Reflective paper 1 1200 word (+/- 10%), excludes reference list
Mohanad_talal
Week3-Lectureslides-13.pptxCreativity, Innovation & Design
Week 3: Factors affecting creativity in individuals and teams
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In this lecture we will explore:
Techniques of idea generation
Factors that promote creativity in employees
What is a team?
Tuckman’s stages of team formation
Creativity in teams
Creative leadership
What is creative conflict and why is it important
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Creativity refers to
‘the production of novel and useful ideas in any domain’ (Amabile et al. 1996, p. 1155)
A prerequisite for creativity is the ability to generate new and unusual ideas
Image source: https://businessesgrow.com/2018/01/30/increase-creativity/
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To generate new and unusual ideas you must ……
Be curious – Curiosity may have killed the cat but for creatives it is a lifeline to idea generation
Unleash your imagination – Develop the ability to create vivid images in your mind not immediately present to the senses or never before perceived in reality
Develop ‘lateral thinking’ – Use indirect and creative approaches to solve a problem by viewing the problem in a new and unusual light
Be willing to ‘unlearn’ – Be willing to go beyond learned assumptions
Take risks – Don’t be afraid to take risks with new ideas/news ways of thinking
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When faced with a challenge ….
Memories
Ordinary ideas
Unusual ideas
CREATIVITY
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Techniques for generating ideas
Brainstorming: The process of generating new and unusual ideas/solutions by engaging in freewheeling group discussion
Set a time limit
Refrain from judgment/criticism
Encourage weird and wacky ideas
Aim for quantity
Build on others’ ideas
Stay visual
Allow one conversation at a time
Image source: https://www.shopify.com/partners/blog/brainstorming-process
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Techniques for generating ideas
Mind mapping: A graphical representation of ideas and concepts
https://www.mindmapping.com/mind-map.php
Brainstorming With Mind Maps in a Group
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0lEj2d-ipE
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Techniques for generating ideas
Reframing problems: 5 + 5 = ? vs ? + ? = 10
Challenge assumptions: Taking our ingrained assumptions about life/work and consciously challenging them to come up with new ways of thinking
Combine and Connect: Taking dissimilar ideas/products and combining/connecting them in new and meaningful ways
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Factors that facilitate creativity in employees
The Componential Theory of Individual Creativity (Amabile 1997)
Expertise: Memory for factual knowledge, technical proficiency and special talents in a specific domain
Creative thinking skills: The ability to take on new perspectives on a given problem
Intrinsic task motivation: Motivation driven by deep interest and involvement in the work, by curiosity and/or a personal sense of challenge
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The role of positive emotions in individual creativity
Emotions are affective responses to what happens in the environment
Emotions can be positive (e.g., happiness, love, interest) or negative (e.g., anger, sadness, anxiety) depending on how a person evaluates stimuli
Broaden & Build Theory (Fredrickson 2001) – Positive emotions broadens peoples thoughts/action repertoire and builds lasting personal resources
Positive emotions facilitate creative idea generation in individuals
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What is a team?
‘A team is a small group of people with complementary skills, who work together to accomplish shared goals while holding themselves mutually accountable for performance results’
(Robbins et al. 2015)
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Tuckman’s stages of team formation
Forming: The first stage in which people join the team and then define the team’s purpose, structure and leadership
Storming: The second stage is characterised by intra-team conflict
Norming: The third stage is characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness
Performing: The fourth stage where the team is fully functional
Adjourning: The final stage for a temporary team when they start to wrap up activities.
(Robbins et al. 2015)
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Factors that facilitate creativity in teams
Team diversity – the differences between team members in terms of age, gender, experience, expertise etc.
Team supportive culture – a team culture characterized by applauding members’ creative ideas, providing support and understanding during failures and generally showing appreciation for the team’s creative efforts
Creative leadership – team leadership that supports and promotes creativity and creative problem solving
Creative task conflict – disagreements among team members in relation to different ideas and viewpoints on solving a particular problem
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Who are creative leaders?
Has a creative vision and effectively communicates this vision to the team
Enables and encourages creative ideas
Uses inspirational stories and storytelling to motivate
Manages diversity towards creative problem solving
Creates a culture of tolerance for failure and mistakes
Arbitrates creative conflict
How Apple’s success can be traced to Steve Jobs
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/13/how-apples-success-can-be-traced-to-steve-jobs.html
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Creative conflict
Conflict or disagreements in viewpoints/relationships can occur in any context where two or more people need to collaborate on a common issue/problem
Task conflict: disagreements in ideas/opinions/viewpoints between two or more members of a team on how the team should perform a task or solve a problem
Relational conflict: interpersonal disagreements and clashes amongst team members
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Summary
Creativity involves the generation of new and useful ideas. Idea generation is therefore central to all creative activities
Individuals can use the techniques of brainstorming, mind mapping, reframing problems and challenging assumptions to build up their ability to generate new and unusual ideas
According to the Componential Theory of Individual Creativity, expertise in a given domain, creative thinking skills and intrinsic task motivation facilitate creativity within individuals
According to Tuckman, team formation and functioning involve a number stages that teams must effectively go through
Team diversity, team supportive culture, creative leadership and creative conflict help teams to engage in creativity
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References
Amabile, TM 1997, ‘Motivating creativity in organizations: Doing what you love and loving what you do’, California Management Review, vo. 40, no. 1, pp. 39-58.
Beghetto, RA & Kaufman, JC 2007, ‘Towards a broader conception of creativity: A case for “mini-c” creativity’, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 73-79.
Fredrickson BL 2001, ‘The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build
theory of positive emotions’, American Psychologist, vol. 56, no.3, pp. 218–226.
Hennessey, BA & Amabile, TM 2010, ‘Creativity’, Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 61, pp. 569-598.
Hughes, DJ, Lee, A, Tian, AW, Newman, A & Legood, A 2018. “Leadership, creativity, and innovation: A critical review and practical recommendations”, The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 5, pp.549–569.
Interaction Design Foundation n.d, Brainstorming, Interaction Design Foundation, viewed 1 March 2019 , https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/brainstorming
Robbins, S, Bergman, R, Stagg, I & Coulter, M 2015, Management, Pearson, Australia.
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