Beyond Creativity

Del.icio.us - Let's get networked

My favourite Internet service has a new skin and functionalities:

Please, send me your del.icio.us -page and I will link you to my network of friends.

Update 28th September 2008: You can follow my tagging in real time at:

http://delicious.com/IsoRee

I consider Del.icio.us as the Best Tacit Knowledge Management Service of Internet. This newest version has still some buttons-related bugs, but I still like it.

You are welcome to comment and dis/agree with me ;-)

   

Strategic Intuition by William Duggan - A Positive Reading Experience

Intuition? Nonsense!

First I was really sceptical about the whole concept. 

But after reading some pages of 'Strategic Intuition' I was forced to change my mind (which is always ... tough).

Duggan illustrates human achievements across time (Kopernikus, Napoleon, Buddha etc.). His introduction of history of science is thoroughly and interestingly written. Additionally, his brain research chapter explained me many cognition and learning related open topics.

All is centered around the concept of Coup d'oeil. It is like strike of the eye: a glance. This consists of 4 phases:

1. Intelligent memory. Expert intuition relies on your own experience, while strategic intuition draws on the experience of everyone else in the world as well. You don't just search the shelves of your own experience - you search out examples from history far and wide.
2. Presence of mind. You clear your mind of all expectations and previous ideas of what you might do or even what your goal is.
3. Flash of insight. In a free mind selected elements from various past examples come together in a new combination.
4. Resolution. This means resolve, determination, will.

After introducing these steps, Duggan goes to the world of business. With examples from Google and Microsoft he shows how strategic intuition works in commercial settings.

So far, a fascinating book. I need to digest a bit more ;-)

Update 22nd December 2008: At the end of the book Duggan had some critical comments about creativity and especially CPS (Creative Problem Solving). I enjoyed the following comments:

"These ... techniques reveal the common misunderstanding that creative ideas come from wishes, the subconscious, or the five senses. None of these methods directs you to examples from history as the source of creativity. And they do not encourage presence of mind. They are forms of concentration, not clearing your mind."

"The best way to think out of the box is to look in other boxes"

What about creative workplaces? Duggan nicely critisizes the hyper-social-express-yourself-environments:

"The playful environment certainly make them feel more creative, but feeling creative and producing creative results are not the same thing. " ... A practicioner of Zen could make the opposite argument: the most creative work environment is a bland, empty box"

Hmm, wait a minute: I and my architect brother Timo are currently involved in designing healthier, creative, more focused working environments and spaces. Maybe we should talk to William :-)

Still, one thing was missing in the book:

What happens if you think that you are using strategic intuition and you still fail? Can the failure then be ... enormous? What are those automatically correcting mechanisms?

Please, check also the related website: http://www.strategic-intuition.com

Open Innovation and Strategy - Focus on Communities

Remember Porter's Five Competitive Forces?

1. Rivalry
2. Buyer power
3. Supplier power
4. Substitutes
5. Barriers to entry

Nowadays, if a company only focuses on them and misses communities, it may be counter-productive.

In the latest CMR article Henry Chesbrough and Melissa Appleyard point out:

"All of the tradional views are based upon ownership and control as the key levers in achieving strategic success. All focus largely within the firm, or within the value chain in which the firm is embedded. Non take much notice of the potential value of external resources that are not owned by the firm in question, but may nonetheless create value for the firm"

To illustrate the difference between Open and Closed Innovation, they differentiate Value capture and Value Creation in a company and in a community:

"The lingering questions for the business strategist are: Who actually is capturing the value created by open invention and coordination? How are they doing it?"

Finally, Chesbrough and Appleyard introduce a new concept, Open strategy.

"Open strategy balances the powerful value creation forces that can be found in creative individuals, innovation communities, and collaborative initiatives with the need to capture value in order to sustain continued participation and support of those initiatives"

After all this, I welcome you to take also a look at Michael Porter's newest work, " The Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy" from HBR, January 2008. A miss-match?!?

Does anonymity improve ideas and suggestions?

So, how to design a Electronic Suggestion Management System ESMS (or an Innovation Management Information System) that supports BOTH creativity AND anononymity? I earlier wrote about the creativity requirements by Farooq, Carroll and Ganoe. One of their main recommendation was 'Leverage cognitive conflict by preserving and reflecting on minority dissent'. In plain English: 'Let those critical voices be heard and utilise this information when improving ideas'. But, but, how can you do this in an organisation where everything you suggest is linked to your role and position? Does anonymity help in motivating people to make suggestions and provide feedback?

Fairbank, Sprangler and Williams (2003) suggest that the building of an (ideal)  Suggestion Management System should be based on motivational theories. Their view is similar to Teresa Amabile.

Expectancy theory of motivation indicates that the motivational force for performing a task is greatest when the performer believes that :

(a) he or she is able to succesfully complete the task (i.e., high expectancy),

(b) completing the task will lead to certain outcomes ( i.e. high instrumentality),

(c) the outcomes for completing the task are attractive (i.e., high valence, or value).

Allowing anonymity in idea suggestions most likely improves (a) high expectancy.

When Nunamaker et al. (1991) inspected electronic meeting room systems (EMS) they found that anonymous EMS use generated more critical comments. No wonder, participants in EMS field studies reported that anonymity was important, particularly in cases where there were power and status differences in the group.

It would be great to hear your comments about anonymity. Does it improve the quality of ideas? Does it make the use of ESMS or EMS more pleasant or motivating?

Decision Support Systems and Creativity

In business talk creativity, management and information systems are far away from each other. Especially technically trained managers are a bit suspicious about creativity, there is a tension between rational thinking and creative thinking like Tudor Rickards illustrates. What could be the glue bringing these concepts together? Could it be Decision Support Systems (DSS)?

There are many definitions of a DSS, but all have three themes: (1) applied to unstructured problems, (2) supports but does not replace the decision process, and (3) is under the user’s control. This fits to information systems as well?

George Marakas has written a comprehensive book called "Decision Support Systems in the 21st  Century". One total chapter is devoted to creative decision making and problem solving.

Marakas clearly sees that "In the realm of DSS design, mechanisms must be developed to allow the decision maker to impart intuition to the decision process as a supplement to other problem-solving resources, including creativity". When you look at the attached picture, [Programmable] is seen by Marakas contradictory to [Intuitive, Creative]. This surely makes IS support for creativity demanding! Currently DSS Information Systems are not very flexible. Actually, it is funny what is considered as DSS Information System / software.

When talking about the future, Marakas point out: "The integration of components of expert systems and other AI approaches with organizational DSSs presents a major focus". New requirements for creativity support in information systems? Great challenge, I am working on it ;-)

Hey, if you happen to know any good Decision Support System with support for creativity, please,  comment! Other comments about the DSS phenomenon are welcome as well!