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Understanding the Role of Value‐Focused Thinking in Idea Management
Author(s) -
Selart Marcus,
Johansen Svein Tvedt
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
creativity and innovation management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.148
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1467-8691
pISSN - 0963-1690
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8691.2011.00602.x
Subject(s) - creativity , ideation , fluency , value (mathematics) , notice , divergent thinking , vertical thinking , lateral thinking , quality (philosophy) , psychology , design thinking , creative thinking , convergent thinking , parallel thinking , cognition , critical systems thinking , cognitive psychology , computer science , epistemology , social psychology , cognitive science , critical thinking , mathematics education , political science , neuroscience , law , philosophy , human–computer interaction , machine learning
In a couple of classical studies, Keeney proposed two sets of variables labelled as value‐focused thinking (VFT) and alternative‐focused thinking (AFT). Value‐focused thinking (VFT), he argued, is a creative method that centres on the different decision objectives and how as many alternatives as possible may be generated from them. Alternative‐focused thinking (AFT), on the other hand, is a method in which the decision maker takes notice of all the available alternatives and then makes a choice that seems to fit the problem best. The impact of these two methods on idea generation was measured using a sample of employees. The results revealed that employees in the value‐focused thinking condition (VFT) produced fewer ideas. Thus, value‐focused thinking (VFT) is not only able to facilitate ideation fluency but also to constrain it. Factors such as cognitive effort and motivation may play a part here. However, the quality of the ideas was judged to be higher in terms of creativity and innovativeness. Hence, value‐focused thinking (VFT) seems to have a positive impact on the quality of ideas in terms of creativity and innovativeness regardless of ideation fluency. Implications for the design of idea management systems are discussed.