Has the pandemic enhanced creativity?

“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.” - Edward de Bono

Harvard Business Review writes in its article ‘The Necessity of Nonconformity’: “The fundamental Problem of Economic Growth is that it both comes through change and causes change. … still more important though…, growth is not only the source and product of change; it comes through change, and it depends on a particular kind of change – adventure. We need the kind of change that produces not the new but the novel – the experimental, the thrust into the unknown…”[1]

Because creativity is essential to innovation and growth, organizations strive to capitalize on their work groups’ creative potential (Shalley and Zhou, 2008). A vibrant stream of organizational research has emerged identifying how various attributes of the social context promote creativity (e.g., George, 2007; Zhou and Hoever, 2014). Eliciting creative ideas, particularly within groups, is difficult because such ideas challenge the status quo and are interpersonally risky and controversial (Amabile et al., 2005). Faced with the prospect of being rejected, people often withhold their most creative ideas from the group and instead suggest more conventional ideas that will be readily accepted and less disruptive (Goncalo and Staw, 2006). Accordingly, most group creativity research is premised on the straightforward assumption that creative ideas are more likely to emerge when people feel liberated to defy convention and state their authentic and unfiltered point of view (Forster et al., 2005; Jetten and Hornsey, 2011). The theoretical logic is that, rather than being burdened by determining which thoughts can be openly expressed and which should be withheld to avoid offense, people should confidently advance their ideas, even if doing so incites controversy (e.g., Sutton, 2002). [2]

Already in the year 1970 Ghiselli and Johnson mentioned the fact that employees in flat organizations as compared to those in hierarchical organizations are relatively isolated from their superiors which in consequence has certain implications with respect to independence. They suggest that in flat organizations those employees who find their needs for autonomy and self-realization to be well satisfied by their particular job situations are more likely to achieve success in contrast to those working in organizations with a hierarchical structure. [3]

“We must, if we wish growth and opportunity, have a society that is sufficiently loosely organized to give the relative nonconformist adventurer a chance. S/he must be able to rise on relatively independent means. The (wo)man with a novel idea needs the freedom to obtain and exercise authority without being forced too much to conform. Adventurer can never be routinized. “

When asked what makes the difference between creative scientists and those who are less creative, the Nobel-prize-winning physicist Arthur Schawlow said, “The labor-of-love aspect is important. The most successful scientists often are not the most talented, but the ones who are just impelled by curiosity. They’ve got to know what the answer is.” Albert Einstein talked about intrinsic motivation as “the enjoyment of seeing and searching”. The novelist John Irving, in discussing the very long hours he put into his writing said, “The unspoken factor is love. The reason I can work so hard at my writing is that it’s not work for me.” And Michael Jordan, perhaps the most creative basketball player ever, had a “love of the game” clause inserted into his contract; he insisted that he be free to play pick-up basketball games any time he wished.

Although we can assume that hierarchical structures will not cease to exist, many employees might have identified for themselves during the pandemic, whether they are happier working autonomous and independent or whether they prefer to receive continuously instructions, approval and disapproval from a superior. 

Creative people are rarely superstars like Michael Jordan. Indeed, most of the creative work done in the business world today gets done by people whose names will never be recorded in history books. They are people with expertise, good creative-thinking skills, and high levels of intrinsic motivation. And just as important, they work in organizations where managers consciously build environments that support these characteristics instead of destroying them.[4]

[1] Harvard Business Review, David McCord Wright “Adventure or Routine”, 1955

[2] Administrative Science Quarterly 60, March 1, 2015

[3] LEADERSHIP AND MANAGERIAL SUCCESS IN TALL AND FLAT ORGANIZATION STRUCTURES EDWIN E. GHISELLI University of California, Berkeley JACOB P. SIEGEL

School of Business, University of Toronto 

[4] Harvard Business Review, September 1st 1988