Towards a More Realistic Creative Problem Solving Approach

This paper takes a closer look at the existing multi‐step diamond shaped models for creative problem solving (CPS). A case history of a real‐life technical problem in which CPS techniques were used is our source of inspiration for some new ideas about approaching CPS. We propose three concurrent processes: Content finding, Acceptance finding and Information finding. In concrete in‐company projects, these three processes need to be managed simultaneously, which leads to a fourth overarching process: project management. Content finding is concerned with the process the creative session members are going through based on people's own active knowledge and ideas and on sharing their mental models to get new ideas. Acceptance finding is concerned with the co‐creation of new and additional mental systems that are needed for bringing new ideas into good currency within the existing organization and goes beyond agreement on implementation plans. Information finding is concerned with gathering additional knowledge on the ideas that are not readily available during the session. Finally, Project management is concerned with organizing and leading the creative session and in the embedding of the project into the larger organization.     

Mediated and Moderated Effects of Business and Project Planning on Innovation Projects in Hospitals

Based on multi‐respondent data of 130 innovation projects in hospitals, our study analyses the role of planning intensity for project success. Besides showing that also in complex service systems innovation projects are supported through planning, we contribute to innovation management research, first, by clearly differentiating between the effects of business and project planning; second, by integrating intra‐team co‐ordination as a possible mediator of the planning success relationship; and, third, by taking into account the degree of innovativeness as a relevant contingency. We apply a multi‐level regression analysis, include several control variables, and limit common source biases by a multi‐respondent empirical design. The results demonstrate that both planning types show complementary effects. Project planning increases intra‐team co‐ordination, which mediates the planning effect on project success. Business planning has a direct effect on project success. However, the moderating effects of project innovativeness are oppositional. While business planning becomes more important for higher degrees of innovativeness, the efficacy of project planning is limited to incremental innovations. We conclude with a discussion of implications for hospital and innovation management as well as future research.     

Managing Project Transformation in a Complex Context

Complex projects are often undertaken in uncertain situations in which project participants who adopt a rational‐oriented strategy tend to face difficulties in adapting and adjusting to changes that occur during the project. In this context a process‐oriented strategy, although difficult to manage, can be a better way to handle project transformation. Collective learning then becomes crucial. This article describes some lessons learned when a project manager and team applied a process‐oriented strategy in a complex project. Data has been collected through interactive research and evaluation with different methods including surveys, observations and interviews. The analysis shows that it is possible to organize for learning and to manage transformation in a complex context. Important factors for success are a process‐oriented strategy, a creative climate, formative evaluation and systematic reflections. A major issue that is discussed in the article is the transfer of outcomes from the project to the participating organizations.     

Lifestyle Meets Market: Bohemian Entrepreneurs in Creative Industries

By linking lifestyle studies with creative industries research, this article opens a new perspective on creativity and innovation management. We argue that artists in the creative industries have to bridge the gap between artistic work and the economic need for self‐management, and that a bohemian lifestyle essentially supports them in doing so. The bohemian lifestyle, which is characterized by a devotion to art for art’s sake, is an essential source for work motivation of artists and an increasing number of other creative workers. The article draws upon an empirical study into artistic work and employment in German theatres. Enacting a bohemian lifestyle enables actors as ‘bohemian entrepreneurs’ to integrate intensive self‐management and self‐marketing as well as subordination of private life to work into their artistic work life. Analysing the link between lifestyle and creative work is crucial for understanding the way in which creative workers become artists and, at the same time, entrepreneurs of their creative talent.     

Designing shared spaces for firm‐community collaborations for innovation: Formal policies and coordination in open source projects

This paper adds to the growing debate on the design of the shared space between firms and communities in co‐innovation processes. We investigate specific organizational design initiatives that firms can take when collaborating with online communities to nurture their joint knowledge creation process and to realize a useful output. We contend that drafting a formal policy, leaving the coordination of the joint project to others and, in case of taking on the coordination duty, dedicating an employee's full time to realize the project administrator task can help increase the amount of useful output of such collaborations. Results based on a sample of 1,099 open source software projects hosted on the platform SourceForge.net support our hypotheses.     

A study of creative tension of engineering students in Korea

The aim of this research was to study the nature of creative tension of engineering students in South Korea. The creative tension was analyzed according to relevant competences in project managers' work role. Most of the subjects who participated in this study were part‐time students who worked as managers in manufacturing and industrial companies. The application used for collecting and analyzing data was the project managers' work‐role–based competence application, Cycloid. Data were collected on the Internet by self‐evaluation. The constructed competence model of the Cycloid application was added into the Evolute self‐evaluation system utilizing fuzzy logic. The application was able to identify students' current state and personal aims and the creative tension essential for their personal development. The Cycloid application can be utilized in developing the professional competencies of individuals, teams, and organizations. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 17: 511–520, 2007.     

