Cropley Creativity in Engineering

Novel Solutions to Complex Problems
1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-0-12-800318-3
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 348 Seiten

Reihe: Explorations in Creativity Research

Creativity is like an iceberg - the resulting new idea, or novel solution is only 10% of the effort.  The other 90% is the complex interplay of thinking skills and strategies, personal and motivational properties that activate these skills and strategies, and the social and organizational factors of the environment that influence the creative process.  Creativity in Engineering focuses on the Process, Person, Product, and Place to understand when and why creativity happens in the engineering environment and how it can be further encouraged. Special Features: - Applies findings in creativity research to the engineering arena - Defines engineering creativity and differentiates it from innovation - Discusses personality and motivational factors that impact creativity - Clarifies the role of creativity in the design process - Details the impact of thinking skills and strategies in creativity - Identifies the role the organization and environment plays in encouraging creativity - Discusses the 4P's of Creativity: Person, Product, Process, and Place - Provides tactics and tools that will help users foster creativity in engineering environments - Identifies how creativity results in innovative new solutions to problems - Applies creativity research and knowledge to the engineering space

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cropley, David H

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Front Cover;1
2;Creativity in Engineering;4
3;Copyright Page;5
4;Dedication;6
5;Contents;8
6;List of Figures;12
7;List of Tables;14
8;Foreword;16
9;Preface;18
9.1;The Approach of This Book;18
9.2;Why is This Book Different?;18
9.3;Outline of Chapters;19
9.4;Acknowledgments;21
10;1 Introduction;24
10.1;The Sputnik Shock;24
10.2;The Link between Creativity and Engineering;28
10.3;What is Creativity?;29
10.4;The Definition of Creativity;30
10.5;The Four Ps of Creativity;31
10.6;The Fifth P;32
10.7;Paradoxes of Creativity;34
10.8;Summary;34
11;2 The Importance of Creativity in Engineering;36
11.1;The Economics of Creativity;36
11.2;Engineering and Engineers;38
11.3;Change;39
11.4;The Need for Creativity;42
11.5;Creative Engineering Problem Solving;45
11.6;The Oil Crisis of 1973;47
11.6.1;Oil Crisis—Solution Pathways;48
11.6.2;Oil Crisis—Technology Push and Market Pull;49
11.7;Case Study: Creativity and Innovation in Aerospace;50
12;3 Phases: Creativity and the Design Process;58
12.1;Problem Solving and Creativity;58
12.2;Knowledge and Problem Solving;59
12.3;Problem Recognition;60
12.3.1;Finding Good Problems;61
12.3.2;Problem Awareness;62
12.3.3;The Effect of the Problem on Creativity;63
12.4;Idea Generation;63
12.5;Idea Evaluation;64
12.6;Solution Validation;65
12.7;General Models of Creative Problem Solving;66
12.7.1;Other Models of Problem Solving;68
12.7.2;The Extended Phase Model;70
12.8;Engineering Problem Solving: Design;72
12.8.1;Engineering Design as Creativity;73
12.8.2;Engineering Divergent Thinking;76
12.8.3;Constraints and Design;77
12.8.4;Freedom versus Constraint;78
12.9;Engineering Models of Design;79
13;4 Product: The Creativity of Things;86
13.1;What are Products?;87
13.1.1;External Indicators of Creative Products;88
