谢振礼 托福范文: 集体创造
TOEFL Independent Writing
托福独立写作 真题范文
China 2018-05-26
Topic:
When you need to complete a creative task, do you prefer to work together with others or to do it alone?
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
Essay:
Are individuals more creative when working alone or when working together with others? While this debate about workplace theory has been running for long, nobody has ever doubted that creativity is key to successfully complete a difficult task. Based on scientific researches, it could be explained that the way to maximize creative potential is to flow between being alone and being in a group, and back again, in that order.
It is argued that individuals are more creative in generating ideas than teams. Just because individuals are physically together with others does not necessarily mean that this is going to be the best thing to complete a creative task. Some studies indicate that it would be a mistake to think that many minds make light work of problem solving because what fuels spontaneous creativity in the first place is not listening to ideas of other group members. Imagine, what happens when people take turns to voice their ideas, and those bringing up the rear may forget their ideas before having a chance to voice them? Worse still, the process of attending to another person’s ideas redirects a listener’s line of thought, resulting in big losses of “breakthrough” ideas. According to this first-thing-first work theory, it is better for individuals to begin working alone in order to be more creative.
Somewhere along the line of debate, though, workplace theory has completely gone the other way. Different studies reveal that creativity is all about being in teams, brainstorming together, bouncing ideas around in a collective way, as if to say that creativity is always “collaborative” and that everyone can be more innovative—but not alone. The point is backed up with modern inventions such as television, the automobile, the airplane, the computer and the Internet. These examples and more may imply that one does not succeed by pure luck or being blessed with a rare good idea. So, when it comes to carrying out a creative task, success comes through many small sparks as well as by drawing on collaboration over time. And especially in today’s competitive world, the myth of a traditional solitary inventor is fading away, and it seems more important to work together with others in sharing creative ideas from time to time.
Overall, people are most creative when they get time by themselves and then time with one another, and then back again. The debate is not an either/or question since both work theories are supported by scientific evidence. One thing is sure: creativity is needed to complete a difficult task in the workplace.
