Stages of Creativity

To consider how creative ideas/outcomes arise, it is necessary to provide a definition of creativity. There are as many definitions of this term as there are authors providing these definitions. For our purposes, creativity will be defined as outcomes or processes that are not only new/different but also perceived as useful to those in an organizational setting. Usefulness is crucial in this definition, since many creative ideas may be proposed, but only those useful to an organization are of concern here. Similarly, there are as many answers to the question of how creative ideas/outcomes arise as there are those who ponder this question. One set of answers to this question argues that creativity results from individuals moving through a set of stages—from the motivation to develop creative outcomes to the actual implementation of these outcomes. This stage approach to creativity suggests that although some believe creative outcomes, such as new products, strategies, and the like, appear full-blown in the minds of their “creators,” a more likely explanation holds that individuals and organizations work through a process or a set of stages to arrive at new and useful outcomes. It is a managerial truism that the successful development of innovative and creative ideas/outcomes is crucial to the survival and growth of nearly every organization. Innovations bloom from the creative seeds sown by those in organizations. Without these innovations, organizations can grow stagnant, overtaken in their marketplace by more innovative firms with bolder, better, and more creative ideas and products. Managers work to bring forth their own news ideas as well as ideas from those working with them and for them. [Page 756]Well-known organizations, such as Apple, Google, and Procter & Gamble (P&G) prosper by developing innovative and creative products and services. To the extent that managers and their organizations have an appreciation of how various stages and their ordering can lead to creative outcomes, the more likely it is that these organizations will continue to develop the creative grist for their innovation mills. With a basic understanding of the topic of interest and its importance to managers and their organizations, the second section of this entry considers two of these stage approaches to creativity. With this as foundation, the third section of this entry evaluates these approaches to creativity and provides managers with several recommendations for encouraging the beneficial activities for each stage of the creative process. The bottom line, of course, is to increase the probability that valued creative outcomes will result from the implementation of some creative process.