C H A P T E R

10

Creativity and
team decision
making

2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione

Chapter learning objectives

1. Define creativity.
2. Outline the four steps in the creative process.
3. Describe the characteristics of creative
employees.
4. Discuss the workplace conditions that support
creativity.
5. Identify five problems facing teams when making
decisions.
6. Compare and contrast the five structures for team
decision making.
7. Explain why brainstorming may be more effective
than scholars originally believed.

Supporting creativity at IDEO

Employees at Animal Logic, the
Sydney-based visual effects
company, demonstrate their
creative talent in The Matrix,
Moulin Rouge and other
blockbuster films. Hiring people
with diverse backgrounds and
living the Aussie culture seems
to contribute to the creative
process.

Courtesy of Animal Logic

Creativity defined
Developing an original
product, service or idea that
makes a socially recognised
contribution
part of the decision-making
process not separate from it
creativity is influenced by
both personal competencies
and organisational conditions,
supported by creativity
practices

Courtesy of Animal Logic

Creative process model

Verification

Insight

Incubation

Preparation

Characteristics of creative people

Intellectual abilities
synthetic, general, practical

Relevant knowledge and experience

Motivation and persistence
Inventive thinking style

Creative work environment

Organisational support
tolerates mistakes
encourages communication
offers job security
Intrinsically motivating work
task significance, autonomy, feedback
self-leadership
flow align competencies with job
Sufficient time and resources

Creative practices
Redefine
the problem

Associative
play

Crosspollination

Jamming

Chain story

Diverse teams

Review past
projects

Artistic activities

In-house
presentations

Tell me,
stranger

Metaphors
Morphological
analysis

Displayed
thinking

Team decision making constraints

Time constraints
process loss
production blocking

Evaluation apprehension
belief that others are
silently evaluating you

Conformity to peer
pressure
Photodisc. With permission.

suppressing opinions that

oppose team norms

Team constraints: groupthink

Tendency for highly
cohesive teams to value
consensus at the price of
decision quality
More common when the
team

Photodisc. With permission.

is highly cohesive
is isolated from outsiders
faces external threat
has recent failures
leader tries to influence
decision

Team constraints: group polarisation

Tendency for teams to
make more extreme
decisions than individuals
Riskier options usually
taken because of
gamblers fallacy
believe luck is on their
side
Photodisc. With permission.

Group polarisation process

High risk
Decision process
Team decision

Individual
opinions

Social support
Persuasion
Shifting responsibility
Team decision

Low risk
1

General guidelines for team decisions

Ensure neither leader nor any member
dominates
Maintain optimal team size
Team norms encourage critical thinking
Introduce effective team structures

Generating constructive controversy

Form heterogeneous decision making team
Ensure team meets often to face contentious
issues
Members should take on different discussion roles
Team thinks about the decision under different
scenarios

Brainstorming at IDEO
IDEO, a leading industrial
design firm, relies on
brainstorming sessions that
generate ideas, usually about
designing products. A typical
session lasts between one and
two hours and is attended by
the design team as well as
other IDEO engineers with
relevant skills.

E. Luse/San Francisco Chronicle

Features of brainstorming
No criticism
Encourage many ideas
Speak freely
Build on others ideas

E. Luse/San Francisco Chronicle

Effectiveness of brainstorming
Early scholars criticised
brainstorming
evaluation apprehension and
production blocking still exist

More favourable view now

less dysfunctional conflict
more task focus
more decision acceptance
more enthusiasm and
customer commitment
evaluation apprehension not
a problem in high trust teams

E. Luse/San Francisco Chronicle

Evaluating electronic brainstorming

Benefits
less production blocking
less evaluation apprehension
more creative synergy
more decision efficiency

Problems
too structured
may be costly
lacks interpersonal dynamics
candid feedback is
threatening

Courtesy of IBM

Nominal group technique

Describe
problem

Individual
activity

Team
activity

Individual
activity

Write down
possible
solutions

Possible
solutions
described
to others

Vote on
solutions
presented

Overview of the next chapter

The communication process
Benefits and problems with electronic mail
Contingencies of media richness
Communication strategies in organisational
hierarchies
Characteristics of the organisational grapevine
Gender and cross-cultural communication
Improving active listening

C H A P T E R

10

Solutions to
creativity
brainbusters

2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione

Double circle problem

Nine dot problem

Nine dot problem revisited

Five letters problem

FCIRVEEALTETITVEERS

Burning rope problem

After first rope burned

ie 30 min.

One hour to burn completely

C H A P T E R

10

Creativity and
team decision
making

2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione