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This article was stimulated by a review of instruments assessing creative and innovative social environments seventeen years ago. This stands alone as the only published, comprehensive, comparative review of multiple instruments aimed at this conceptual space. Although this review provided an important contribution to the literature, there are a number of critical conceptual issues that should be considered when reviewing assessments of this kind. This article raises these issues and points out their relevance when developing, evaluating, or applying instruments -- and applies these issues to the instruments included in the review. Further, the aim was also to provide updated information on the Situational Outlook Questionnaire, as there were a few potential misunderstandings contained within the Mathisen and Einarsen review. Finally, numerous criteria are offered for those creating or choosing to use measures of the work environment, climate, or culture that promotes organizational creativity and innovation.

Creativity is increasingly seen as a key human capability that can be deliberately developed. Correspondently, a proliferation of tools, techniques, and methods are available in the academic and popular literatures. Creative problem-solving (CPS) is one framework among these, and has a 70-year history of research and development. This essay overviews this history and the key stages of its continuous development, as well as the rationale for the changes and improvements that have been made. Foundational work established the Osborn-Parnes paradigm for CPS. Initial efforts were aimed at enhancing this approach. Then came work to stretch the Osborn-Parnes approach, and ultimately to break this paradigm. Understanding these major stages of development should better differentiate contemporary CPS approaches from the variety of earlier versions. Future research and development are also highlighted that will move our understanding, learning, and application forward.

We identify five reasons why it is important for at-risk students to learn and be able to apply Creative Problem Solving (CPS). CPS builds on both creative and critical thinking (in harmony with each other). The CPS Version 6.1™ framework incorporates guidelines and specific tools for generating ideas ("creative" thinking) and focusing ideas ("critical" thinking), and involves four components (Understanding the Challenge, Generating Ideas, Preparing for Action, and Planning Your Approach) and eight specific stages (Constructing Opportunities, Exploring Data, Framing Problems, Generating Ideas, Developing Solutions, Building Acceptance, Appraising Tasks, and Designing Process). Teaching and applying CPS involves instruction in foundational tools, working on realistic problems and challenges, and dealing with real problems. Following this model, CPS can be incorporated in and across many curriculum or content areas, and more importantly, to a wide range of real-life opportunities and challenges. In some developmentally appropriate ways, CPS can be applied by individuals and groups across cultures and ages; it may also provide life skills that are vital for at-risk students now and in the future.

This study investigated the personality facets that underpin the construct of problem-solving style, particularly when approaching more creative kinds of problem-solving. Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire and VIEW--An Assessment of Problem Solving Style were administered to 165 students from the Norwegian Business School. We explored relationships through correlational and regression analysis. Personality profiles were derived for each of VIEW's three dimensions and were in generally expected directions. Those with an Explorer preference were more imaginative and idea oriented, open to change, unconventional, freethinking, and flexible than Developers. Those with a Developer preference were more practical and solution oriented, more traditional, rule conscious, conservative, and respecting of traditional ideas. Those with an External preference were more group oriented, affiliative, socially bold, warm, and attentive to others than those with an Internal preference. Those with a more Task-oriented preference were more impersonal, detached, utilitarian, and tough minded than those with Person-oriented preference. We outlined implications and suggestions for further research.

The working atmosphere within an organization has an important influence on its level of innovative productivity. Organizational leaders influence innovative productivity as well as the climate for creativity and innovation. This exploratory study included 140 respondents from 103 different organizations, 31 industries, and 10 countries, all of whom completed an online survey focused on examining the intervening nature of the climate for creativity and innovation. First, those who perceived more leadership support for innovation had significantly better creative climate scores. Second, those who perceived higher levels of innovative productivity also had better climate scores. Finally, organizational climate as an intervening variable between leadership behavior and innovation was confirmed through partial correlation and mediation analysis. The findings of this study support the pivotal role that creative climate plays between leadership behavior and innovative productivity. (Contains 2 figures and 5 tables.)

Creativity and Creative Problem Solving are globally important. This study examined the cross-cultural applicability of creative problem solving styles by translating VIEW: An Assessment of Problem Solving Style from its native English into Dutch and examining its psychometric properties and preliminary validation evidence. In general, support was found for the Dutch translation of VIEW in that it performed similarly to its original with regard to item performance on factor analysis, had acceptable levels of internal consistency and stability over time, and correlated in a similar manner with two alternative measures of style. Implications for future translations were identified. (Contains 5 tables.)

More than five decades of research and development have focused on making the Creative Problem Solving process and tools accessible across a wide range of ages and contexts. Recent evidence indicates that when individuals, in both school and corporate settings, understand their own style of problem solving, they are able to learn and apply process tools more effectively, and when teams appreciate the styles of their individual members, their problem solving efforts are enhanced. We summarize recent studies and report new data supporting the conclusion that individual style differences provide an important key to understanding the interaction of person, process, product, and press when managing change. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)

This article presents a summary of research, development, and applications of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) in educational settings and, more specifically, in gifted education. The CPS framework is widely known and applied as one important goal in contemporary gifted education, as well as in relation to initiatives for "teaching thinking" in the broader context of general education. This article traces the history and evolution of the CPS framework through more than five decades of research, development, and practical application. We describe and discuss the specific changes in the model over time, as well as their rationale and foundations. We discuss the implications of changes within the CPS framework for teaching and learning; our purpose is not to compare or contrast CPS with other perspectives on creativity, from psychology, cognitive science, or management. Finally, we present implications of contemporary CPS for instruction and assessment in gifted education.

