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Article
Publication date: 15 February 2021

Frederik Hertel and Michelle Wicmandy

According to Mumford et al. (2018), case studies illustrating creative-problem solving at work is lacking. To help fill this gap, this study aims to show how metaphorical…

311

Abstract

Purpose

According to Mumford et al. (2018), case studies illustrating creative-problem solving at work is lacking. To help fill this gap, this study aims to show how metaphorical creativity was integrated in the realm of everyday creativity to form a new soap that solves a cleaning crew's challenge.

Design/methodology/approach

Participatory observation was the qualitative methodology used to conduct this study. The cleaning team understood they were the research participants under investigation in the food plant. Participatory observation favored an efficient and flexible process for the cleaners to demonstrate their experiential knowledge while the researchers documented the cleaners' routine cleaning practices and challenges. Directly observing and analyzing the cleaners' everyday creative acts inferred face validity. This ensured to a degree that the study was effective at exploring everyday creativity.

Findings

Following Finke's Geneplore model in creative cognition (Birdsell, 2019), the consultant shifted between cycles of analogical reasoning in the generative process with exploratory processes to test hypothesis and tailor his thinking. Through this process, the consultant leveraged everyday creativity to develop a small innovation of foaming a non-foaming soap. The foaming process changed the soap's chemistry, enabling the cleaners to remove the spot quickly, accelerating the cleaning process.

Research limitations/implications

According to Mumford et al. (2018), case studies illustrating creative-problem solving at work are lacking. In this study, we aim to show how metaphorical creativity was integrated into the realm of everyday creativity to form a new soap that solves an industrial cleaning crew's challenge. To fully understand the variety of metaphorical creativity more qualitative cases need to be analyzed and qualitative research is needed to grasp the scale of metaphorical creativity in everyday creativity.

Practical implications

The findings gleaned from this study are beneficial to help organizations solve problems. Viewing problems metaphorically in everyday creativity involves unconventional thinking. When confronted with a challenge that seems impossible to solve, employees should approach the problem from a different angle. Sometimes, a small, innovative act can solve problems that appear hopeless, similar to the Columbus Principle. After all, a challenge is only simple once you know how to pull it off – the triumph is having the courage to try something new and succeeding. With practice, metaphorical creativity is a skill that one can develop. This could e.g. be viewing old problems through a new lens. Applying a new approach may reveal an unconventional solution.

Originality/value

According to Mumford et al. (2018), case studies illustrating creative-problem solving at work are lacking. To help fill this gap, this study aims to show how metaphorical creativity was integrated into the realm of everyday creativity to form a new soap that solves a cleaning crew's challenge.

Details

Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal, vol. 35 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7282

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 May 2019

Tess Bird

Drawing on ethnographic research in selection of urban households in Providence County, Rhode Island, the purpose of this paper is to define uncertainty as an everyday experience…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on ethnographic research in selection of urban households in Providence County, Rhode Island, the purpose of this paper is to define uncertainty as an everyday experience embedded in material and social worlds and explore the relationship of uncertainty to creative improvisation and well-being.

Design/methodology/approach

This research was anthropological and ethnographic, drawing on an everyday material culture approach to the home. Participant observation and interviews began in April 2015 and ended in April 2016. The data presented in derived from interview transcripts, field notes and photography.

Findings

Responses to uncertainty are embedded in habits and practices that help sustain well-being. During uncertain periods marked by transition, change and disappointment, participants draw on domestic practices as well as narrative frameworks to foster stability. Security, well-being, uncertainty, and improvisation emerge as an important intersection in everyday life.

Originality/value

This paper offers a perspective on uncertainty at the intimate level of the home, helping nuance the difference between collective creative improvisation and the economic expectation of individual adaptability.

Details

Journal of Organizational Ethnography, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6749

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 April 2020

Maria Rowena D.R. Raymundo

Higher education institutions (HEIs) frequently overlook the importance of encouraging creative thinking in students. A review of the prevailing practices in a fully online…

5817

Abstract

Purpose

Higher education institutions (HEIs) frequently overlook the importance of encouraging creative thinking in students. A review of the prevailing practices in a fully online tertiary distance education (DE) institution revealed a lack of learning activities that foster creativity. The study aims to find out whether the creative collaborative group project is a feasible, effective and acceptable learning activity for fostering creativity in students of a fully online graduate-level DE course.

