**Workshop 9 - Creativity and innovation

Question 1

What is creativity?

Answer 1

The development of novel ideas that are useful

Question 2

What is innovation?

Answer 2

The implementation of creative ideas

Question 3

What is a rigid thinker?

Answer 3

Thinking is linked to language and confined by rules

Question 4

What is a fluid thinker?

Answer 4

Thinking has expansive interpretations and challenges status quo

Question 5

What is a creative thinker?

Answer 5

Thinking breaks all boundaries and separates divergent from convergent

Question 6

What is divergent thinking?

Answer 6

The ability to generate a wide variety of ideas and consider alternative solutions

Question 7

What are the 4 types of divergent thinking?

Answer 7

Fluency: to generate a large number of ideas
Flexibility: to generate ideas in a wide variety of categories
Originality: to generate unique ideas
Elaboration: to develop abstract ideas

Question 8

What is convergent thinking?

Answer 8

The ability to find “one right way” to solve a problem

Question 9

What are some barriers to creativity?

Answer 9

People: 
- resistance to using imagination
- unwilling to consider other viewpoints
- fear of failure
Process:
- problem solving processes that inhibit creativity
- seeing the problem accurately
Environment:
- fixed ways of thinking in a team/group/organisation

Question 10

How can diversity help creativity?

Answer 10

• Bring innovative perspectives to problem solving
• produce higher quality solutions
• address stagnant work systems

Question 11

How can diversity harm creativity?

Answer 11

• Social identity theory where people classify themselves into social categories can cause members to be hesitant to share ideas openly
• lower levels of satisfaction towards other members as judgements are made

Question 12

How can conflict affect creativity?

Answer 12

• Interactionist view - small level of conflict can encourage creative thinking
• Too much conflict = creative thinking is shut down
• Relationship conflict = attention directed towards personal problems so do not utilise creative thinking
• Task conflict = creative thinking will be used to address task-relevant conflicts

Question 13

What are the stages of group brain storming?

Answer 13

1) share as many ideas as possible regardless of quality
2) withhold criticisms to minimise fear
3) welcome freewheeling to encourage unique ideas
4) combine ideas from others, consider what they have suggested and build on to improve

Question 14

What is production blocking?

Answer 14

While one person is sharing ideas, others have to wait (waiting period may cause a loss of ideas)

Question 15

What is cognitive load?

Answer 15

While attending to others ideas, a member also attempts to generate own ideas at the same time (ideas may not be of high quality)

Question 16

What is loafing?

Answer 16

Members may become less motivated when their inputs are combined with others (the difficulty in determining individual contributions)

Question 17

What is free riding?

Answer 17

People may participate less as high performance levels of others make their inputs appear to be unnecessary

Question 18

What is brain writing?

Answer 18

The technique developed to create a more productive brainstorming session which involves and individual idea generation session, then ideas are passed along to the next member