The effects of problem structure and team diversity on brainstorming effectiveness

Management Science

Volumn 55, Issue 12, 2009, Pages 1899-1913

  Kavadias, Stylianos ^a   Sommer, Svenja C ^b  

^a GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

^b HEC PARIS   (France)

Author keywords

Brainstorming process; Complexity; Ideation; New product development team

Indexed keywords

COMPLEX INTERACTION; COMPLEX PROBLEMS; CREATIVE THINKING; CROSS-FUNCTIONAL; IDEA GENERATION; NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT; NEW YORK; PROBLEM COMPLEXITY; PROBLEM STRUCTURE; PROBLEM-SOLVING METHODS; PROCESS COMPLEXITY; SOLUTION QUALITY; TEAM DIVERSITY;

FLUORINE CONTAINING POLYMERS; PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT;

GROUP TECHNOLOGY;

EID: 72149132048     PISSN: 00251909     EISSN: 15265501     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1090.1079     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Bouchard, T. J., M. Hare. 1970. Size, performance, and potential in brainstorming groups. J. Appl. Psych. 54(1) 51-55.
2. Bowers, N. L., H. U. Gerber, J. C. Hickman, D. A. Jones, C. J. Nesbitt. 1986. Actuarial Mathematical, 1st ed. Society of Actuaries, Itasca, IL.
3. Clark, K. B., T. Fujimoto. 1989. Lead time in automobile product development explaining the Japanese advantage. J. Engrg. Tech. Management 6(1) 25-56.
4. Cottrell, N. B. 1972. Social facilitation. C. McClintock, ed. Experimental Social Psychology. Holt, Rinehart &Winston, New York, 185-236.
5. Dahan, E., H. Mendelson. 2001. An extreme-value model of concept testing. Management Sci. 47(1) 102-116.
6. Diehl, M., W. Stroebe. 1987. Productivity loss in brainstorming groups: Toward the solution of a riddle. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 53(3) 497-509.
7. Diehl, M., W. Stroebe. 1991. Productivity loss in idea-generating groups: Tracking down the blocking effect. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 61(3) 392-403.
8. Dougherty, D. 1992. Interpretive barriers to successful product innovation in large firms. Organ. Sci. 3(2) 179-202.
9. Erat, S., S. Kavadias. 2008. Sequential testing of product designs: Implications for learning. Management Sci. 54(5) 956-968.
10. Fisher, F., M. D. Fisher. 1998. The Distributed Mind: Achieving High Performance Through the Collective Intelligence of Knowledge Work Teams. AMACOM, New York.
11. Fleming, L. 2001. Recombinant uncertainty in technological search. Management Sci. 47(1) 117-132.
12. Fleming, L., O. Sorenson. 2004. Science as a map in technological search. Strategic Management J. 25(8-9) 909-928.
13. Galambos, J. 1978. The Asymptotic Theory of Extreme Order Statistics. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
14. Gallupe, R. B., L. M. Bastianutti, W. H. Cooper. 1991. Unblocking brainstorms. J. Appl. Psych. 76(1) 137-142.
15. Gavetti, V., D. Levinthal. 2000. Looking forward and looking backward: Cognitive and experiential search. Admin. Sci. Quart. 45(1) 113-137.
16. Girotra, K., C. Terwiesch, K. T. Ulrich. 2009. Idea generation and the quality of the best idea. Working Paper 2009/32/TOM, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.
17. Gundry, L., L. La Mantia. 2001. Breakthrough Teams for Breakneck Times: Unlocking the Genius of Creative Collaboration. Dearborn Trade, Chicago.
18. Hargadon. 2003.How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate. Harvard Business School, Boston.
19. Hong, L., S. Page. 2001. Problem solving by heterogeneous agents. J. Econom. Theory 97(1) 123-163.
20. Kahneman, D. 2000. Evaluation by moments: Past and future. D. Kahneman, A. Tversky, eds. Choices, Values, and Frames. Cambridge University Press, New York, 293-308.
21. Kahneman, D., D. L. Fredrickson, C. A. Schreiber, D. A. Redelmeier. 1993. When more pain is preferred to less: Adding a better end. Psych. Sci. 4(6) 401-405.
22. Kauffman, S. A. 1993. The Origins of Order. Oxford University Press, New York.
23. Kauffman, S. A., J. Lobo, W. G. Macready. 2000. Optimal search on a technology landscape. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 43(2) 141-166.
24. Larey, T. S., P. B. Paulus. 1999. Group preference and convergent tendencies in small groups: A content analysis of group brainstorming performance. Creativity Res. J. 12(3) 175-184.
