Tacking Amid Tensions: Using Oscillation to Enable Creativity in Diverse Teams

2020 ◽  
pp. 002188632096024
Author(s):  
Sam R. Wilson ◽  
William C. Barley ◽  
Luisa Ruge-Jones ◽  
Marshall Scott Poole
Keyword(s):  
Divergent Thinking ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Oscillatory Process ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Dialectical Tensions ◽  
Creative Idea ◽  
Interdisciplinary Teamwork ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Communication Challenges

Diverse teams may potentiate greater creativity through divergent thinking. Yet research suggests these teams face a dilemma: the very features that make them promising are associated with persistent communication challenges that threaten their effectiveness. We turn to the literature on dialectical tensions to argue that a process of oscillation, consisting of repeated alternation between moments of divergence, emphasizing the differentiation of perspectives, and moments of convergence, emphasizing integrating ideas to produce coordination, may mobilize the tension between differentiation and integration effectively. We explore the utility of our framework by applying it to the experiences of a diverse cohort of researchers who engaged in a purposefully designed oscillatory process to generate research projects related to climate resilience. Our multimethod evaluation of this case indicates that oscillation was effective for creative idea generation. This work contributes to both practice and scholarship in interdisciplinary teamwork support, creativity, and organizations.

Three driven approaches to combinational creativity: Problem-, similarity- and inspiration-driven

2017 ◽  
Vol 233 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Han ◽  
Dongmyung Park ◽  
Feng Shi ◽  
Liuqing Chen ◽  
Min Hua ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Creative Design ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Crucial Element ◽  
Creative Idea ◽  
Process Strategy ◽  
Design Ideas

Creativity is a crucial element of design. The aim of this study is to investigate the driving forces behind combinational creativity. We propose three driven approaches to combinational creativity, problem-, similarity- and inspiration-driven, based on previous research projects on design process, strategy and cognition. A case study involving hundreds of practical products selected from winners of international design competitions has been conducted to evaluate the three approaches proposed. The results support the three driven approaches and indicate that they can be used independently as well as complementarily. The three approaches proposed in this study have provided an understanding of how combinational creativity functions in design. The approaches could be used as a set of creative idea generation methods for supporting designers in producing creative design ideas.

Dreamlike and Playful Virtual Environments to Inspire Children’s Divergent Thinking

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Jérôme Guegan ◽  
Claire Brechet ◽  
Julien Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Divergent Thinking ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Combined Processes ◽  
Office Environment ◽  
School Aged Children

Abstract. Computers have long been seen as possible tools to foster creativity in children. In this respect, virtual environments present an interesting potential to support idea generation but also to steer it in relevant directions. A total of 96 school-aged children completed a standard divergent thinking task while being exposed to one of three virtual environments: a replica of the headmistress’s office, a replica of their schoolyard, and a dreamlike environment. Results showed that participants produced more original ideas in the dreamlike and playful environments than in the headmistress’s office environment. Additionally, the contents of the environment influenced the selective exploration of idea categories. We discuss these results in terms of two combined processes: explicit references to sources of inspiration in the environment, and the implicit priming of specific idea categories.

Design Ideation Through Speculative Fiction: Foundational Principles and Exploratory Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maulik C. Kotecha ◽  
Ting-Ju Chen ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams ◽  
Vinayak Krishnamurthy
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Divergent Thinking ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Speculative Fiction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Practical Case ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Design Ideation

Abstract The objective of this study is to position speculative fiction as a broader framework to stimulate, facilitate, and study engineering design ideation. For this, we first present a comprehensive and detailed review of the literature on how fiction, especially science fiction, has played a role in design and decision-making. To further strengthen the need for speculative fiction for idea stimulation, we further prototype and study a prototype workflow that utilizes excerpts from speculative fiction books as textual stimuli for design ideation. Through a qualitative study of this workflow, we gain insights into the effect of textual stimuli from science fiction narratives on design concepts. Our study reveals that the texts consisting of the terms from the design statement or closely related to the problem boost the idea generation process. We further discover that less directly related stimuli may encourage out-of-the-box and divergent thinking. Using the insights gained from our study, we pose critical questions to initiate speculative fiction-based design ideation as a new research direction in engineering design. Subsequently, we discuss current research directions and domains necessary to take the technical, technological, and methodological steps needed for future research on design methodologies based on speculative fictional inspiration. Finally, we present a practical case to demonstrate how an engineering design workflow could be operationalized by investigating a concrete example of the design of automotive user interfaces (automotive-UI) through the lens of speculative fiction.