BendyLights: Artistic Control of Direct Illumination by Curving Light Rays

In computer cinematography, artists routinely use non‐physical lighting models to achieve desired appearances. This paper presents BendyLights, a non‐physical lighting model where light travels nonlinearly along splines, allowing artists to control light direction and shadow position at different points in the scene independently. Since the light deformation is smoothly defined at all world‐space positions, the resulting non‐physical lighting effects remain spatially consistent, avoiding the frequent incongruences of many non‐physical models. BendyLights are controlled simply by reshaping splines, using familiar interfaces, and require very few parameters. BendyLight control points can be keyframed to support animated lighting effects. We demonstrate BendyLights both in a realtime rendering system for editing and a production renderer for final rendering, where we show that BendyLights can also be used with global illumination.     

In at the Deep End: An Activity‐Led Introduction to First Year Creative Computing

Misconceptions about the nature of the computing disciplines pose a serious problem to university faculties that offer computing degrees, as students enrolling on their programmes may come to realise that their expectations are not met by reality. This frequently results in the students’ early disengagement from the subject of their degrees which in turn can lead to excessive ‘wastage’, that is, reduced retention. In this paper, we report on our academic group’s attempts within creative computing degrees at a UK university to counter these problems through the introduction of a 6 week long project that newly enrolled students embark on at the very beginning of their studies. This group project, involving the creation of a 3D etch‐a‐sketch‐like computer graphics application with a hardware interface, provides a breadth‐first, activity‐led introduction to the students’ chosen academic discipline, aiming to increase student engagement while providing a stimulating learning experience with the overall goal to increase retention. We present the methods and results of two iterations of these projects in the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 academic years, and conclude that the approach worked well for these cohorts, with students expressing increased interest in their chosen discipline, in addition to noticeable improvements in retention following the first year of the students’ studies.     

Call Centres: Pre‐evaluation of their Usefulness in Local Government

The development of contact‐centres within those local government organisations in the UK is occurring with inadequate strategic consideration. The general themes which emerged during in‐depth surveys strongly support the proposition. Thus, a significant new product development is at risk and may cost each individual organisation many millions of pounds in set‐up costs representing substantial financial commitment. Yet, there is only limited knowledge of capital costs or on‐going revenue costs, strong evidence of internal resistance, a lack of any shared vision, or knowledge of the level of risk. There is only limited understanding of the organisational impact of such an innovation, its potential benefits or added value that it could provide. There is also evidence to support the view that the decision‐making process is following a path of logical incrementalism without clearly stated project objectives or formal project appraisal. There is a creeping commitment to the continuation of such projects, and often a lack of group and intragroup coherence. Nevertheless, there is some evidence of powerful product champions and compliant project teams.     

Project managers in global software development teams: a study of the effects on productivity and performance

Globalization is having a deep impact on today’s world economy. One of the most affected industries is the software industry. Recently, global software development (GSD) has gained a lot of attention. This new trend of producing software is influencing all software processes, including human resource management. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the implications of GSD for software project managers by analyzing project performance from different perspectives such as the 360-degree feedback evaluation. Results show that performance of GSD projects is lower than in-house projects, but apart from that, this study reveals that there are also negative consequences for software project managers, which need to be taken into account. For instance, the experiment revealed a lack of attention to tasks by software project managers and, as a consequence of this, performance losses. The main conclusions of this research may be valuable for software development organizations.     

Organizing Individual and Collective Creativity: Flying in the Face of Creativity Clichés

The growing complexity of problems requires collective solutions to produce creative outcomes. Organizational theory on creativity has been extensively developed in recent decades, but two problematic issues remain. First, no current comprehensive model explains the development of collective creativity. Second, no empirical research has been conducted on the process of theory dissemination and its relevance within the managerial community. This paper provides evidence which can inform the design of collective creative projects within organizations, flying in the face of some managerial clichés. We design a research project which enables managerial sensemaking to emerge and which proposes a comprehensive approach to the design of team creativity. From a research design involving 24 managers and 98 eleven‐person groups, results confirm that creativity is not only about creative genius, and design for creativity is not a matter of linear correlation but implies a more sophisticated and integrative approach according to which individual creative skills, team dynamics and organizational solutions interact with each other to produce a collective creative performance.     

