Creativity Management and Gender
What do creativity managers do?
Replace the word management with the word optimisation.
That's what creativity managers do: they optimise the quality of the idea pool (creativity) and the implementation process (innovation).
There are many methods of optimisation and the creativity leader must be aware of all of them, in other words, he or she must synthesise them for optimal effect.
Areas [within creativity] that need managing include motivation, organisational culture, organisational structure, incremental versus radical effects and processes, knowledge mix, group structures, goals, process and valuation.
Areas [within innovation] that need managing include idea selection, development / prototyping and the art of commercialisation.
It is worth noting that 4000 good ideas result in 4 development programs, which in turn results in 1 winner.
Creativity, Innovation and Gender
It is more accurate and safer to argue that there are no gender differences: that males and females are equally creative and equally capable of innovation.
There are studies that show that, for example, males dominate in fields such as engineering, IT, mathematics and so forth and that women dominate fields such as social sciences, fashion etc.
However, all of these studies are highly questionable in terms of reliability, variability and generalisability. Further, their conclusions and implications are highly disputed.
Additionally, socialisation, education, nurture, acceptable gender roles et al play an important part in determining what activities males and females engage in.
So do yourself a favour, leave this one alone.
Learn more…
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Kal Bishop, MBA
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