The Effect of Operational Mechanisms on Creativity in Design

Abstract

Abstract.Creativity is frequently referred to as an important dynamic of design. However, over 50 years of empirical research has suggested that social influences have a detrimental effect on creativity in collaborating groups. The results of this research indicate that design teams may not be as creative as they could be, resulting in a negative impact on the design process. In this paper we build upon previous research to identify what effect operational mechanisms have on creativity, in order to determine how best to support the creative process in design.

A Meta-Analysis Study on the Effectiveness of Creativity Approaches in Technology and Engineering Education

“…However, the effect of a number of approaches for development of creativity in schools is significant as the majority of the effect sizes are large. Finally, at the university level, five studies (Al-Ali Khaled, 2011;Eyadat & Eyaat, 2010;Hokanson, 2006;Seechaliao et al, 2011;Warr & O'Neill, 2005) showed large effect sizes of between 0.98 and 3.44. The other three studies (Cropley & Cropley, 2000;Hernandez et al, 2012;Park-Gates, 2001) presented medium effect sizes of between 0.32 and 0.65.…”

The effect of group composition on divergent thinking in an interaction design activity

“…Rotter et al [30] argue that the expression of an idea in a real group causes all the members to think along the same lines, leading to duplication of ideas. However, the empirical evidence from our research [36] showed that real groups produce less duplication of ideas, suggesting that participants' awareness of ideas generated by other participants inhibited duplication. Each participant brings a different set of knowledge and background to a design activity.…”

“…de Bono's [8] emphasis on 'lateral thinking' and Lawson's [21] closely related discussion of designers as 'divergent thinkers' suggest that the more lateral or divergent the thinking of a group, the more creative the group may be considered. An analysis of the effect on divergent thinking caused by varying group composition will provide a deeper understanding of creativity in design, complementing our previous research [36] and informing how better to support creativity in design teams.…”

“…face-to-face interacting groups) in terms of originality and fluency, but have not investigated flexibility. In our previous work [36], we have investigated creativity in terms of novelty and appropriateness (i.e. originality and fluency), finding equivalent performances between nominal and real groups when social influences on creativity were controlled.…”

“…In our previous work [36] we built upon the research of others [22] and our own [37] to observe the effect of the operational mechanism of group composition on creativity assessed in terms of fluency and originality. In contrast to the results shown by Rotter et al [30] and the abundance of research showing nominal groups to outperform real groups [e.g.…”