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Management of creativity e book

The document is a self-published textbook on the management of creativity by MBA students at Rajadhani Business School, aimed at enhancing understanding of creativity in management through easy-to-understand content and real-life examples. It covers essential concepts such as creativity styles, ideation, decision-making, and cognitive biases, structured per the KTU syllabus. The foreword and acknowledgments reflect a commendation for the students' initiative and the collaborative effort of faculty in producing the textbook.

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A textbook on MANAGEMENT OF CREATIVITY Self-published by students of HR domain Rajadhani Business School 2018
A Textbook on MANAGEMENT OF CREATIVITY Self Published By HR Students of Rajadhani Business School Nagaroor, Attingal, Thiruvananthapuram 2016-2018 For internal circulation only
FOREWORD I congratulate Scaria Thomas (Assistant professor, Rajadhani Business School) and our T6 MBA students (HR domain, 2016 Batch) for publishing a textbook on Management Of Creativity, based on the MBA syllabus of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. A great effort indeed! Students always look for the textbooks that they could easily understand and apprehend. When I was a student too, I wanted such a textbook! I could not find it. I could find some fantastic books on the subject, but could not find a book that provided real life examples and explanations. This book is the result of a few MBA students with research insight and want to explore more into the subject. Once they compiled, they wanted to share the wealth of information with other fellow students. The intent of the authors is to help readers, i.e., management students and faculty, to have easy access to information and help them to attain good grades. I am sure this book is going to be a ‘live project’ and the same authors will keep on updating it once they start their career in this field. In closing, I am excited to share with readers “A Textbook on Management Of Creativity” that would definitely help you to in understanding the subject. Without doubt, I can say that this book is an enthusiastic celebration of techniques involved in Management Of Creativity. I think that the authors can be confident that there will be many grateful readers who will gain a broader perspective of the discipline . Rajit Karunakaran Nair Director, Rajadhani Business School, Trivandrum, Kerala (Author of “Making of a Sensible Consultant” & “Fearless or Shameless”)
FOREWORD I feel proud to know about the academic initiative by our MBA T6 students by publishing a book of “Management Of Creativity”. This is the second initiative of our students in this direction. The first book of Sales and Distribution was well appreciated and acclaimed by our management and student fraternity. This noble sharing efforts and initiatives make RBS, a different learning place. I take this opportunity to congratulate Mr Scaria Thomas, Assistant Professor and the entire members of student team for this commendable work. I wish and expect more such efforts from our students and faculty members in future. Prof (Dr) Rajesh S Pyngavil Professor and Head Rajadhani Business School
FOREWORD Creativity is essential in every walk of life the same way it essential for management too. They go hand in hand. Creativity is the keystone of all the successful management ventures. This book on “Management Of Creativity” is a sincere effort by the HR students of the college, purely based on KTU Syllabus of T6 HR paper named Management of Creativity. The Book details about Creativity styles, Creativity in problem solving, Lateral thinking, Ideation, TRIZ, Six thinking hats, Decision and Evaluation. An outstanding portrayal of the minuet accepts of creativity in Human Resources Management. This book is a sure help for the students specializing in HR. Scaria Thomas Assistant professor Rajadhani Business School, Trivandrum
FOREWORD A great initiative by the HR specialization students of RBS by producing a book on “Management Of Creativity” as per KTU syllabus. Credits to entire crew and Scaria sir for this superb attempt. Shaan R S Assistant Professor Rajadhani Business School, Trivandrum
MANAGEMENT OF CREATIVITY AUTHORS MANASA PRADEEP PRASEETHA GOKHALEY HAJNA.G.S LEKSHMI PRAKASH SUDHINA NAZER MINNU SABU
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We thank God, almighty giving as a splendid opportunity for completing our work “A Textbook on Management Of Creativity” as per the KTU syllabus. We would like to thank our mentor Asst. Prof.Scaria Thomas, Rajadhani Business School, for encouraging and supporting us to publish this book. We would like to express our gratitude and thanks to Prof. Rajit Karunakaran Nair, Director Rajadhani Business School and Prof. Dr. Rajesh S Pyngavil Professor & Head, Rajadhani Business School, for helping us making this book a reality. Last but not least we thank all our RBS faculty, all our friends of Rajadhani Business School and our family, for giving their support and well wishing. We beg forgiveness of all those have been with our work and those we have failed to mention. Team Human Resources Management RBS 2016-2018
INDEX Units Contents Page No: 1 Creativity & Concepts: Making a case for creativity; Creative thinking as a skill; Valuing diversity in thinking – Thinking preferences, Cognitive biases of creativity.Creativity styles; setting the stage for success – Basic philosophy, Having a vision, Setting the right attitude, Recognizing and avoiding mental blocks, Avoiding mindsets, Risk taking, Paradigm shift and paradigm paralysis, Individual and team work; Creativity in problem solving – Problem definition, Understanding, Representing; Pattern Breaking – Thinking differently, Changing your point of view, Watching for paradigm shift, Challenging conventional wisdom, Lateral thinking, Provocation (escape, random word), Mind stimulation: games, brain-twisters and puzzles. 1 – 21 2 (a) 2 (b) Idea and Opportunity: History of ideas – development of ideas in history (post-it notes, coke bottles); Ideation – Basic of human information processing; Factors influencing ideation - social factors, resources, motivation, context, time; Recognizing Opportunities – how to recognize opportunities; Exploration, evaluation, exploitation, Factors revealing opportunities - Alertness, knowledge, luck. Defining an opportunity - objective or subjective nature, underlying needs and wants, newness, entrepreneurial strategies of Vesper; Discovery view (building on cognitive foundations and Scott Shane’s material) - sources of opportunities, key correlates with opportunity recognition); Creation view - building on Saras Sarasvathy’s effectuation Logic, implications on the process. 22 – 42
3 Ideation process: Idea-collection processes - Brainstorming/Brain-writing, The SCAMPER methods, Metaphoric thinking, Outrageous thinking, Mapping thoughts, Other (new approaches); Using Math and Science - Systematic logical thinking, Using math concepts; Eight-Dimensional (8D) Approach to Ideation - Uniqueness, Dimensionality, Directionality, Consolidation, Segmentation, Modification, Similarity, Experimentation. 43 – 63 4 Systematic Inventive Thinking: TRIZ - Fundamentals of TRIZ, Trial and Error and Systematic Innovation, Patents, sources of Technological Innovation; Key finding in TRIZ Patents Research - Level of Invention, Definition of Inventive Problem, Patterns of Technology Evolution, Patterns of Invention; Ideal Final Result (IFR), Psychological Inertia, TRIZ Process, Cause Effect Chains Diagram, Contradictions Matrix, 40 Inventive Principles to resolve technical contradiction 64 – 72 5 Decision and Ownership: Decision and Evaluation - Focused thinking framework; Recognizing Reasoned Arguments – short arguments and non arguments; drawing conclusions, inference, or hypothesis; Assumptions - implicit assumptions, underlying assumptions; Reasoning – reasoning, explanations, flaws in reasoning; Six Thinking hats; Ethical considerations. Intellectual Property - Introduction to intellectual property rights- Patents, Copyrights , Trademarks , Trade Secret, Unfair Competition. 73 – 80 6 Reference 81
MODULE 1 CREATIVITY CREATIVITY Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. CONCEPT OF CREATIVE THINKING Creative thinking has two aspects: 1. The process of creative thinking 2. The product of creative thinking While the process of creation is an inner happening, the product of creation is seen and defined COMPONENTS OF CREATIVITY 1. Imagination- the process by which items of experience are combined to form new products. 2. Fluency-it means the frequency with which relevant and unrepeated ideas come to one’s mind after a question is put. 3. Flexibility-it is represented by a person’s ability to produce ideas which differ in approval or thought trend. 4. Originality-it is uniqueness of response, defines originality as the production of unusual, for fetched, remote or clever responses among members of a certain population. 5. Elaboration-it is indicated by a person’s ability to add pertinent details to the minimum and primary response to the stimulus. 6. Curiosity-it is an exploratory behavior. 7. Giftedness-it was considered only children with greater IQ were gifted, but now it is intelligence or talent and artistic ability. CREATIVE THINKING AS A SKILL: It’s important to have a creative thinking to solve problems more effectively. So we have to improve our creative thinking. Some of the ways to improve our creative thinking are as follows: Sensing • Use all your senses—see, taste, smell, touch, hear, think, speak. • Be a good observer of people, nature, and events around you.
