Creativity in Teams: An Examination of Team Accuracy in the Idea Evaluation and Selection Process

Organizations are increasingly utilizing teams to develop creative solutions to solve problems. However, the generation of creative ideas alone may not be enough to ensure innovative solutions are implemented: teams must actively and effectively evaluate ideas prior to selecting new products or solutions to solve a problem. We followed a model of idea evaluation and selection and examined the relationships between team solution evaluation accuracy and the accurate selection of optimal solutions to solve a problem. Teams read a realistic story problem, evaluated ten possible solutions for quality and originality, and selected the best solution to solve the problem. Findings indicate that team accuracy in solution quality evaluations relates to the accurate selection of a high quality solution, while team accuracy in solution originality evaluations relates to the accurate selection of a creative solution. Implications for theories of team idea evaluation and selection and research are presented.