Creative Thinking Flashcards
meaning of CREATIVE THINKING
The ability to think of original, varied new ideas or new approaches
ADVANTAGES/BENEFITS
📌 Better ideas are generated
📌 Complex business problems may be solved
📌 Improves motivation amongst staff members
📌 Productivity increases as management or employees may quickly generate multiple ideas
GENERATE ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES
📌 Encourage staff to come up with new ideas
📌 Encourage alternative ways of doing things
📌 Place suggestion boxes around the workplace and keep communication channels open for new ideas
SOLVE BUSINESS PROBLEMS
📌 Products and services can be marked creatively
📌 Managers can come up with creative strategies for the business
📌 Managers can motivate and manage staff creatively
📌 Employees can come up with creative solutions to all kinds of problems
RESEARCH SKILLS
📌 To be able to solve any problem, it is important that your research skills are used to find the facts that you need to understand the problem
📌 Research involves
📎 Speaking to someone who has experience in the area that is a problem for you
📎 Going to the library and finding books, magazines or newspaper articles on the topic
📎 Looking for information on the internet
MEANING of PROBLEM SOLVING
DIFFERENCES between DECISION MAKING and PROBLEM SOLVING
📌Gathering facts that include problem finding and problem shaping
DECISION MAKING
📌 It is often done by ONE PERSON
📌 Various alternatives are considered before deciding on the best one
PROBLEM SOLVING
📌 Problems can be solved by a GROUP/team
📌
PROBLEM - SOLVING CYCLE
- IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM
📌 identify the exact problem - DEFINE THE PROBLEM
📌 The nature of the problem must be precise - IDENTIFY POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
📌 Decide on the cause - SELECT THE MOST APPROPRIATE ALTERNATIVE
Use critical evaluation and analytical skills to evaluate each solution - DEVELOP AN ACTION PLAN
📌 identify which solution will be used - IMPLEMENT THE SUGGEST SOLUTION
📌 arrange the necessary resources and delegate tasks - MONITOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SOLUTION
📌 carry out the planned action - EVALUATE THE IMPLEMENTED SOLUTION
📌assess whether the problem has been solved partially or entirely
PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUES
DELPHI TECHNIQUE
📌Business must invite a panel of experts to research the complaints from customers
📌 Experts do not have to be in one place and will be contacted individually
📌 Design a questionnaire and distribute it to the panel members
FORCE-FIELD ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE
📌 Describes the current situation and the desired situation
📌 List all driving/pros and restraining/cons forces that will support and resist change
📌 Weight up the positive and negative then decide if the project is viable
BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUE
📌Define the business problem clearly, to that all participants understand the problem
📌Record/Write ideas down, where all participants can see it
📌 Use each suggestion, to inspire new ideas
📌 All members of the group randomly make suggestions
NOMINAL - GROUP TECHNIQUE
📌 The business must divide the employees into smaller groups
📌 Request each employee to silently brainstorm many ideas of him/her own, and to write it down
📌 Each employee on the small group can share one his/her ideas with short explanation
📌 Appoint one employee to write the ideas on a large sheet of paper or capture ideas electronically on computer for all to see
SCAMPER
S ➡️ SUBSTITUTE C ➡️ COMBINE A ➡️ ADAPT M ➡️ MODIFY P ➡️ PUT TO OTHER USE E ➡️ ELIMINATE R ➡️ REVERSE
MIND MAP
📌 Decide on the central problem/topic and find a word/picture that captures it
📌 Break down the central theme into main ideas/points
FORCED COMBINATIONS
📌 Give employees a list of random words, pictures or objects
📌 Employees should then create connections between the problem at hand and their item
EMPTY CHAIR
📌 Speak to an empty chair and imagine another person sitting
