Week 5: Creativity & Innovation

Question 1

Creativity

Answer 1

generating novel and useful ideas directed to organizational problems

Question 2

Innovation

Answer 2

adopting and implementing creative ideas in order to develop new products, services or methods of production

Product innovation: new product or service
Process innovation: new methods of generating products or services

Question 3

Factors that shape creativity

Answer 3

Creative thinking skills
Tendency to challenge the status quo
“The Weird Rules of Creativity”
Domain expertise
Intrinsic motivation
Incubation
Necessity

Question 4

First perspective

Answer 4

Expertise fosters creativity
Experts know what has already been accomplished
Avoid wasted labor of rediscovery
Experts possess the requisite knowledge and skills to make new contributions
More “raw materials” to combine

Question 5

Second perspective

Answer 5

Expertise hinders creativity
Experts can become rigid or inflexible in how they solve problems
Cognitive entrenchment
“Blinded by preconceptions” (“The Weird Rules of Creativity,” p. 99)

Question 6

Functional Fixedness

Answer 6

type of cognitive bias that involves a tendency to see objects as only working in a particular way.

Ex: Candle problem – mount a candle to the wall. People forget to use the box to keep wax drippings.

Question 7

Incrementally creative ideas

Answer 7

consist of relatively minor “modifications to existing practices and products” (Madjar et al., 2011: 731)
Common and generally acceptable

Question 8

Radically creative ideas

Answer 8

“differ substantially from an organization’s existing practices” (Madjar et al., 2011: 731)
Rare and oftentimes controversial

Ex: Fosbury Flop – new position to vault

Question 9

Motivation + Creativity:

Intrinsic motivation is influenced by a variety of factors including:

Answer 9

Job characteristics
Rewards: Are monetary rewards being paid for creativity? In some cases, this can undermine intrinsic motivation. (Baer, Oldham, & Cummings, 2003)
Work versus play: Is the activity described as “work” or as an opportunity to have fun? (Glynn, 1994)

Question 10

Incubation

Answer 10

Incubation involves instances in which creative ideas or solutions arise after diverting attention away from a problem

Question 11

Assumption breaking

Answer 11

Return to problem with a new mental frame

Ex: Sleep on it, go for a walk

Question 12

Nonconscious thought (System 1 processing)

Answer 12

Associative, divergent thinking

Ex: do not engage in system 2 thinking - engage system 1 and come back to problem

Question 13

Improvisation

Answer 13

the spontaneous and creative process of attempting to achieve an objective in a new way (Vera & Crossan, 2004: 733)

Question 14

How to Be More Creative . . .

Answer 14

Participate in multiple work domains and hobbies
Approach a problem in a different way
How would people in other occupations think about the problem?
Exchange ideas with others or work with a team
Brainstorming . . . individually! (“How to Build a Culture of Originality”)