Brainstorming may be the best-known tool for group idea generation and is widely taught in gifted and talented programs. Many empirical studies have been conducted regarding the effectiveness of brainstorming, and they have provided useful insights into the salient barriers facing groups who use this tool. Although a great deal of this literature focuses on the limitations of brainstorming, the exploratory study included in this article sheds light on approaches that can enhance the value of this tool by examining the impact of the facilitator's role within group idea generation. Finally, this article outlines recommendations for teaching, learning, and applying brainstorming.

"VIEW: An Assessment of Problem Solving Style" (Selby, Treffinger, & Isaksen, 2002) is a new instrument for assessing problem-solving style, for use with individuals from ages 12 through adult. It measures three dimensions of style relating to creative problem solving and change management. In this article, we discuss the construction of the instrument, the initial evidence supporting the instrument's reliability and validity, and a very brief overview of the instrument's foundations. Our reliability data involve both stability and internal consistency. We report evidence for the criterion-related validity, based on correlational studies with relevant measures of learning style, cognitive style, and psychological type. We also conducted principal components factor analyses that support our three-factor structure. Researchers and practitioners studying and applying Creative Problem Solving and change management methods can use VIEW in several ways. Finally, we identify several research directions that will contribute to the refinement and development of the instrument as well as to a better understanding of the "problem-solving style" construct. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)

The original work of Alex Osborn making the creative process more explicit, and the following 50 years of research and development on creative problem solving, have made an important and wide-spread contribution to those interested in the deliberate development of creative talent. This article provided a summary of the many versions of creative problem solving and the key scholarly issues underpinning their development for one main group of collaborators. Future research and development needs were also identified. (Contains 6 figures and 2 tables.)

This paper reviews trends in research into creativity and describes the Profiling Project which is examining Creative Problem Solving (CPS), an ecologically based process model used to define problems, generate ideas, and refine solutions. Research into five dimensions of CPS are proposed: the situational outlook, personal orientation, outcomes, CPS processes, and the task. (DB)

The Situational Outlook Questionnaire has been in use for many years as an assessment of the climate that supports change, innovation, and creativity. This study reports the descriptive statistics, internal consistency, factor structure, and other psychometric results from a sample of 4,730 respondents. Further areas for improvement of the questionnaire and assessment approach are identified.

This study investigated the relationship between two measures used to assist change and transformation efforts, the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory which assesses style or manner of cognition and problem-solving, not level or capability, and the Leadership Practices Inventory which measures the extent to which leaders exhibit certain leadership behaviors associated with accomplishing extraordinary results. These two measures of level and style should be conceptually distinct and show no or only modest correlation. Analysis yielded statistically significant and meaningful relationships between scores on the Kirton inventory and two scales of the Leadership Practices Inventory. Implications and challenges for research and practice were outlined.

The foundations of a multidimensional measure designed to assess creativity and change are presented. The reliability and construct validity of the Situational Outlook Questionnaire were tested using a sample of 1,111 subjects. Cronbach alpha and exploratory factor analysis supported reliability and construct validity. The study identified areas where the Situational Outlook Questionnaire can be improved and areas for further study with the questionnaire.

In his 1986 analytic review of the first ten years of research on adaption-innovation theory, Mudd commented on the importance of continued research on the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory. Suggestions pertinent to the present study involved an examination of the stability of the instrument as well as the test-retest reliability of the full scale and subscales. A Lindquist Type III analysis of variance was used to examine the influence of creativity training on the stability of the Kirton full scale scores. The scores did not change after training. There was, however, a significant effect for gender by pre- and posttest interactions for the full scale scores. Men's full scale scores were higher than women's, and only men exhibited an increase. The women's pre- and posttest scores appeared more stable. Internal reliability coefficients and test-retest reliability coefficients for both the full scale scores and the subscale scores were very adequate, but the men's scores did increase.

Studies investigating the impact of creativity training on the actual belief in these capabilities have shown contradictory findings and fall short on explaining the underlying mechanisms how people gain or lose confidence in their creative abilities. Following a mixed-methods approach, this study explores how problem-solving style influences the impact of creativity training on creative self-efficacy based on a creativity course at a German university. Style preferences were associated with different experiences of creative mastery and other sources of creative self-efficacy. We discuss the implications of these findings for the design of creativity training courses and developing creative talent in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports results of a survey of 150 curriculum planners about their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding deliberate development of creative thinking and problem-solving skills. A six-step creative problem-solving model is proposed. (CL)