13.2;The Fundamental Criteria of the Creativity of Products;89
13.2.1;Further Criteria of the Creativity of Products;90
13.3;The Hierarchical Organization of Creative Products;91
13.3.1;Situation versus Domain Relevance of Creative Products;93
13.4;Product Creativity as a System;94
13.5;Latent Functional Creativity;96
13.6;Measuring the Creativity of Products;97
13.6.1;Consensual Assessment;98
13.6.2;Rating Scales;99
13.6.3;The Creative Solution Diagnosis Scale (CSDS);101
13.7;Industrial Design and Engineering;108
13.8;Summary;108
14;5 Process: Generating Creative Ideas;110
14.1;Unsystematic Creativity;111
14.1.1;Effortless Creativity;111
14.1.2;Blind Combinations;112
14.1.3;Luck;113
14.1.4;Intuition;114
14.2;Systematic Production of Novelty;115
14.2.1;Generating Variability;115
14.2.2;Divergent Thinking;116
14.2.3;Other Concepts of Novelty-Generating Thinking;117
14.3;Thinking Tactics That Generate Variability;119
14.3.1;Constructing Remote Associates;119
14.3.2;Building Unusual Categories;121
14.3.3;Building Broad Networks;122
14.3.4;Accommodating Rather than Assimilating;123
14.4;Using Creativity-Facilitating Cognitive Styles;124
14.5;Meta-Cognition;126
14.5.1;Avoiding the Wrong Approach Barrier;127
14.6;Measuring Divergent Thinking;128
14.6.1;Scoring Divergent-Thinking Tests;130
14.6.2;A Creativity Quotient?;132
14.6.3;Other Tests of Creative Thinking;133
14.6.4;The Test of Creative Thinking—Drawing Production;135
14.6.5;Tests Based on Problem Solving;136
14.7;Convergent Thinking: The Prepared Mind;139
14.7.1;Intuition and Convergent Thinking;139
14.7.2;The Prepared Mind;139
14.7.3;The Problem of Too Much Knowledge;140
14.7.4;The Unprepared Mind;142
14.8;Knowledge and Creativity;143
14.8.1;Knowledge as the Source of Ideas;144
14.8.2;Knowledge Defines What is Creative;145
14.8.3;Knowledge Guides and Shapes Creativity;146
14.9;The Interaction Between Divergent and Convergent Thinking;146
14.9.1;Generating and Exploring Variability;146
14.10;Models of Convergent and Divergent Interaction;148
14.10.1;Prerequisite Models;148
14.10.2;The Super-Ordinate Ability Approach;149
14.10.3;Style Models;150
14.11;Summary;152
15;6 Person: The Who of Creativity;154
15.1;The Search for the Creative Personality;155
15.2;Creativity and Mental Illness;156
15.2.1;Thought Disorders;156
15.2.2;Mood Disorders;157
15.2.3;The Line between Normal and Abnormal;159
15.3;Studying Personality and Creativity: Methods;160
15.3.1;Case Studies;161
15.3.2;Occupational Creativity;162
15.3.3;Unacclaimed Behavior;163
15.4;Studying Creativity and Personality: Results;163
15.5;Personality-Facilitating Traits;164
15.5.1;Openness;165
15.5.2;Play and Humor;166
15.5.3;Motivation;166
15.5.4;Intrinsic Motivation;168
15.5.5;Preference for Complexity;170
15.5.6;Feelings and Emotions in Creativity;171
15.6;The Dynamics of Personality and Creativity;172
15.6.1;A Cause-and-Effect Relationship?;173
15.6.2;Personality as a Compelling Cause;174
15.6.3;Personality as a Facilitator/Blocker;175
15.6.4;The Common Source Explanation;175
15.7;The Paradoxical Personality;176
15.8;A Dynamic System;177
15.9;Diagnosing the Creativity of People;178
15.10;Psychological Dimensions of Creative Potential;179
15.10.1;Personality and Potential;180
15.10.2;Activity and Productivity;182
15.10.3;Attitude and Potential;184
15.10.4;Multifaceted Approaches to Diagnosing Creativity;186
15.10.5;Using Assessment of Personal Creativity;187
15.11;Summary;190
