The Creative Group Mind-Innovative

Genius or Teamwork Dummy?

“The challenge is clear: Innovate or evaporate!”

The Performance Group

CREATIVITY LEVELS

INDIVIDUAL CREATIVITY

GROUP/TEAM CREATIVITY

ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION/SUCCESS

CMMI QuestionsCMMI Questions

Is it better to work alone or in groups Is it better to work alone or in groups for creativity tasks?for creativity tasks?

Is it helpful to work with individuals Is it helpful to work with individuals from other disciplines?from other disciplines?

What is the ideal group size for What is the ideal group size for creativity activity?creativity activity?

What is the best way to What is the best way to communicate in an innovative teamcommunicate in an innovative team—electronically or face to face?—electronically or face to face?

CMMI Survey Percent Agreement CMMI Survey Percent Agreement Somewhat agree or higher Somewhat agree or higher

Brainstorming is effective--89Brainstorming is effective--89 People from outside disciplines People from outside disciplines

hinder—6hinder—6 Suspending constraints during Suspending constraints during

ideation—51ideation—51 Avoid criticism—66Avoid criticism—66 Design teams can be more effective Design teams can be more effective

than individuals—69 than individuals—69

“Cultural Truths”

Group collaboration enhances creativity/innovation/learning

Teamwork enhances productivity

Diversity enhances benefits of collaboration

Teamwork in EducationTeamwork in Education

Criteria three of the Accreditation Criteria three of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Board for Engineering and TechnologyTechnology

Skill in teamwork is a program Skill in teamwork is a program outcome requirementoutcome requirement

Book Titles Mining Group Gold (Kayser, 1995)

Building Team Power: How to Unleash the Collaborative Genius of Work Teams (Kayser, 1994)

Diverse Teams at Work: Capitalizing on the Power of Diversity (Gardenswartz &Rowe, 2003)

Swarm Creativity (Gloor, 2006)

“Scientific Truths” Group interaction tends to inhibit

creativity Group interaction tends to lower

productivity Illusion of productivity Diversity in groups often leads to

negative emotions No consistent evidence for the

benefits of diversity in teamwork

Creativity DilemmasCreativity Dilemmas

Need domain expertise for creativityNeed domain expertise for creativity Examples or information can inhibit Examples or information can inhibit

creativitycreativity Need collaboration for innovationsNeed collaboration for innovations Group interaction may inhibit creativityGroup interaction may inhibit creativity Need diverse talents/knowledge in teamsNeed diverse talents/knowledge in teams Groups tend to focus on commonalities Groups tend to focus on commonalities

rather than differencesrather than differences

Inhibitory Effect of ExamplesInhibitory Effect of Examples

Providing examples produces fixation Providing examples produces fixation on features of the exampleon features of the example

Need change of context or multiple Need change of context or multiple perspectives to overcomeperspectives to overcome

James Crocker

Hubble Repair

Auguste Kekule

BenzeneKary Mullis

PCR

Archimedes

Displacement PrincipleBeethoven

Canon for piano

Henri Pioncare

Fuschian Functions

Experimental Studies of Fixation, Incubation & Insight

Idea Generation: Conceptual Extension

Imagine another planet similar to Earth……What sort of life forms evolve there?

Creature Ideas: From Smith et al. (1993)Creature Ideas: From Smith et al. (1993)

Spill-Proof Cup from Jansson & Smith Spill-Proof Cup from Jansson & Smith (1991)(1991)

Create, sketch, and Create, sketch, and label the parts of a label the parts of a new inexpensive new inexpensive spill-proof coffee spill-proof coffee cup. cup. Do not use Do not use drinking straws or drinking straws or mouthpieces.mouthpieces.

ResultsResults Seeing the example design greatly Seeing the example design greatly increased the number of designs increased the number of designs that: that:

Have a straw or mouthpiece.Have a straw or mouthpiece.

Leak. Leak.

Conclusion

Implicit knowledge can produce invisible impasses when you try to think creatively

Have to find a way to overcome this impasse or get outside the box

Osborn Brainstorming Rules

1. Don’t judge

2. Say what comes to mind

3. The more ideas, the better

4. Build on ideas from others

Osborn Predictions

Rules help increase creativity in groups

Groups will be more creative than individuals

Typical Research Paradigm

Experiments Short sessions College students Measures

• number of unique ideas• quality of ideas

Typical Research Paradigm

Baseline comparison is critical

Compare number of ideas of interacting groups with that of same number of solitary individuals

Real groups versus nominal groups

Brainstorming Findings

• Groups: more creative ideas than individuals• Groups: fewer creative ideas than same number of individuals• The larger the group, the more discrepancy• Pairs of brainstormers most productive “group”• More ideas, more good ideas

The Productivity Gap

0

20

40

60

80

100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Group Size

No

. o

f Id

eas

Nominal Groups

Real Groups

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Alone Group

Social Context

DATA FROM

COMPANY

EMPLOYEES

Number of Unique Ideas Generated

Brainstorming Findings

• Average quality not different between groups and individuals

• Group members think that they are more productive and creative

• Illusion of group productivity

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Alone Group

Social Context

high

low

Rating of Number of Ideas Generated

Beliefs about number of ideas in brainstorming

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Company Data Lab Data

more alonethe samemore in groups

Group Dummy Model Group Dummy Principle

+ = <

Implies production losses of working in groups

Groups less efficient than individuals

50% less productive

Group Dummy Model

Cognitive Interference• distraction• time competition• multiple task interference

Group Dummy Model

Social Interference• social apprehension• social loafing• move in direction of low

performers

Implication for MeetingsImplication for Meetings

Kill all your meetings—interruption is Kill all your meetings—interruption is the biggest enemy of productivity.the biggest enemy of productivity.

