Investigating Problem Construction Processes in Teams and Team Creativity in Solutions

Advisor Information

Dr. Roni Reiter-Palmon

Location

MBSC 201

Presentation Type

Poster

Start Date

6-3-2020 12:30 PM

End Date

6-3-2020 1:45 PM

Abstract

Abstract

Team creativity during problem-solving has received less attention compared to problem-solving by individuals. One key way to understand creativity is to focus on the cognitive process associated with creative problem solving. Three common core processes consistently appear in research, and the focus of the present study is on problem construction: the first step of the creative problem solving effort. This step refers to defining and structuring the parameters and goals of the problem to provide a foundation for the following processes. Although this occurs naturally, it can be enhanced by deliberate and effortful participation. Because of this, it was hypothesized that the number of problem construction behaviors would have a positive correlation with the creativity of team’s proposed solution to an ill-defined problem. In this study, ten teams of students, each consisting of three individuals, were recruited to solve ambiguous problems as a team. Participants were instructed to engage in problem construction by creating “restatements” of the problem in their own words as many times as they could as a team to elicit problem construction. The interactions were video recorded and analyzed using InterACT software by labeling timestamped verbal utterances to determine engagement in the processes of creativity. Further, teams’ submitted problem solutions were coded for quality and originality by a team of trained raters. Finally, the relationship between problem construction and creative outputs was examined using statistical software to request the correlation between the amount of problem construction behaviors and ratings of quality and originality. Implications and insights are discussed.

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Mar 6th, 12:30 PM Mar 6th, 1:45 PM

Investigating Problem Construction Processes in Teams and Team Creativity in Solutions

MBSC 201

Abstract

Team creativity during problem-solving has received less attention compared to problem-solving by individuals. One key way to understand creativity is to focus on the cognitive process associated with creative problem solving. Three common core processes consistently appear in research, and the focus of the present study is on problem construction: the first step of the creative problem solving effort. This step refers to defining and structuring the parameters and goals of the problem to provide a foundation for the following processes. Although this occurs naturally, it can be enhanced by deliberate and effortful participation. Because of this, it was hypothesized that the number of problem construction behaviors would have a positive correlation with the creativity of team’s proposed solution to an ill-defined problem. In this study, ten teams of students, each consisting of three individuals, were recruited to solve ambiguous problems as a team. Participants were instructed to engage in problem construction by creating “restatements” of the problem in their own words as many times as they could as a team to elicit problem construction. The interactions were video recorded and analyzed using InterACT software by labeling timestamped verbal utterances to determine engagement in the processes of creativity. Further, teams’ submitted problem solutions were coded for quality and originality by a team of trained raters. Finally, the relationship between problem construction and creative outputs was examined using statistical software to request the correlation between the amount of problem construction behaviors and ratings of quality and originality. Implications and insights are discussed.