Creativity in the Workplace: People,Problems, and Structures

In a dynamic global economy, creativity and innovation are essential requirements for organizational success. Creativity, unfortunately, has not always been seen as playing an important role in the design and structure of organizations. In this article, we argue that creativity and innovation are key requirements for the growth and adaptation of organizations. Subsequently, we review a series of articles, appearing in this issue, about how we might encourage creativity and innovation in the workplace. Some potentially useful directions for future research are discussed along with the methodological issues likely to arise as we seek to understand creativity in the workplace.     

CREATIVITY AND CROSS-CULTURAL VARIATION

Is the nature of creativity essentially the same around the globe? The effect of cultural factors on creativity is reviewed. Distinct Western and Oriental perspectives on the definition of creativity and the creative process are described. Culture is also shown to channel creative activity by promoting certain domains, social groups, and characteristic ways of approaching the world. The effects of world-view and pressure for conformity are then presented as cultural features that relate to the nurturance of creativity across domains. The cultural variation described is supported by ethnographic and experimental evidence. Limitations on the scope of the review and methodological issues in cross-cultural research on creativity are also discussed. The effects of culture on creativity are understood within an interactive framework that incorporates both the person and the environment.     

Understanding the Relationship Between Information Technology and Creativity in Organizations

Creativity is vital to organizational success. Information technologies (IT) have increasingly become a major influence on organizational efficiency and effectiveness. However, there has been a paucity of research aimed at specifying the relationship between these two areas of scholarship. This article will begin to fill this gap by exploring the ways that IT might influence creativity in organizations. This is important for organizational studies, given that knowledge and information are among the most important ingredients for creativity and are the very things that IT exist to manage. In this article, the creativity literature and much of the management oriented IT literature will be explored to suggest that IT plays an integral role in the creative process within organizations. Specifically, the main benefits that IT affords organizations will be considered and then applied to the requirements for creative production, the stages of the individual creative process, the process of organizational learning as related to creativity, and the creative process within large-scale project-based work. In addition, the conclusion will address the potential limitations of IT in relation to creativity as well as several thoughts concerning future research.     

Behavior analytic studies of creativity: A critical review

Studies that treat creativity as operant behavior were critically reviewed. Of the twenty studies, most met minimal requirements for methodological adequacy; all provided at least some evidence for increased creative responding. Major difficulties involved potential confounds between instructions and contingencies, lack of an independent record of the training interaction, lack of social validation data, and very limited evidence for generalization. Several issues were discussed: problems in the behavioral definition of creativity, objections to the use of contingent reinforcement, and the need for empirical analysis of the creative process.     

Levels of Analysis and Effects: Clarifying Group Influence and Climate by Separating Individual and Group Effects

This article addresses conceptual and methodological levels of analysis issues in research on work group and organizational settings. Using organizational climate data, it provides a detailed example of the use of a recent data analysis model (Kenny & La Voie, 1985) which separates individual and group effects. The reanalysis of an earlier study of organizational climate influences on three dependent variables (Giamartino & Wandersman, 1983) revealed that several important relationships between climate dimensions and the dependent variables were masked in the earlier study. Implications for potential misinterpretations within existing group and organizational research are drawn and suggestions for addressing theoretical and measurement problems involving climate research are offered.     

创造性研究的有效工具——远距离联想测验（RAT）

介绍了一个测量创造力的方法——远距离联想测验（remoteassociatestest,RAT）,并将它与其他创造性测验方法进行比较。文章还介绍了应用RAT进行的一些创造性科学研究的成果。作者认为RAT是适合创造性科学研究,尤其是神经科学研究的重要工具     

The Interactive Effects of Self‐Perceptions and Job Requirements on Creative Problem Solving

