Creativity Theory - TRaining MAterial in Creativity and InnovaTion ...

CREATIVITY THEORY
A. ESSENTIALS
1. Introduction and definitions
Creativity has been studied from a variety of perspectives and is important
in numerous contexts. Most of these are unstructured, and it is
therefore difficult to form a coherent overall view in relation to creativity.
Furthermore, in an endeavour to understand creativity, the last 50 years
of research has revealed the inherent complexity and ‘mystery’ of the subject.
A first attempt to define creativity is based on a dictionary definition, where
creativity appears as the ability ‘to bring into being” or “form out of nothing”.
If it is considered a theoretical explanation, creativity is tied to the human
potential to bring into being something new, and its basis is, firstly, the
power of imagination as the capacity to make the absent present; and secondly,
building upon this, fantasy as the capacity to realize the (as yet) inexistent.
Generally, the terms “novel”, “appropriate”, and “acceptable” are widely used
in the definitions of creativity found in literature. So, based on a composite
of these definitions, creativity may be generally defined as the formation
of novel, appropriate and useful ideas by individuals or small groups.
By contrast, innovation usually refers to the implementation of creative ideas in
an organizational context. Thus, individual and team creativity serve as the origin
of organizational innovation. So it is also useful to distinguish between creativity
and innovation. Creativity is typically used to refer to the act of producing new
ideas, approaches or actions, while innovation is the process of both generating
and applying such creative ideas in some specific context. In the context of an
organization, therefore, the term innovation is often used to refer to the entire
process by which an organization generates creative new ideas and converts them
into novel, useful and viable commercial products, services and business practices,
while the term creativity is reserved to apply specifically to the generation of novel
ideas by individuals or groups, as a necessary step within the innovation process.
2. Why is creativity important?
Nowadays we are entering in a new age where creativity is becoming increasingly
important. In this conceptual age, we therefore need to foster
and encourage right-directed thinking (representing creativity and emotion)
over left-directed thinking (representing logical, analytical thought).
Creativity is important in businesses: organizations need it to adapt to the fastchanging
environment and to revitalize themselves, to develop new products and
to improve customer services. In response to this need, managers have invested
in various approaches, such as creativity training programmes, team-building, and
leadership development in order to improve creativity. Creativity helps to develop
more innovative and dynamic businesses that adapt to new ways of doing things
faster and better than others. It runs all the way through business processes and
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