OCC Conditions Necessary to Support Creativity Discussion

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Orange Coast College

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Building on the ideas from Chapter 6, what conditions do you think are necessary to support creativity? See some of the ideas on pages 157-158 to get started.

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Creativity in Decision Making 157 THE CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR CREATIVITY Creativity is not simply a random occurrence. Well-known creativity researcher and professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, Teresa M. Amabile, summarized twenty-two years of her research about creativity in the workplace. Her findings are also supported by others. 19 Creativity takes place when three components come together: expertise, creative thinking skills, and the right type of motivation. Expertise refers to the necessary knowledge to put facts together. The more ideas float- ing around in your head, the more likely you are to combine them in some useful way, as already described. Creative thinking skills refers to how flexibly and imaginatively individuals approach problems. If you know how to keep digging for alternatives and to avoid getting stuck in the status quo, your chances of being creative multiply. Along these same lines, you are much more likely to be creative if you are intentionally seeking ideas, such as always being on the lookout for ways to save money. Persevering, or sticking with a problem to a conclusion, is essential for finding creative solutions. A few rest breaks to gain a fresh perspective may be helpful, but the creative person keeps coming back until a solution emerges. Or the creative idea might surface outside of the work setting, a as described earlier. The right type of motivation is the third essential ingredient for creative thought. A fascination with or passion for the task is much more important than searching for external rewards. Passion for the task and high intrinsic motivation contribute to a total absorption in the work and intense concentration, resulting in the flow experience. A cre- ative businessperson, such as an entrepreneur developing a plan for worldwide distribu- tion of a product, will often achieve the experience of flow. One analysis of creativity suggests that hard work and the love of the task can be at least as important as raw talent in ensuring creative success.20 In addition to the internal conditions that foster creativity, five factors outside the person are key: 1. An environmental need must stimulate the setting of a goal. This is another way of saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention.” For example, over a decade ago, independent hardware stores were faced with the challenge of large chains, such as Home Depot and Lowe's, driving them out of business. Many of these indepen- dent stores survived by forming buying alliances with each other so that they could purchase inventory in larger quantities and therefore at lower prices. The independents also emphasize doing home repairs, such as fixing ripped screens and broken windows. 2. Another condition that fosters creativity is enough conflict and tension to put people on edge. The conflicts should be about ideas, not personality conflicts and name-calling. For example, a group member should be given time to defend his or her work, and then the ideas should be sharply criticized by the other group members. 21 3. Another external factor for creativity is encouragement, including a permissive atmosphere that welcomes new ideas. A manager or team leader who encourages imagination and original thinking and does not punish people for making honest mistakes is likely to receive creative ideas from people. W.L. Gore is often cited among the world's most innovative companies. You may be familiar with their waterproof fabrics and guitar strings. The cornerstone of Gore's innovative culture has been a permissive atmosphere.22 4. Humor is a key environmental condition for enhancing creativity. Humor has always been linked to creativity. Humor gets the creative juices flowing, and effective humor requires creativity. Thomas Edison started every workday with a joke- telling session. Mike Vance, chair of the Creative Thinking Association of America, says, “Humor is unmasking the hypocritical. What makes us laugh often is seeing 158 Chapter 6 Problem Solving and Creativity how things are screwed up—then sometimes seeing how we can fix them. Whenever I go into a company and don't hear much laughter, I know it's not a creative place."23 5. A positive mood often contributes to creativity. Many people are at their creative problem- solving best, when in a good mood, but the relationship between mood and creativity is not so clear-cut. A study of over 200 employees in three high-tech industries found that a positive mood contributed to creativity.24 A more recent study of the relation- ship between creativity and mood was conducted with Australian students working on their doctoral theses. It was found that a positive mood had the strongest link with creativity when students have the goal of competing favorably with others, and supervisory support is strong.25 Despite the theme of permissiveness in several of the conditions for enhancing cre- ativity, constraints also have their place. Individuals or teams with budget constraints and time constraints sometimes find that these constraints help them rise to the occasion. Marissa Ann Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, contends that constraints can actually speed product development. The people at Google often get a sense of just how good a new concept is if they simply prototype it (try it out) for a single day or week. Another constraint would be limiting team size to two or three people.? 26
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View attached explanation and answer. Let me know if you have any questions.Salaam brother Abdullah. Here is your discussion post. It is over 200 words so it is a nice hefty paragraph. I have also included a couple of references in APA format. It is free of plagiarism so you are fine there too. Please let me know if you have any other questions or issues and I will get back to you as soon as possible. All revisions and corrections are free, brother. Just let me know. Hope we can work together ...


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