Thinking • Engage thinking on the right side of your brain (intuition, open-mindedness, visual perception, rhythm . . .). • Change your interpretation of an event, situation, behavior, person, or object. • Allow ideas to incubate. • Be open to insight as ideas pop into your mind. Imagining • Brainstorm by generating ideas with a group of people. • Ask, “What would happen if . . .” • Ask, “In how many different ways . . .” • Develop ideas and expand their possibilities. • Envision the future. Speaking and Writing • Use your words and your “voice” when conveying your original ideas. • Avoid using clichés or overly familiar responses to questions or problems. • Explain how your ideas move beyond the status quo and contribute to a discussion. • Take notes. Drawing • Use mind-mapping to capture ideas; start with a key concept and write it in the center of your page; use connecting lines, radiating from the central concept, and write down any connected or related ideas that come to you. • Create pictures or drawings of situations (“rich pictures”) to show them in a different way. Learning • Find ways to demonstrate your personal investment in projects. • Gather knowledge and conduct research. • Have more fun learning! Moving • Do physical activities to engage the creative areas of your brain and think differently. Resting • Take breaks.
Dimensions of Creative Style VALUING DIVERSITY IN THINKING: Here are four tips for getting the most from your own and others’ thinking diversity: 1. Expect it and plan for it so you’re not quite so surprised when you face it. Awareness can keep you from having a knee-jerk reaction or jumping to conclusions. 2. Look for the learning you can get from different perspectives: What might you overlook without them? That, alone, may encourage you to seek out differences. 3. Keep in mind this process requires a mental stretch. If you’re irritated, the other person probably is, too. You both have to stretch to bridge the thinking divide, so recognize what’s happening and cut each other some slack. 4. Unique is normal—so have fun with it! In nearly every discussion we have with clients, they share stories of how recognizing and valuing thinking diversity has helped them lighten up about it. They realize the differences aren’t personal, it’s just “where she’s coming from” THINKING PREFERENCES:
The awareness of one’s own thinking preferences and the thinking preferences of others, combined with the ability to act outside of one’s preferred thinking preferences is known as “Whole Brain Thinking.” The model was developed by Ned Herrmann. Using brain research developed by others and his own studies, Herrmann discovered that there were four patterns that emerged in terms of how the brain perceives and processes information. The Whole Brain Thinking is a methodology designed to help thinkers, teams and organizations better benefit from all of the thinking available to them. It acknowledges that while different tasks require different mental processes, and different people prefer different kinds of thinking, organizations will get better results when they can strategically leverage the full spectrum of thinking available. Each person (yes, you!) has thinking preferences, some strong, others intermediate. Those preferences develop into dominances, and without the awareness of those preferences, you may fall victim to blind spots when it comes to other people’s ways of thinking. But Whole Brain Thinking reminds us that everyone has access to all four ways of thinking. Applying Whole Brain Thinking means being able to fully leverage one’s own preferences, stretch to other quadrants when necessary, and adapt to and take advantage of the preferences of those around you to improve performance and results.
COGNITIVE BIASES OF CREATIVITY: A cognitive bias is a mistake in reasoning, evaluating, remembering, or other cognitive process, often occurring as a result of holding onto one's preferences and beliefs regardless of contrary information. There are many cognitive biases that should be avoided for creative thinking. Some of the cognitive biases are given below: 1. Conservatism Belief: When old established information is favoured above new more recent information. 2. Dunning-Kruger Effect: When unskilled people overestimate their skills and skilled people underestimate theirs. 3. Functional Fixedness: Limits the use of an object to what it is designed for. Absence of this bias is one of the markers for increased creativity. And the practice of relinquishing the bias can help you boost creative thinking. 4. Hyperbolic Discounting: This is the tendency to favour short-term immediate gains over longer term gains. Leads to poor long-term decisions. 5. Planning Fallacy: The tendency to underestimate the time it will take to complete certain tasks. Cognitive Biases that Impact Innovation Our everyday decisions, and those of our colleagues, our consumers, and our families are constantly influenced by hundreds of cognitive biases. 1. Mere Exposure; We like things we are familiar with. So the more we have seen something, the more we will like it. It’s one reason why advertising works, as it makes things more familiar, and hence makes us more likely to choose them. A similar bias is the availability cascade, where if we repeat something enough, it becomes true.
2. Backfire effect when people react to evidence that challenges their opinion by strengthening their existing beliefs. Closely related is irrational escalation, a phenomenon where people justify increased commitment to a course of action based on prior investment, even in the face of new evidence suggesting that the original action was wrong. If you innovate for long enough, you’ll find these somewhere! 3. Illusory Correlation, or False Cause Fallacy: Inaccurately perceiving a relationship between two unrelated events, often because they occur in close temporal proximity. Correlation does not mean causation, but we are wired to make that connection. Often harmless, it can lead to superstitions like a lucky jacket. However, it can also be a barrier to innovation, particularly in situations where a new product is incorrectly linked to background problems that routinely occur, but become more visible simply because the innovation focuses more attention on the whole usage experience. For example, linking vaccination to Autism, or a new drug to apparent side effects, such as an upset stomach, which in reality would have occurred with or without the drug 4. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, or interpret information in a way that confirms our preconceptions. Expectation bias is closely related, and is the tendency for experimenters to believe data that agree with their expectations for the outcome of an experiment, and to disbelieve and discard data that appear to conflict with those expectations 5. Functional fixedness limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used. The killer application of many inventions is not the one it was originally created for. Being able to see though this bias can be a huge enabler for innovation, whether it leads to the Post-It note, or James Dyson’s use of centripetal separation in his vacuum cleaner. 6. Framing effect: We draw different conclusions from the same information, depending upon on how or where that information is presented. Most people would rather have a surgery that has a 90% survival rate than one that has a 10% mortality rate. We prefer a car with a 99% reliability record than one that breaks down more than 3 days a year! We are used to framing, or spinning in politics (are you pro choice or pro life?), but it also matters when you are pitching an idea, service, or a new innovation. 7. Context Effect: Never go shopping when you are hungry, you will buy more calories! People who are happy will respond to an innovation differently to people who are frustrated. Refreshed people are more open to new ideas, while tired people are more likely to fall back on old habits. Context is also crucial for Innovation research. Data generated in a lab, a focus group, or when someone is wired up to an EEG machine or brain scanner, will often be different to behavior in the real world.
