Creativity

1
Creativity Organizational Culture

• The Strong Culture Debate
• October 4, 2005

2
Overview

• Important Announcement
• Class on November 22nd cancelled. Group
  presentations begin Nov. 17.
• Topic of the Week
• Role of organizational culture in promoting
  creativity is controversial.
• Today we will explore the argument that a strong
  organizational culture stifles creativity.
• Thursday we will explore the counter-argument.

3
Organizational Culture

• Definition A system of shared values that
  define what is important and norms that define
  appropriate attitudes and behaviors.
• Relationship between organizational culture and
  creativity a source of controversy.
• Specifically, does having a strong culture stifle
  or facilitate creativity?

4
Strong Cultures

• Definition Culture in which shared norms are
  strongly held (sanctions exist to punish those
  who do not comply) and widely shared (everyone
  agrees about what is important).
• Many of the most admired companies are cult-like
  in their devotion to an idea and in their methods
  of indoctrinating employees.
• In such firms dissent ejected like a virus.
• Examples Disney, Nordstrom, Wal-Mart
• Can creativity flourish in strong culture firms?

5
Origins of Debate in Groupthink

• The mode of thinking that persons engage in when
  concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a
  cohesive in-group that it tends to over-ride
  realistic appraisals of alternative courses of
  action.
• Janis, 1971

6
Historical Examples of Groupthink

• The Bay of Pigs Invasion
• 1961 Kennedy and advisors tried to overthrow
  Castro by supporting an invasion of Cuba with
  1400 CIA trained Cuban exiles.
• Believed that troops could retreat to mountains
  that were actually on the other side of the
  island. Troops actually deployed in a swamp and
  were immediately surrounded.
• Created alliance between Cuba and USSR which gave
  rise to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• Also Pearl Harbor, Challenger disaster

7
Symptoms of Groupthink

• Illusion of invulnerability
• Many believed that the Japanese would never risk
  attacking the US. Admiral joked about the idea
  right before it happened.
• Collective rationalization
• President Johnsons Tuesday lunch group spent
  more time justifying the Vietnam war than
  reflecting upon and rethinking past decisions.

8
Symptoms of Groupthink

• Belief in inherent morality
• Kennedy group knew that some cabinet members had
  moral reservations about invading a smaller
  neighboring country but these reservations were
  never explored.
• Stereotyped views of out-groups
• Kennedy group convinced themselves that Castros
  army was so weak and popular support so shallow
  that a single brigade could overturn the
  government.

9
Symptoms of Groupthink

• Direct pressure on dissenters
• People who disagree are ridiculed. Once, when
  President Johnsons assistant entered the room,
  the president said, Well here comes Mr. Stop the
  Bombing.
• Self-censorship
• Following the Bay of Pigs invasion Arthur
  Schlesinger said, my feelings of guilt were
  tempered by the knowledge that any objection
  would have accomplished nothing but gain me a
  name as a nuisance.

10
Symptoms of Groupthink

• Illusion of unanimity
• Absence of dissent creates an illusion of
  unanimity.
• Self-appointed mindguards
• People who protect the leader from hearing
  disagreeable facts. Top NASA executive who made
  the decision to launch never heard the engineers
  objections.

11
Critical Role of Dissent for Stimulating
Creativity

• AROUSAL
• (1). People are very nervous when faced with a
  majority that sees things differentlylimits
  their attention and divergent thinking ability.
• CURIOSITY
• (2). When faced with a consistent minority people
  are
• motivated to understand their position
  (How can
• they be so wrong yet so confident?) and in
  doing
• so, they see an issue from many different
  
• perspectives. They cant be right, so I will
  look for alternatives.
• CONFLICT
• (3). Minority opinions are not adopted quickly
  and the
• conflict that ensues will force people to
  think more
• carefully about an issue.

12
Positive Consequences of Dissent

• Minorities are not the ones thinking in a
  creative way, instead they are stimulating the
  majority (the rest of the group) to think in a
  more creative way.
• Minority dissent even when wrong is of value
  because it makes a group more creative.

13
Practical Applications

• Theory has been applied to at least 2 important
  areas in organizations.
• GROUP CREATIVITY
• Groups who think divergently are able to generate
  more novel and original ideas and ultimately come
  up with more creative solutions. A foundation
  for understanding innovation.
• GROUP DECISION MAKING
• Decision making groups often rush toward a
  premature agreement without considering all the
  available alternatives. Therefore, minority
  influence can improve the quality of group
  decision making by leading a group to consider
  more alternatives prior to making a decision.

14
Cloning Dissent Devils Advocate

• Clearly organizations should encourage dissent,
  but there are also disadvantages (e.g. cohesion,
  morale).
• Can an organization encourage dissent without
  experiencing any drawbacks?
• (Nemeth, et al, 2001)
• Devils Advocate Dissent can be role-played by
  asking one person to disagree with a proposal.
• Proposal originally made by Janis.

15
Devils Advocate Experiment

• Subjects asked to make a decision about rewarding
  money in a personal injury case.
• Case Washing machine repairman who was injured
  on the job. His lost wages and medical bills were
  paid, but he was suing his employer for pain and
  suffering.
• Award (1) 1-75K (2) 75K to 150K up to (8)
  more than 525K.
• Most people would award either (1) or (2).

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Procedure

• One member of the group was asked to
• Devils Advocate
• Play the role of devils advocate by taking a
  position contrary to the groups decision. The
  entire group knew the person was instructed to
  take this role.
• Authentic Dissent
• One person was asked to take a position of high
  compensation to the victim without the group
  knowing of these instructions.

17
Results

• Authentic Dissent
• People generated more original arguments in
  favor of their position that went beyond the
  information given.
• Devils Advocate
• People generated more arguments in favor of
  their own position without taking into account
  other perspectives on the issue.
• Bottom Line The Devils Advocate can actually
  make things worse!

18
Strong Culture Controversy

• KEY QUESTION Does having a strong
  organizational culture stifle creativity in
  organizations?
• Those who say YES! draw upon research on
  groupthink and dissent.

19
Groupthink and Strong Culture Compared
20
On Thursday

• Counterargument by proponents of strong
  organizational culture.
• Watch documentary on IDEOA firm that both sides
  believe proves their argument.
• Weigh in on the debate Whose side will you take?