Why electronic brainstorming preferred by some organizations over traditional brainstorming methods

 

Electronic brainstorming is preferred by organisation over traditional brainstorming because it has several advantages that make it a better choice. Some of the major advantages/benefits of using electronic brainstorming are briefly discussed below:

• Electronic brainstorming is virtual which allows shy participants to present their ideas without any evaluation apprehension. This is a problem with traditional brainstorming where the participants fear about what others will think about their idea. Face to face channel makes it even more difficult to avoid evaluation apprehension. However, with electronic brainstorming, this issue can be prevented.
• Participants feel confident to present their out of the box thinking without fearing of being judged because they cannot see the expressions of other participants.
• The electronic brainstorming allows people to generate a larger number of ideas while remaining anonymous which is an added bonus for participants who have confidence issues. Virtual brainstorming can provide participants with a sense of anonymity which is absent in traditional brainstorming. Anonymity prevents ideas to be associated with specific individuals.
• Electronic brainstorming allows participants from geographically dispersed locations to get together and create ideas. This cannot happen in traditional brainstorming.
• Electronic brainstorming solves the problem of production blocking which is faced in traditional brainstorming. As soon as one idea has been presented, the participants can start thinking about the next idea. The number of ideas generated is higher in electronic brainstorming as compared to traditional brainstorming.
• In electronic brainstorming, the relationship between size of the group and its performance is positive. The quality of ideas generated is also improved. The tendency to groupthink is limited in electronic brainstorming.