This has been a debate that has raged in the workplace for so long. From experience, many workplaces today are shifting toward a results-oriented approach to working. The I-don’t-care-how-you-do-it-just-do-it mentality is amazingly (alarmingly?) becoming the fad. It’s supposed to support worker creativity.

While I, myself, enjoy such an approach to working as a worker, I try to think about it in the perspective of management or the higher-ups. Definitely, it would be these guys who would want to get the most of the money that the company is spending on wages.

Policies can be restricting, especially if the nature of the work is more on the creative side. Too much emphasis on process tends to put everyone in a box. This is fatal if you want out-of-the-box ideas. You can’t just breed movers and shakers if you entomb them in rigid policies. Step-by-step procedures can be quite too linear. Genius often comes from lateral approaches. Ever taken up lateral thinking conundrums?

Creative people like writers and artists like to have free reign over their work and many express that corporate policies restrict, if not, choke, their creativity. This, inevitable leads to lower productivity. However, the danger to free reign is that it can lead to abuse. Let’s face it, not all workers are golden apples. Occasionally, you’d get a rotten one or two who’d slack off. They’d spend the day surfing for porn or chatting. Even if you get rid of these people, chances are, you’d still get these type of workers in the future.

So what’s the solution? I won’t go as far as defining the solution, but here’s an idea. If your firm emphasizes more on process, then why not consider outsourcing creative work? That is, if your company cannot afford concessions to give separate policies to your different departments.

Then, I think it’s more efficient for companies to outsource creative work rather than having a full team on-board. Imagine the cost of keeping people in an 9 to 5 schedule while they would only work in spurts, coinciding to those moments that they’re “in the zone.”

I’ve also observed that the rise of smaller firms is because of this. It can be tough to manage corporate stiffies with creative people. I personally had the experience of the constant clashes between sales and marketing and research and development people. Stiffies would like the office to be real pristine and business-like. Creative people would like it to be messy and expressive. Even if you provide designated office spaces for these people, the effect can be psychological.

Some advertising agencies have done away with their creative teams and opt to just outsource the creative work to a creative firm. This way, there’s no restriction to the environment.

Then again, it may also be worthwhile to experiment on achieving the optimal balance of both. Take Google for instance. A lot of engineers and programmers would kill to work in the Googleplex. Engineers and programmers definitely need creativity. It’s the quest for that next flash of brilliance that keeps them motivated. And I think Google’s the great model for such balance.

Still, for smaller firms, it’s really tough to manage such things.Think of outsourcing as streamlining your company. Management of creative people would then be one less headache for you. And you can now focus more on ideas on making money. Besides, it can really be more economical. There are a lot of dependable freelancers out there who can deliver on your company’s demands.