How organisational culture stimulates innovation and creativity: Pixar Animation Studios case

Introduction
There are lots of definitions of organisational culture. Schein (1997, p.6), for example, defines organisational culture as the “basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic taken-for-granted fashion an organisation’s view of itself and its environment.” Organisational culture constitutes the main integral part of organisation’s functioning. According to Robbins (1996), a strong organisational culture sets shared values to ensure that all members of organisation are on the same page.
The key objective of this paper is to analyse organisational culture of Pixar Animation Studios using theoretical frameworks in context of innovation and creativity. The results of this analysis help to identify whether organisational culture of the company encourage or impede innovation and creativity.
The main body of this report is represented in three main chapters. The first chapter gives a brief background to Pixar Animation Studios and the environment in which the company operates. The second chapter provides justification and outline of theoretical frameworks for organisational culture which stimulates innovation and creativity. In third chapter the organisational culture of Pixar Animation Studios is analysed in context of collective creativity and innovation. At the end of this report conclusion is drawn which comes up with results of the analysis and recommends how to eliminate barriers that impede innovation and creativity in the organisation.

Conclusion
As a result of analysis of Pixar’s organisational culture in context of creativity and innovation it was discovered that almost all determinants of Pixar’s organisational culture including strategy, structure, support mechanisms, behaviour that encourage innovation and communication support creativity and innovation in the company. Nevertheless, due to the analysis it was also found out that there are still several barriers which discourage the development of innovative and creative processes in Pixar. These barriers are the following:
• New employees, who were hired recently, do not feel confident to speak up their opinions and communicate innovative ideas.
• Misunderstanding between specialists of different disciplines.
• Physical distance between offices.
In order to remove these barriers it can be recommended for the company, first of all, to establish special training courses. The aim of these training courses should be, on the one hand, to make newcomers confident enough to speak their mind without afraid of being penalised for that and, on the other hand, to develop one common terminology in the company which can be used by everyone for better understanding views and opinions of each other. The problem of physical distance between offices can be tackled by reconstructing existing buildings of Pixar Animation Studios or constructing new ones which can respond to the needs of collective team work and better cooperation between employees.
These recommendations can help Pixar to enhance the power of its collective creativity and innovation in order to remain competitive in animation industry by satisfying constantly increasing needs and wants of contemporary audience.