Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Creativity and Team Decision Making C H A P T E R 10

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Supporting Creativity at IDEO Employees at IDEO, the Silicon Valley design firm, are a creative bunch. They work in teams, search everywhere -- from their tech boxes to auto wreckers -- for ideas, prototype their creations, and conduct numerous brainstorming sessions each year. E. Luse. San Francisco Chronicle

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Creativity Defined Developing an original product, service, or idea that makes a socially recognized contribution  Part of the decision-making process -- not separate from it  Creativity is influenced by both personal competencies and organizational conditions, supported by creativity practices E. Luse. San Francisco Chronicle

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Preparation Creative Process Model Incubation Insight Verification

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e EDS has introduced four eSpace innovation centers, including this one in Michigan, to generate more creative solutions for clients. To support creativity, the computer service firm hired people with creative competencies and provided an environment that supports their creativity. M. Richardson II, The Detroit News EDS eSpace Innovation Centers

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Characteristics of Creative People Intellectual abilities  Synthetic, general, practical Relevant knowledge and experience Motivation and persistence Inventive thinking style M. Richardson II, The Detroit News

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Creative Work Environment Organizational 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

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Creative Practices JammingJamming Review past projectsReview past projects Tell me, strangerTell me, stranger Redefine the Problem Chain storyChain story Artistic activitiesArtistic activities MetaphorsMetaphors Morphological analysisMorphological analysisAssociativePlay Diverse teamsDiverse teams In-house presentationsIn-house presentations Displayed thinking Displayed thinking Cross- Pollination

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e © Photodisc. With permission. Team Decision Making Constraints Time constraints  Process loss  Production blocking Evaluation apprehension  Belief that others are silently evaluating you Conformity to peer pressure  Suppressing opinions that oppose team norms

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Team Constraints: Groupthink Tendency for highly cohesive teams to value consensus at the price of decision quality More common when the team:  is highly cohesive  is isolated from outsiders  faces external threat  has recent failures  leader tries to influence decision © Photodisc. With permission.

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Team Constraints: Group Polarization Tendency for teams to make more extreme decisions than individuals alone Riskier options usually taken because of gambler’s fallacy -- believe luck is on their side © Photodisc. With permission.

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Decision Process High Risk Individual Opinions Low Risk Group Polarization Process Team Decision Social Support Persuasion Shifting Responsibility

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e General Guidelines for Team Decisions 1. Ensure neither leader nor any member dominates 2. Maintain optimal team size 3. Team norms encourage critical thinking 4. Introduce effective team structures

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e 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

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Features of Brainstorming 1.No criticism 2.Encourage many ideas 3.Speak freely 4.Build on others’ ideas E. Luse. San Francisco Chronicle

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Effectiveness of Brainstorming Early scholars criticized brainstorming:  evaluation apprehension and production blocking still exist Now more favorable view:  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

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Photo: Courtesy of IBM 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

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Describeproblem Individual Activity Team Activity Individual Activity Nominal Group Technique Write down possiblesolutionsPossiblesolutionsdescribed to others Vote on solutionspresented

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Creativity and Team Decision Making C H A P T E R 10

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Solutions to Creativity Brainbusters

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Double Circle Problem

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Nine Dot Problem

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Nine Dot Problem Revisited

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Five Letters Problem FCIRVEEALTETITVEERS

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Burning Rope Problem One Hour to Burn Completely After first rope burned i.e. 30 min.