A taxonomy of political processes in systems development

Significant resources invested in information system development (ISD) are wasted due to political manoeuvres. Prior research on ISD politics has contributed mainly through theoretical development and case studies. This has enhanced understanding of relevant concepts, political tactics and conditions facilitating politics. However, there is limited understanding of the different processes through which politics unfold. This paper uses 89 ISD projects to develop a taxonomy of political processes in ISD. The taxonomy includes three distinct processes: Tug of War, wherein multiple parties strive to gain project control; Obstacle Race, which involves efforts to resist and pursue the project; and Empire Building, wherein the project is used as an instrument to enhance political or resource bases. The taxonomy is explained using the non‐proponents' view of the project and the balance of power between system's proponents and non‐proponents. We also discuss the emergent taxonomy's implications for how politics can be managed and studied.     

Digital eco-art: transformative possibilities

Abstract

Cave paintings bear witness that, early in human cultural development, art and the means to create it (technology) became a method of expression and translation of human interconnectedness with nature defined as the non-human-made world. Contemporary new media artists interacting with nature through the medium of digital technologies in situ continue this exploration within the genre referred to as “digital eco-art”. LocoMotoArt, an independently powered creative field system, was used as a vehicle for conducting media arts practice in natural settings during a three-year qualitative field research project. Findings indicate that human–technology–nature interconnectedness is a possible conduit for establishing a role for digital technology beyond social networking, computing, information gathering and gaming to engage with nature. We argue that digital eco-artists are at the vanguard of creating a new sense of aesthetic and environmental engagement, proportions of which emerge as transformative possibilities. The art experience of digital eco-art can change from being a contemplative one to a living experience.     

A methodology for the selection of requirements engineering techniques

The complexity of software projects as well as the multidisciplinary nature of requirements engineering (RE) requires developers to carefully select RE techniques and practices during software development. Nevertheless, the selection of RE techniques is usually based on personal preference or existing company practice rather than on characteristics of the project at hand. Furthermore, there is a lack of guidance on which techniques are suitable for a certain project context. So far, only a limited amount of research has been done regarding the selection of RE techniques based on the attributes of the project under development. The few approaches that currently exist for the selection of RE techniques provide only little guidance for the actual selection process. We believe that the evaluation of RE techniques in the context of an application domain and a specific project is of great importance. This paper describes a Methodology for Requirements Engineering Techniques Selection (MRETS) as an approach that helps requirements engineers select suitable RE techniques for the project at hand. The MRETS has three aspects: Firstly, it aids requirements engineers in establishing a link between the attributes of the project and the attributes of RE techniques. Secondly, based on the evaluation schema proposed in our research, MRETS provides an opportunity to analyze RE techniques in detail using clustering. Thirdly, the objective function used in our approach provides an effective decision support mechanism for the selection of RE techniques. This paper makes contributions to RE techniques analysis, the application of RE techniques in practice, RE research, and software engineering in general. The application of the proposed methodology to an industrial project provides preliminary information on the effectiveness of MRETS for the selection of RE techniques.     

Multi-Perspective Modelling, Rendering and Imaging

A perspective image represents the spatial relationships of objects in a scene as they appear from a single viewpoint. In contrast, a multi‐perspective image combines what is seen from several viewpoints into a single image. Despite their incongruity of view, effective multi‐perspective images are able to preserve spatial coherence and can depict, within a single context, details of a scene that are simultaneously inaccessible from a single view, yet easily interpretable by a viewer. In computer vision, multi‐perspective images have been used for analysing structure revealed via motion and generating panoramic images with a wide field‐of‐view using mirrors. In this STAR, we provide a practical guide on topics in multi‐perspective modelling and rendering methods and multi‐perspective imaging systems. We start with a brief review of multi‐perspective image techniques frequently employed by artists such as the visual paradoxes of Escher, the Cubism of Picasso and Braque and multi‐perspective panoramas in cel animations. We then characterize existing multi‐perspective camera models, with an emphasis on their underlying geometry and image properties. We demonstrate how to use these camera models for creating specific multi‐perspective rendering effects. Furthermore, we show that many of these cameras satisfy the multi‐perspective stereo constraints and we demonstrate several multi‐perspective imaging systems for extracting 3D geometry for computer vision. The participants learn about topics in multi‐perspective modelling and rendering for generating compelling pictures for computer graphics and in multi‐perspective imaging for extracting 3D geometry for computer vision. We hope to provide enough fundamentals to satisfy the technical specialist without intimidating curious digital artists interested in multi‐perspective images. The intended audience includes digital artists, photographers and computer graphics and computer vision researchers using or building multi‐perspective cameras. They will learn about multi‐perspective modelling and rendering, along with many real world multi‐perspective imaging systems.     

