Industrial management cannot be applied to creative workers. It is better to foster and keep long-term relationships with the creative workers, as the costs of replacing them are extremely high. Managing creative people take a very creative manager. A concern for structure and organizational charts and programs and policies is far less important than understanding the individual psychology, figuring out how to deal with the different intrinsic needs and reward structures while consistently motivating people with the rewards that motivate them. The manager has to create a structure that enables creativity to occur. This requires a complete and total break with the industrial organization structure, the hierarchical model. However, the biggest impediment to real motivation is middle management. Managers must realize that their employees see themselves as free agents. They want security, a great job, challenges, but also the opportunity to move around. So, great management means harnessing the creativity productivity of the employees for the period of time one has them.[1]
[1] Interview with Richard Florida “Managing Those Creative Types”, http://www.creativeclass.org/, August 11, 2005
