Individualism-Collectivism and Group Creativity

1. Individualism-Collectivism and Group Creativity Rethinking the “Team Player” Mentality Jack Goncalo Social Influence and Persuasion October 19, 2006

2. The Rise of Teams in Organizations • People spending less time working alone and more time working in groups. • Enter the word “team” into Amazon. COM • Hundreds of different book titles! • E.g. “Raising a team player” or “How to be the person every team wants” • Survey of employees (2003) • Being a “team player” more important than job related KSA’s for advancement.

3. What Type of Culture Fits With a Team Based Environment? • Current research highlights the value of collectivism over individualism • Definition: • Collectivism: Emphasizes interdependence and harmonious relationships. Group goals take priority over individual needs. • Individualism: Emphasizes independence and self-determination. Individual needs take priority. • Collectivistic values are beneficial: • Promote cooperation and reduce social loafing.

4. Collectivism at a Cost?: Stifling Effects on Creativity • Creativity: Generation of ideas that are novel and useful. • People in collectivistic cultures are more conforming.(Bond & Smith, 1996) • Given that creative ideas are initially deviant increasing conformity pressure will limit creativity (Moscovici, 1985; Nemeth & Staw, 1989). • Willingness to “stand out” from the group and to confront differences will promote creativity in individualistic groups. (Stasser, 1987; Nemeth, et al, 2001)

5. Hypothesis 1 Individualistic groups will be more creative than collectivistic groups.

6. Experimental Manipulation • Phase 1: Priming a cultural mindset. Individualism: Write 3 statements A. Describing yourself. B. About why you think you are not like most other people. C. About why you think it might be advantageous to “stand out” from other people. Collectivism: Write 3 statements A. Describing the groups to which you belong. B. About why you think you are like most other people. C. About why you think it might be advantageous to “blend in” with other people.

7. Measuring Group Creativity • Phase 2: Group brainstorming task. • Topic: An empty space was left vacant by a mismanaged restaurant. Think of as many new business ideas as you can for the empty space. • Idea generation vs. idea selection. • 15 minutes to generate as many ideas as possible. • 10 minutes to decide which idea was the most creative.

8. Ideas also: More Novel More Diverse Less focused on “restaurant” ideas. Results: Individualistic Groups Generated More Ideas

9. Selected ideas also: More Novel Multi-faceted Results: Individualistic Groups Selected More Creative Ideas

10. Study Implications • Shift toward collectivistic work practices may have unintended negative consequences. • Individualism may be a better match for organizations that desire creativity and innovation. • Common reaction: How do we deal with the jerks? CNN Interview

11. Study 2: The Role of Strong Norms • QUESTION: When creativity is desired, is it better to have strong or weak norms? • Currently accepted view: • Creativity and social control are a tradeoff: More conformity pressure, less creativity (Nemeth & Staw, 1989) • Most creative groups have “weak” norms. • People permitted to disagree • Misfits are accepted (Nemeth, 1997) Hypothesis 1: Groups with weak norms will be more creative than will groups with strong norms.

12. Competing Perspective:Rethinking Role of Conformity • Strong norms may not always stifle creativity (Flynn & Chatman, 2001) • Many innovative organizations have strong cultures (e.g. 3M, IDEO). • Strong norms may encourage behaviors like dissent that are known to stimulate creativity (Flynn & Chatman, 2001) • Example: Intel has strong norms for expressing dissenting opinions (Grove, 1996)

13. A Potential Synthesis: Capitalizing on Individualism • Individualistic norms facilitate creativity more than collectivistic norms(Goncalo & Staw, 2006) • Strengthening individualistic norms will encourage behaviors that stimulate creativity. • Can individualistic norms be strong? • Accountability makes individualists more competitive and collectivists more cooperative. (Gelfand & Realo, 1999)

14. Hypothesis 2 The benefits of having individualistic norms (as opposed to collectivistic) for group creativity will be strongest in groups that have strong (as opposed to weak) norms.

15. Method • Subjects: 180 undergraduates working in groups of 3 resulting in N = 60 groups. • Study design: 2 (Individualism vs. Collectivism) X 2 (Strong vs. Weak) • Experimental Procedure: • Phase 1: Manipulate norms. • Phase 2: Brainstorm new business ideas.

16. Norm Manipulation Individualism-Collectivism Manipulation: • Team building task: Success attributed to each individual or to the group as a whole. Strong-Weak Norm Manipulation: • (1) Give 3 reasons why a group should (encourage/allow) it members to (agree/disagree) with one another • (2) Give 3 reasons why a group should (accept/reject) people who do not fit with the group

17. Measures of Group Creativity • Number of ideas • Diversity of ideas • Ideas categorized based on their similarity. • High score means that group generated ideas that were very common in the sample. • Creativity of all ideas • (1-5) scale: 1 = Un-creative, 5 = Extremely creative • Creativity of selected idea • (1-5) scale: 1 = Un-creative, 5 = Extremely creative

18. Results: Number of Ideas • Interaction: F (1, 56) = 7.18, p < .01. • Collectivistic strong vs. Individualistic strong: F (1, 28) = 9.19, p < .01

19. Implications and Conclusion • Individualistic groups are more creative than collectivistic groups only when the norms are strong. • Strong norms do not always stifle creativity • When norms encourage creativity then strengthening them will facilitate the creative process.