|
|
 |
|
|
 |
| Cynthia Matthew,
visiting scholar in psychology, and Steven Stemler, assistant professor of
psychology, are developing tools which may identify creative and effective
leaders. |
|
| Posted 08.07.07 |
Researchers Helping Army Identify Creativity in Leaders
|
The U.S. Army is looking for a few creative
leaders, and two Wesleyan researches are helping in the search.
Steven Stemler, assistant professor of psychology, and Cynthia Matthew,
visiting scholar in psychology, are creating a basic psychological research
tool that will help the Army Research Institute (ARI) to identify
individuals who possess “mental flexibility,” a trait which Army officials
believe is important to more creative and effective leadership.
“It might seem odd that an organization that is so inherently and purposely
rigid in its structure would value creativity,” Matthew says. “But the
circumstances leaders often find themselves in require a high degree of
mental flexibility. “
Stemler adds, “In truth, some of the most creative people in the world have
worked within the context of some well-defined constraints.” Stemler points
to great athletes, such as Michael Jordan, who must adhere to rules of the
game, entrepreneurs who must conform to the limits of their start-up capital
and the law, and even many artists from past centuries who were forced to
work within constraints set by patrons or the medium.
But it’s just not enough to be creative, at least not for the needs of the
Army or those of most organizations with well-defined structures and
hierarchies. According to Stemler and Matthew, for creativity to manifest
itself in a real-world performance, the individual must also have mental
flexibility, a personality open to experience, and strong motivation.
“Mental flexibility is the ability to respond to change with novel and
useful strategies,” Matthew says. “Creativity and adaptability certainly
figure into this, as well as being able to take abstract ideas and transform
them into practical solutions.”
Stemler and Matthew have designed a study that measures mental flexibility
within the context of individuals’ pattern recognition ability. The intent
is to provide the Army with possible predictor of the ability to think
flexibly and creatively.
“A previous ARI study showed that there are strong, consistent associations
between individuals with strong pattern recognition abilities and strong
mental flexibility,” Matthew says. “This study is designed to provide
methods for reliably identifying pattern recognition ability in both
abstract tasks as well as more practical social situations.”
“Some people are good at pattern recognition, but are not flexible or
creative in finding new solutions,” Stemler says. “Others do well at the
mental flexibility part but are not great at pattern recognition. We want to
find out if we can identify those who excel at both.”
Another aspect of the study that links pattern recognition directly to
leadership are measures designed to look at these abilities within the
context of social networking skills, which has potential implications for
leader development.
“If a person comes up with an innovative solution and wants to implement it
in a strict hierarchical structure like the military, he or she will have to
be able to identify who can help them do this within the informal networks
that exist in all organizations, both above and below them in the chain of
command,” Matthew says. “Otherwise, executing the solution will be
difficult, if not impossible.”
Stemler and Matthew are being supported by grant of $104,797 for the 1-year
study by the ARI. The researchers are being aided by Max Wu ’08, and Ellen
Dinsmore ‘08, who are helping to develop some tests and instruments for the
study.
“What a lot of people don’t know is that much of basic psychological
research done in the U.S. since the end of World War II has been initiated
and funded by the Army Research Institute,” Matthew says. “They really are
responsible for some tremendous, ground-breaking work.”
Since this is basic research Stemler and Matthew do not need to test Army
officers for the study. Instead, undergraduate volunteers from several
participating New England colleges and universities will be recruited this
fall. Stemler and Matthew will survey between 250 and 300 participants,
paying them $30 for a single 30-hour testing session. There will also be
classroom-level participation and include professors performing assessments.
Undergraduate institutions and students who are interested in participating
in the study may contact Stemler at sstemler@wesleyan.edu or Matthew at
cmatthew@wesleyan.edu.
|
|
By David Pesci, director of Media Relations.
Photo by Olivia Bartlett. |
|
|
 |
|
|
