Antecedents of creative decision making in organizational crisis: A team-based simulation

Amy Sommer (1) , Christine Pearson (2)

1 Richard Ivey School of business
2 Thunderbird

Although it has been claimed that the devastation and complexities that characterize an organizational crisis may be addressed most effectively with creative solutions, theoretical and empirical research examining this challenge is scarce. We developed a theoretical model concerning creative decision making during organizational crisis for crisis management teams. To test this theory, we collected data from 191 individuals in 37 teams who participated in multi-hour, multi-phased organizational crisis simulations in the United States and Canada. Using regression analysis, we found that crisis management teams generated a creative decision when they were familiar with solutions, trusted their team members, and had creative intentions. This study supports organizational efforts to leverage education, training and accountability to reinforce creativity in crisis decision making.

Keywords: Organizational crisis management; Teams; Decision making; Creativity

Domains: Management and Human Resources

Amy Sommer, Christine Pearson. Antecedents of creative decision making in organizational crisis: A team-based simulation. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2007, Vol.74, n°8, pp.1234-1251. ⟨10.1016/j.techfore.2006.10.006⟩. ⟨hal-00516144⟩