16;7 Press: Creativity and the Role of the Environment;192
16.1;The Social Environment;193
16.1.1;A Social Approach to Creativity;194
16.1.2;Ethical Aspects of Creativity;195
16.2;The Social Definition of What is Creative;197
16.2.1;The Problem of Changing Standards;198
16.2.2;The Social Definition of Who is Creative;199
16.2.3;Social Determination of Amount and Kind of Creativity;200
16.2.4;The Effect of the Amount of Creativity;200
16.2.5;The Effect of Kind of Creativity;201
16.2.6;The Social Influence on the Content of Creative Behavior;203
16.3;Motivation: The Social Nature of the Creative Impulse;205
16.3.1;Social Motivation and Creativity;206
16.3.2;Society, the Individual, and Creativity as a System;207
16.3.3;Society’s Ability to Tolerate Novelty;210
16.3.4;Social Mechanisms that Encourage or Discourage Creativity;210
16.3.5;Degree of Openness of the Society;214
16.3.6;Socially Assigned Roles and Creativity;214
16.4;The Institutional Environment and Creativity;216
16.4.1;The Problem of Facing Organizations;216
16.4.2;Organizations as the Site of Creativity;218
16.4.3;A Broad Understanding of “Organization”;219
16.4.4;The Congenial Environment;220
16.4.5;Assisters and Resisters;222
16.4.6;Institutional Climate;223
16.5;Creativity and Gender;224
16.5.1;Characteristics Needed for Creativity;225
16.5.2;Stereotypes of “Male” and “Female”;225
16.5.3;The Paradoxical Personality Revisited;228
16.6;Groups and Creativity;230
16.6.1;Teamwork;232
16.6.2;Downstream Consequences;232
16.7;Assessing the Organizational Climate;233
16.7.1;Tests of Organizational Conditions;233
16.8;Summary;238
17;8 Innovation: Exploiting Creativity;240
17.1;Defining Innovation;241
17.2;Competition and Innovation;243
17.3;Understanding Innovation;243
17.4;The Innovation Phase Assessment Instrument (IPAI);244
17.5;Summary;249
18;9 Creativity Training;250
18.1;Can Creativity Be Taught?;251
18.2;The Effectiveness of Creativity Training;252
18.2.1;The Effect of Creativity Training;254
18.2.2;Effectiveness of Different Kinds of Training;255
18.3;Why Do We Need to Teach Creativity?;255
18.4;What Abilities Need to Be Trained?;256
18.4.1;Developing the Creativity Habit;257
18.5;Domain-Specificity and Creativity Training;259
18.5.1;Creativity in Different Domains;260
18.6;General Approaches to Creativity Training;261
18.7;Fostering Creativity in Individual People;262
18.7.1;Inculcating What Was Not Previously There;264
18.7.2;Eliminating Blockers;265
18.8;Specific Creativity-Facilitating Techniques;267
18.8.1;Creativity Tools;269
18.8.2;Formal Training Programs;275
18.8.3;Popular Training Programs;277
19;10 Embedding Creativity in Engineering Education;280
19.1;The Problem;281
19.2;Stakeholder Perspectives;283
19.2.1;The Overspecialization Problem;285
19.2.2;The Pseudo-Expertise Problem;286
19.2.3;The Lack of Knowledge Problem;288
19.3;Benefits of Creativity in Education;290
19.4;Fixing the Problem;291
19.4.1;General Principles;293
19.5;Designing a Curriculum for Engineering Creativity;296
19.5.1;Curriculum Objectives;296
19.5.2;Levels of Understanding;298
19.5.3;Model Syllabus;300
19.5.4;Curriculum Implementation;301
19.5.5;Teaching Plan;302
19.5.6;Assessment Guide;309
19.5.7;Assignment A—Plank Exercise (10%);310
19.5.8;Assignment B—Egg Exercise (15%);312
19.5.9;Assignment C—Spaghetti Exercise (15%);313
19.5.10;Assignment D—Project Exercise (60%);313
19.6;Summary;314
19.7;Concluding Remarks;315
20;References;318
21;Index;338

