Surname 1

Name

Professor’s name

Course

Date

Abstract

In engineering, creativity is diversely emphasized as the current minimum component. It

plays a significant role in the productivity and automation, especially in the current competitive

economy. In modern times, technological advancement has influenced almost every aspect of

human life. While engineering has led to myriad contributions to several fields of study

including communication, information technology, and environmental conservation; lack of

creativity has resulted in other sectors of the economy receiving minimal development. The main

argument is that creativity if the core component driving engineering. Without creativity, the

engineering discipline would lose its credibility. Therefore, creativity is not just about producing

enhanced ideas; it is a kind of general awareness that results from an individual enjoying work

and people in his or her life: a responsive culture that can advance cooperation and good

relationship with others.

Engineering Design Creativity

Creativity is the science of using original ideas and imagination, and to practically apply

them in the construction of machines and other unique items. Engineers have the ability to

generate new ideas by studying the problems facing people in a new and different perspective.

Through design, engineers are capable of linking innovation and imagination. In line with the

findings in Modeling Creativity and Knowledge-Based Creative Design, it was established that

in whatever people do, daily lives are always filled with creative moments. Whenever people are

flexible and open to new possibilities, they always manage to link innovation and imagination

(Gero and Maher 11).

The manifestation of creativity becomes evident when an individual takes a new

approach towards a familiar dilemma. Consequently, people should be disposed to push past the

routines. Research suggests that everybody has a capability of tapping into his unique new

ability. Based on the Insights from Confucius' Concept of junzi, Understanding Creativity in East

Asia, the results obtained showed that people have become economical with the way they

consider creativity. The study further showed that most people believe creativity is a rarefied:

belonging to doctors, artists and scientists only. However, this hypothesis is not only sad but also

deceitful. In any individual's daily activities, it is possible to demonstrate originality: even when

a cook varies the recipe she prepares, she shows creativity. Hence, creativity is not only in

engineering or scientific field but should also be practiced in other sectors as well (Taylor and

Francis 16).

When people generate ideas through imagination beyond ordinary reasoning, they are

said to have been creative. Innovation and originality characterize an original idea. Creativity

helps people think and, therefore, cope well in the environment (Delas et. al 2015). New ideas
 Surname 3

are dominant in every field. For instance, in clinical psychology, patients are encouraged to

manage difficult feelings by the use of artistic expressions. Such techniques help not only to

control but also to terminate pain. Creativity also occurs to individuals when the mind is

relaxing. Whenever new ideas emerge in a person's mind, it stimulates a sense of actuality; a

moment filled with the desire to transform and discover unique ways of doing things and to

actualize a purpose. Instead of a regular and old way of solving problems whenever a new way

of thinking about a solution occurs, a creative mind becomes evident. Generation of a new and

unique way of looking at a problem—a different perspective of thinking about an emerging issue

—makes an individual develop imaginative capability and, therefore, becoming creative. Self-

censorship also impedes creativity. In the year 2012, however, Gero and Maher noted that when

an individual stops the inner voice of judgment that intuitively leads a person to do something,

the creativity is obstructed. They further indicated that the enhancement of creativity, therefore,

requires individuals to recognize the inner voice and embrace its constructive advice. The

acknowledgment and positive response to such thoughts act as the genesis of creative thinking.

To efficiently measure creativity; the output, input and processes followed in generating

an idea, and the perspective applied to unravel the resultant creative thinking and execution

becomes necessary. In engineering, creativity is an essential component in the creation of

machines and equipment. Therefore, individuals' skills and the level of their creative thinking

may be used as the parameter and assessment criteria to measure their standard of creativity.

Adequate assessment of creativity first requires the knowledge of the actual meaning of

creativity (Taylor and Francis 16). After that, there is a need to investigate the unique perspective

followed to produce a creative idea, whether the idea used is inborn or acquired, and whether the

original idea only changes the appearance or the simplicity of an element.

Intelligence and creativity directly correlate each other. Based on the research (Delas et

al. 47), the ability of the brain to pull together—the coordination of the brain cells with each

other in integrating different types of information—highly improves reasoning ability,

consequently leading to improved creativity. Furthermore, the ability of an individual to connect

the knowledge held in the memories and ideas develop creative thinking. Thus, a unique problem

is creatively solved. Opportunities to nurture creativity exist in every part of life. Self-confidence

is a major component of creative thinking. For instance, when people believe in themselves; and

desist from personal mistrust, they would readily participate in decision making and then put

their minds to the task.

