The Emergence of Problem Construction at the Team-Level

Abstract

The present study progresses the understanding of the role problem construction plays in team creative problem-solving. Analyzing recorded teamwork sessions revealed that teams spent the great majority of their time engaged in problem construction behaviors (53.56% of data) compared to idea generation (28.03%), or idea evaluation (18.56%). A social sequence analysis did not reveal any statistically significant sequences of processes utilized by teams. We discuss the breakdown of specific behaviors within each class, provide qualitative descriptions of team processes, and discuss how problem construction was employed and observed at the team level.