Creativity in FRC/The Workplace

[Akash Rastogi]

Hey all,

Sometimes I like to share things that I've read for side projects and essays on here.

While researching a school I'm interested in, I came across a really interesting research paper from Professor Jack Goncalo of Cornell University.

The paper titled "The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject Creative Ideas" was extremely relevant to issues within FRC and any problem solving enterprise - the potential stifling of creativity and possibly, innovation. The entire paper isn't very long at all, but here's a highlight of it that I thought many folks would enjoy and could relate back to the initial brainstorming and design meetings that occur in week 1.

Creative ideas are both novel and useful, and novelty is the key distinguishing feature of creativity beyond ideas that are merely well done [2]. Yet the requirement that creative ideas contain novelty can also promote a tension in evaluators’ minds when they judge whether to pursue an idea. Indeed, evaluators have a hard time viewing novelty and practicality as attributes that go hand in hand, often viewing them as inversely related [3]. There are several reasons why. Practical ideas are generally valued [4]. However, the more novel an idea, the more uncertainty can exist about whether an idea is practical, useful, error free, and reliably reproduced [5]. When endorsing a novel idea, people can experience failure [6], perceptions of risk [7], social rejection when expressing the idea to others [8], and uncertainty about when their idea will reach completion [9]. Uncertainty is an aversive state [10][11] which people feel a strong motivation to diminish and avoid [12]. Hence, people can also have negative associations with novelty; an attribute at the heart of what makes ideas creative in the first place.

[1] Hennessey & Amabile, 2010
[2] Amabile, Barsade, Mueller, & Staw, 2005
[3] Rietzschel, Nijstad, & Stroebe, 2009
[4] Sanchez-Burks, 2005
[5] Amabile, 1996
[6] Simonton, 1984
[7] Rubenson & Runco, 1995
[8] Moscovici, 1976; Nemeth, 1986
[9] Metcalfe, 1986
[10] Fiske & Taylor, 1991
[11] Heider, 1958
[12] Whitson & Galinsky, 2008

The full paper isn't very long at all and is worth taking a look! It can be found here. If anyone takes the time to read parts of it, I'd be interested in hearing about past experiences with things regardingthis on your teams.

-Akash