Another component of developing creativity is the experience. The ability to connect

experiences that an individual has and his reasoning, whenever there is a problem, improves

creativity. When people face a particular problem, their minds always analyze possible solutions

from different perspectives. After some time, such brains acquire unique ability to solve given

kind of problems with ease. Creativity is therefore fostered by consistent stimulating the brain to

perform challenging tasks. Accordingly, the brain cells adapt to the generation of new ideas

(Taylor & Francis 89). Moreover, spending more time in a natural setting also increases

cognitive ability, especially for children. Publicity to nature increases people's exposure to

natural stimuli which is emotionally positive and has minimal arousal effect to individuals.

Additionally, technological advancement, particularly the multi-media requires much

attention and concentration to a variety of events. Most of such events viewed, for instance,

entertainment hardly stimulate the brain and therefore not healthy for cognitive developments for

children. To be creative, an individual needs to practice regularly. Having versed knowledge in a

particular field improves the creativity of an individual. Therefore, learning new ideas increases
 Surname 5

the knowledge content of a person, and when faced with a task that needs related information,

the available concepts can be interconnected to come up with a creative idea. Being inquisitive

also increases chances of creativity. An individual should desist from being complacent with the

environment. However, when the person continually tries to investigate the imperfections of the

world and tries to find answers to issues that are less known, the brain develops imaginative

appeal (Delas et al. 97).

Training and testing also increase creativity level. When an individual is adequately

trained, his open-ended thinking is enhanced. However, there are divided and varied opinions

over the actual impact of education, especially the higher education on an individual's creative

ability. An indisputable fact is that education empowers people and enables them to acquire a

new perspective of viewing the world. Nevertheless, even with this supposedly obvious fact,

several schools of thought still treat this belief with a lot of caution. For instance, in the study

concerning the encouragement of innovative activities, a reference is given to various

personalities whose creativity led to major technological revolutions in the world. Such

personalities are Bill Gates of the Microsoft foundation—whose creativity never depended

entirely on higher education and Steve Jobs of Apple Incorporation—who dropped out of the

college (Delas et al. 113).

Self-trust and consideration of personal intuition are an inherent part of unique thinking

ability. When an individual deviates from traditional and habituated ways of performing tasks, it

enables them to critically and thoroughly apply their thinking ability. In line with the findings

realized in the factors encouraging innovation activity in the particular context of small- and

medium-sized retailers’ study in the year 2015, the application of unconventional thinking was

found to be enabling the use of convergent and divergent strategies. Whenever individual sets to
 Surname 6

work on a task, initially, there is always a need to expand the ideas through several stages and

then narrow down possibilities to a problem. When faced with ME375 examination, for instance,

creative thinking is necessary. Critical thinking should be incorporated. The solutions obtained

should originate from acquired knowledge, and practical experience gained not only throughout

the learning period but also through creative thinking.

Conclusions

Indeed, in the current industrialization, most of the economic sectors, particularly in the

engineering, are facing stiff competition against each other. There are also economic progress

and advancements that squarely rely on technological developments. Such changes require

creativity. There is, therefore, need to amend the routine nature of doing things. Since creativity

leads to evolutionary changes, embracing it is a necessity. Nurturing creativity should consider

three aspects: improve it by dynamically applying experiences obtained, the individual's desire to

achieve their moral duties be the driving force for creative thinking, and then creativity be

established by concentration on average change instead of concentrating on the domain change.

Works Cited

Delas, Alexia, Nicolas Maranzana, Fabrice Mantelet, and Stéphanie Buisine. "Encouraging

innovation activity: in the specific context of small- and medium-sized retailers."

International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation 4.1 (2015): 1-26. Web.

22 Jan. 2015.

Gero, John S., and Mary L. Maher. Modeling Creativity and Knowledge-Based Creative Design.

New York: Psychology Press; 2012. Print.

Taylor & Francis. "Understanding creativity in East Asia: insights from Confucius' concept of

junzi." International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation 4.1 (2015): 51-61.

Web. 22 Jan. 2015.