Over the years, researchers have focused on ways to facilitate creativity in the workplace by looking at individual factors and organizational factors that affect employee creativity (Woodman, Sawyer, & Griffin, 1993 ). In many cases, the factors that affect creativity are examined independently. In other words, it is uncommon for researchers to look at the interaction among individual and organizational factors. In this study, it is argued that to get a true understanding of how to maximize creativity in the workplace, organizational researchers must look at the interaction between organizational factors and individual factors that affect employee creativity. More specifically, the current study looked at an individual's perceptions about his or her ability to be creative (i.e., individual factor) and perceptions of requirements for creativity in the workplace (i.e., an organizational factor). The results indicated that individuals who have a high belief about their ability to be creative (an individual factor) were most creative when they also perceived requirements for creativity in the workplace (an organizational factor). Furthermore, individuals who had low perceptions of creative ability were still able to perform creatively when they had high perceptions of requirements for creativity. This suggests that, to maximize creativity, organizations should focus on both individual and organizational factors that affect employee creativity.     

Adherence to sport injury rehabilitation programs

Abstract

Adherence to sport injury rehabilitation prognms has emerged as a prime area of interest in the psychology of sport injury. In this article, behaviors typically involved in sport injury rehabilitation adherence are described. research findings on sport injury rehabilitation adherence are reviewed. and theoretical, methodological. and practical issues associated with sport injury rehabilitation research are identified and discussed. Primary recommendations resulting from the literature reviewed include use of conceptual models to guide research efforts, use of prospective resexch designs and standardized, psychometrically-sound measures of key constructs. and resolution of the question of whether enhancing adherence actually improves rehabilitation outcomes before interventions targeted at adherence behavior are developed, implemented, and evaluated.     

The neighborhoods they live in: the effects of neighborhood residence on child and adolescent outcomes

This article provides a comprehensive review of research on the effects of neighborhood residence on child and adolescent well-being. The first section reviews key methodological issues. The following section considers links between neighborhood characteristics and child outcomes and suggests the importance of high socioeconomic status (SES) for achievement and low SES and residential instability for behavioral/emotional outcomes. The third section identifies 3 pathways (institutional resources, relationships, and norms/collective efficacy) through which neighborhoods might influence development, and which represent an extension of models identified by C. Jencks and S. Mayer (1990) and R. J. Sampson (1992). The models provide a theoretical base for studying neighborhood mechanisms and specify different levels (individual, family, school, peer, community) at which processes may operate. Implications for an emerging developmental framework for research on neighborhoods are discussed.     

Malevolent Creativity in Terrorist Organizations

Terrorist organizations are both imitative and innovative in character. While the drivers of imitation have been extensively modeled using concepts such as contagion and diffusion, creativity and innovation remain relatively underdeveloped ideas in the context of terrorist behavior. This article seeks to redress this deficiency by presenting a conceptual framework with which we can understand the complex nature and multiple drivers of creativity and innovation within terrorist organizations. The overriding questions we address are: what factors spark creativity and innovation within terrorist organizations, and are there particular organizational traits that increase an organization's propensity to be creative and innovative? Using insights from industrial and organizational psychology and aided by illustrative examples and case studies from the history of terrorism, we aim to show that the multiple drivers of creativity and innovation are identifiable. By providing a conceptual framework that explores these key issues, we suggest that a much clearer research agenda for these issues may emerge. We conclude with a discussion concerning how our framework can help inform counter‐terrorism practices.     

Assessing Conversational Cognition Levels of Cognitive Theory and Associated Methodological Requirements

