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Process Structuring in Electronic Brainstorming

Author

Listed:
  • Alan R. Dennis

    (Department of Management, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602)

  • Joseph S. Valacich

    (Decision and Information Systems Department, School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405)

  • Terry Connolly

    (Department of Management and Policy, College of Business, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721)

  • Bayard E. Wynne

    (Decision and Information Systems Department, School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405)

Abstract

One aspect of brainstorming that has received little research attention is how the brainstorming problem should be presented to the group, whether as one all-encompassing question or as a series of separate questions each focusing on one aspect of the problem. This paper reports the results of two experiments in which subjects (MBAs in the first, senior executives in the second) electronically brainstormed on intact problems (where all parts of the problem were presented simultaneously) or on decomposed problems (where three subcategories of the problem were sequentially posed to the groups). In both experiments, groups using the decomposed process generated 60% more ideas. We attribute these differences to the ability of time constraints to increase the rate of idea generation, and the ability of problem decomposition to refocus members' attention more evenly across the entire problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan R. Dennis & Joseph S. Valacich & Terry Connolly & Bayard E. Wynne, 1996. "Process Structuring in Electronic Brainstorming," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 7(2), pages 268-277, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:7:y:1996:i:2:p:268-277
    DOI: 10.1287/isre.7.2.268
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Walczuch, R.M. & Hofmaier, K., 2000. "Measuring customer satisfaction on the Internet," Research Memorandum 051, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    2. Evgeny Kagan & Stephen Leider & William S. Lovejoy, 2018. "Ideation–Execution Transition in Product Development: An Experimental Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(5), pages 2238-2262, May.
    3. D Shaw, 2003. "Evaluating electronic workshops through analysing the ‘brainstormed’ ideas," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 54(7), pages 692-705, July.
    4. Gemma E Derrick & Julie Bayley, 2022. "The Corona-Eye: Exploring the risks of COVID-19 on fair assessments of impact for REF2021," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 31(1), pages 93-103.
    5. Gillier, Thomas & Chaffois, Cédric & Belkhouja, Mustapha & Roth, Yannig & Bayus, Barry L., 2018. "The effects of task instructions in crowdsourcing innovative ideas," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 35-44.
    6. Sergey R. Yagolkovskiy & Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin, 2015. "The Roles of Novelty and the Organization of Stimulus Material in Divergent Thinking," HSE Working papers WP BRP 41/PSY/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    7. D Shaw, 2006. "Journey Making group workshops as a research tool," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 57(7), pages 830-841, July.
    8. Antonio Ferreira & Pedro Antunes & Valeria Herskovic, 2011. "Improving Group Attention: An Experiment with Synchronous Brainstorming," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 20(5), pages 643-666, September.
    9. J. H. Jung & Christoph Schneider & Joseph Valacich, 2010. "Enhancing the Motivational Affordance of Information Systems: The Effects of Real-Time Performance Feedback and Goal Setting in Group Collaboration Environments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(4), pages 724-742, April.
    10. Walczuch R & Hofmaier K, 2000. "Measuring Customer Satisfaction on the Internet," Research Memorandum 019, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    11. D Shaw & M Westcombe & J Hodgkin & G Montibeller, 2004. "Problem structuring methods for large group interventions," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 55(5), pages 453-463, May.

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