89-1 Differentiating Creativity, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship, Copyright and Patenting for I.S. Products/Services
J.D. Couger, L.F. Higgins and S.C. McIntyre
August 1989

Considerable confusion exists on the difference in meanings of the terms creativity and innovation. Likewise, the terms entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship need clarification so far as they pertain to the I.S. field. When discussing creativity and innovation, the need for protection of the result through patenting or copyrighting arises. This paper distinguishes these terms and concepts and suggests an approach for integrating them for consideration of I.S. products and processes.

89-2 Ensuring Creative Approaches in Information System Design
J.D. Couger
August, 1989

Improvement in computing capability is one way to aid U.S. companies in recapturing competitive edge. However, the easy applications have been computerized. The difficult ones lie ahead. Creative approaches are needed to computerize those difficult applications. Yet, I.S. has apparently little interest in the subject of creativity; less than a half-dozen articles on the subject have been published in the 35 year history of the discipline. The author reviewed the literature in other disciplines of art, science, engineering, psychology and education, to determine how creativity techniques had been utilized in those disciplines. The research revealed that many of those techniques are useful for the I.S. field. Definitions of creativity are provided, then three classifications of creativity research are reviewed: Rothenberg, Ackoff/Vergara, and Rosner/Abt. Creativity techniques are illustrated for general problem solving. The author advocates use of creativity techniques in the information system development process at four points: near the conclusion of requirements definition, logical design, physical design and program design. Use of creativity techniques at each of these points is illustrated. By delaying convergence on a solution, new approaches and new alternatives can be generated and evaluated. These approaches can produce the systems needed to assist U.S. companies in international competition.

89-3 Establishing a Creative Environment for System Development
J.D. Couger
December, 1989

In the 35 year history of the Information Systems field, only four articles have been published where the subject of creativity constituted more than one page. Not only is there little evidence of use of creativity techniques, the principal one used, Brainstorming, has not been used correctly. There is a vacuum in the I.S. literature that needs filling. The Japanese have been far more creative than the U.S., as shown by the number of patents issued and the number of citations of patents. U.S. system designers need to be much more creative in the future to aid the U.S. in regaining its international economic stature. The paper provides definitions of creativity, identifies myths about invention and discovery, and gives examples of creativity in other fields and in the I.S. field. It discusses how to stimulate creativity and how to create a positive environment for creativity. Reasons for lack of use of creativity techniques in I.S. are provided. Examples of creativity techniques useful for the system design process are provided as well as discussion of costs to use these techniques.

90-2 Creative Approaches to Development of Marketing Information Systems
L.F. Higgins, J.D. Couger and S.C. McIntyre
February 1990

The 1980's saw an increased emphasis on the management of marketing information systems. Several trends have caused this renewed interest including increased application of the marketing concept, more demands for resource productivity, and heightened domestic and international competition. More creative ways of managing marketing information are required for businesses to respond to these challenges. This paper discusses the measurement and meaning of creativity and describes how creativity tehniques can be used in marketing information management. Two exploratory studies are reported that applied creativity techniques to questions surrounding the design and development of a marketing information system.

90-3 Knowledge Base Enrichment Via Object Oriented Creativity Techniques
S.C. McIntyre, J.D. Couger, and L.F. Higgins
February, 1990

Certain object oriented research has concentrated upon models which are used, not so much to define and simulate, as to explore. An example is an object oriented GDSS with facilities for idea generation and policy formulation. Although knowledge engineering techniques are typically used to elicit information for such models, they provide only a foundation of what is needed. This paper describes the use of object oriented creativity tools to enrich the information content of this type of object oriented knowledge base.

90-4 Creative Approaches to Develop World Class Systems for Manufacturing
R. Discenza, J.D. Couger, L.F. Higgins and S.C. McIntyre
June, 1990

90-5 CASE STUDY: Introducing a Creativity Improvement Program in an Information Systems Organization
J.D. Couger and T. Snow
September, 1990

A creativity improvement program was introduced in a work unit of system developers. The five month program consisted of three phases: Phase I was a training workshop to establish an environment to facilitate creativity and to teach a variety of creativity generation and evaluation techniques. Phase II reinforced the concepts/principles taught in the workshop, with opportunities to discuss expereince in application of the techniques and test the degree to which the environment for creativity had been enhanced. Additional techniques were also introduced during this period. Phase III provided further reinforcement by reading and discussing creativity articles/papers. All personnel kept a record of their creative results, identifying 17 major improvements. In a post-test, on the average participants believed their individual creativity improved 23 percent and that the unit's creativity improved 27 percent. They also indicated that the environment for creativity was well established, that "creativity was now a part of their culture".