Despite the prominence of cognitively oriented research in interpersonal communication, relatively little is known about the interplay of cognitive and communicative processes during conversation. For interpersonal communication scholars or at least those interested in interaction, the study of cognition is most useful if it reveals how interactants produce, monitor, modify, and process messages while engaged in conversation. The failure to collect data about in-process conversational cognition is partially due to excessive reliance on what have been identified as “implementation level” cognitive theories and models. Such theories are primarily concerned with specifying cognitive “architectures” and provide little guidance about how cognition is adapted to conversational tasks. However, a dearth of methodological creativity is also partially to blame for the lack of data about in-process conversational cognition. On encountering the admittedly formidable methodological difficulties of collecting data about conversational cognition, researchers have tended to rely on traditional but inadequate methods, or worse, have simply ignored theoretical questions pertinent to cognition in-process. This article suggests that claims about cognition can be made at four levels—biological, implementation, algorithmic, and rational—but that theoretical claims about conversational cognition can most usefully be pursued at the rational and algorithmic levels. In an effort to promote more research at these levels, criteria for studying conversational cognition are proposed, and promising methods are reviewed.     

A critical review of field studies on the link of alcohol and adult sexual assault in women

This article reviews field studies examining two central questions regarding the link between alcohol and sexual assault. First, evidence is reviewed to evaluate whether there is a distal relationship between alcohol and risk of sexual assault victimization. Specifically, studies are examined to determine whether drinking may affect the risk of being victimized and how victimization may contribute to subsequent drinking. Second, evidence for a proximal role of drinking prior to a sexual assault victimization incident (by either victim and/or offender) is examined to determine alcohol's role in rape and injury outcomes to victims. Critical theoretical and methodological issues in these two types of studies are discussed with regard to the extant literature. Paralleling the two areas of research reviewed, two theoretical models are proposed to guide future research on (1) the global associations of drinking and sexual assault risk across the life span (macrolevel model) and (2) the role of drinking in the outcomes of actual sexual assault incidents (microlevel model). Suggestions are made for future research and intervention in this area.     

Response Bias in Research on Religion,Spirituality and Mental Health: A Critical Review of the Literature and Methodological Recommendations

Although a significant body of research supports the psychological benefits of religion and spirituality, more investigations are needed to understand the mechanisms by which they impact mental health. While some studies suggest a causal direct influence, the findings may still be subject to unmeasured factors and confounders. Despite compelling empirical support for the dangers of response bias, this has been a widely neglected topic in mental health research. The aim of this essay is to critically examine the literature addressing the role of response bias in the relationship between religion, spirituality and mental health. A survey of the diverse types of bias in this research area is presented, and methodological and theoretical issues are outlined. The validity and generalizability of the evidence are discussed, as well as the implications for mental health practice. A list of methodological remedies to reduce bias is suggested. The article is then concluded with a summary of the studies reviewed and directions for future research.

     

Tracking the dynamics of divergent thinking via semantic distance: Analytic methods and theoretical implications

Divergent thinking has often been used as a proxy measure of creative thinking, but this practice lacks a foundation in modern cognitive psychological theory. This article addresses several issues with the classic divergent-thinking methodology and presents a new theoretical and methodological framework for cognitive divergent-thinking studies. A secondary analysis of a large dataset of divergent-thinking responses is presented. Latent semantic analysis was used to examine the potential changes in semantic distance between responses and the concept represented by the divergent-thinking prompt across successive response iterations. The results of linear growth modeling showed that although there is some linear increase in semantic distance across response iterations, participants high in fluid intelligence tended to give more distant initial responses than those with lower fluid intelligence. Additional analyses showed that the semantic distance of responses significantly predicted the average creativity rating given to the response, with significant variation in average levels of creativity across participants. Finally, semantic distance does not seem to be related to participants’ choices of their own most creative responses. Implications for cognitive theories of creativity are discussed, along with the limitations of the methodology and directions for future research.     

Paradigms in the study of creativity: Introducing the perspective of cultural psychology

This article identifies three paradigms in creativity theory and research in psychology. The He-paradigm, focused on the solitary genius, has been followed, mainly after the 1950s, by the I-paradigm, equally individualistic in nature but attributing creativity to each and every individual. Extending this view, the We-paradigm incorporates what became known as the social psychology of creativity. The cultural psychology of creativity builds upon this last theoretical approach while being critical of some of its assumptions. This relatively new perspective, using the conceptual and methodological framework of cultural psychology, investigates the sociocultural roots and dynamics of all our creative acts and employs a tetradic framework of self - community - new artifact - existing artifacts in its conceptualization of creativity. The theoretical basis of the cultural psychology approach is analyzed as well as some of its main implications for both the understanding and study of creativity.     

