Kimberly S. Hester

Creativity in Organizations: Importance and Approaches

Publisher Summary It is granted that creativity and innovation are critical to the growth and performance of organizations. The intuitive conception of creativity holds that it involves the production of new ideas. Creativity is not simply a matter of idea production—although this may be an important influence on creativity. Rather, creativity is defined as the production of high quality, original, and elegant solutions to problems. To capitalize on creativity and innovation organizations, one must bear in mind three key considerations. First, creativity and innovation are highly complex phenomena at any given level of analysis. Second, multiple phenomena exist at the individual, group, and organizational levels. Third, the phenomena that operate at one level are not necessarily well integrated, or consistent with, those operating at other levels. Complexity, multiple levels, and inconsistencies in effects across levels present all organizations with a challenge in their attempts to encourage creativity and innovation.

Mental Models and Creative Problem-Solving: The Relationship of Objective and Subjective Model Attributes

Knowledge, or expertise, has been held to contribute to creative problem-solving. In this effort, the relationship of one form of knowledge, mental models, to creative problem-solving was assessed. Undergraduates were asked to solve either a marketing or an education problem calling for creative thought. Prior to generating solutions to these problems, the mental models used by undergraduates to understand problems in these domains were assessed in terms of their objective and subjective features. It was found that both objective and subjective features of peoples mental models were related to the quality, originality, and elegance of problem solutions. The implications of these findings for understanding the role of mental models in creative problem-solving are discussed.

Errors and Understanding: The Effects of Error-Management Training on Creative Problem-Solving

People make errors in their creative problem-solving efforts. The intent of this article was to assess whether error-management training would improve performance on creative problem-solving tasks. Undergraduates were asked to solve an educational leadership problem known to call for creative thought where problem solutions were scored for quality, originality, and elegance. Prior to beginning work on their problem solutions, participants were provided with training in 0 to 4 error-management strategies. It was found that error-management training was beneficial for talented people (as indicated by scores on the pretraining exercise) resulting in solutions of greater originality. The implications of these findings for improving performance on creative problem-solving tasks are discussed.

Causal Analysis to Enhance Creative Problem-Solving: Performance and Effects on Mental Models

In recent years, it has become apparent that knowledge is a critical component of creative thought. One form of knowledge that might be particularly important to creative thought relies on the mental models people employ to understand novel, ill-defined problems. In this study, undergraduates were given training in the use of causal relationships in applying mental models in creative problem-solving. A pre-post design was used to assess the effects of this training on mental models and creative problem-solving. It was found that causal analysis training resulted in the acquisition of better mental models (in terms of subjective and objective attributes) and better solutions (in terms of quality, originality, and elegance) to problems calling for creative thought among high-ability participants. The implications of these findings for understanding the role of mental models in creative problem-solving are discussed.

Thinking About Applications: Effects on Mental Models and Creative Problem-Solving

Many techniques have been used to train creative problem-solving skills. Although the available techniques have often proven to be effective, creative training often discounts the value of thinking about applications. In this study, 248 undergraduates were asked to develop advertising campaigns for a new high-energy soft drink. Solutions to this problem were evaluated for quality, originality, and elegance. Prior to preparing these advertising campaigns, participants were provided with training in strategies for thinking about the potential applications of creative problem-solutions. It was found that training people to think about the uses of ideas and preparation for idea implementation contributed to the acquisition of stronger mental models and production of advertising campaigns evidencing greater quality, originality, and elegance. The implications of these findings for creative though and creative education are discussed.

Online Ideology: A Comparison of Website Communication and Media Use

This study examined and compared the websites of ideological groups from a communications and media use perspective. Thirty-six websites with message boards categorized as either violent ideological, nonviolent ideological, or nonviolent nonideological were content coded for several distinguishing characteristics. The results indicated that group type was predicted by the type of information presented, the difficulty of becoming a member, and the amount of freedom members had on discussion boards. These findings suggest that characteristics of violent ideological group websites can be used to distinguish them from websites of both nonviolent ideological and nonideological groups. This study also provides a demonstration of a research methodology that can be used to naturally observe ideological groups via an online setting.

Teaching People to Manage Constraints: Effects on Creative Problem-Solving

Constraints often inhibit creative problem-solving. This study examined the impact of training strategies for managing constraints on creative problem-solving. Undergraduates, 218 in all, were asked to work through 1 to 4 self-paced instructional programs focused on constraint management strategies. The quality, originality, and elegance of solutions to social innovation problems were assessed. It was found that providing training in managing resource constraints was generally valuable. For talented individuals, providing training in managing user skill constraints also proved valuable. The implications of these findings for training intended to improve creative thinking are discussed.

Methods in Creativity Research: Multiple Approaches, Multiple Levels

Publisher Summary This chapter covers the methods employed in studies of creativity and innovation. Creative products represent the production of viable, original solutions to problems that call for, or permit, creativity. When creativity is viewed as a product, albeit an intellectual one, arising in response to certain types of problems, the key methodological concern in studies of creativity becomes apparent. Of these characteristics of creative problems, the concept of ill definition has, perhaps, received the most attention. For ill-defined problems, no one solution will suffice. Rather multiple different, albeit potentially viable, solutions may be generated. In fact, recognition of this point led to the development of divergent thinking tests. Ill-definition, however, is not simply a matter of multiple potential, equally viable, solutions being possible. Ill-defined problems allow the problem to be construed, or understood, in different ways. Thus, an organizational purchase problem may be understood in terms of enhancing financial viability, increasing absorptive capacity, or amortizing risks. These alternative ways of framing, or approaching, the problem allow for the generation of multiple potential responses. Similarly, exactly what constitutes a viable solution may not be apparent.

Scientific Creativity: Idealism versus Pragmatism.

Abstract The need for creativity in the sciences has, from time to time, been questioned. Thus, Ghassib’s (2010) argument that creativity is critical to performance in the sciences, and hence organizational effectiveness in a knowledge production economy, is important. Moreover, the proposition that scientific creativity is based on knowledge and conceptual combination is well founded. Nonetheless, the description of creativity in organizational settings provided is, ultimately, an idealistic image. The idealism leads to problems with regard to the assumptions made about (1) who does creative work; (2) the kinds of knowledge involved in creative work; (3) the processing operations people apply in working with this knowledge; and (4) the importance of the organizational setting in which this work occurs. The implications of these observations for preparing people for creative work in organizations are discussed.

Creativity in organizations : conclusions

Publisher Summary This chapter provides concluding remarks for this book. It identifies some significant factors that contribute to creativity in organizations. It focuses on importance of creativity and innovation to real-world organizations. Globalization is occurring, changes in technology are now commonplace, market competition is increasing, and economic volatility has also become more of a concern. This then leads to the point that organizations must tap into their creative potential or risk dying. Thus creativity may hold more importance to organizations now than in the past, and more in the future than in current times. It is important to consider creativity and innovation on this larger scale, with organizations providing a viable starting point. There are some limitations in the book. It fails to include economic factors, corporate willingness to invest, and a fields readiness for innovation.