Image from: Moviefone (Links to an external site.)

Overview

In the spirit of the article you will read for this discussion, above is an image from the remake of Oceans 11 (2001). When thinking about how important it is to build the right team when a creative task needs to be handled (robbing a bank in their case), the types of personalities on that team are integral to the process.

One of the articles that you were asked to read this week was The Effect of Conformist and Attentive-To-Detail Members on Team Innovation: Reconciling the Innovation Paradox. It discussed how the way managers assemble their team can have a significant impact on how creative they are. That article is going to inspire the group discussion here as you begin to apply that knowledge to your experiences.

Instructions

For your initial post in this discussion, you are going to apply your understandings from the article to a team that you either currently work on or have worked on previously (if you are not on a team right now).

1. Consider the various types of thinkers, discussed by Miron-Spektor and attempt to categorize your team based on those types of thinkers she identified. What types of innovative challenges or triumphs do you (or have you) faced because of the make-up of a team you have been on(previous or present)?
2. If you could change your team, based on the authors findings and the class notes on creative thinking skills, how would you change it to increase creativity?

Parameters

• Initial posts are due by Friday 11:59pm
• Reply posts are due by Sunday evening (Monday 3am)
• Reply to at least 1 of your peers in this discussion forum.
  • Replies should seek to extend the conversation further, adding new thoughts or ideas to expand everyone’s ability to learn more. Please avoid replies that simply agree or restate what the initial poster put.
  • Consider the merits of your peer’s initial post. Did they make a strong argument for how they would restructure their team? Did they consider important aspects of team members when categorizing them?
• Initial posts should be between 150 and 400 words.