Nineteenth-Century Foundations of Creativity Research

Although many refer to the 1950s as the beginning of modern investigations into creativity, foundational work was done during the 19th century. This article focuses on that work. The 19th-century creativity literature addressed five basic questions: (a) How is creativity defined? (b) Who has creativity? (c) What are the characteristics of creative people? (d) Who should benefit from creativity? and (e) Can creativity be increased through conscious effort? Authors reviewed in this article wrote from a generalist, often philosophical perspective with little experimental basis for their conclusions. Given that we continue to address these same issues today, one wonders whether these are the enduring questions of the field or if we have not progressed as far as we had hoped.     

Democratizing Creativity: How Arts/Philosophy Can Contribute to the Question of Arts Bias

This article critically deconstructs the 21st-century economization and massification of creativity. It extends the discussion of arts bias and the associated ideas that artistic creativity is institutionalized, elitist, and an obstruction to more profitable applications of creativity. A tension is thus highlighted between the historically prevalent domain of art, and newer domains which focus on everyday, functional, organizational and the dark sides of creativity. The aim is to open up a genuine debate about the place of art in modern creativity discourse, and to examine the problematic theme of democratization in creativity as it relates to cultural, economic and industrial issues. A new framework for conceiving creativity in hermeneutics is also suggested, with a view to cohesively and logically balancing the artistic with other domains, and eliminating some of the current problems that render creativity less than it has been regarded in generations past.     

How Do Parents React When Their Children Leave Home? An Integrative Review

The empty nest, which refers to the phase of the family life cycle following the departure of children, has been associated with both positive and negative consequences for parents. This article aims to achieve a better understanding of the complex effects of this transition. It discusses available data and theoretical perspectives on the empty nest, from pioneering works until the most recent studies on the subject. It includes a discussion of conceptualization and methodological issues, as well as a review of determinants of nest leaving. The influence of the departure of children on their parents’ marital quality and psychological well-being, including the potential development of empty-nest syndrome, are then summarized. Studies examining other parental outcome, such as marital instability or relationships with adult children, are also reviewed. It ends with a discussion on boomerang kids and directions for future research. In particular, the need to study the empty-nest period with parents living in a variety of marital situations is acknowledged.     

The Mystery in the Kitchen: Culinary Creativity

This article highlights the impact of technology on the ability of individuals to be creative within society. The role of computers in the creative act is explored from a broad perspective to allow for the discovery of general principles of creativity. Insight into the barriers that individuals must overcome to function creatively in the information age are then presented. To this end, the process by which creativity occurs is reviewed, and the consequences of the development of technology and the impact of computers on creativity are discussed. Examples of computers used to facilitate creativity are then illustrated. Finally, the necessary conditions for creativity to exist in society are highlighted, and suggestions are offered for the coexistence of creativity and technology in the future.     

Influences of Organizational Culture and Climate on Individual Creativity

This paper provides a framework for conceptualizing and reviewing the literature on the influences of organizational culture and climate on individual creativity. Although often treated interchangeably, culture and climate are distinct constructs operating at different levels of meaning; yet at the same time, they are closely interrelated. Culture is the beliefs and values held by management and communicated to employees through norms, stories, socialization processes, and observations of managerial responses to critical events. The beliefs and values that typify a culture for creativity become manifested in organizational structures, practices, and policies. In turn, these structures, practices, and policies guide and shape individual creativity by creating a climate that communicates both the organization's goals regarding creativity and the means to achieve those goals. The paper concludes with a discussion of issues relating to the development of cultures and climates for creativity and potential new directions for future research.