SHR044-6: Mobilisation and Creativity Report - Bank Nizwa Analysis

This report delves into the significance of innovation and creativity within the banking sector, specifically focusing on Bank Nizwa, one of the first Islamic banks in Oman. The study explores the phases of creative thinking, including consumption, incubation, brainstorming, critical thinking, and verification, within the context of the bank's card production processes. It highlights the importance of these processes in enhancing the bank's services, particularly in light of the increasing demand for credit and debit cards due to rising inflation rates. The report discusses how creative thinking can improve the bank's competitive advantage by offering customizable card options and digital card services. Recommendations include offering card customization and digitalization to meet customer needs and leverage external environmental opportunities. The report concludes that integrating innovative strategies is crucial for maintaining the bank's competitive edge and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Running head: MOBILISATION AND CREATIVITY
Mobilisation and Creativity
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author notes:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Company background......................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Phases innovation and creative thinking......................................................................................3
Creative thinking in card production process of bank nizwa..........................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
Recommendations for incorporation of creative thinking and innovation......................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Innovation and creativity is essential in every industry. The importance of innovation and
creative should not be undermined and must be instated in the operations of every organisation.
Innovation and creativity are the bases of differentiation of different organisations in every
industry. Innovation helps organisations to gain competitive advantage over their competitors
and thus should be encouraged in every industry. Mobilisation of creativity and innovation is
crucial for ensuring the productivity of the banks (Birgili 2015). The bank in consideration for
the current project is Bank Nizwa. The project will be carried out in accordance with the card
product development of the selected bank. In the following paper, the study that has been
conducted is concerned with the innovations of the aforementioned department of the bank. The
following paper will enumerate the background of the company, it will discuss and analyse the
stages that are associated with innovation and creative thinking and the importance of the
concept in the context of the concerned department of bank Nizwa.
Company background
Bank Nizwa has been considered as one of the most influential banks in all of Oman.
Furthermore, they hold the title of one of the first Islamic banks of the state. It achieved the latter
sate by complying with the Sharia laws. The bank was established in 2013 and since then they
have taken over the banking industry of Oman. The company is headed by Khalid Jamal Al
Khayed (Banknizwa.om, 2019). The headquarters of the company is established in one of the
largest cities of the country, Nizwa. The mission of the bank is to provide services to the citizen
of the country with ease of process and absence of complexities which ensure that the customers
of the bank have favourable experience when they opt to choose the bank over the other banks.

3MOBILISATION AND CREATIVITY
There has been a considerable increase in amount of loans that people of the country are opting
for. This has resulted in increase of demand for credit cards. Furthermore, the income to cost
ratio has been detected to be around six percent (Assets.kpmg 2019). The bank has been
established in the country from the time it commenced its business operations, however,
mobilisation of creativity and innovation in the aforementioned department can help in bolstering
the services offered to the customer of the bank.
Discussion
Phases innovation and creative thinking
There certain phases that are associated with the creative thinking processes and
innovation. Everything that is in a process must be carried out in in steps of phases. It ensures
that all the steps that are associated with the planning and creativity process takes place
effectively. Delegating and breaking down the process into parts ensures that key attention is
paid to every part which in turn ensures the smooth implementation of the whole process. There
are five steps included in establishment of the innovation and creativity processes (Smith 2015).
The following are the steps that are involved in the process of innovation and creative thinking;
Consumption: The first stage in the process of creativity and innovation is consumption. The
innovation is based on the change that is required for introducing the innovation. Consumption is
the process of using products or services that are offered by a company. If the consumers of the
product or service are not satisfied, they will escalate through grievances. Thus the concerned
organisation will get to know the need for change and innovation. This will trigger innovation
and creative thinking.

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Incubation: the process of unconscious implementation of thoughts into formulation of ideas is
known as incubation (Ritter and Dijksterhuis 2014). It is a phenomenon that takes place when an
individual is not thinking about innovation or creativity and suddenly, their unconscious mind
gives rise to an innovative idea.
Brainstorming: Once a hint is available for the formulation of an innovation idea, the individual
who got the idea uses it for the wellbeing of their interest. It applies in the case of employees in
creative division of organisations. Further thoughts regarding the same idea are provide to the
sole idea and the main idea is moulded and enhanced to formulate a better overall idea. This
process utilises the ideas coming from all ends of the creative divisions within the department
dealing in such activities (Rawlinson 2017).
Critical thinking: After the overall idea has been developed the individuals who are associated to
the creative and innovative and creative wings of the organisation use their critical thinking skills
to enhance the ideas thus formulated form incubation and brainstorming sessions. This step is
one of the most crucial steps in developing ideas relating to creativity and innovation with any
said wing within an organisation.
Verification and production: After the aforementioned process are carried out successfully, the
next phase involves verification of the ideas that have been formulated ideas. The viability and
feasibility of the ideas thus formed are tested. The ideas are implemented if the management of
the innovative division of the company approves the appeal for implementation of the ideas.
Creative thinking in card production process of bank nizwa
Profitability can be considered as one of the key reasons behind the operations of any
company (Marx, 2013). The same takes place for the operations of Bank Nizwa. It has been

