Creativity and Innovation – Motivation, Environment, and Techniques (UNR1102)

Motivation – Definition & Core Types

• Motivation = “process to take action to reach a certain goal”; originates from one’s motive (needs, desires, wants)
• Two fundamental forms
  • Intrinsic (internal)
  • Doing something personally rewarding in itself
  • Feels interesting, satisfying, challenging
  • Extrinsic (external)
  • Acting to earn a reward or avoid punishment
  • Can include positive incentives (money, praise, trophies) or fear of negative outcomes

Components That Drive Us to Be Creative

• Valence
  • Appreciation of results/rewards (e.g.
    money, praise, trophies)
• Expectation (Expectancy)
  • Strong belief that a desired outcome will occur
  • Personal judgement of one’s own skills & capabilities → confidence + hope
• Instrumentality
  • Perceived likelihood the reward will truly satisfy you once obtained
• (Implicit) Expectancy–Valence framework can be expressed as: \text{Motivational~Force}=\text{Valence}\times\text{Expectancy}\times\text{Instrumentality}

Six Social-Environment “Creativity Killers”

• Expected evaluation → knowing a judge will assess final work
• Surveillance → being watched during work
• Contracted reward → explicit promise of payment/bonus before starting
• Constrained procedure → told how to create / limited methods
• Peer competition → race against colleagues
• Heavy focus on extrinsic motivators (power, money, fame)

Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation & Creativity

• Intrinsic = High creativity
  • Easy/enjoyable to stay fully engaged
  • Main focus on interest, satisfaction, challenge of task itself
• Extrinsic = Low creativity (in most cases)
  • External pressures whisper about rewards & consequences, hindering focus
  • Even “positive” incentives can undermine originality
• Summary sentence from lecture: “Intrinsic motivation made it relatively easy—even enjoyable—to be highly creative, while extrinsic motivation was breathing down your neck.”

Are Rewards Always Harmful?

• No—rewards can enhance creativity if they:
  • Are unexpected bonuses after good work
  • Support/acknowledge intrinsic interest instead of controlling behaviour
• Creativity declines when individuals feel controlled by extrinsic drivers

Work Environment Conditions that Boost Creativity

• Sufficient resources (time, money, materials) & autonomy
• Encouragement of inventive thinking; constructive—not harsh—criticism
• Supportive, trusting work groups willing to challenge ideas
• Supervisors who:
  • Communicate clearly & honestly
  • Value individual contributions
  • Set clear goals
• Organizational supports:
  • Free flow of ideas
  • Formal mechanisms to develop & implement new ideas

Organizational Creativity Model – “5 Ps + Leadership & Interaction”

• Person ↑: skills, background, experience, personality, knowledge, motivation
• Process ↑: individual or collective stages of thinking & opportunity exploitation
• Place ↑: psychological culture/mission/strategy + physical resources
• Product: theories, inventions, ideas, services, solutions
• Adoption → Creative change: social, personal, or innovative transformation
• Leadership & Interaction act as amplifiers across all components

Four Determinants of Workplace Climate

1. Clearly defined, shared vision → focuses group energy
2. Participative decision-making for every member
3. Psychological safety → freedom to present new ideas without fear
4. Vocal, genuine support for improvement from management & peers

Climate Model: Inputs → Organizational Processes → Outcomes

• People / Resources / Know-how / Material (buildings, patents, machinery, funds, products, concepts)
• Combine through organizational & psychological processes to influence overall climate
• Climate then drives:
  • Innovation
  • Quality
  • Productivity
  • Well-being, job satisfaction
  • Profit

What Are Creativity Techniques?

• Structured methods to generate or evolve ideas. Covered methods:
  • Brainstorming
  • Negative Brainstorming
  • Gallery Method
  • Role-playing
  • Mind Mapping
  • Ideal Final Result

Brainstorming (Core Technique)

• Goal: produce as many ideas as possible within a set time
• Rules
  • Open-minded, non-judgmental atmosphere
  • Assign a facilitator to keep order & respect
  • Only after idea generation, evaluate viability

Negative Brainstorming

• Deliberately list “bad” or counter-productive solutions
• Reveals obstacles → participants flip negatives into positives
• Same timed, free-listing structure as classic brainstorming

Gallery Method

• Leader sets up stations (whiteboards/flip charts)
• Each participant writes ideas at personal station → “gallery walk” to review others → returns to refine own board using collected inspiration

Role-playing

• Participants adopt personas (e.g. target customer, first-time user)
• Think through problem/solution from each viewpoint → design fits real desires & pain points

Mind Mapping

• Central problem statement in middle
• Surrounding nodes for related concepts/solutions; lines show connections
• Additional outer layer: how to achieve solutions
• Visual network clarifies relationships between ideas

Ideal Final Result (IFR)

• Individual or group imagines perfect solution to stated problem without constraints
• After picturing the “best possible world,” work backward to practical options

The 13 Rules of Effective Brainstorming

Pre-session

• Agree on clear objective(s)
• Provide full prep time; no pop quizzes
• Include diverse characters & thinking styles

Mid-session

• Warm-up with unrelated creativity exercise
• Encourage wild & ambitious ideas
• No criticism during ideation
• Participants build on each other’s ideas
• Reframe problem when stuck to get fresh perspective
• Goal: generate as many ideas as possible

Post-session

• Filter & consider ideas collaboratively
• Recognize/celebrate participant effort

Additional Brainstorming Technique Variants

• Input exercise
• Idea webs
• Perspective changes
• Small-group breakdowns
• Story structure

Sample Classroom Brainstorm Exercises (from slides)

1. “Lost your car key on campus—what should you do?”
2. Each student lists personal likes and dislikes and then explores connections
3. Teacher selects 2-3 random words → 30 sec per word to list as many rhymes as possible

Inspirational Closing Quote

“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.” – George Lois (1931), Art Director & Author