Information search and creativity: The role of need for cognition and personal involvement

The effects of type of personal involvement and need for cognition on information search behaviors and creative problem solving were investigated. It was predicted that participants who are involved through the personal relevancy of the outcome of a problem would engage in more information search behaviors and be more creative than participants who are involved through having their values and morals engaged. It was also predicted that participants high in need for cognition would engage in more information search behaviors and would be more creative than would participants low in need for cognition. Results showed that information search behaviors effectively predicted creative problem solving. Results also revealed advantages of high outcome involvement and detriments of high value involvement. Participants who were asked to provide a solution to a high outcome-involvement problem engaged in more information search behaviors and were more creative than participants who were asked to solve either a high value-involvement problem or a low involvement problem. Participants with high value involvement engaged in more information search behaviors but wrote solutions that were even less creative when compared to participants who had a low level of involvement. The effects of type of personal involvement on creative problem solving were not mediated by information search behaviors. Participants\u27 need for cognition was not related to information search behaviors or creativity. Based on the results, it is suggested that organizations can enhance employee creative problem solving by providing them with the time and resources needed to engage in information search and by creating high personal involvement in organizational outcomes. However, organizations should avoid heavily engaging employees\u27 values and morals because high value involvement can be detrimental to creative problem solving

Chemical and physical properties of nitryl chloride

Nitryl chloride (ClNO2) and nitrosyl chloride (ClNO) are pollutants that have been detected in the lower atmosphere.1 Interconnecting chemical reactions between the chlorine and nitrogen oxide cycles of the stratosphere may also produce these molecules, Two methods for·preparing ClNO were evaluated, and experimental techniques for determining the purity of ClNO2 were developed, The vapor pressure arid mass spectrum for ClNO2 and the ultraviolet absorption cross sec­tions of ClNO2 and ClNO were investigated. Preliminary results for the photochemical decomposition of ClNO2 with 253.7 and 356.5 run radiation are reported, and the ener­getically possible steps for photochemical dissociation of ClNO2 are summarized, Data involving the absorption cross sections and pri­mary photochemical processes, such as those that we have studied, are needed as input for calculations modelling the chemistry of the stratosphere. No data on the ab­sorption cross sections of ClNO2 have been previously reported

Responding Destructively in Leadership Situations: The Role of Personal Values and Problem Construction

This study explored the influence of personal values on destructive leader behavior. Student participants completed a managerial assessment center that presented them with ambiguous leadership decisions and problems. Destructive behavior was defined as harming organizational members or striving for short-term gains over long-term organizational goals. Results revealed that individuals with self-enhancement values were more destructive than individuals with self-transcendence values were, with the core values of power (self-enhancement) and universalism (self-transcendence) being most influential. Results also showed that individuals defined and structured leadership problems in a manner that reflected their value systems, which in turn affected the problem solutions they generated

Leadership and creativity: Understanding leadership from a creative problem-solving perspective

Employees in many jobs encounter novel, ill-defined problems, and finding creative solutions to these problems may be the critical factor that allows their organization to maintain a competitive advantage. Solving problems creatively requires extensive and effortful cognitive processing. This requirement is magnified further by the complex, ambiguous situations in which most organizational problems occur. Employees must define and construct a problem, search and retrieve problem-relevant information, and generate and evaluate a diverse set of alternative solutions. Creativity necessitates that all these activities are completed effectively. It is unlikely, therefore, that creative outcomes will be realized without a large degree of support from organizations and organizational leaders. In order to provide this support, leaders must understand the cognitive requirements of creative problem solving. To this end, this paper reviews the cognitive processes underlying creative problem solving and suggests avenues through which organizational leaders can facilitate these processes in an effort to enhance the creative problem solving of their employees

Conscientiousness Is Not Always a Good Predictor of Performance: The Case of Creativity

Meta-analyses investigating the relationship between Conscientiousness and performance suggest a positive relationship for a variety of criteria. However, recently it has been argued that Conscientiousness is not always a good predictor of performance, particularly for creative performance. Additionally, it has been suggested that Conscientiousness includes two distinct components, achievement and dependability, which may have different relationships with criterion measures. Two studies were conducted to determine whether the components of Conscientiousness predict creativity better than the full factor. Students in each study completed a measure of the Five Factor Model and a measure of creative performance. In the first study, creative accomplishments were measured and in the second study, creative problem solving was measured. As predicted, both studies revealed a cooperative suppression effect when analyzing the conscientiousness components together such that achievement was positively related and dependability negatively related to creative performance. Also, both studies showed that the overall Conscientiousness factor was not related to creativity