UCL School of Management is delighted to welcome Paul Paulus, UT Arlington, to host a research seminar discussing ‘Searching for the Synergy and the “Sparks” in Collaborative Creativity’.​

Abstract

For many years I and other scholars have attempted to demonstrate the creative potential of groups.  I will review some of the major findings from my research  journey and present recent findings about the key interactional processes that spark creative outcomes in groups. Recent studies with a multi-disciplinary team have employed  “naturalistic”  electronic synchronous and asynchronous paradigms that enable detailed tracking of conversational interactions among group members over time. These studies have examined the impact of diversity, expertise level, group size, intergroup processes and the relationship between the divergent ideation stage and the subsequent convergent product development stage. I will present the findings from two of these studies.  Our computer science colleagues are using this data to develop computational models of the group creative process with the eventual goal of developing electronic intervention systems to enhance the creative outcomes in these types of interactions.