8. Zero-risk bias: We prefer reducing a small risk to zero over reducing a big risk to a small one. We also love things that are free, which is a close cousin to zero risk. Whether it is free shipping, 20% extra free, buy one get one free, or a money back guarantee, we are tapping into this bias. This is closely related to Prospect Theory for anyone who wants to dig a little deeper. 9. Distinction bias is the tendency to view two options as more dissimilar when evaluating them side by side than when evaluating them separately. This is important for research, where we often compare different option in close proximity, when in the real world they may never be seen together. Also related to, “the new prototype is 5x better than the old one”. Making big improvements is a faulty prototype can be seductive to a team who has put their all into the improvement. But this doesn’t matter to a potential customer who never saw the old prototype. All that matters to them is how we compare to the market. This is also related to the Relativity bias, which is the tendency to make relative, rather than absolute evaluations. 10. Mental accounting The tendency to value things differently based on what internal classification we put on them. The way we think of money is different depending upon whether we are paying cash or using a credit card. We think of value differently for luxury versus commodity items. Framing an innovation to match the right internal classification for potential buyers can be the difference between success and failure just as much as the innovation itself. 11. Hyperbolic discounting the tendency for people to have a stronger preference for more immediate payoffs relative to later payoffs. This bias for short-term gains probably made a lot of sense on the savannah, but today it contributes to obesity, poor diet, lack of compliance to life saving medications, even texting and driving. 12. Endowment effect and Loss Aversion Bias: People often demand much more (often 2x) to give up an object than they would be willing to pay to acquire it. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, even if we are given a guarantee that we’ll get the ones in the bush later. Giving someone a bonus, and then taking it back if somebody doesn’t meet a goal is often more powerful than giving them the same bonus if they do. 13. Planning Fallacy the tendency to underestimate task-completion times and cost. I suspect we’ve all experienced this in some form, but it never seems to completely go away! 14. Peak End Rule. We tend to remember things in terms of the peak (negative or positive) experience in the process, and the end result. So a medical procedure may be remembered by the most intense moment of pain, and how it ended, rather than for little bursts of pain that occurred throughout. An innovative meal by the first bite of an amazing dish, and the check! It is worth thinking about the experience with our innovations from peak end perspective, which also embraces the weakest link.
15. Availability heuristic: We estimate what is more likely by what is more available in memory, which is in turn biased toward vivid, unusual, or emotionally charged examples, or recall driven by current context. This is really important for advertizing, as we remember things that were encoded into memory under similar conditions to where we are at the moment, so there is a lot of value of connecting advertizing to the point of purchase, or in creating advertizing where our innovation is associated with vivid emotional events (ideally positive) 16. Rhyme as reason effect rhyming statements is perceived as more truthful and/or more likeable. Rhyme all the time, your innovation will shine! 17. Dunning Kruger effect where incompetent people fail to realize they are incompetent because they lack the skill to distinguish between competence and incompetence. Common when people are moved to areas that are new with the same responsibility they had in their old space, and when people are promoted beyond their abilities. I’ve been fortunate to only have to deal with this in a small number of occasions, but when I have, there has been a somewhat irrational comfort in being able to give it a name! 18. Information bias is the tendency to seek information even when it cannot affect action. This delays action, and hence risk, and the potential for loss or blame, but of course, also slows down innovation. 19. Knowledge bias the tendency of people to choose the option they know best rather than the best option. As innovators, overcoming this bias can be the key to disruption, as looking in unexpected places is more likely to drive big, innovative leaps. 20. Bandwagon effect the tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people believe the same. Not always a bad idea. If everyone believes something is poisonous, you may not want to eat it, and crowd sourcing can be a powerful tool. However, challenging widely held givens can also be a way to be at the front of the crowd, rather than following it.
CREATIVITY STYLES: SETTING THE STAGE FOR SUCCESS: • Basic philosophy • Having a vision • Setting the right attitude • Recognizing and avoiding mental blocks • Avoiding mindsets • Risk taking • Paradigm shift and paradigm paralysis • Individual and teamwork SETTING THE RIGHT ATTITUDE: • Remember that YOU control your attitude. • Adopt beliefs that frame events in a positive way.
• Create a "library" of positive thoughts. • Avoid angry or negative media. • Ignore whiners and complainers. • Use a more positive vocabulary. RECOGNIZING AND AVOIDING MENTAL BLOCKS: An inability to recall something or to perform a mental action is termed as mental block. Mental blocks can be caused by physical disabilities or simply a lack of focus. Mental blocks are also often used to describe a temporary inability to recall a name or other information. Recognizing Mental Blocks: 1. Perceptual blocks • Stereotypes – This is a broad category that consists of seeing what you expect to see. Stereotyping is an efficient form of decision making in many cases, but prevents you from seeing what is really there. • Excess information – Key information may be difficult to isolate from the environment. There is a huge amount of information to be processed by your brain and knowing which information will be important in the future can be difficult. • Boundaries – Some problems are difficult to analyze because the frame around the problem is the wrong size. The think-out-of-the-box metaphor speaks to this block. Sometimes clarity comes from expanding the boundaries, but sometimes it comes from narrowing the boundary. May organizations carry a bias towards convergence that reinforces the tendency to look at problems more narrowly. The boundaries that are established can have a large effect on the potentials solutions that can be imagined. • Limited perspective – The importance of a problem will differs to different people, as does what is important about a problem. The inability to empathize with other perspectives and interests blocks you from a complete view of the problem. • Capacity – You are constantly flooded with information and so select which things to attend to and remember. As a consequence, you forget much more than you remember. In some cases, people are actually trained to ignore details, but mostly they just pay less attention. • Limited attention to the senses – Most people is strongly visual and use their other four senses much less intently. Some professions (e.g., cooking, mechanical repair) require development of other senses, but in most business settings vision and hearing dominate sensory input. 2. Emotional blocks: • Fear – expressing an idea is personal risk (of looking ignorant or foolish). There may also be fear of future failure and loss of money (or something equivalent). • Discomfort with chaos – Often new ideas are unclear and increase ambiguity, before they increase clarity. Anticipation of an increased feeling of chaos hinders people and groups. Most people are more comfortable with order and expect problem solving to increase
order. The fact that the first stages of problem solving often increase disorder causes trouble. • Reluctance to incubate – People want to immediately judge ideas, reach conclusions and take action. Better ideas that come out after the action begins are ignored. The feeling is that it is too late, nobody wants to go “backwards”. In a related way, people resist working on the problem for a while to get “primed”, and then take a break to let the mind “work on the problem”. This may be based on the sense that this incubation requirement is an indication of being less intelligent or committed. • Lack of focus – People who are multi-tasking will struggle to generate the focus required to really think about the problem. Distractions clog short-term memory and prevent ideas from being noticed or novel connections between ideas from being made. 3. Cultural and environmental blocks These blocks may simply prevent people from expressing their ideas out of concern about upsetting the group. When the block is stronger, it may prevent people from even thinking about the blocked area. Examples of these blocks include: • Taboos – These are primarily unspoken social norms that are defended by the group. Certain words are never used and some topics are never brought up in groups. The absence of these sources of inspiration or clarification blocks thinking. • Commitment to being serious – Humor is based on a discontinuity with expectations. So is creativity. By keeping all interactions serious, individuals and groups block themselves from discussions about “silly” insights that make have useful implications. • Logic & reason – Logic is very powerful and most adults and organizations believe that they are governed by logic. Excess attachment to reason prevents individuals from accessing “hunches” about solutions. More importantly, the attachment prevents people from expressing their hunches. 4. Intellectual and Expressive blocks: • Using the wrong “language” to think about the problem – Some problems are best examined in visual terms, while others are suited for mathematical analysis. However, most people default to thinking about problems using words. While suitable in some cases, many problems are nearly impossible to solve when words are the sole medium of approach. More generally, attempting to think about a problem in the “wrong” language blocks us from potentially understanding the problem or expressing the solution. • Overuse of a few thinking patterns – One of the most popular thinking strategies in business is analysis: the process of “taking apart”. But the solutions for many problems require a different thinking strategy. People with relatively few thinking strategies are blocked in their ability to create ideas. The book lists over 60 thinking strategies, which are basically verbs that describe different actions. Sample verbs/strategies include combine, select, visualize, vary and cycle. • Incorrect and incomplete information – Because the quality of a solution is often dependent on the quality of the inputs, poor quality information can block development of a proper solution. It is often forgotten that it is more common for errors to propagate through an analysis than it is for good information to “cancel” bad information.
