Creativity plays a crucial role in innovation, and innovation is essential for any organization's continuous success and survival. Past creativity research focused on the studies of individual creativity (West, 2009); however, in recent years there has been an increased emphasis on understanding how a group of people work together to produce creative ideas and products (Paulus & Nijstad, 2003). This collaborative creativity process is often referred to as group creativity. Despite the increased interest in group creativity, there is still a lack of empirical studies (Taggar, 2002). This study explored the impact of group collaboration on the improvement of individual creative thinking ability. During the 2009–2010 school year, approximately 120 undergraduate technology and engineering students participated in the Innovation Boot Camp (IBC), a creativity training program. The participants were teamed up with people from different majors and asked to work together to design an innovative solution to a problem. Their individual creativity was also measured before and after the IBC using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Interestingly, a significant TTCT score improvement was found only in a few groups, but not in all groups. This study qualitatively analyzed video-recorded team interactions of three groups that significantly increased their creativity scores (improved groups) and three groups who did not (non-improved groups). The findings of this analysis revealed six major differences between the improved and non-improved groups. These differences were (1) idea and information exchange, (2) critique, (3) idea improvement, (4) prototype design, (5) challenging solution, and (6) engagement level. Based on these differences, this report presents a theory that could explain how group collaboration can improve individual creative thinking ability. The implications of the study findings for future research were also discussed.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the level of support for innovation and individual creativity as potential mediators of relationship between managerial task performance, managerial contextual performance, organizational financial performance and employee performance in non-profit sport organizations in Turkey. For the purpose of the study, 721 volunteer managers and employees from 21 Department/School of Physical Education and Sport (D-SPES) and 23 Province Directorates of Youth and Sport (PDYS) were participated in the study. Individual Creativity Scale, Support for Innovation Scale, Managerial Task Performance Scale, Managerial Contextual Performance Scale, Organizational Financial Performance Scale, and Employee Performance Scale were used for data collection. Results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that the model adequately describes the data for the sample and the fit indices were all within the acceptable thresholds. The model accounted for 68% variance in support for innovation, 0.7% variance in individual creativity and 44% variance in employee performance. These results suggested that support for innovation and individual creativity significantly mediate the effects of managerial task performance, managerial contextual performance and organizational financial performance on employee performance.

Denna studie syftar till att undersöka kreativitetens betydelse och vilka förutsättningar som skapar kreativitet för att lindra arbetarnas stress och hur det kan förbättra deras hälsa. Detta görs för att underlätta arbetet för både ledarna, medarbetarna och främst av allt uppnå till en bättre hälsa inom organisationen. / This study aims at examining the importance of creativity and the conditions that create creativity to relieve the stresses of workers and how it can improve their health. This is done to facilitate the work of both leaders, employees and, above all, to achieve a better health within the organization.

Denna studie syftar till att undersöka kreativitetens betydelse och vilka förutsättningar som skapar kreativitet för att lindra arbetarnas stress och hur det kan förbättra deras hälsa. Detta görs för att underlätta arbetet för både ledarna, medarbetarna och främst av allt uppnå till en bättre hälsa inom organisationen. / This study aims at examining the importance of creativity and the conditions that create creativity to relieve the stresses of workers and how it can improve their health. This is done to facilitate the work of both leaders, employees and, above all, to achieve a better health within the organization.

The study’s primary research interest is in the area of leadership and creativity. Investigating the literature indicates that there is a gap in knowledge regarding the effect of the Full Range of Leadership styles, especially the influence of transformational leadership on employees’ creative performance. Examining this relationship in different sectors (for example: public government sector); in different cultures (for example: Arab Islamic culture); and from multi-perspectives (for example: leaders and employees) is strongly encouraged by research. The Omani civil service sector was used as a case study, thus the aim of the study was to investigate the degree to which Omani civil service managers practised the Full Range of Leadership styles to influence employees’ creative performance. The study set six objectives which provided the foundation for the structure of the study and the way its research questions were formulated. Accordingly, the study methodology was designed in a way that points towards the achievement of the study objectives. The study adopted a mixed-methods research approach by combining survey questionnaires with semi-structured interviews. This triangulation technique was utilized to enable more accurate investigation and allow in-depth coverage of the issues examined. The probability sampling method as represented by the random sampling technique was adopted for this study and applied to the two groups of managers and employees. The total size of the managers’ sample was 269 participants, while the employees’ sample was 371 participants. In addition, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted to supplement the quantitative results. The results of this study show that the Omani managers are performing both transformational and transactional leadership styles. Examining the relationship, the study confirms that there is an overall statistically significant relationship between managers’ use of transformational and transactional leadership styles and employees’ creative performance from both managers’ and employees’ perspectives. The results also reveal that Omani managers are infrequently practicing passive/avoidant leadership style and that this style does not contribute to the employees’ creative performance. Further, the study demonstrate that Omani managers’ personal characteristics have a slight effect on managers’ perceptions towards transformational leadership styles and do not have any impact on their perceptions toward employees’ creative performance. Finally, this study contributed to knowledge in several areas where scholars who are interested in investigating the relationship between leadership and creativity will find it valuable.

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