25. Libby, R., K. T. Trotman, I. Zimmer. 1987. Member variation, recognition of expertise and group performance. J. Appl. Psych. 72(1) 81-87.
26. Loch, C. H., C. Terwiesch, S. Thomke. 2001. Parallel and sequential testing of design alternatives. Management Sci. 47(5) 663-678.
27. Mihm, J., C. H. Loch, A. Huchzermeier. 2003. Problem-solving oscillations in complex engineering projects. Management Sci. 49(6) 733-750.
28. Milliken, F., L. Martins. 1996. Searching for common threads: Understanding the multiple effects of diversity in organizational groups. Acad. Management Rev. 21(2) 402-433.
29. Mullen, B., C. Johnson, E. Salas. 1991. Productivity loss in brainstorming groups: A meta-analytic integration. Basic Appl. Soc. Psych. 12(1) 3-23.
30. Naquin, C. E., R. O. Tynan. 2003. The team halo effect: Why teams are not blamed for their failures. J. Appl. Psych. 88(2) 332-340.
31. Offner, A. K., T. J. Kramer, J. P. Winter. 1996. The effects of facilitation, recording and pauses upon group brainstorming. Small Group Res. 27(2) 283-298.
32. Osborn, A. F. 1953. Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Thinking. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
33. Paulus, P. B. 2000. Groups, teams, and creativity: The creative potential of idea-generating groups. Appl. Psych. Internat. Rev. 49(2) 237-262.
34. Paulus, P. B., V. Brown, A. H. Ortega. 1996. Group creativity. R. E. Purser A. Montuori, eds. Social Creativity in Organizations. Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ.
35. Paulus, P. B., T. S. Larey, A. H. Ortega. 1995. Performance and perceptions of brainstormers in an organizational setting. Basic Appl. Soc. Psych. 17(1) 249-265.
36. Pelled, L. H., K. M. Eisenhardt, K. R. Xin. 1999. Exploring the black box: An analysis of work group diversity, conflict, and performance. Admin. Sci. Quart. 44(1) 1-28.
37. Robbins, S. P., T. A. Judge. 2007. Organizational Behavior. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
38. Sawyer, R. K. 2007. Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration. Chap. 4. Basic Books, Perseus Books Group, Cambridge, MA.
39. Simon, H. A. 1969. The Sciences of the Artificial, 2nd ed. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
40. Singh, J., L. Fleming. 2009. Lone inventors as sources of breakthroughs: Myth or reality? Management Sci., ePub ahead of print October 16, http://mansci.journal.informs.org/cgi/content/abstract/mnsc.1090.1072v1.
41. Sosa, M., S. Eppinger, C. Rowles. 2004. The misalignment of product architecture and organizational structure in complex product development. Management Sci. 50(12) 1674-1689.
42. Stroebe, W., M. Diehl. 1994. Why are group members less effective than their members: On productivity losses in idea-generating groups. Eur. Rev. Soc. Psych. 5 271-303.
43. Sutton, R. I., A. Hargadon. 1996. Brainstorming groups in context: Effectiveness in a product design firm. Admin. Sci. Quart. 41 685-718.
44. Taylor, A., H. R. Greve. 2006. Superman or the fantastic four? Knowledge combination and experience in innovative teams. Acad. Management J. 49(4) 723-740.
45. Taylor, D. W., P. C. Berry, C. H. Block. 1958. Does group participation when using brainstorming facilitate or inhibit creative thinking? Admin. Sci. Quart. 3(1) 23-47.
46. Terwiesch, C., Y. Xu. 2008. Innovation contests, open innovation, and multiagent problem solving. Management Sci. 54(9) 1529-1543.
47. Thomke, S. H. 1998. Simulation, learning, and R&D performance: Evidence from automotive development. Res. Policy 27(1) 55-74.
48. Thomke, S. H. 2003. Experimentation Matters: Unlocking the Potential of New Technologies for Innovation. Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
49. Wanous, J. P., M. A. Youtz. 1986. Solution diversity and the quality of group decisions. Acad. Management J. 29(1) 149-159.
50. Weitzman, M. L. 1979. Optimal search for the best alternative. Econometrica 47(3) 641-654.
51. Wheelwright, S. C., K. B. Clark. 1992. Revolutionizing Product Development, Chaps. 2 and 3. Free Press, New York.
52. Yetton, P. W., P. C. Bottger. 1982. Individual versus group problem solving: An empirical test of a best member strategy. Organ. Behav. Human Performance 29(3) 307-321.