AVOIDING MENTAL BLOCKS: AVOIDING MINDSETS: 7 real life fixed mindset mistakes and how to avoid doing them 1. Fixed mindset: Thinking that you can’t develop in something. Growth mindset: Whatever it is, you can always develop in it, even if it’s simply figuring out how to do it more efficiently or differently. If you want to become more of an extrovert, learn about how to socialize and find events which you find interesting to network in. If you want to improve your fitness, work with a personal trainer, like Oitoo, to come up with a suitable training scheme. 2. Fixed mindset: Being obsessed with being perceived a certain way, such as “smart”. Growth mindset: Be the real authentic you. The thoughts people have of you shouldn’t matter. And if you focus on learning and growing, I guarantee you will be appreciated and seen in a completely different positive light for wanting to continuously develop and grow. 3. Fixed mindset: Avoid challenges for fear of failure. Growth mindset: Take up challenges as an opportunity to learn. If you don’t fail, you’re less likely to learn. So take risks, look for challenges and try things differently. You’re more likely to discover the real gems that will make you succeed and it will be a hell lot more fun too! 4. Fixed mindset: Give up easily. Growth mindset: Persist at the things you want most. Don’t let obstacles stop you but motivate you further. Most things worth having don’t come easily. 5. Fixed mindset: See effort as something untalented people have to do. Growth mindset: Effort & hard work will get you where you want to go. And when you’ve put hard work into it, good results will taste so much sweeter. 6. Fixed mindset: Ignore useful negative feedback.
Growth mindset: Use feedback to help you progress forward. Your friends, customers, and managers want to help you to improve, so listen to the feedback they have for you. 7. Fixed mindset: Feel threatened by others’ success. Growth mindset: Get inspired and learn from them instead. Ask them how they got to where they are and what were their secrets behind their success. Learn from their learning. RISK TAKING: The act or fact of doing something that involves danger or risk in order to achieve a goal. Starting a business always involves some risk-taking. Reasons why risk taking leads to success: 1. Unforeseen opportunities often come from risk-taking. 2. Taking risks shows confidence and helps you stand out. 3. We learn from risks and those lessons may lead us on an important, new path. 4. Success won't fall in your lap, you have to pursue it. 5. You don't achieve your dreams by playing it safe. 6. Embracing risk-taking helps you overcome a fear of failure. PARADIGM SHIFT AND PARADIGM PARALYSIS: Think of your favorite fruit. Imagine that for as long as you could remember, your favorite fruit was an apple. Not just any type of apple - it had to be a Granny Smith apple! You loved the bright green color, the scent of the apples in the fruit market, the crisp juicy crunch, and the mixture of sweetness and tartness that was just the right balance. You were sure that Granny Smith apples were simply the most perfect fruit ever created. Then, you visited a tropical island, and in the village where you stayed, there was a whole new and wonderful rainbow of fruits available for you to taste. There were fruits that you had heard of before, but had never tasted, like plantains, papayas, and mangoes. Then there were others still that you had never even heard of before, like kumquats, rambutans, lychees, and dragon fruit. You tried them all, and guess what? You found out that you loved mangoes even more than Granny Smith apples! You have just experienced what is known as a paradigm shift. A paradigm is a perception or a group of ideas about how things should be done, made, or thought about. In other words, it's your perspective on the world, your point of view, or your beliefs about what's true. A paradigm shift occurs whenever there's a significant change in the way an individual or a group perceives something, and the old paradigm is replaced by a new way of thinking, or a new belief. Individuals have their own personal paradigms, or lenses through which they view the world. Corporations and other organizations have corporate paradigms regarding the methods by which they believe their goals will best be accomplished. Likewise, cultural communities have cultural paradigms that include their sets of beliefs about themselves, about others, and about the world. A paradigm shift (also radical theory change), a concept identified by the American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996), is a fundamental change in the basic concepts and
experimental practices of a scientific discipline. A fundamental change in an individual’s or a society’s view of how things work in the world is called paradigm shift. The 6 major paradigm shifts: ❖ Push to pull. ❖ Consume to Create ❖ Assets to Access ❖ Linear to Complex ❖ Scarcity to Abundance ❖ Universal to Unique 1. Push to pull is the shift from pushing structures and products to pulling in resources and demand. We are moving from marketing existing stocks to manufacturing on demand; shifting from top-down allocation to pulling resources for projects; moving from fixed structures to varying constellations, and understanding and responding to emergent patterns of user behavior. 2. Consume to create is the shift from passively consuming to actively contributing and creating. We are shifting to a more participatory experience, in which the customer is actively involved, co-creating the product or experience. People are using their cognitive surplus to create communal projects such as Wikipedia and open-source software. 3. Assets to Access is the shift from acquiring and hoarding knowledge to spreading and sharing knowledge. In education, it means shifting from memorizing facts to knowing where to find information. The new skill is searching for and evaluating information. In media, we see a shift from an emphasis on authoring to an emphasis on curating. In scientific research, the difficulty has shifted from being able to find data to navigating and mining massive databases. 4. Linear to complex is the shift from independent and predictable systems to interdependent adaptive systems. We are transitioning from seeing the world in a linear way, in which small causes have small effects and large causes have large effects, to realizing that it’s perfectly possible for large marketing campaigns to have almost no result, while small things go viral and flood the market. When we are moving from a predictable world to a world that is unpredictable in principle, we must shift our strategy from planning to prepare. 5. Scarcity to abundance is the shift from scarce natural resources to using natural abundance. Where a specific situation may have had a limited set of choices, it now specializes on an abundance of renewable resources. 6. Universal to unique is the shift from mass production to tailored and individualized artifacts. In the health-care field, it is shown by the emergence of individualized medicine tailored to the genetic make- up of the user, and by the rise of individual quantified self-data. In terms of consumer empowerment, it is the possibility to design your own clothes, shoes, consumer products, and to 3D-print your own version of consumer goods. Paradigm paralysis refers to the refusal or inability to think or see outside or beyond the current framework or way of thinking or seeing or perceiving things. Paradigm paralysis is often used to indicate a general lack of cognitive flexibility and adaptability of thinking.
