| Although there have been many studies of individual creativity and organizational innovation, and many methods developed to enhance small group creativity, studies of groups' creativity as it more naturally occurs are relatively few. Furthermore, despite the fact that producing original and acceptable products necessitates a tension between both divergence and convergence, creativity research has primarily focused on divergence. This dissertation addresses these gaps by analyzing both divergence and convergence in creative group process. The idea generation of divergence and the evaluation and modification of convergence was measured in groups' discourse as they engaged in creative technological design tasks. In addition, analyses were conducted to see whether these process variables predicted creative products. Creativity was measured by totaling the completeness, originality, and practicality ratings for each design. Study one analyzed discourse of groups composed primarily of science and engineering students as they engaged in a task which instructed them to produce designs for new and useful objects or devices. It was found that idea generation significantly decreased, while evaluation and modification significantly increased, over the course of the design task. Furthermore, modification in the beginning and middle of the design process negatively predicted creativity, while idea generation in the middle and evaluation throughout the process positively predicted creativity. Study two consisted of a task similar to study one yet expanded the focus of analysis to include situational variables. Multiple perspective group composition and external evaluation interventions were manipulated to see if they mediated the patterns of the process variables or affected the creativity of groups' products. The situational variables were not found to significantly affect groups' products; however, significant differences were found in the process by which groups in different conditions produced these equivalently creative designs. Furthermore, for the most part, patterns of divergence and convergence seen in study one were also seen in study two. Finally, initial idea generation and idea generation throughout the design process negatively predicted creativity. Thus, the studies indicate that the creativity literature's emphasis on divergence may be misguided. Both divergence and convergence appear to work together throughout the process to produce creative products. |
