Creativity is a manner in which individual decision-making styles differ. Individual creativity requires three characteristics: expertise, creative-thinking skill, and a sense that a task is something one enjoys doing. And Creative-thinking skill includes two basic capabilities: divergent-thinking ability and insight.
To design, say, a marketable new toothbrush, you (or your team) must know a great deal about how people use toothbrushes and how manufacturers make them, be able to imagine a new design and the market for it, and be confident enough to sell your project to corporate higher-ups. Mike Lazaridis invented the Blackberry late one night in 1997, while sitting in his basement. He suddenly had the insight that a tiny keyboard could be more efficient than a large one, if people use their thumbs. Before this, people had ridiculed the idea of such a tiny keyboard. But Lazaridis had been an inventor and scientist since childhood, and he had in mind that combining computers with wireless technology should be useful. Also, he had a way to persevere: He had already founded a company called Research in Motion to develop new ideas.
As a manager, you can enhance creativity in teams by hiring creative individuals by assigning people to tasks they are interested in, by training your team to make effective decisions, and by creating a culture supporting innovation.
You will reduce creativity if you:
- Closely supervise the decision-making process,
- Set constraints on how the work will be done,
- Foster competition among the creators,
- Focus on how the product will be evaluated, and
- Emphasize extrinsic rewards.
- To get some idea about how creative you are personally, take this short self-profile test.
In each pair, circle the description that fits you best:
1. a. I prefer to approach routine tasks in short bursts.
b. I am known for being able to pursue routine tasks over long periods of time.
2. a. I enjoy doing tasks that require a high level of accuracy.
b. If a task requires a high level of accuracy, I prefer to delegate it to someone else.
3. a. I am quite sensitive to people.
b. I am not particularly sensitive to people.
4. a. People who know me well see me as not particularly disciplined.
b. People who know me well see me as methodical.
5. a. I often challenge rules.
b. I seldom challenge rules.
6. a. I approach tasks from unsuspected angles.
b. I approach tasks systematically.
7. a. I am interested in careers such as accounting, electrical engineering, logistics management,
police work, pharmacy, and dentistry.
b. I am interested in careers such as sales, journalism, public relations, human resources management,
and advertising account management.
8. a. I get passionately involved in tasks that interest me.
b. I seldom get passionately involved in tasks.
9. a. When working in groups, I am seen as a nonconformist.
b. When working in groups, I am seen as a team player.
10. a. When solving problems, I doubt myself a lot.
b. When solving problems, I am sure of myself.
11. a. I am quite traditional as a person.
b. I am a non-traditional person.
12. a. I enjoy doing many different activities during the day.
b. I enjoy working on one activity for a significant part of the day.
13. a. I enjoy working under time pressure.
b. I dislike working under deadlines.
14. a. I enjoy collaborating with others on projects.
b. I enjoy working by myself on projects.
Scoring:
Indicators of creativity are:
1-a, 2-b, 3-b, 4-a, 5-a, 6-a, 7-b, 8-a, 9-a,10-b,11-b, 12-b, 13-b, 14-b.
For each of these answers, give yourself one point. Add up the points. The higher your score, the more likely you are to use creativity in decision making. An average score is 6.1 (based on a sample of 53 undergraduate business students enrolled in organizational behavior classes).
The test is based upon a variety of sources that describe creative people.
- Excerpted and condensed from “Decision Making”
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