8 Steps to Thinking Creatively: Overcoming Paradigm Paralysis: 1. Look at a problem in many different ways. Much like Leonardo da Vinci did in looking at his creations from multiple vantage points. He drew the different points of view. (And the added benefit if you draw is that maybe someday you will be famous too.) 2. Make your thoughts visible. Diagrams are an excellent tool to make your thoughts visible. 3. Produce a lot. And this means a lot. Edison is famous for this as is Issac Asimov, who wrote 450 books. 4. Combine Things in new ways. New relationships of well-known concepts or ideas may spark something for you. It worked for Albert Einstein with E=mc2 . No one had thought of combining energy, mass and the speed of light together. 5. Force Relationships. Samuel Morse came up with the solution to weak telegraph signals one day by watching a team of horses being switched out at a relay station thus getting the idea of boosting the signal as it went along the wires. 6. Think in opposites. What if we ate dessert before dinner or we grew younger rather than older. How might this apply to incentives versus rewards? 7. Think metaphorically. Can you recognize resemblances between very different situations? Take a lesson from Aristotle. 8. Prepare for the benefits of chance. Chance happens. As Louis Pasteur said “Luck favors the prepared mind.” TEAM WORK: Importance of teamwork is as follows: ➢ Teamwork motivates unity in the workplace. ➢ Teamwork offers differing perspectives and feedback. ➢ Teamwork provides improved efficiency and productivity. ➢ Teamwork provides great learning opportunities. ➢ Teamwork promotes workplace synergy. The Basics of Creative Problem Solving – CPS Creative problem solving isn't just brainstorming, although that's what many people may associate it with. It's actually a well-defined process that can help you from problem definition to implementing solutions, according to Jeffrey Baumgartner. Creative ideas do not suddenly appear in people’s minds for no apparent reason. Rather, they are the result of trying to solve a specific problem or to achieve a particular goal. Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity were not sudden inspirations. Rather they were the result of a huge amount of mental problem solving trying to close a discrepancy between the laws of physics and the laws of electromagnetism as they were understood at the time. Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and other creative geniuses have always worked in the same way. They do not wait for creative ideas to strike them. Rather they focus on trying to solve a clearly stated, at least in their minds, problem. This is just like important TED talks to ideate for business innovation specifically discussed to get a better solution for existing problems.
This approach has been formalized as Creative Problem Solving (CPS). CPS is a simple process that involves breaking down a problem to understand it, generating ideas to solve the problem and evaluating those ideas to find the most effective solutions. Highly creative people tend to follow this process in their heads, without thinking about it. Less naturally creative people simply have to learn to use this very simple process. A 7-step CPS framework Although creative problem solving has been around as long as humans have been thinking creatively and solving problems, it was first formalized as a process by Alex Osborn, who invented traditional brainstorming, and Sidney Parnes. Their Creative Problem Solving Process (CPSP) has been taught at the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo College in Buffalo, New York since the 1950s. However, there are numerous different approaches to CPS. Mine is more focused on innovation (that is the implementation of the most promising ideas). It involves seven straightforward steps. CPS Steps • Clarify and identify the problem • Research the problem • Formulate creative challenges • Generate ideas • Combine and evaluate the ideas • Draw up an action plan • Do it! (implement the ideas) Let us look at each step more closely: 1. Clarify and identify the problem Arguably the single most important step of CPS is identifying your real problem or goal. This may seem easy, but very often, what we believe to be the problem is not the real problem or goal. For instance, you may feel you need a new job. However, if you break down your problem and analyse what you are really looking for, it may transpire that the actual issue is that your income does not cover your costs of living. In this case, the solution may be a new job, but it might also be to re-arrange your expenses or to seek a pay rise from your existing employer. 2. Research the problem The next step in CPS is to research the problem in order to get a better understanding of it. Depending on the nature of the problem, you may need to do a great deal of research or very little. The best place to start these days is with your favorite search engine. But do not neglect good old fashioned sources of information and opinion. Libraries are fantastic for in-depth information that is easier to read than computer screens. Friends, colleagues and family can also provide thoughts on many issues. Fora on sites like LinkedIn and elsewhere are ideal for asking questions. There’s nothing an expert enjoys more than imparting her knowledge. Take advantage of that. But always try to get feedback from several people to ensure you get well-rounded information.
3. Formulate one or more creative challenges Creative challenges should be simple, concise and focus on a single issue. For example: “How might I improve my Chinese language skills and find a job in Shanghai?” is two completely separate challenges. Trying to generate ideas that solve both challenges will be difficult and, as a result, will stifle idea generation. So separate these into two challenges: “How might I improve my Chinese language skills?” and “How might I find a job in Shanghai?” Then attack each challenge individually. Once you have ideas for both, you may find a logical approach to solving both problems in a coordinated way. Or you might find that there is not a coordinated way and each problem must be tackled separately. 4. Generate ideas Finally, we come to the part most people associate with brainstorming and creative problem solving: idea generation. And you probably know how this works. Take only one creative challenge. Give yourself some quiet time and try to generate at least 50 ideas that may or may not solve the challenge. You can do this alone or you can invite some friends or family members to help you. 5. Combine and evaluate ideas After you have written down all of your ideas, take a break. It might just be an hour. It might be a day or more. Then go through the ideas. Related ideas can be combined together to form big ideas (or idea clusters). Then, using the criteria you devised earlier, choose all of the ideas that broadly meet those criteria. This is important. If you focus only on the “best” ideas or your favorite ideas, the chances are you will choose the less creative ones! Nevertheless, feel free to include your favorite ideas in the initial list of ideas. 6. Draw up an action plan At this point, you have some great ideas. However, a lot of people have trouble motivating themselves to take the next step. Creative ideas may mean big changes or taking risks. Some of us love change and risk. Others are scared by it. Draw up an action plan with the simple steps you need to take in order to implement your ideas. Ideas that involve a lot work to implement can be particularly intimidating. Breaking their implementation down into a series of readily accomplished tasks makes these ideas easier to cope with and implement. 7. Do it! This is the simplest step of all. Take your action plan and implement your idea. And if the situation veers away from your action plan steps, don’t worry. Rewrite your action plan! Diversity of thought What is Diversity of Thought? “The idea of more than one way” Diversity of thought—the idea of more-than-one-way— is key to understanding the potential of diversity and inclusion as an organizational resource. The way each of us interprets and negotiates the world around us is informed by our identity, culture and experience. Diversity of thought allows for differing perspectives on ideas and unique insights into problems. It creates opportunities for innovation, and partnerships in unexpected places. It allows you to take a "reality check" before plunging into new activities. Most important, it helps avoid groupthink. It
encompasses the idea that different ideas, even conflicting ideas, will rub and bump against one another. Eventually this collision will instigate newer and more forward-thinking ideas that can be implemented as successful business strategies. Here are four tips for getting the most from your own and others’ thinking diversity: • Expect it and plan for it so you’re not quite so surprised when you face it. Awareness can keep you from having a knee-jerk reaction or jumping to conclusions. • Look for the learning you can get from different perspectives: What might you overlook without them? That, alone, may encourage you to seek out differences. • Keep in mind this process requires a mental stretch. If you’re irritated, the other person probably is, too. You both have to stretch to bridge the thinking divide, so recognize what’s happening and cut each other some slack. • Unique is normal—so have fun with it! In nearly every discussion we have with clients, they share stories of how recognizing and valuing thinking diversity has helped them lighten up about it. They realize the differences aren’t personal, it’s just “where she’s coming from.” How to Creating a Culture that Embraces Diversity of Thought • Encourage open discussion • Explore all problems from the four-point sequence – beginning with What do you know • Assign roles for asking difficult questions (have a devil's advocate) • Reward truth speakers • Train staff for the art of the difficult conversation • Invite new perspectives to discussions • Build in time to reflect and revisit tough decisions When defining or considering how best to execute organizational diversity of thought management or strategy, there are some best practices associated with executing this kind of diversity: Evaluate opportunity - Not every decision requires multiple, diverse perspectives to ensure that it’s solid. Determine the perspectives needed - When considering whom to invite to exploratory meetings, include those who will be impacted by the decision or who have pertinent knowledge. Identify information-gathering mechanisms - How a team gathers diverse perspectives will depend on who the audience is. Teams can leverage multiple tools from survey products, to intranets, to email systems and telephone conferencing capabilities to gather and deliver information. When the number of participants is small, real-time conversations are ideal.
