Ambiguity

Creativity is the capability to construct work that is original and improved to the constraints of the situation (Lubart, 1994; Lubart, Mouchiroud, Tordjman & Zenasni, 2004, Sternberg & Lubart, 1995, cited in Zenasni et al., 2008). Lubart & Sternberg proposed that creativity depends on multiple different factors, which are knowledge, motivation, personality traits, cognitive style, intellectual abilities and environment, the interaction between those factors allows the rise of the creativity. Tolerance/intolerance for ambiguity is a personality trait that is thought about as how an individual recognize and deal with ambiguous situations and stimulus (Furnham, 1994; Furnham & Avison, 1997; Furnham & Ribchester, 1995; Stoycheva, 1998, 2003, cited in Zenasni et al., 2008). Individuals who are tolerant of ambiguity are usually not satisfied with imperfect solution for problems. The hypothesis, which suggests that individual’s tolerance for ambiguity is related to creative thinking, is based on the idea that situations that require creative thinking regularly include ambiguity. Tolerance for ambiguity allows individuals to stay open for options and keep searching for other optimal alternatives when dealing with complex problems.

Creative and talented individuals are innovative; they care for intrinsic satisfaction and they need to feel that their work is appreciated, they need to stay happy to be able to innovate, and managing those individuals are not as managing regular individuals. Those individuals need to feel that they are independent and somehow they are their own managers, they dislike routine work and adore challenging situations, in addition to that criticizing them or their work must be well thought about, it has to come in a sort of encouraging feedback, as it will have negative impact on them and their innovative work, “Criticism and imparting feelings of failure will destroy creativity--avoiding them are the keys to fostering creativity" (Amabile cited in Warner, n.d.).

I believe giving them a free hand is a wise management decision, some people can perform better when they are well monitored and given specific orders and tasks, others like creative individuals perform better when they are let free. A company like apple would have never achieved their current reputation and profits if they haven’t started with innovative ideas like Apple I and Apple II, and without offering Wozniak, the inventor of those computers a free hand. However, each organization has its own strategy and agenda, leading people is about making the organization’s strategy adopted by its employees and its their own strategy, the problem with talented people relies in how they tend to drift from the main project if it becomes

Creativity is influenced by factors other than the individual himself, the field he works in and the society (culture) has a great impact on creativity and innovation, Shane mentioned factors that influence inventiveness, first is the level “to which a society stresses social hierarchy” (Shane, 2006), as bureaucratic societies reduces inventions because of lack for communication which is a crucial aspect for invention as it requires input from others, and because innovation needs “decentralized authority“(Shane, 2006). In addition to that inventions bring change to society, and usually hierarchal societies tent to minimize the change because it will redistribute the power in the society (Shane, 2006). Individualistic societies that value freedom are more creative and inventive, as innovative individuals need freedom to innovate, unlike collectivistic societies. Individualist cultures value the self, and by this people can express themselves more than other cultures, which have a positive relation to motivation and creative thinking. For example, lots of Arab scientists have left their countries due to lack of motivation and lack of appreciation for their work, they migrated to Europe and North America, where their work were more appreciated, as well individuals in developing and underdeveloped countries are less innovative than developed countries, and that is related to the level of education they get at early stages and motivation. Mari’s study on students from American School and a school in “Arab rural occupied territories” (Palestine), to examine the effects of cultural and sex differences in creative thinking abilities, Mari used verbal B and figural B from TTCT, the study showed that Arab female lagged behind Arab male students, while in the American sample, no sex difference were found, and the performance of American students was greater than students from the occupied Arab country.  In non-individualist cultures, individuality is punished while in individualist cultures, its stimulated and essential, although the study doesn’t mention the stressful circumstances that students suffer in the occupied territories, however, it clearly impact the improvement in creativity (Al-Sulaiman, n.d.).

References:

Al-Sulaiman, N., (n.d.), ‘Cross Cultural Studies And Creative Thinking Abilities’, [Online], Available from: http://repository.ksu.edu.sa/jspui/bitstream/123456789/4611/3/Cross-%20cultural%20studies%20and%20creative%20thinking%20abilities.pdf

(Accessed 20 May 2011)

Shane, S., (1992), ‘Why do some societies invent more than others?’ , Journal of Business Venturing, Volume 7, Issue 1, January 1992, Pages 29-46, ISSN 0883-9026, DOI: 10.1016/0883-9026(92)90033-N, SciVerse [Online].  (Accessed 20 May 2011)

Warner, C., (n.d.), ‘How To Manage Creative People’, [Online], Available from: http://www.charleswarner.us/mgtcreat.html

(Accessed 20 May 2011)

Zenasni, F., Besançon, M. & Lubart, T., (2008), ‘Creativity and Tolerance of Ambiguity: An Empirical Study’ , The Journal of Creative Behavior, V42, Number1, 2008,pp 61-73 Creative Education Foundation, [Online].

(Accessed 20 May 2011)