Synopses & Reviews
Creativity often leads to the development of original ideas that are useful or influential, and maintaining creativity is crucial for the continued development of organizations in particular and society in general. Most research and writing has focused on individual creativity. Yet, in recent years there has been an increasing acknowledgment of the importance of the social and contextual factors in creativity. Even with the information explosion and the growing necessity for specialization, the development of innovations still requires group interaction at various stages in the creative process. Most organizations increasingly rely on the work of creative teams where each individual is an expert in a particular area. This volume summarizes the exciting new research developments on the processes involved in group creativity and innovation, and explores the relationship between group processes, group context, and creativity. It draws from a broad range of research perspectives, including those investigating cognition, groups, creativity, information systems, and organizational psychology. These different perspectives have been brought together in one volume in order to focus attention on this developing literature and its implications for theory and application.
The chapters in this volume are organized into two sections. The first focuses on how group decision making is affected by factors such as cognitive fixation and flexibility, group diversity, minority dissent, group decision-making, brainstorming, and group support systems. Special attention is devoted to the various processes and conditions that can inhibit or facilitate group creativity. The second section explores how various contextual and environmental factors affect the creative processes of groups. The chapters explore issues of group autonomy, group socialization, mentoring, team innovation, knowledge transfer, and creativity at the level of cultures and societies. The research presented in this section makes it clear that a full understanding of group creativity cannot be accomplished without adequate attention to the group environment. It will be a useful source of information for scholars, practitioners, and students wishing to understand and facilitate group creativity.
Synopsis
Creativity often involves the development of original ideas that are useful or influential. Most research and writing on creativity has focused on individual creativity. However, with the information explosion and growing necessity of specialization, the development of innovations will increasingly require group interaction at some stage of the process. Most organizations and much of the scientific process now rely on work of teams with diverse skills and knowledge. Fortunately, in recent years there has been an increasing acknowledgement of the importance of social and contextual factors in creativity. Group Creativity summarizes the exciting new developments in the research on the processes involved in group or team creativity and innovation. This volume draws from a broad range of perspectives, such as cognition, groups, creativity, information systems, and organizational psychology. These different perspectives have been brought together in one volume in order to focus attention on this developing literature and its implication for theory and application. The chapters of this volume are organized into two sections. The first section deals with group processes in creative groups, and considers issues of cognitive fixation and flexibility, group diversity, minority dissent, group decision-making, brainstorming, and group support systems. Special attention is devoted to the various processes that inhibit or facilitate group creativity. Although much research on group processes has demonstrated that groups often fail to meet their productivity or problem solving potential, recent studies have highlighted conditions and processes related to effective functioning of teams or groups that work on creative tasks. The second section deals with the impact of various contextual or environmental factors on the creative group process. The chapters deal with issues of group autonomy, group socialization, mentoring, team innovation, knowledge
Table of Contents
1. Group creativity: An introduction,
Paul B. Paulus and Bernard A. NijstadPart 1: Group process and creativity
2. The constraining effects of initial ideas, Steven M. Smith
3. Diversity and creativity in work groups: A dynamic perspective on the affective and cognitive processes that link diversity and performance, Frances J. Milliken, Caroline A. Bartel, and Terri R. Kurtzberg
4. Better than individuals? The potential benefits of dissent and diversity for group creativity, Charlan J. Nemeth and Brendan Nemeth-Brown
5. Group creativity and collective choice, Garold Stasser and Zachary Birchmeier
6. Ideational creativity in groups: Lessons from research on brainstorming, Paul B. Paulus and Vincent R. Brown
7. Cognitive stimulation and interference in idea generating groups, Bernard A. Nijstad, Michael Diehl, and Wolfgang Stroebe
8. Electronic brainstorming: Theory, research, and future directions, Alan R. Dennis and Mike L. Williams
Part 2: Group creativity in context
9. Is the social psychology of creativity really social? Moving beyond a focus on the individual, Beth A. Hennessey
10. Newcomer innovation in work teams, John M. Levine, Hoon-Seok Choi, and Richard L. Moreland
11. The group as mentor: Social capital and the systems model of creativity, Charles Hooker, Jeanne Nakamura, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
12. Creativity and innovation implementation in teams, Michael A. West
13. Learning from direct and indirect experience in organizations: The effects of experience content, timing, and distribution, Linda Argote and Aimée Kane
14. Creative cultures, nations, and civilizations: Strategies and results, Dean Keith Simonton
15. Group creativity: Common themes and future directions, Bernard A. Nijstad and Paul B. Paulus