91-1 Learning Styles and Creativity Training: Implications for Information Management Personnel
N.T. Frontczak and L.F. Higgins
January, 1991

Training has traditionally been an important area in information systems (IS). The 1990's will require IS organizations to be more productive and innovative in their operations. Training IS personnel in creative problem solving (CPS) techniques may be an attractive alternative for IS organizations that wish to improve the productivity of their personnel.An understanding of learning styles can be an essential factor in designing successful creativity training. This paper describes how the learning style inventory conceptualized and validated by Kolb can be helpful in the design of creativity training for IS personnel. The paper goes on to offer observations on likely learning styles exhibited by IS personnel and the appropriate CPS techniques based on those learning styles.

91-2 Analogical Reasoning via Intelligent Animation: A Problem Solving Methodology
S. C. McIntyre
July, 1991

This paper describes the philosophy, design and current implementation of the ARIA project. ARIA (Analogical Reasoning via Intelligent Animation) is designed to enable the native analogical reasoning of problem solvers. Enabling takes place with animated graphics and interactive control of the analogic environment.

91-3 (Un)Structured Creativity in Information Systems Organizations Part I - Theory
J.D. Couger, L.F. Higgins and S.C. McIntyre
June, 1991

A 1988 Delphi Survey of SIM executives on Key Human Resource issues in the 1990s identified "the need to emphasize creativity and innovation." Yet the authors' extensive review of IS literature revealed only five articles which included a discussion of creativity over one page in length. This is contrasted with a review of five other disciplines which identified over 4000 publications on this subject. The purpose of this paper is to establish direction for applying theory on creativity to the IS field. Applicable definitions and models of creativity are presented. The authors conclude by identifying eight propositions which express the crucial research issues for improving creativity in IS organizations.

91-4 (Un)Structured Creativity in Information Systems Organizations, Part II - Application
J.D. Couger, S.C. McIntyre, and L.F. Higgins
June, 1991

Concepts, definitions and classifications of creativity were provided in Part I of this paper. Part II discusses factors necessary to ensure a positive climate for creativity along with six techniques for idea generation and evaluation. Six cases are described to illustrate the use of the techniques for a variety of problems and/or opportunities in several industries. Recommendations are provided for introducing a creativity improvement program.

91-5 Pilot Study: Introducing a Creativity Improvement Program for the Federal Express I.S. Organization
J.D. Couger, Pat Flynn, Doris Hellyer
July, 1991

A pilot program for creativity improvement was introduced for two work units within the System Development Group of the Federal Express Corporation. The six month program consisted of two phases: Phase I was a one-day workshop with two objectives: 1) to establish a climate to foster creativity and 2) to provide an understanding of a variety of techniques for generating, evaluating and implementing creative ideas. Phase II reinforced the concepts and principles taught in the workshop and provided participants opportunity to discuss their approaches to becoming more creative in their daily work activities. A monthly meeting concentrated on helping individuals gain confidence and capability in generating creative ideas and to help the work group improve its ability to nurture and facilitate the ideas of team members. Additional techniques and examples of creativity were introduced during this period. All personnel kept a record of their creative results. Pre and post tests indicated that participants believe that their work group's creativity improved significantly. For group one the rating improved from a mean of 1.3 to 3.1 (on the scale of 5). For group two the rating improved from a mean of 2.2 to 4.4. Their creative output support this belief -- more than 40 significant improvements were documented.

91-6 Measurement of Creativity of I.S. Products
J.D. Couger and G. Dengate
November, 1991

While the literature on creativity/innovation in IS is sparse, the literature on measurement of creativity in IS products/services is non-existent. This paper provides a review of the literature on measurement of creativity, then concentrates on a discussion of the measurement of software products. Six software products are evaluated for their degree of creativity using a two-criterion approach: novelty and utility.

92-1 The Role of Emotions in Employee Creativity
L.F. Higgins, S.H. Qualls, J.D. Couger
February, 1992

Many studies in business outline work environment characteristics that encourage creativity but few investigate characteristics of individuals that influence creative output. This paper examines the impact of individuals' emotional responses on individual and group creativity. The effects of specific emotions on each phase of the creative process are delineated. Proximal and distal causes of emotions are identified, and recommendations to minimize the disruptive influences of individuals' emotions on their creative output are offered. An analysis of emotional factors is believed to add significantly to the present understanding of creative behavior in the organization.

92-2 Overcoming Ad Hoc Development: Enabling/Disabling Factors in Software Quality Maturation
Scott C. McIntyre
August, 1992

This paper describes results obtained from a two year study of thirty software development organizations. The purpose of the study was to determine what factors enable software developers to advance beyond ad hoc development processes and what factors inhibit that advancement.