Challenges to Implementing Diversity of Thought Challenge: Grasping that Executive Leadership and Subject Matter Experts (SME) may not always have the right answer ➢ An understated challenge may be getting the leadership to admit that he or she doesn’t hold all the answers. According to IBM’s “Leading through Connections” study, more CEOs rely on their workforces to provide the full picture. In the meantime, the workforce is hungry for more ways to fully collaborate with their organizations; they want to have a real stake in the company’s success. ➢ Professor Scott E. Page has used mathematic models showing that "diversity trumps ability". His case studies have demonstrated that strong teams of diverse individuals have better problem solving skills than teams of more qualified people that come from the same perspective. ➢ Businesses generally tend to link innovation with a creative drive that is exclusive to the top and brightest talent, however, scientific research confirms that true innovation thrives in an inclusive culture that values diverse ideas, leverages unique perspectives and invites everyone to achieve collaborative breakthroughs across the entire organization. Pattern Breaking We base our thinking on past experiences. In our everyday life this is good; it makes us efficient at performing tasks. However, when it comes to thinking of new ideas it can inhibit our creativity because we automatically revert to past patterns of thinking based on what we know has worked before. If we are going to be genuinely creative and come up with something new we need to break our current patterns of thinking. Therefore, the wider we look for inspiration and the more new connections we open up to, the more likely we are to come up with genuinely new ideas. The same can also be said when we are searching for a solution to a specific problem. If we deliberately work to break our patterns of thinking in our everyday lives we will be better equipped with a resource of experiences from which we can draw when we are required to think more creatively. Tips to help us all break patterns. • Read a different newspaper or magazine – read something as different as possible to your ‘normal’ paper or magazine and note the differences. • Watch a film that you wouldn’t usually watch – maybe a different genre, or a film with subtitles, or ask someone else to choose for you as long as it’s different from your normal preferences. Then talk about how you feel about it. Were you pleasantly surprised or bored to tears? Think about why • Take up a new activity – as long as it’s new, it doesn’t matter what it is. What have you been meaning to do –singing, dancing the tango, or learning a new language? • Go for coffee or lunch with a colleague who works in a different team and who will have a different perspective. If you don’t normally go out for coffee or lunch all the better, and if you do go out regularly then go somewhere new.
• Ask children – children are more creative than adults because they haven’t got such ingrained patterns of behavior. They are not afraid to ask why and they will certainly have a different perspective on a problem. • Take a different route to work ¬ you will have a different experience, encounter different people and break some of the most ingrained everyday patterns in your life. • Cook a new recipe – use ingredients that you have never tried before. If you are not a natural chef, take a cookery lesson, or eat out in a restaurant that you have never been to. • Listen to a different radio station – try one that is totally different to your normal preference. Listen to it for a week. Then change again. • Get out of your normal environment for a set time every week. Go and work from the local coffee shop, hold a meeting in the park, hot-desk in a different department. • Take a walk in the park during office hours. Deliberately change the pace of your thinking. Take time to ponder. • Listen to the music charts – do you know what’s number one at the moment? No, me neither. Find out; amaze your colleagues. • Do lateral thinking puzzles – these puzzles are scenarios which give you a small amount of information and you then have to try and figure out what is going on by asking questions. They help to challenge your assumptions and force you to approach a question in a different way. There are many books and web resources including Destination Innovation from Paul Sloane (Sterling Publishing, London, 1991.
MODULE 2 IDEAS AND OPPORTUNITY Module 2 (a) Difference between an innovative idea and a business opportunity An idea is the first milestone in the process of founding a business. Every successful business started as someone’s idea. A business idea is a concept that can be used to make money. It has no commercial value initially. It centers on a product or service that can be offered for money. Most business ideas exist in abstract form; usually in the mind of its creator or investor and not all business ideas, no matter how brilliant they may seem, would end up being profitable. A promising business idea must have the following characteristics: • Relevant • Innovative • Unique • Clear focus • Profitable in the long run Any business idea that, at least, focuses on lowering costs would most likely be profitable in the long term. A successful business idea must meet the following three conditions: ➢ It must offer benefit to the customer by solving a problem or fulfilling a need. Customers buy products and services for just one reason; to satisfy a need. So, if your business idea cannot satisfy customers, it won’t be successful. Every successful business idea must have a unique selling proposition. ➢ It must have a market that is willing to accept it. A promising business idea must offer a product or service that would be accepted by a large market. It must also have feasible arrangements for catering to that large market as well as unique values that differentiates it from the competition. ➢ It must have a mechanism for making revenue. A successful business idea must show how much money can be earned from it and how the money will be earned. The acceptability and profitability of a business idea hinges largely on how innovative the idea is. Being innovative means using conventional production or distribution methods that have rarely been adopted before.
For example, FedEx revolutionized mail post services through 24-hour operation and very quick delivery worldwide. The company therefore adopted an innovative system, which eventually spurred it to becoming one of the world’s leading mail and parcel delivery services. A business opportunity is a proven concept that generates on-going income. In other words, a business opportunity is a business idea that has been researched upon, refined and packaged into a promising venture that is ready to launch. An opportunity is regarded as one after it has been found to meet the following criteria: • It must have high gross margins. • It must have the potential to reach break-even cash flow within 12 months – 36 months. • The startup capital investment must be realistic and within the range of what you can provide. • You must have the strength and ability needed to drive the business to success. • Your level of enthusiasm for the business must be very high. • It must have the potential to keep on improving with time. • It must have a low level of liability risk. Multiple business ideas may strike on a daily basis, but only few of them will be profitable in the long run based on market research and feasibility study conducted. These few are the real business opportunities. Eg:- Colonel Sanders tried for many years to sell his chicken recipe idea but no one listened to him until he repackaged it and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) was born.
