Deck 3: Fostering Creativity and Innovation

Question 1

Which of the following does not contribute to or influence a person's intrinsic motivation?

A) Interests
B) Culture
C) Values
D) Attributes

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The five steps of the creative process are:

A) Preparation, incubation, illumination, verification, and implementation
B) Verification, incubation, concentration, idealization, and preparation
C) Incubation, discussion, illumination, verification, and implementation
D) Preparation, concentration, incubation, illumination, and verification

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following is true in terms of social and structural connections,under some circumstances?

A) Weak ties can actually facilitate creativity more than strong ties
B) Strong ties promote creativity more than weak ties
C) Strong ties discourage creativity more than weak ties
D) Weak ties discourage creativity due to lack of social strength and support structure

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Creativity can be defined as the entire process by which ideas are:

A) Generated, developed and transformed into value
B) Generated, but are not developed or transformed into value
C) Generated, but only if there is an end value determined beforehand
D) Generated, with or without a goal in sight

Question 5

Which of the following is an accurate statement?

A) Skills can be learned, whereas characteristics cannot
B) Skills can be learned, whereas characteristics develop over time
C) Skills develop over time automatically, while characteristics need effort
D) Skills and characteristics are both pre-set intrinsic qualities, which may develop over time with concentrated effort

Question 6

Pick the best set of adjectives that may be negatively associated with creativity.

A) Eccentric, commonplace, resourceful
B) Overconfident, judgmental, humorous
C) Conventional, submissive, affected
D) Reflective, commonplace, persistent

Question 7

Which of the following sets forms a part of the key elements of a creative organizational climate?

A) Communication, competition, and change
B) Change, reward, and orientation
C) Trust, diversity, and rewards
D) Competition, diversity, and rewards

Question 8

Creativity is directly and positively linked to organizational effectiveness and to:

A) Increased manpower inefficiencies
B) Reduced need for team dependence
C) Increased profitability at the bottom line
D) Improvements in quality and productivity

Question 9

In Synectics,which type of metaphor uses an image to represent the problem?

A) Fantasy analogy
B) Personal analogy
C) Physical analogy
D) Symbolic analogy

Question 10

Which of the following is not a characteristic of the creative process?

A) Long, rather than short in duration
B) Ambiguous, rather than certain and concrete
C) Oriented towards defining problems rather than finding short-term fixes
D) Involving simple mental models to solve bigger problems

Question 11

The biggest challenge facing public and private enterprises in the future will be:

A) The neutral pace and the separation of global society into individual systems
B) The accelerating pace and complexity of global society operating as a massively interconnected system
C) The decline of global society to operate as an interconnected system
D) The decline of global society to operate as an individual system

Question 12

In order to create a culture of innovation,organizations often have to:

A) Hire consultants
B) Modify or create new myths, stories, language, and metaphors
C) Establish success parameters
D) Modify employee expectations

Question 13

In the creative process,"preparation" is:

A) About conscious mental activity, but it is a matter of choice
B) Identification of issues to be dealt with at the concentration stage
C) The largely unconscious phase
D) About gathering ideas for addressing the problem

Question 14

The motivation to be creative within people is influenced by:

A) Social environment
B) Cultural environment
C) Structural environment
D) All of the above

Question 15

The word "Synectics" means:

A) Exploring synergy across cross functional teams in a public organization
B) Providing synergistic co-dependent support structure
C) Joining together different and apparently unconnected or irrelevant elements
D) Joining together similar ideas and connecting the dots to find a useful solution

Question 16

The effect of workload pressure on creativity is:

A) Positively correlated
B) Negatively correlated
C) Difficult to gauge
D) Minimal; these are two different concepts

Question 17

Creativity allows public organizations to be:

A) Adequately funded for future operations
B) Responsive and to develop new and better ways of serving citizens
C) More process oriented
D) Efficient at reducing overheads

Question 18

In terms of roles people can play,the four types of creativity types are:

A) Innovation, sublimation, extension, and duplication
B) Innovation, synthesis, extension, and duplication
C) Invention, sublimation, synthesis, and implementation
D) Incubation, idealization, synthesis, and verification

Question 19

In the creative process,"verification" is:

A) The final step involving testing
B) The penultimate testing step before actual "implementation" stage
C) The step following "implementation" to measure results
D) The process of verifying that everybody understands the problem

Question 20

Which of the following is not a step to generate an idea box?

A) Specify the purpose
B) List variations
C) Try combinations
D) Implement solutions

Question 21

Creative people probably will be creative wherever they are situated.

Question 22

Creativity is based on the ability to think of more than one place or on more than one level at a time.

Question 23

According to the behavioral view of creativity,creativity is what the person is rather than something a person does.

Question 24

Illustrate with examples how an individual with advanced cognitive skills and abilities can be as creative as an individual with creative traits.

Question 25

___________ thinking occurs when a problem is defined in a single way and there are no alternatives considered until the solution is reached.

A) Horizontal
B) Unitary
C) Vertical
D) None of the above

Question 26

When creativity is defined as a process,it is a highly complex phenomenon involving multiple phases and stages.

Question 27

Anyone can be creative.

Question 28

People are not likely to be creative when they love what they do as it removes the motivation to do anything else.

Question 29

Taken together,job design,supervision,organizational climate,and the allocation of adequate time,and resources can have a potent and synergistic effect on individual and organizational creativity.

Question 30

In matrix analysis,a three-dimensional "idea box" is used to explore new ideas of alternatives.

Question 31

Which of the following is a way to enhance positive emotions at work?

A) Providing background music
B) Humor
C) Meditation
D) All of the above

Question 32

Describe the five steps or stages of the creativity process.

Question 33

It is relatively easy to kill creativity in an organization.

Question 34

Creativity and innovation are considered to be the same phenomenon.

Question 35

Name and explain four different viewpoints on creativity.

Question 36

"Any form of action that leads to results that are novel,useful,and predictable" is one of many definitions of creativity.

Question 37

A person who is good a producing new ideas can generally be expected to put those ideas into practice.

Question 38

Pick the best set of adjectives that may be positively associated with creativity.

A) Self-confident, commonplace, resourceful
B) Overconfident, suspicious, humorous
C) Original, clever, reflective
D) Affected, commonplace, capable

Question 39

Which of the following is a method used in organizations to kill creativity?

A) Postponing action
B) Establishing clear and reliable cost estimates
C) Enlisting troublemakers
D) None of the above

Question 40

Weak relationships may foster creativity up to a point,beyond which the number of ties may even constrain creativity at work.

Question 41

Pick an organization you are familiar with.What are some of the ways in which the organization promotes or inhibits innovation? What might be done to promote innovation?

Question 42

"Anyone can be creative." Discuss in detail whether you agree or disagree with this statement,using support from the book,class notes,or relevant examples,where appropriate.

Question 43

Why do we need creativity in public organizations?

Question 44

Enumerate and explain key impediments to creativity in an organizational setting,using examples where appropriate.