In the Chapter on The Family Support Shamrock I described many factors in organisations (and individuals) that would inhibit creativity.
Let us recap here and expand a little.
Creativity is inhibited by fear, and inward looking, conservative attitudes.
Generally speaking, knee jerk reactions will not be creative when trying to find solutions to seemingly impossible situations, and indeed may feed into harmful prejudices that people may already have.
I believe that organisations can often find a reason why not to do something quicker than they find a reason to do it, particularly if it is something new, that is not tried and tested, or that comes from an idea put forward by the person who comes looking for help rather than the higher echelons of the organisation.
This is partly due to a lack of understanding of the role of creativity in the process of growth, as well as a reluctance in the organisation to encourage spontaneity (perhaps, in case, something goes wrong).
It can also, of course, be due to the higher ranking person feeling threatened by a bottom up idea because they fear that it will, in some way, undermine them.
Largeness (size) which I discuss in the Chapter on Organisational Matters also seems to have a negative impact on creativity.