‘He’s different, he’s got ‘Star Trek’ vision’: supporting the expertise of conceptual design engineers

Abstract An ethnographic approach was taken to study the creative behaviours and perceived barriers to creativity of engineers within the conceptual design department of an international aerospace company. The research project comprised three phases incorporating four studies employing qualitative research methods. A primary output of the research was the development of categories drawn from the data which exhibited barriers to creativity under micro (day-to-day experiences) and macro (larger organisational, strategic and global) conditions. A matrix explaining the complexity of interrelationships between the phenomena under investigation in relation to the conditions was developed and its structure is described in this paper.

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