Design/methodology/approach

Seven groups of five to six graduate students each had five weeks to conceptualize, prepare and deliver a creative collaborative group project on lifelong learning using key concepts learned from the course.

Findings

All groups submitted well-crafted creative projects within the given time frame. Reflections on their experience positively correlated with known outcomes associated with creative skills. Students valued the experience and had a better understanding of the concepts. These support the feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability of the project for fostering creativity in a fully online DE institution.

Research limitations/implications

The feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability may vary in different contexts; future iterations in the same and/or other courses are recommended.

Practical implications

The creative collaborative group project is a feasible, effective and acceptable strategy for fostering creativity in online distance education.

Social implications

Creativity can be enhanced through appropriate online collaborative learning activities.

Originality/value

The study adds to the body of literature on the use of creative collaborative group projects to foster creativity in HEIs.

Details

Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1858-3431

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 November 2016

Kung Wong Lau

Employees’ creativity competency is indeed an unstable, but powerful tool in any development and enhancement of business in creative industry. To understand employee’ assumptions…

2731

Abstract

Purpose

Employees’ creativity competency is indeed an unstable, but powerful tool in any development and enhancement of business in creative industry. To understand employee’ assumptions on creativity is crucial for creative industry in recruiting creative personnel, developing organizational creativity training programmes as well as nurturing a creative organization. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper aims to explore some basic assumptions of creativity competency by analysing literatures and creative employees’ feedback from a pilot study. This paper is neither going to define creativity accurately nor measuring employees’ creative outcomes for creative organizations, but rather to understand some basic assumptions of creativity competency in order to trigger further studies in organizational studies.

Findings

A pilot investigation has been done to investigate employees’ assumptions of creativity competency, and their expectation of the design of organizational creativity training programmes. The findings of this investigation have contributed to furthering the discussion and development in organizational studies and professional training programmes in creative industry.

Originality/value

Creativity and its training is getting important in developing learning organization nowadays. This paper is a study of the assumptions of employees in creative industry. This fundamental understanding of their assumption is essential for developing organization training and learning models in the future.

Details

Journal of Management Development, vol. 35 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0262-1711

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 March 2020

Omar Durrah, Kamaal Allil, Moaz Gharib and Souzan Hannawi

This empirical study aims to explore the impact of two facets of organizational pride (namely, emotional and attitudinal) on employee creativity in petrochemical companies in the…

1068

Abstract

Purpose

This empirical study aims to explore the impact of two facets of organizational pride (namely, emotional and attitudinal) on employee creativity in petrochemical companies in the Sultanate of Oman.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a simple random sample technique, data were collected using a questionnaire from 278 respondents working in five major petrochemical organizations operating in Oman. Data were examined using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The findings revealed that attitudinal organizational pride is the only dimension of organizational pride that has a direct significant positive effect on creativity, while emotional pride does not affect creativity.

Research limitations/implications

The current study is considered among the pioneering studies in its contextual field. However, despite its importance, it has several limitations. First, this study is limited to the petrochemical sector. Second, the study is limited to two variables: organizational pride and creativity. Last, this study examined creativity as one variable.

Practical implications

Attitudinal organizational pride directly affects employee creativity. Petrochemical managers should consider and enhance attitudinal organizational pride.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature investigating the attitudinal and emotional aspects as facets of organizational pride in relation to employee creativity, and it is the first to do so in the context of the Sultanate of Oman.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 24 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 24 August 2022

Elizabeth Brooke

Abstract

Details

Creative Ageing and the Arts of Care: Reframing Active Ageing
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-435-9

Book part
Publication date: 1 February 2021

Natalia Kucirkova

Abstract

Details

The Future of the Self: Understanding Personalization in Childhood and Beyond
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-945-0

Abstract

Details

The Creative Tourist: A Eudaimonic Perspective
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-404-3

Abstract

Details

How to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a School-Based Intervention: Evaluating the Impact of the Philosophy for Children Programme on Students' Skills
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-003-7

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1992

David Tanner

Discusses the virtues of creativity as the first part of a processenabling companies to outperform their competitors. Considers fivetechniques for stimulating creativity, with…

1312

Abstract

Discusses the virtues of creativity as the first part of a process enabling companies to outperform their competitors. Considers five techniques for stimulating creativity, with examples of applications of each: lateral thinking, metaphoric thinking, positive thinking, association trigger, and capturing and interpreting dreams. Surmises that creative thinking relies on practice and the right environment as well as education in techniques.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 9 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

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