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realised that the bank aims to provide the customers with efficient services and ensure
profitability while carrying out the same. With modernisation and inflation there has been a
significant rise in need of loans (Marx & Turner, 2015). Possession of credit, debit and loyalty
cards help the customers of banks acquire and get the application of the loans approved. They
need for carrying credit and debit cards is becoming crucial for the customer of the bank.
Application of creative thinking in production of the card will help the bank improve the rate of
turnover of the cards and it is assumed that it will act a trigger for increased investment in the
bank. Formulation of ideas such as giving the customers the chance to customise their credit and
debit cards are some ideas that can help the bank incur increased amount of investment turnover.
Conclusion
On a concluding note it can be said that innovation is one of the most crucial factors that
are responsible for increasing and sustaining the acceptability of organisations. Profitability is
one of the key goals of every organisation and the same is applicable in the case of Bank Nizwa.
There are several processes that are associated with the process of innovative thinking. They are
consumption, incubation, brainstorming, critical thinking which is followed by verification and
implementation of the ideas. Segregation of ideas are necessary as it determines the efficiency of
each stage. It has been identified that introduction of innovation and creative thinking will help
in positioning the bank in the minds of the citizens of Oman. Furthermore it was found that one
of the key motives of operation of the bank is to deliver services to the consumers. Thus the
same can be achieved by incorporation and application of creative thinking. Same can be
achieved by offering the consumer community with the customisability. The rise in demand for
loans has been caused as a result of increased inflation rates in the country. Thus application of
creative thinking in production of credit and debit card would be considered as a service that is

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offered by none of the banks in the competition. Thus the company can competitive advantage in
the said field.
Recommendations for incorporation of creative thinking and innovation
It has been deduced that inflation rates have resulted in application of increased amount
of loans form the part of the consumers of the bank. The bank has been providing quality
services to its customers from the years of its establishment and the consumers will supposedly
choose to invest in Bank Nizwa over its competitors. However, the need for credit cards and
debit cards has risen and the same has been identified as an opportunity by the card production
department of the bank. Following are the ways in which the bank can utilise and mould their
efforts and utilise the opportunities that have been presented to it from the external environment;
1. Offering customisability: Offering the service of customisability can highlight the already
established company in the industry. It is suggested that the bank should incorporate the
services of customisable credit and debit cards. Such services will enable the consumers
of the bank to get their names, pictures or initials printed on their cards which will help
them develop a sense of differentiation if they wish to do so. This has been carried out by
established banks such as the royal bank of Canada and they have achieved success in the
same (Price et al. 2014).
2. Digitalisation: It has been found out form empirical research that users of credit and debit
cards find carrying physical debit and credit card as a hasty task. Thus the bank could
choose to offer the customers with the services of e-credit and debit cards. It will ensure
that there is no threat of theft of the card and it also implies that the customers will not
have to physically carry the cards around (Hassani, Huang and Silva 2018).

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REFERENCES
Banknizwa.om (2019). Bank Nizwa Registers 97% Growth In Net Profit In Q3 2018 | Bank
Nizwa - First Islamic bank in Oman. [online] Banknizwa.om. Available at:
https://www.banknizwa.om/news/2018/october/29/bank-nizwa-registers-97-growth-in-net-profit-
in-q3-2018/ [Accessed 11 Mar. 2019].
Birgili, B., 2015. Creative and critical thinking skills in problem-based learning
environments. Online Submission, 2(2), pp.71-80.
Hassani, H., Huang, X. and Silva, E., 2018. Digitalisation and big data mining in banking. Big
Data and Cognitive Computing, 2(3), p.18.
Marx, B. M., & Turner, L. J. (2015). Borrowing trouble? Student loans, the cost of borrowing,
and implications for the effectiveness of need-based grant aid (No. w20850). National Bureau of
Economic Research.
Novy-Marx, R., 2013. The other side of value: The gross profitability premium. Journal of
Financial Economics, 108(1), pp.1-28.
Price, S., Davies, P., Farr, W., Jewitt, C., Roussos, G. and Sin, G., 2014. Fostering geospatial
thinking in science education through a customisable smartphone application. British Journal of
Educational Technology, 45(1), pp.160-170
Rawlinson, J.G., 2017. Creative thinking and brainstorming. Routledge.
Ritter, S.M. and Dijksterhuis, A., 2014. Creativity—the unconscious foundations of the
incubation period. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 8, p.215.

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Sadler-Smith, E., 2015. Wallas’ four-stage model of the creative process: More than meets the
eye?. Creativity Research Journal, 27(4), pp.342-352.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carmeli, A., Gelbard, R. and Reiter‐Palmon, R., 2013. Leadership, creative problem‐solving
capacity, and creative performance: The importance of knowledge sharing. Human Resource
Management, 52(1), pp.95-121.
Fernández-Abascal, E.G. and Díaz, M.D.M., 2013. Affective induction and creative
thinking. Creativity Research Journal, 25(2), pp.213-221.
Kampylis, P. and Berki, E., 2014. Nurturing creative thinking. Educational Practice Series (25).