Creative ventures and the personalities that activate them in a post‐disaster setting

In the post‐earthquakes setting of Christchurch, New Zealand, the realization of value for the affected community occurred in a variety of ways. Data for this study were gathered from in‐depth interviews (n = 45) with people involved in a range of creative ventures pursued for commercial or social benefit during the five years following the earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2010 and 2011. Perhaps unexpectedly, the unstable setting delivered a multitude of opportunities for entrepreneurship and a reduced level of perceived risk. It was found that characteristics of those implementing creative projects contributed to the initial success of ventures. The characteristics, however, differ in important ways from those found in previous research about the typical psychological propensities associated with those who act on entrepreneurial opportunities. Importantly, the characteristics that led to the activation of ideas in the post‐disaster setting may have also led to their inability to prolong benefits.     

Creativity of student information system projects: From the perspective of network embeddedness

Many companies have pursued innovation to obtain a competitive edge. Thus, educational reform focuses mainly on training creative students. This study adopted the concept of an affiliated network of projects to investigate how project embeddedness influences project team creativity. This work surveys 60 projects in a Management Information Systems Department of a University. Validity of the specific study hypotheses is tested by using moderate hierarchical regression analysis to determine how project embeddedness affects project team creativity and assess how the team innovation climate moderates the relationships between project embeddedness and project team creativity. Analytical results indicate a positive association between structural embeddedness and project team creativity, a negative relationship between positional embeddedness and project team creativity, and a positive influence of team innovation climate on the relationships between network embeddedness and project team creativity. An attempt is also made to understand the role of positional embeddedness by classifying the interactions based on the content of interactions. According to those results, positional embeddedness is positively related to project team creativity during problem–identification interaction; during solution–design interaction, positional embeddedness is negatively related to project team creativity. Results of this study explain the phenomena of divergent thinking and convergent thinking during creative development.     

Creativity – A Volatile Key of Success? Creativity in New Drug Development

This paper presents a study of successful and creative projects in the pharmaceutical industry. Creativity is here defined as the ability to bring forth a new product within a specific domain of knowledge, namely in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and oncological medicine. The paper, being based on interviews with 18 of the most leading pre‐clinical, clinical and pharmaceutical researchers at former AB Hässle and ICI Pharmaceutical Division, suggests that if creativity is to be managed as an organizational resource, there are at least nine facets that need to be considered. These nine facets range from the most practical aspects to issues of project culture and human faculties such as curiosity and joy. The paper concludes that there is such a thing as creativity management but also claims that creativity is complicated to manage as an organizational resource, since it is based on both tight control and clear objectives at the same time, as there must be space for experimentation, discussions and what could be called non‐linear thinking.     

Inspecting module interface specifications

Despite dramatic changes in computing in the two decades since the term software engineering was coined, problems of deficient quality and unmanageable costs continue to afflict the software industry. Improvements in the software engineering process are vital to bringing software quality and costs under control. Module interface specification is a mature software engineering technology that, like many other proposed methodological improvements, has not significantly penetrated industrial practice. The inspection technique is well accepted for dealing with program code and pseudo-code, but its potential for application to other work products is largely unrealized. This paper describes a successful pilot project in jointly transferring these two technologies to the software workplace. A central theme of the project was purposeful customization of the technology to a particular industrial setting. Such adaptation is important for success in the notoriously difficult process of diffusing software engineering methodology in industry.     

Developing a dynamic project learning and cross‐project learning capability: synthesizing two perspectives

Driven by the complexity of new products and services, project work has become increasingly common in all types of organizations. However, research on project learning suggests that often project teams do not meet their stated objectives and, moreover, there is limited organizational learning from the experiences of project work. We use the dynamic capabilities framework to argue that building a dynamic project learning capability is useful for organizations that make extensive use of projects. We use both survey and interview data to discuss the key ways in which such a dynamic capability can be built. Our survey data demonstrate the importance of documenting project learning, but our interview data show that teams are often remiss at documenting their learning. The results from the two different approaches are synthesized using Boland & Tenkasi’s notions of perspective‐making and perspective‐taking. Importantly, combining the results from the two sets of data suggests that organizations need to emphasize the benefits from project reviews and documentation and explore ways in which the documents produced can be made more useful as boundary objects to encourage the sharing of learning across projects.