Jason Fried, founder of Jason Fried, founder of 37signals, 37signals, a company that creates a company that creates programs programs to facilitate teamworkto facilitate teamwork

Teamwork Literature

Benefits of self-managing teams

Lot of data on factors enhancing teamwork

Assume teams beneficial for innovation

Intellectual Puzzle

Teamwork and collaboration are great

Group work is bad Different methods, paradigms,

populations Different focus

Teamwork Literature

Real groups in organizations Compare impact of variables in teams Self-management/training important Typically no non-team controls Often measures of perception by participants, outsiders Many complex tasks are feasible only

with teams of diverse skills

Synchronous

Individuals interacting in a limited time period on one task• Meetings• Lab sessions• Brainstorming sessions• Problem solving sessions

Asynchronous

Individuals interacting over a period of time on one or more tasks.• As needed• Alone/group sequences • In person and electronic interactions• Teamwork• Periods of synchronicity

Relevance of Groups ResearchRelevance of Groups Research

Synchronous group interactionSynchronous group interaction

Asynchronous patternsAsynchronous patterns

Tasks which only teams can doTasks which only teams can do

Group Wisdom

Basic Principle

+ = >

Example: Obvious benefits of teamwork and collaboration.

May involve the benefits of complementarity of skills and knowledge

Production of KnowledgeProduction of KnowledgeWuchty et al. 2007, Wuchty et al. 2007, ScienceScience

Over the span of 5 decades, no. of Over the span of 5 decades, no. of authorsauthors

Almost all fields increase in team sizeAlmost all fields increase in team size Teams more highly citedTeams more highly cited Effect is increasing over timeEffect is increasing over time Especially for highly cited papersEspecially for highly cited papers Teams papers 6.3 more likely to be Teams papers 6.3 more likely to be

cited 1000 times than individual cited 1000 times than individual papers in science and engineeringpapers in science and engineering

The Search for SynergyThe Holy Grail

Performance of groups better than a similar number of individuals

No evidence with face-to-face groups

So far no evidence with work teams

Group Genius or Synergy

Group Genius Principle

+ = >

Implies synergy

Groups generate more and/or better ideas

Teams more than sum of their parts

Semantic networkSemantic network

Guitar

Clarinet

BanjoGloves

Mittens

Flute

PantsViolin Hat

A Cognitive Model for Group Genius

Categories of knowledge Diversity Attention Associational stimulation Memory Incubation/deeper processing

Limiting the Genius Factor in Groups

Need to multi-task generate, attend, process,

coordinate lack of opportunity to generate lack of opportunity to process

Optimizing the Genius Factor

Efficient interaction paradigms• Writing• Electronic brainstorming• Efficient communication

Alternating group and individual ideation

Task focus

Brainwriting

Brainwriting Study

Two Sessions/Same Task Two Sessions/Same Task

Alone or Group in Session 1Alone or Group in Session 1

Write/Exchange Ideas Write/Exchange Ideas

Alone in Session 2Alone in Session 2

Brainwriting Task

Number of Ideas

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Group Nominal

Session 1

Session 2

Electronic Brainstorming

Exchanging idea on computers Group decision support systems Access to others ideas during

brainstorming

Electronic Brainstorming

Electronic Brainstorming

Groups equal to or better than similar number of individuals

Larger groups—more productive Small groups—productive if

emphasize attention to others’ ideas Benefit of exchange in subsequent

solitary brainstorming session

Productivity Gains - Electronic Groups

010203040506070

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15

Group Size

No

. o

f Id

eas

Nominal

Interacting

Individual and Group Sequence

Individual to group? Group to individual? Indiv/Group/Indiv Time/activity between

sessions may be critical

Number of Ideas

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Alone-Group Group-Alone

Overall Performance

Individual and Group Sequence

Keys To Effective Group Creativity

Task Focus

Task Motivation

Effective Information Processing

Task Focus

Clear instructions/rules/minimize irrelevant talk

Attending to others

Brief breaks

Task decomposition

Training

Task Motivation

Competition

High goals

High performance norms

Selected group members

Effective Information Processing

Writing/electronic Efficient communication Periodic priming Incubation opportunities

• Alternating individual and group ideation Brief breaks Diversity

Future Directions Collaborative team grant

• Develop model of the group creative mind

• Group dynamics, cognitive science, computational modeling

Immersive reality

Brain imaging

Future Directions Translational research in real world

settings

• Meetings

• Work teams

• Collaborative learning

• Innovation in science and engineering

• Intelligence analysis

Using Our Innovative PotentialUsing Our Innovative Potential

We use only 10% of our brains?We use only 10% of our brains?

We tap only __% of our group brainsWe tap only __% of our group brains

We tap only __ % of our collective We tap only __ % of our collective innovative potentialinnovative potential

Executive MBA studentsExecutive MBA students

Using Our Innovative PotentialUsing Our Innovative Potential

Research on collaborative creativity Research on collaborative creativity can increase our ability to tap our can increase our ability to tap our individual and collective creative individual and collective creative potentialpotential

Collaboration can then enhance the Collaboration can then enhance the innovative impact of individualsinnovative impact of individuals

Can lead to lead to creative group Can lead to lead to creative group synergysynergy

ConclusionsConclusions

Collaborative teamwork for Collaborative teamwork for innovation makes sense in terms of innovation makes sense in terms of simple addition of talentsimple addition of talent

Collaborative teamwork may tap only Collaborative teamwork may tap only a fraction of the innovative potential a fraction of the innovative potential of the teamof the team

Applying our understanding of the Applying our understanding of the creative group mind may suggest creative group mind may suggest ways to tap this potential ways to tap this potential

“They who most effectively tap their collective potential will win the innovation race!”

The UTA Group Creativity Lab