In this article, Leigh Thompson discusses the ways of improving creativity of organizational workgroups. In particular, the author examines various barriers preventing teams from developing original ideas such as conformism or lack of motivation.
Furthermore, the writer offers recommendations that can help managers create an environment that fosters creativity.
This article should be considered by business administrators who must encourage divergent thinking in their organizations. Overall, the recommendations provided by Leigh Thompson are relevant to various organizations.
One of the arguments that Leigh Thompson makes is that creative ideas should be considered wild or unrealistic. Such an assumption is not quite justified, because creative environment can help people find innovative and useful solutions.
However, teams and individuals can cope with this task, only in those cases, when they are engaged in divergent, rather than thinking. In other words, they should be able to look at the same problem or question from different viewpoints.
They should consider paradoxes and conflicting ideas. The main problem is that in many cases, individuals, who work in groups, are more likely to think in a conformist way. Moreover, they can be afraid of expressing their own views.
In the article, Leigh Thompson identifies various barriers preventing people from acting creatively within a team. In particular, the author mentions such a phenomenon as social loafing or people’s unwillingness to work in a group in those cases, their individual contribution cannot be identified or measured.
Additionally, the writer points out that people tend to conform to the ideas of other team member even when they do not agree with them. Leigh Thompson also speaks about such a phenomenon as downward norm setting.
Very often, employees do not try to demonstrate their skills or abilities when they see that there are other people who underperform during brainstorming sessions. These are the most important issues that should be addressed by executives or managers.
This article gives several important recommendations or lessons that business administrators should consider. They need to diversify their work groups; in other words, these teams should be represented by people who have different educational or professionals backgrounds.
These people can better evaluate the strengths or weaknesses of plans, recommendations, or solutions. These professionals can bring knowledge from various areas of study, and this is another benefit of diversity.
They are more likely to express different and sometimes conflicting viewpoints. Additionally, managers should make sure that opinions and criticism are not suppressed or overlooked during discussion or brainstorming. They can cope with this problem in different ways.
For example, employees should be asked to write their ideas or recommendations on sheets of paper. Later, these sheets should be redistributed to different members of the group. In turn, they should read the recommendations aloud. In this way, business administrators can make sure that participants are not afraid of ridicule or criticism.
They will feel more relaxed when discussing controversial topics, strategies, or plans. Overall, Leigh Thompson argues that anonymity during these discussions can foster the generation of new ideas and this suggestion can be of great value to managers.
Apart from that, the author stresses the necessity to change the line-up of work groups. In his opinion, the teams that are constantly represented by the same people tend to become less creative. The problem is that these individuals can become accustomed to their daily routine, and they can lose their motivation.
Moreover, some of team members can become leaders, and other people can conform to their opinions. In contrast, the presence of a new-comer can prompt them to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, or professional expertise.
In addition to that, Leigh Thompson believes that managers should encourage analogical reasoning among their employees. It should be kept in mind that people usually have background knowledge in order to solve problems; however, they seldom apply this knowledge in practical situations.
This is why business administrators should ask employees to draw between different problems or situations. Overall, it is possible to distinguish several important lessons that can be derived from this article.
In particular, managers should pay attention to such aspects as diversity of teams, employee’s ability to speak freely, their analogical reasoning, and their motivation. By combining different strategies, business administrators can make work groups more creative.
On the whole, this article can be of great use to many people who can work in public or private organizations. These professionals have to make sure that their organization can develop innovative models, solutions, or approaches. The successful performance of many businesses depends on the creative thinking of their employees.
The suggestions provided by Leigh Thompson can be used to promote the divergent thinking within work groups. This article offers tips and real-life examples that should be considered by corporate executives who want their employees to be empowered and motivated.
The writer speaks about the challenges faced by organizations and explains how they can be overcome. This is why it is worth attention.