance human creativity by handling repetitive tasks and providing new insights. This win-win approach is effective only if the time saved by employees is strategically redirected toward creative endeavours within the organisation, ultimately enabling it to become a truly creative organisation. For this, organisations should cultivate a rich environment for creative thinking, especially dedicated time or resources for brainstorming and innovation sessions. Also, there should be an environment where employees feel safe to express ideas without fear of judgment or failure. Therefore, organisations should constructively deploy AI resources in potential business areas to gain organisational creativity and stand tall against competitors.
On the other hand, certain other types of AI applications can directly engage with and contribute to the creative activities of an organisation. These applications are designed not only to support but also to actively participate in processes such as idea generation, content creation, design innovation, and problem-solving. By analysing data, recognising patterns, and simulating various scenarios, these AI tools can inspire new concepts, suggest alternative solutions, and accelerate the development of creative outputs across different departments, ranging from marketing and product development to R and D and strategic planning.
For example, AI-powered brainstorming tools can generate design concepts, marketing slogans, or product ideas based on user inputs, and generate ideas for social media blogs and TV commercials.
Knowledge sharing
Knowledge sharing is a practice that encourages employees, groups, and organisations to share their know-how or expertise. Knowledge sharing can be used both inside and outside of an organisation to increase performance and gain a competitive edge. Knowledge sharing is not limited to interactions within the organisational boundary, commonly referred to as internal knowledge sharing. It also encompasses the exchange of knowledge beyond the organisation, known as external knowledge sharing. If organisations focus solely on themselves, they will fail to engage with the external world and miss out on novel opportunities. Therefore, External knowledge sharing is a good source of innovation and creative performance.
AI Capability, Organisational Creativity, and Knowledge Sharing
AI capability has the potential to enhance organisational creativity, and that is a well-known notion. However, in an organisation that fosters knowledge sharing, the interplay between AI capability and organisational creativity may not align with our expectations. The hidden truth is that if employees share their knowledge within the organisation and beyond the organisation, it contradicts with the organisational creativity. Creativity fosters boldness within an organisation, enabling the organisation to gain a competitive advantage by preserving and leveraging its creative assets. As much as a company can keep its own creative concepts and ideas to itself, it can maintain its momentum by achieving its competitive advantage. Hence, external knowledge sharing should be practiced in a way that is beneficial to the organisation.
Another crucial point is that when knowledge is widely shared within the organisational boundaries, individuals may feel less accountable for their own ideas, creating a lack of personal ownership. In such a negative ground, even though AI automates a lot of manual tasks that previously required a lot of human intervention, employees are not encouraged to engage in creative endeavours. Similarly, knowledge sharing can lead to a sense of conformity, in which employees feel pressured to align their ideas with the majority. This can hinder the involvement in creative endeavours within the organisational framework. Further, excessive knowledge sharing can lead to information overload. Employees might find it challenging to sift through and prioritise the vast information available, inhibiting their ability to generate new and creative ideas. These points highlight the complex interplay between knowledge sharing, AI capability, and organisational creativity.
Way Forward
Knowledge sharing can be a valuable tool. Organisations need to balance it within the organisational boundaries in a way that fosters organisational creativity with AI capability. Organisations should foster a culture of smart sharing: “Share to grow, protect to sustain,” by understanding the value of sharing knowledge as well as protecting sensitive knowledge. This mechanism eventually helps the organisation to get the maximum benefits from AI capability in a way that fosters organisational creativity.
When employees see their shared knowledge contributing to a meaningful outcome, they feel more engaged and valued. Also, by giving proper recognition to the idea originators, a stronger creative culture can be cultivated within the organisation. This combined mechanism can be used to mitigate the lack of personal ownership among employees within a knowledge-sharing ecosystem. As a result, the time saved by employees can be strategically redirected towards creative endeavours, as knowledge sharing is now strengthened by a sense of individual accountability, recognition, and purpose-driven collaboration.
In a knowledge-sharing environment, only out-of-the-box thinking should be taken into account in a respectful and solution-oriented way, with the goal of improving organisational performance rather than simply opposing. In such a positive ground, other employees will tend to align with the majority. Finally, employees should be encouraged to share knowledge with context, explaining why it matters and who should care. So that excessive knowledge sharing can be managed in a constructive way. While artificial intelligence capability and organisational creativity are linked, knowledge sharing alone may not be the transformative force once believed, highlighting the need for deeper, more integrative strategies for a proper implementation of a knowledge sharing environment.
