Creativity

Locate an article that addresses the idea of creativity in organizations and how creativity can have a positive impact on an organization’s effectiveness.  

The Componential Theory of Creativity is composed of three parts which include expertise, creative thinking skills and intrinsic task motivation this theory suggests that when people’s skills overlap with their strongest intrinsic interests, their deepest passions and the higher those three components are the higher the level of creativity will be for that person (Amabile, 1997).

Expertise is a gained set of cognitive pathways that will be followed when trying to solve a problem, this will include factual knowledge about the task or project that he or she is working on, a past familiarity with the type of work being done, imagination and creativity can help a gifted and talented worker have a higher level of output than someone who is less creative and more linear in ways of thinking about solving problems (Amabile, 1997).

Creative thinkers inspire others to do good works or to expand their own knowledge, depending on someone’s personality the level may be higher or lower than others, people who are more independent, considered risk-takers, who preserve in the face of adversity and don’t give up when things go wrong, yet try a task in a different way that probably is outside of the box will likely be more creative than others. Think about people who wear bow ties, wear colorful clothes that may not exactly match, tinker about on projects in a garage or basement they have the creative instinct even though the talent may not always be there.  

A highly motivated person with draw from other areas so if there is a high degree of motivation if the person is lacking skill it will make up for any deficiency, expertise or creative thinking skills (Amabile, 1997). “Intrinsic motivation is driven by deep interest or involvement of work, by curiosity, and enjoyment or a personal sense of challenge,” so that joy and happiness will come from feeling fulfilled and people who feel happy at work will want to come not just because of a pay check which is an extrinsic one (but a goody) (Amabile, 1997). Do you think that people who worry about their jobs may be less creative than they would like to be since we all need money to pay the bills?

"You should do what you love and you should love what you do," according to Amabile but the big question is how does one go about achieving this? She suggests that your work should match your expertise, your creative thinking skills and your strongest intrinsic motivations and that it is important to find a work environment that will allow you have intrinsic motivational focus while supporting your exploration of new ideas (Amabile, 1997).

Some of the things needed to a achieve a creative environment include, organizational and supervisory encouragement, work support groups, sufficient resources (funds and materials), challenging work so interest is not lost and a sense of freedom to make choices about how or what to do (Amabile, 1997).

I really enjoyed this article and when I looked for other articles on creativity I kept coming up with sources that stated the last name Amabile, she is a very well known professor and I lost track of how many school she has taught at. Very interesting article, I would like to read more about this because I need help finding the right job with a certain amount of freedom and creativity.

Amabile, T. (1997). Motivating creativity in organizations: On doing what you love and loving what you do. California Management Review, 40(1), Retrieved from http://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/weitz/mar7786/Articles/amabile ccal mgt review.pdf