How to prepare, plan, define and implement a business idea? Business ideas are all within you and within your environment. Some of these business ideas emanate from analysis of market and consumer needs, while others emanate from a long research process. • Look within yourself and examine your skills, talent, passion • Keep up with current events and be ready to take advantage of business opportunities • Invent a new product or service • Add value to an already existing product • Franchising: Franchising may take several forms, but the most interesting one is the type that offers a name, method of running business, image and operating principles. • Mass media • Exhibitions, Expos and Trade shows : means to discover business ideas and opportunities • Industrial Surveys: The main point for a new business idea should be the customer. • Listen to customers complaints • Brainstorming: Brainstorming is a creative problem-solving technique, and also a source for generating ideas. HISTORY OF IDEAS DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS IN HISTORY (POST-IT NOTES, COKE BOTTLES) Post it notes: History Timeline: For over 35 years, the Post-It Brand has helped people be more productive, communicate better and express themselves in a number of creative ways. • Dr. Spencer Silver, a 3M scientist, who was busily researching adhesives in the laboratory. Discovered something peculiar: an adhesive that stuck lightly to surfaces but didn’t bond tightly to them. • What Silver discovered was something called microspheres which retain their stickiness but with a "removability characteristic," allowing attached surfaces to peel apart easily. • Meanwhile, Art Fry, another 3M scientist, who was frustrated needed a bookmark that would stick to the paper without damaging the pages. • Partnering with Silver, they began developing a product. Once they found themselves writing messages on their new notes to communicate around the office, they realized the full potential of the idea. • Fry supplied the entire company with the new adhesive notes. Employees loved them. • 3M initially launched the product in four cities under the name Press 'n Peel with mixed results. • 1980 to 1986: The notes was always a self-advertising product because customers would put the notes on documents they sent to others, arousing the recipient's curiosity. • Yellow Gets Its Due: On April 6, Silver and Fry’s unsung hero debuted in US stores as Post-it Notes. Later Notes are introduced in Canada and Europe. • 1987 to 1996: The Post-it Note celebrated its 10th anniversary and was featured on many lists of top consumer products of the decade. • Post-it Easel Pads were introduced. 1997 to 2003 • Post-it Notes are sold in more than 100 countries. The now famous Post-it adhesive continues to be used on many 3M products. • Post-it Super Sticky Notes were introduced with a stronger adhesive that adheres better to vertical and non-smooth surfaces. • The Post-it Flag Highlighter received high marks from students for being a highlighter. • The Post-it Big Pad made its debut.
• Post-it Brand teamed up with Evernote, the organizational note-taking app. • Post-it Notes are now available in more than 150 countries. Collectively, there are more than 4,000 Post-it Products. COKE BOTTLES: Coca Cola’s history has got a lot of bottle - more than 115 years’ worth, in fact. The world’s favorite soft drink started life as a soda fountain beverage, selling for five cents a glass, but it was only when a strong bottling system developed that Coca-Cola became the world-famous brand it is today. • 1894 - A modest start for a bold idea: Mississippi shop owner Joseph A. Biedenharn began bottling Coca-Cola after he was impressed by its sales. He sold the drink to his customers in a common glass bottle called a Hutchinson. • 1916 - Birth of the Contour Bottle: Bottlers worried that a straight-sided bottle wasn’t distinctive enough and that Coca-Cola was becoming easily confused with ‘copycat’ brands. Glass manufacturers were approached to come up with a unique bottle design for Coca-Cola. The Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, designed with the famous contour shape, which won enthusiastic approval from Coca-Cola in 1915 and was introduced in 1916. • 1923 – Six packs: Six pack carriers of Coca-Cola bottles were introduced to encourage people to take their drinks home – and were a huge hit. • 1928 – Bottle overtakes fountain: For the first time, the volume of Coca-Cola sold in bottles exceeded the amount sold through soda fountains. • 1950 – Media moments: The Coca-Cola Contour Bottle was the first commercial product to appear on the cover of TIME magazine, establishing Coca-Cola as a truly international brand. Also this year, the first television advert featuring Coca-Cola's Contour Bottle appeared during CBS' The Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy Show. • 1955 – Packaging innovations: For the first time, people could buy different sized bottles of Coca-Cola. As well as the traditional 6.5 ounce contour bottle, shops also started selling larger 10, 12 and 26 ounce versions. • 1960 – Trademark no.1: The Contour Bottle with the word ‘Coca-Cola’ written on it received its first trademark from the US Patent and Trademark Office. • 1977 – Trademark no.2: The Coca-Cola Contour Bottle was granted a second trademark for the contour shape itself, with no words written on it. • 1978 – Recyclable bottles: Coca-Cola introduced the world to the two liter PET plastic bottle. It became popular for a lot of reasons: it doesn’t break; it’s re-sealable, lightweight and recyclable. • 2000 – Reducing waste: Coca-Cola introduced the ultra-glass Contour Bottle designed for improved impact resistance, reduced weight and cost. These bottles are 40 per cent stronger and 20 per cent lighter than the original Coca-Cola Contour Bottle – saving approximately 52,000 metric tons of glass in 2006. • 2005 – Aluminum bottles: Coca-Cola joined forces with design firms from five continents to launch a new aluminum Contour Bottle called the ‘M5’ (Magnificent 5). • 2009 – Green bottles: Coca-Cola launched the innovative Plant Bottle in the US, a completely recyclable PET container made with 30 per cent plant materials, including sugar cane extracts. • 2011 – Going green globally: Plant Bottle packaging is available in nine countries with launches planned for many additional markets in 2011 and beyond. • 2013/14 – Your name on our bottles: Coca-Cola swaps its iconic logo with Great Britain’s most popular names for the summer-long ‘Share a Coke’ campaign.
IDEATION: Ideation has been defined in these ways: ❖ Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas. ❖ Ideation is a technique that involves both the left and right sides of the brain to allow breakthroughs from entrenched habits of thought and persistent difficult problems. ❖ Ideation is the process of creating new ideas. In the Ideation stage, design thinkers spark off ideas — in the form of questions and solutions — through creative and curious activities such as Brainstorms and Worst Possible Idea. In this article, we’ll introduce you to some of the best Ideation methods and guidelines that help facilitate successful Ideation sessions and encourage active participation from members. When facilitated in a successful way, Ideation is an exciting process. The goal is to generate a large number of ideas — ideas that potentially inspire newer, better ideas — that the team can then cut down into the best, most practical and innovative ones. “Ideation is the mode of the design process in which you concentrate on idea generation. Mentally it represents a process of “going wide” in terms of concepts and outcomes. Ideation provides both the fuel and also the source material for building prototypes and getting innovative solutions into the hands of your users.” The main aim of the Ideation stage is to use creativity and innovation in order to develop solutions. By expanding the solution space, the design team will be able to look beyond the usual methods of solving problems in order to find better, more elegant, and satisfying solutions to problems that affect a user's experience of a product. In the Design Thinking process, the Ideation stage often follows the first two stages, which are the Empathies stage and Define stage. There is a significant overlap between the Define and Ideation stages of a typical Design Thinking process. Interpreting information and defining the problem(s) and ideation both drive the generation of problem solutions. This overlap is represented in the types of methods design teams employ during these two stages. For example, Body storm and “How Might We” questions are often used in both of these stages. Ideation Will Help You: • Ask the right questions and innovate. • Step beyond the obvious solutions and therefore increase the innovation potential of your solution. • Bring together perspectives and strengths of team members. • Uncover unexpected areas of innovation. • Create volume and variety in your innovation options. • Get obvious solutions out of your heads, and drive your team beyond them. • Ideation Methods to Spark Innovative Ideas There are hundreds of ideation methods. Some methods are merely renamed or slightly adapted versions of more foundational techniques. Here you’ll get brief overview of some of the best methods: • Brain storm • Brain dump • Brain write • Brain walk
• Challenge Assumptions • SCAMPER • Mind map • Sketch or Sketch storm • Storyboard • Analogies • Provocation • Movement • Body storm • Game storming • Cheat storm • Crowd storm • Co-Creation Workshops • Prototype • Creative Pause There is a basic 4 step process that explains how an idea can turn into a billion dollar company, and the more familiar you are with it the more effective you will be at following it! Phase 1: Knowledge Accumulation This initial stage is all about absorbing as much information as possible. This stage is all about hunger for knowledge which you can attempt to satisfy through reading articles, joining discussion groups, or attending events that educate us on our domain of interest. As you process these new concepts, you end up with many more questions than you started out with. This is your brain telling you what pieces of the puzzle are missing, to encourage you to continue feeding yourself more information. “Synchrony”, the more information you feed your mind, the quicker your brain can establish new connections to generate ideas from. Phase 2: Incubation With all that newly acquired information, it’s always best to step away to let it all sink in. Your subconscious knows your goals, desires, and needs more clearly than your conscious does. Once you rest from knowledge absorption, the incubation phase begins transferring that information to your subconscious which reorganizes and strengthens neuron connections. The brain incorporates past experiences and knowledge with our conscious accumulation of information, to find unique solutions to our interests. From this, it can identify gaps and will attempt to work itself using the information it has. As the difficulty of finding a solution increases, the level of creativity required does as well. If you are still stumped, it means you don’t have enough of the puzzle put together yet to see the big picture, so the best solution is to return to the absorption phase and build on from there. Phase 3: The Idea Experience If you are having trouble getting from Phase 2 to 3, some proven ways to speed up the transition are to; contemplate the idea some more, switch up your work environment, participate in monotonous activities to relax your mind, address tasks that are distracting you, and write down any thoughts that pop into your head. These actions will help you relax and clarify your mind so you can extract those ideas more effortlessly when the time comes.
