2015-02-28 - Improving Creativity and Productivity through the Psychology of Inner Work Life

 

Professor Teresa M. Amabile

Improving Creativity and Productivity through the

Psychology of Inner Work Life

Teresa Amabile, Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit and Director of Research at Harvard Business, shares her thoughts. Originally focusing on individual creativity, Dr. Amabile's research has expanded to encompass individual productivity, team creativity, and organizational innovation.

 

A prolific researcher, Professor Amabile has published over 100 scholarly articles and chapters and several books as well. She is also active as a consultant with leading organizations including Procter & Gamble, Novartis International AG, Motorola, IDEO, and the Creative Education Foundation

 

1. Your Componential Theory of Creativity has received critical acclaim. Can you give us an

overview of this model citing concrete examples of each component? How could managers a

pply it in the workplace to enhance employee creativity?

My componential theory of creativity says there are three components that any individual needs in order to be creative, and one external component, as well. Let me start with the internal components. The first is expertise in the domain where the person is trying to be creative. In a business context, let’s think of someone who needs to solve a marketing problem, maybe needs to conceive of a plan for launching a new product. That person’s expertise in the domain is everything that they know, everything that they have the ability to do, in the marketing domain. That would include the person’s formal education in business, specifically in marketing. Expertise would include their exposure to similar problems in the past: their experience working on these problems, talking with others informally about product launches, paying attention to anything in the environment that they could learn about marketing product launches. There are probably some elements of domain expertise that are inborn. That is, some individuals may be naturally better able to think about problems like this, but to a large extent, this expertise depends on formal and informal education and experience. Domain expertise is the first component.

The second component, creative-thinking skills, is general across different domains where the person is working or solving problems. This is what most people think of as creativity. Creative-thinking skills include ways of thinking, ways of taking new perspective on problems, ways of looking at things, that can lead to new associations between ideas or lead to the generation of new ideas. For example, some people are very able turn problems on their head, assume perspectives that others will not take on the problem. These individuals are better able to take reasonable risks in solving problems, because they are willing to look at things in a way that no one else (or few other people) will. These creative people are also able to persevere when a problem is difficult, really dig into it, explore for new options, brainstorm a wide variety of ideas; then, they are able to winnow down to the best ideas. These personality traits and skills are partially inborn, but they can be trained; they can be learned to a large extent. This is what so many of the creativity-training programs, like creative problem solving (CPS), Synectics, TRIZ, and so many other programs are oriented toward – specifically training people in broad, creative-thinking skills.

The third individual component of the theory is the one I focus on most in my research. That component is intrinsic motivation, the motivation to do something because it is interesting, enjoyable, personally challenging, personally satisfying to the individual. The opposite of intrinsic motivation is extrinsic motivation. That is being motivated by money and pay, promotions, recognition, a deadline, the motivation to do well in competition, to receive a good evaluation. All of these are external motivators; they are separate from the nature of the work itself. We are all oriented toward both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. We have both types of motivation in the work that we do. But for someone people, intrinsic motivation is more prominent; for others, extrinsic motivation is more prominent. But again, this is something that only partly depends on an individual’s own inborn characteristics. To a large extent, intrinsic motivation depends on the immediate social environment in which the person is working. This is a very important point.

That leads me to the fourth component: the work environment. This is the external component, outside the individual. The key question about this component is, “Does the work environment support the person’s intrinsic engagement in the work, or does the environment load them up with so many extrinsic motivators and constraints that it detracts from their intrinsic motivation, leaving them feeling less intrinsically motivated in their work?” Through decades of experimental research, along with survey and observational research inside companies, we’ve found what we call the intrinsic motivation principle of creativity: people are more likely to be creative when they are motivated primarily by intrinsic motivation – by the enjoyment, interest, personal challenge and satisfaction of the work – itself rather than extrinsic motivators.

Returning to our marketing example, in a business context, the person obviously needs skills in the marketing domain. They also need creative skills, the ability to take new perspectives on problems and to persevere when the problem becomes difficult. They need to be intrinsically motivated about the problems they are tackling, too. They need to feel that there’s something gripping about these problems. In large part, this intrinsic motivation will depend on the work environment: what’s going on in their immediate work group, what their supervisor is saying to them, and what is occurring inside the organization-what the culture is like. A lot of my research has looked at what managers can do to support intrinsic motivation (as well as what managers often do that undermines intrinsic motivation). My more recent research has expanded beyond intrinsic motivation to look at people’s emotions and perceptions in their work as well.

 

2. A summary of the summit on “Creativity and Entrepreneurship in the Global Environment”

that you moderated indicated that both start ups and large organizations engage in

entrepreneurship, but their particular challenges are different.

 

A.  How would you define entrepreneurship in the first place, differentiating it from creativity and innovation?

Creativity is the production of new, useful ideas. Innovation is the successful implementation of those ideas by an organization by, for example, commercializing a product that resulted from the creative ideas of individuals in R&D. Entrepreneurship is recognizing and seizing opportunities that may initially exceed the reach of resources currently controlled by a person or organization. Stated another way, entrepreneurship involves looking for opportunities, then determining how to seize those opportunities without being overly constrained by current resources.

Entrepreneurship requires creativity in at least two arenas. Creativity is first exercised in recognizing opportunities. This applies to both start-ups and big companies pursuing opportunities. Being able to recognize opportunity requires the ability to perceive the world creatively. The second aspect of entrepreneurship that requires creativity is the process of marshaling the resources, finding inventive ways to acquire the resources that allow you to pursue opportunities.

 

B.  What recommendations can you make for encouraging entrepreneurship in risk-averse nations like Japan?

 

Overcoming risk aversion is difficult, but people in organizations can take several measures that may help. For example, more mature employees can keep in touch with people who are young. They could be junior employees, if you are a manager or executive, or simply younger co-workers if you are a staff employee. Because younger employees often have very different perspectives, you should listen to them; you can learn from them. Younger employees may also be more in tune with current opportunities. Keeping an open mind about ideas that are new and different, and maintaining an open attitude toward youth culture, can help overcome risk aversion.

3. Would you be open to opportunities to facilitate workshops or deliver lecturers in Japan?

 

Absolutely! I have never been to Japan, and I would love to visit.