Impact of a Game-type Icebreaker on the Design Idea-generation Process

Abstract

Icebreakers are structured activities designed as a tool to build relationships, facilitate sharing information and institute a relaxed environment. These benefits involve the formation of a creative team climate. Among the variety of icebreakers, the game type enhances the sense of teamwork giving the base to forming more effective and productive group works. The multidisciplinary composition of a team increases its creative potential. Considering the design process, creativity takes place during the idea generation stage. This study presents the explorative investigation of the possible impacts of a game-type icebreaker applied as a starter activity of the idea generation process of newly formed design teamwork. The focus was addressed to the team-working atmosphere, the teams’ dynamics and the design outcomes. Six workshops involving teams of four students, two with design-oriented background and two engineering-oriented one, performed a brainstorming session to solve a given design task. Not previous acquaintance among the students was required. By pair of teams, three different workshop conditions were tested: 1) participants were asked to simply brainstorm to generate solutions to the task, 2) they were exposed to the icebreaker game, and 3) they were asked to start brainstorming right after a short personal introduction. The six teams processes and design outcomes were compared among the three brainstorming settings. Protocol and content analysis were carried out of data collected by the videotapes and the sketches of the ideas produced. The aspects leading the discussion of the results were group interactions, cognitive activities of the teams’ design processes and typology of teams’ outcomes with focus on the levels of creativity. The study reveals three main positive effects of the game-type icebreaker: 1) create a collaborative group atmosphere by enhancing the group communication and reducing the tensions; 2) produce effective and collaborative teamwork strategies by structuring the cognitive activities of the teamwork process; and 3) empower the team’s creative thinking potential in the design solution generation. The work ends with a reflection of the benefits of the findings on a broader view, the limitations of the study and suggestion of further research.