OTTRS Speaker Series: Virtual Team Creativity and Innovation
Date/Time: Friday, September 22, 2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Location: Virtual / Zoom EST
Description:
As communication technology capabilities have improved and the globalization of the workforce has resulted in distributed teams, organizations have been shifting towards virtual teams and virtual meetings over the last decade. This trend has been accelerated with current work-from-home orders due to COVID-19. Even though virtual collaboration has, in the past, been the focus of multiple studies, there are some surprising gaps in our knowledge. For instance, there are few empirical studies examining the impact of virtual devices and tools on creative problem-solving. While there is a substantial body of research on electronic brainstorming and the use of virtual tools for idea generation, less is known about earlier processes such as problem construction or later processes such as idea evaluation and idea selection. Furthermore, as a dynamic process, creativity and innovation are heavily influenced by the people engaged in the process and their collaborative environment, yet there is a gap in the literature regarding the type of virtual tools used in the process (for example, audio + video vs. audio alone, or the use of file-sharing technologies). In this paper, we will review the current literature on virtual teams, virtual meetings, and creativity. We will then explore theoretical frameworks such as media richness theory that can help us understand how virtuality and virtual tools may influence team creativity across the dynamic range of the creative problem-solving process. Finally, we provide questions to help guide future research.
Speaker:
Roni Reiter-Palmon, Distinguished Professor of I/O Psychology·University of Nebraska at Omaha
Bio:
Dr. Roni Reiter-Palmon is a Distinguished Professor of Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is also the Director of Innovation for the Center for Collaboration Science, an inter-disciplinary program at UNO. Her research focuses on creativity and innovation in the workplace, cognitive processes of creativity, team creativity, development of teamwork and creative problem-solving skills, and leading creative individuals and teams. Her research has been published in leading journals in I/O psychology, management, and creativity. She is the former Editor of The Psychology of Creativity, Aesthetics and the Arts and the current editor of Organizational Psychology Research. She serves on multiple editorial boards of I/O, management, and creativity journals. She has obtained over 9 million dollars in grant and contract funding focusing on creativity, leadership, and teams. She is a fellow of Divisions 10 and 14 of APA, and has won the system wide research award from the University of Nebraska system in 2017.
Speaker(s): Roni Reiter-Palmon