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

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A. ESSENTIALS
5. Three interesting
models of creativity
process
Organizations often need to actively facilitate
a climate that supports creativity
and innovation. This can be a challenging
process for some organizations but different
models of creativity suggest a number
of important concepts that organizational
leaders should consider in building a
climate that encourages creative effort.
First model: Charles Cave [8] provides an
interesting model that presumes 8 tasks,
which should help people to be more
creative most of the time. Such tasks are:
• Searching. This remains a hot topic
for many researchers who propose
improved search tools for special media
(photos, videos, music, etc). Such
types of tools accelerate the collection
of information about previous work.
• Use of Visualization Tools. These tools
stimulate priori knowledge by making
it explicit. E.g. by providing a
map of the market, a knowledge
map for an organisation or by improved
mapping software in general.
• Relating. Consultation tools start with
email, chat and instant messenger applications
• Thinking. The most common factor or
task is thinking by free association,
sometimes called brainstorming.
• Exploring. Another important task during
creative exploration is to conduct
thought experiments about the implication
of decisions. For example
spreadsheets allow users to explore the
implications of changes to a business
plan, a school budget, or a population
growth estimate. This kind of simulation
open users’ minds to possibilities,
allows them to explore safely and enables
them to see complex relationships.
• Composition tools include the ubiquitous
word processor for composing
every type of document. Graphics
composition tools show the enormous
power of software to enable
more people to be more creative.
• Reviewing: one of the features to
be added to many software tools
is the capacity to record activities,
review them and save them for future
use. This list lets users return
to previous steps, much like the
back button on the Web browser.
• Disseminating: finally, when users have
created something they like, they
need to disseminate it. Some people
will be happy just to send an email
to a few friends, but more ambitious
possibilities are attractive. During a
searching task, for example, as users
collect information for their work, they
encounter web sites and the work of
many people. Therefore it might be
useful to be able to send acknowledgments
to all the people whose work
was influential. Filters to capture all
the emails of these people could
help users disseminate their work
to people who might be interested.
Second model: Amabile [9] developed a
model of creativity focused largely on
the factors that facilitate and motivate
creative behaviours. He specifically suggests
that three components comprise
individual creativity in a given domain:
• Domain-relevant skills or expertise (innate
skills). Domain-relevant skills, or expertise,
comprise the possible responses
that the individual has to draw upon
in facing a given problem or situation.
These include factual knowledge such
as principles and opinions, technical
skills that may be required in a specific
domain, and “special domain-relevant
talents that may contribute to creative
productivity”. Domain-relevant skills
are comprised of innate skills as well
as those obtained through education,
both formal and informal. Even
where domain-relevant skills are high,
if individuals are lacking in creative
- relevant processes they will be unlikely
to produce creative outcomes.
• Creative relevant processes (learned
abilities). This component includes:
Personality traits such as selfdiscipline,
delay of gratification,
perseverance, and independence.