92-3 Measurement of Creative Behavior of I.S. Personnel
J.D. Couger, D.G. Gardner, and J.F. Milliman
September, 1992

92-4 Measurement of Creativity of I.S. Products
J.D. Couger and G. Dengate
September, 1992

93-1 Comparing Innovation Styles Profiles: I.S. Personnel vs Other Occupations
W.C. Miller, J.D. Couger and L.F. Higgins
January, 1993

93-2 Measurement of the Climate for Creativity in I.S. Organizations
J.D. Couger
August, 1993

The Work Environment Inventory (WEI) instrument was used to measure the climate for creativity for a representative set of I.S. organizations. The results were compared to those for non-I.S. organizations, revealing significant differences. Specific areas of deficiency were identified. I.S. management can concentrate on those factors to leverage budget and effort to enhance the climate for creativity.

93-3 Metrics of Creativity in Information Systems Development: An Exploratory Study
D.L. Amoroso, J.D. Couger and I. Eriksson
October, 1993

The purpose of this study is to identify creative measures for information systems development. Content analysis was used as a methodology for analyzing key attributes to distinguish between creative and less creative IS applications. Twenty descriptions of information systems and the development process, published in Information & Management -- an international academic journal -- served as the source for exploration. From a list of 43 possible keyword synonyms used to describe the novelty and value of creative products and services, 16 keywords and their derivations were chosen for study. The articles were scanned, cleaned, and stored with a high rate of accuracy. A team of three raters was engaged for the project rating the occurrence of each keyword in context. Inter-rater agreement scores all reflected acceptable reliabilities greater than .70. Summary statistics were used to evaluate average rater scores, average rating per arti.cle, total number of keywords per article, and other statistics useful to developing creativity measures. The average number of keywords per page (AVG_KW) was found to be an important variable correlating highly with other key indicators. Expert judges' opinions were not found to add additional value to the raters' evaluations, lending evidence that the raters' evaluation of creativity were valid. Using the results from the correlation analysis, a metric for assessing the creativity in information systems development is suggested.

94-1 Enhancing the Climate for Creativity for Software Designers
J.D. Couger
August, 1994

Measurement of the degree to which company climate is supportive of creativity is becoming increasingly important. Tight economic conditions worldwide make it imperative for companies to find ways to generate more innovative products and services. This paper provides data on measurement of degree of creativity in climates of business organizations in general, then data specific to one profession, the Information Systems profession. It also discusses ways the climate for creativity can be enhanced to improve both creativity and productivity. However, the information is not only important to managers of IS, but also to the clients of IS. The departments for whom IS is designing software are equally concerned that software developers have a climate supportive of creative efforts. Therefore, this survey of programmers and analysts should be of interest across the company, not just to IS management.

94-2 Comparison of the KAI and ISP for Measuring Creative Style of I.S. Personnel
L.F. Higgins, J.D. Couger
September, 1994

The literature on assessing and encouraging creativity in IS organizations has grown substantially in the last few years. However, large empirical analyses of behavioral creativity data are still quite limited. This study applied the two major scales for measuring the cognitive styles associated with creative behavior in social science, Kirton's KAI and Miller's ISP. Data is assessed from a sample of IS professionals who completed both of these self-report pencil and paper survey instruments. Data analysis reveals that while there are some significant differences directed between IS professionals and other business professionals, the finding s are consistent with the underlying theory of both scales and previous studies in the field.

95-1 Implied Creativity No Longer Appropriate for I.S Curriculum
J.D. Couger
February, 1995

Content on creativity/innovation has now been formally added to the national curriculum recommendations. Previously it was assumed that instructors would encourage creativity of their students. Two of the courses recommended in IS'95: Model curriculum and Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Systems specify specific creativity topics. This paper identifies both content and level of coverage of creativity topics: 1) improving creativity in system analysis and design and 2) improving the climate for creativity. It suggests ways that instructors can provide the appropriate instruction in those topics.

95-2 A Framework for Research on Creativity/Innovation in I.S.Organizations
J. D. Couger
September, 1995

Until 1990 there was a dearth of research on creativity/innovation in the field of IS. In that year, the HICSS minitrack on Creativity/Innovation in IS Organizations was initiated. The minitrack Call For Papers specified a framework for research that generated 32 papers, covering the full spectrum of IS activity. This paper proposes a second generation framework for research, to stimulate more in-depth research and broader use of research methodologies. Resources and publication channels for research on the topic of creativity and innovation are also discussed.

95-3 A Comparison of Scales for Assessing Personal Creativity in I.S. Organizations
L.F. Higgins
October, 1995

Assessment of the individual creativity of IS personnel is a critical component in enhancing creativity and innovation in IS organizations. There are over two hundred scales designed to assess an individual's creativity but only three have seen substantial use in IS. A review of these three scales (KAI,ISP,CPSP) is provided and a list of the characteristics of an individual creativity assessment scale to be used in IS is offered.

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