Leseproben

Preface
David H. Cropley, Adelaide The Approach of This Book
This book provides a set of research-based concepts, firmly grounded in the body of knowledge of creativity, which will help professional engineers, engineering managers, and engineering educators to understand creativity in a systematic way. The material in the book will help these stakeholders to identify its key aspects, develop it in themselves, foster its development in students and professionals, and acknowledge and reward it appropriately. The aim is • to demystify the concept of creativity, i.e., help educators, managers, practitioners and students understand it in a practical, concrete way; • to show that there is a common core to creativity in all disciplines; • to help people acquire a foundation of creative skills, motives, attitudes, and values from the very beginning; • to show educators and managers how to facilitate the development of these through their leadership; • to show educators and managers how to evaluate other people’s work in ways that foster creativity. The approach to creativity in this book emphasizes three complementary facets: 1. the thinking skills and strategies people need for creativity (cognitive factors); 2. the personal and motivational properties that permit and activate these skills and strategies (noncognitive factors); 3. the characteristics of the environment (social and organizational factors) that influence the whole process. Why is This Book Different?
Much of what has been written about creativity in the domain of engineering is unsatisfactory. There is no shortage of books and articles that teach readers cognitive tricks. These approaches, however, are overly dependent on the reapplication of factual knowledge, often in the form of catchy, fixed techniques. They fail to encourage deep learning and fail to move beyond developing a knowledge of what and how by adding knowledge of when and why. This shallow approach to understanding leaves learners able to execute simple procedures and describe superficial concepts, but far less able to compare and contrast different approaches, analyze underlying causes, and reapply their knowledge to new and unfamiliar situations. By definition, creativity in engineering is about dealing with new and unprecedented problems. An overreliance on the reapplication of tried and trusted methods leaves learners unable to answer questions such as “why didn’t this method work in this particular case?” or “what method is best suited to this particular group of people?” The shallow, factual-only approach has been characterized as “fast food” creativity (A. J. Cropley & Cropley, 2009). This book therefore advocates spinach creativity: a more complete approach that does not shy away from those aspects that are less glamorous and less readily digested. Most people are familiar with Thomas Edison’s famous quote: “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration” (published in Harper’s magazine in 1932). The same, broadly speaking, may be said of creativity. Perhaps a better simile is that creativity is like an iceberg—the end result, in the form of a brilliant new idea, or a novel solution to an intractable problem, is only 10% the whole effort. The other 90% is the complex interplay of personal properties, feelings, motivation, cognitive processes, organizational and social factors that deliver the visible product. If we are to get the best possible result from our creative engineering efforts, we must understand not only the visible tip of the iceberg, but also everything that lies hidden beneath. Outline of Chapters
The focus of the following chapters of this book is therefore, fundamentally, to address the question of how to reconnect creativity and engineering. Before embarking on a detailed explanation of the 4Ps of creativity, what they are, and how they are measured, I will begin by fleshing out two issues already mentioned briefly as important for understanding creativity in engineering. Chapter 2 first tackles the question of the importance of creativity in engineering. Why should engineering organizations, their leadership, and their professional practitioners, as well as educational institutions, be concerned with creativity in engineering? What is it that engineers do that requires creativity? What value does creativity add to products? Also, how does creativity feed the wider process of innovation? In Chapter 3, I then begin the detailed development of the framework for understanding creativity (and innovation) in engineering by looking at the Phases involved in both engineering design and creativity. What are they, and how do they differ in terms of what is required? One consequence of this will be that creativity is recognized as not being a one-size-fits-all activity. This chapter will also show that engineering design and a generic characterization of the phases of creativity bear a close correspondence. The phase model developed also introduces the idea of paradoxes that will be examined in detail in each subsequent chapter. Chapter 4 begins the process of examining the 4Ps in some detail. I will begin by looking at the desired outcome of the creative engineering activity—the Product. What are the things that are created (products, processes, systems, services), and what qualities do these possess (or need to possess) to be regarded as creative? What value do these qualities add to the product and how does that set a creative product apart from one that is not creative? Chapter 5 studies Process in the sense of the cognitive processes that are used in the creation of technological solutions. In particular, this tackles how ideas are generated, and how both divergent and convergent thinking processes are achieved in the context of engineering creativity. Chapter 6 tackles the personal, psychological aspects of creativity and innovation. What are the feelings, personal properties, and motivational factors that can foster or hinder creativity? Chapter 7 addresses the role of the organizational and social environments and creativity. This Press can exert an influence on creativity in a variety of ways: it defines what is creative, who is creative, and the amount and kind of creativity that society can tolerate. The Press also plays an important role in assisting or resisting creativity. Chapter 8 examines creativity in the wider context of innovation. How do they differ across the phases of the creativity and innovation? I will also discuss wider issues such as competition, and how this impacts on the transition from novel idea to acclaimed product. This chapter also examines ways that the innovative capacity of organizations can be diagnosed. Chapter 9 starts the process of looking at educational issues and creativity by studying creativity training (as distinct from education in a university context). This chapter will look at the evidence for and against creativity training, and apply these particularly to the case of professional engineering activities. Chapter 10 draws the book to a close by examining more specifically how creativity can, and should, be embedded in engineering education. Among the issues facing engineering educators is a general reluctance to give up anything in the engineering curriculum, meaning that creativity, if it is included at all, is usually tacked on in a piecemeal fashion, rather than being built into engineering programs in a systematic, top-down manner. Acknowledgments
Sir Isaac Newton once wrote to his fellow natural philosopher Robert Hooke “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”1 I am very fortunate, as a researcher and author in the field of creativity, to have been the beneficiary of a number of willing sets of shoulders. As you will discover in this book, the discipline of creativity has its home largely in the field of psychology, where it has grown to maturity over some 60 years. The shoulders that I have stood on, and the sights I have seen, have been supplied by eminent scholars in the field of psychology. Not only have they allowed me to stand on their shoulders, but also they have generously admitted me to their domain, and patiently tutored me, despite my non-psychological background. If I have contributed to the field, I hope it is, principally, to show that creativity plays an enormously important role in engineering, and that engineers must familiarize themselves with it. I also hope that I have shown that the psychological foundations of creativity are not mysterious and incomprehensible, but are open and accessible to engineers. Having said that, I think the best solution for engineers concerned with recognizing, developing, and fostering creativity is to work closely with psychologists, drawing on the complementary strengths of the two disciplines. The most important giant I need to thank is Emeritus Professor Arthur Cropley of the University of Hamburg. Arthur is an educational psychologist and he began working in the field of creativity more than 50 years ago. He therefore joined the field in...