Individual Creativity

1. INDIVIDUAL CREATIVITY

Trying to provide a definition of “creativity”, we quote here those definitions emerged from the analysis of the considered scientific contribution.

Joly [1]consider creativity as:

"The art of setting problems and suggesting proper solutions to them” (Joly 1993)

Moreover he defines creativity as:

the capability of producing new solutions linking together unrelated events, instead of using a logical process;
the intellectual movement, that consists in linking together information in an unpredictable way, in order to build a new order.

However, Joly himself states that both definitions ignore the fact that creativity starts from a good problem’s formulation. In other words, both definitions are concerned to describe how to get to creativity, instead of explaining the aim of creativity.
Joly states that, in order to set a problem and to solve it by mean of using a provoked creativity, it is necessary to adopt a proper method of working, which is very different from the usual one, since it implies the use of some suited techniques.

In practical terms, two paths have to be paced simultaneously to apply creativity:

the first path is a psychological one and requires
- the abolition of inhibitions, it is to say personal and natural hindrances;
the second path is a logical one and implies:
- the adoption of a well identified action process;
- intuitions based on techniques and methods properly chosen and adapted to the specific problem to be solved

Bertone considers creativity as:

"the ability of thinking out of scheme, reaching new and functional conclusions, suited to solve a problem or to catch an opportunity” (Bertone, 1993)

The definition of creativity includes another element, which is given by problem anticipation and by opportunity search. The three keywords of creativity definition are:

ability;
out of scheme;
problem/opportunity.

Bertone introduces his definition of creativity step by step. A first element of creativity derives from the distinction between unspecific managerial skills (soft skill) and specific ones (hard skill). The former are creativity, leadership, communication and learning capability. The others are skills in production, finance, marketing and so on. Creativity,
therefore, is an unspecific ability, to be added to the other traditional managerial skills. In addition, it is held by everyone, in different measures, and it can be improved. It is the ability of giving a suitable solution to a problem, being this solution new, useful, appropriate and correct. Moreover, this solution is a creative one, when it is searched and found outside those schemes that are already known and used by someone else.

With the expression “thinking out of scheme” he means the use of lateral and divergent thinking. Adopting the definition provided by Guilford, it is possible to define lateral and divergent thinking as the capability of tackling with problems that are not so well defined and structured as those proposed by the traditional attitudinal tests. Components of lateral and divergent thinking are:

orginality(capability of expressing new ideas);
fluidity(quantity of answers given to a question);
flexibility(variety of answers provided);
elaboration capability(level of detail, definition, concreteness of the answers).

Teresa Amabile [2] states that fundamental “ingredients” of individual creativity are: the expertise in a specific field or expertise, it is to say those sectorial skills, representing the grasp in a particular area; the second ingredient is the ability to think in a creative way, in other words the ability to look at the events from a new perspective and to imagine a wider range of different possibilities; finally, the third and last ingredient is the intrinsic motivation, resulting from the pleasure of doing a specific thing.
According to Jaoui [3]creativity is characterized by an attitude or a decision, explicit or implicit, to exercise a control on reality in order to modify it.
In addition, he says that the main instrument for a successful strategy is practical creativity, that is the methodology enabling to develop and to use effectively the own capability of inventing original and acceptable solutions. It aims to help to discover and increase individual resources, to clarify the objectives in order to take decisions and to elaborate a winning strategy.
However, creativity can be performed both individually and in groups, being therefore necessary to define what it is intended by creativity in a collective, and mainly organisational, context.
At this point it is necessary to talk about creativity in a collective and organizational context.

[1] J.P. Guilford, Way Beyond the IQ, Creative Education Foundation, 1977.
[2]T.M. Amabile, “How to kill creativity”, Harvard Business Review, September/October, 1998, pp. 76-87.
[3] H. Jaoui, Créatifs au quotidien. Outils et méthodes, Paris, Editions «Hommes et Perspectives», 1991.

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