From Creative Ideas Generation to Real World Solutions

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-48
Author(s):  
François Rousselot ◽  
Cecilia Zanni-Merk ◽  
Françoi de Bertrand de Beuvron
Keyword(s):  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Main Interest ◽  
Creative Idea ◽  
The Past ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Future State ◽  
Technical Systems ◽  
Dialectical Analysis

The first stages of the creative inventive process are devoted to choosing the problem and redefining its conditions. Most of the time, the original statement of the problem is imprecise, and occasionally even incorrect. This is why it is necessary to have mechanisms to help structure the creative thinking of a set of experts during their analysis of the problem, by providing them a knowledge-based framework. This article presents the first stages of IDM (Inventive Design Methodology). IDM is a set of methodological tools whose main interest is the evolution of technical systems. The methodology proposes a dialectical analysis of the technical system, which focuses on the past, present, and future state of the artifacts, and the most likely transitions between them. This analysis also identifies the influences (positive or negative) that the changes done to certain elements in the system may have on other elements of the system. The use of these methodological tools provides the needed structuring framework to the experts’ creative idea generation.

Anonymity-Featured Group Support Systems and Creativity

2011 ◽  
pp. 74-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther E. Klein
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Group Support Systems ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
Group Support ◽  
Task Constraints ◽  
Creative Idea ◽  
Central Concern ◽  
Independent Thinking

Until recently, creativity has been a neglected research topic (Steinberg & Lubart, 1999), although it is a central concern for schools and universities. Steinberg and Lubart have defined creativity as “the ability to produce work that is both novel (i.e., original, unexpected) and appropriate (i.e., useful, adaptive concerning task constraints)” (p. 3). Teachers in classrooms challenge students to generate creative ideas so as to foster independent thinking. This article aims to investigate normative influence as a barrier to creative idea generation that is present in the classroom and to propose information technology (IT)-based solutions to remove these barriers. Specifically, the article considers the influence of group support systems (GSS) on creativity within the classroom, reviews the pertinent literature, and suggests relationships between the use of GSS and creative idea generation.

Conflicts and creative idea endorsement

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 637-656
Author(s):  
Ahmad Adeel ◽  
Zhang Pengcheng ◽  
Farida Saleem ◽  
Rizwan Ali ◽  
Samreen Batool
Keyword(s):  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Relationship Conflict ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Skills ◽  
Creative Idea ◽  
Relationship Conflicts

Purpose This paper aims to investigate relationship conflicts and creative idea endorsement to develop the understanding of managerial reactions towards ideas of those who develop relationship conflicts with managers/supervisors at work. Taking a contingency perspective, the authors also investigated role subordinates’ political skills and implementation instrumentality play in determining supervisors’ endorsement of subordinates’ creative ideas. Design/methodology/approach The authors used two sources of data collected from 243 subordinates and their respective 41 supervisors of a multinational software company operating in an emerging economy (Pakistan) and analyzed the hypothesized model with Mplus using random coefficient modeling. Findings With this research, the authors contributed to management literature by investigating how the effects of relationship conflicts on creative idea endorsement depend on subordinates’ political skills and implementation instrumentality. They postulate a negative relationship between relationship conflict and creative ideas endorsement and predict that this negative relationship is augmented by subordinates’ implementation instrumentality but attenuated by subordinates’ political skills. They also give directions to decision makers in organizations that they must inform the managers/supervisors about negative effects of their relationship conflict with their subordinates and train supervisors and subordinates about reducing their relationship conflicts with each other for mutual benefits. Originality/value Organizations should take a relationship perspective when creating an environment for creativity: an environment based on mutual trust and respect so that exchange relationships can foster. With this research, the authors extended the list of potential detriment associated with relationship conflicts, that is the endorsement of creative ideas by supervisors. The authors also extended creativity literature by investigating social relationships for selection-focused creativity (idea endorsement) instead of variance-focused creativity (idea generation).

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