This next phase occurs when your mind overcomes a gap and you have your notorious ‘aha’ moment. Suddenly, your confusion is simplified and clouded thoughts seem much clearer. Once the subconscious can piece together a creative solution in a way that makes logical sense, the solution is brought into conscious awareness where you can then decide on a plan of action. Phase 4: Implementation The Implementation phase is where you find ways to incorporate your idea into daily life. Persistence is a key factor as each idea worth implementing will most likely run into temporary setbacks before it becomes successful. It will take several attempts at restructuring your idea before it will achieve its final form. In the meantime, begin testing your idea, ask for consumer opinion, and most importantly, don’t let your hunger go satisfied. FACTORS INFLUENCING IDEATION Factors influencing ideation process is -social factors, resources, motivation, context, time; The social factors usually influence the character of the person, and this factor will that helps and motivate to think creatively and that will support ideation. The resources like personal, educational, environmental and metal trades will helps in ideation. Motivation from the family and society has a major influencing factory in the case of ideation. Context means the situation where you think, the context of thinking is depended the mood, surrounding climate all influxes. At last time that is factor of luck. RECOGNISING OPPORTUNITES Exploration: the action of exploring an unfamiliar area, thorough examination of a subject. Evaluation: Evaluation is a systematic determination of a subject's merit, the making of a judgment about the amount, number, or value of something; assessment. Exploitation: the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work. This is an action of making use of and benefiting from resources. FACTORS REVEALING OPPORTUNITIES Alertness: it means the quality of being alert. How quick to notice any unusual and potentially dangerous or difficult circumstances; vigilant. Knowledge: facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Luck: the success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions. DEFINING OPPORTUNITY • Objective and Subjective nature • Underlying needs and wants • Newness • Entrepreneurial Strategies of Vesper
MODULE 2(b) DEFINING OPPORTUNITY Opportunity refers to a favorable set of circumstances that creates a need for a new product, service or business. Window of opportunity describes the time period in which a firm can realistically enter a new market. Essential qualities of opportunity: • Attractive • Timely • Durable • Creates or adds value for its buyer or end user Approaches used for entrepreneurs to identify opportunities: • Observing Trends • Solving a problem • Identifying gaps in the marketplace • Create a product that no one knows they need yet • Underlying needs and wants • Newness Observing Trends: Trends creates opportunities for entrepreneurs to pursue. Important trends are: economic forces, social forces, technological advances, political action and regulatory changes. Solving a problem: Identifying opportunities involve noticing problem and finding a way to solve it. Gaps in the marketplace: A gap in the marketplace is created when a product or service is needed by a specific group of people but it may not represent large market to be of the interest to mainstream retailers. Personal characteristics of the entrepreneur that help to identify business opportunity: • Prior experience • Cognitive factors • Social Networks • Creativity RECOGNISING OPPORTUNITES • Exploration • Evaluation • Exploitation FACTORS REVEALING OPPORTUNITIES • Alertness • Knowledge • Luck
ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGIES OF VESPER Karl Vesper could shed new light to the concept during 1980. Vesper states entrepreneurship is expressed according to one’s perception. Vesper explained psychologists will perceive them as achievement oriented individuals facing challenges for new accompaniments. Marxist philosophers may see them as exploitative adventurers and professional corporate managers may view them as small businesspersons lacking in professional qualification to do corporate management. THEORY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP: According to Karl H Vesper, Entrepreneur is seen differently by economist, psychologist, politicians and businesspersons. He had presented different views about entrepreneurship. According to economists, entrepreneurship is an activity of earning profitability through proper co-ordination of means of production. According to psychologist, entrepreneur is an agent of change. According to socialists, the role of entrepreneur is to meet the changing needs of society. ENTREPRENEURIAL TYPOLOGIES Vesper 1980 At least 11 types of entrepreneurs: • Solo self-employed individuals • Team builders • Independent innovators • Multipliers of existing models • Economy-of-scale exploiters • Capital aggregators • Acquirers • Artists who buy and sell • Conglomerate builders • Speculators • Manipulators of apparent values There are various factors responsible for the failure of entrepreneurship. Karl H Vesper has identifies the following: • Lack of viable concept • Lack of market knowledge • Lack of technical skill • Lack of capital • Lack of Business Knowledge • Lack of motivation • Time pressure and distractions • Legal constraints
• Monopoly • Low level of commitment • Shortage of resources • Poor communication network DISCOVERY VIEW: SOURCES OF OPPORTUNITY AND INNOVATION IN A TURBULENT ENVIRONMENT • Demographic change • Increasing diversity • Customers / Change in perception • Idea of crowd sourcing • Time based opportunities • Increased value of information/ New knowledge • Reduced distance through technology • Industry and Market structure change • Process Need SOURCES OF ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES If opportunities have such an integral role in entrepreneurship, where do they come from and what are their characteristics? Researchers have categorized the sources of entrepreneurial opportunity in many different ways: by discipline - psychology, sociology, economics, and management, by level of analysis (micro, meso, and macro) by the institutional landscape, by demand and supply (market) factors, and government policy. In each discipline two factors are continually in interaction: the individual and the environment. Opportunities define how the entrepreneur behaves and what kind of entrepreneurship is manifested. The two integral parts of entrepreneurial process are entrepreneurial opportunity discovery and exploitation. The field of entrepreneurship has two general entrepreneurial opportunities: the Schumpeterian and the Kirznerian perspectives. Schumpeter saw entrepreneurial opportunity anchored in the individuals of society. It has wide reaching social repercussions specially for increasing nation output and job growth. The Kirznerian entrepreneurs are found in the environment .It is considered to be non-level and not a major contributor to national economic well-being. Sources for Schumpeterian opportunities: • Technological changes • Political/Regulatory changes • Socio-demographic changes Kirznerian opportunities occur at any time or place. It emerges because of market disequilibria created by market errors or omissions that create surplus or shortages.
Shane (2003) describes an entrepreneurial opportunity as: “…a situation in which a person can create a new means-end framework for recombining resources that the entrepreneur believes will yield a profit. This definition of an entrepreneurial opportunity is useful in that entrepreneurial opportunities are about two things: something happening in the environment (resources) and something to do with the individual (creation, beliefs, and recombination). Since opportunities are not always profitable the key word “believes” is well placed. Table 1: Opportunity Recognition Year Author Contribution Level of Examination 1934 (Schumpeter) Entrepreneurs create opportunity by disrupting the equilibrium in the marketplace. Individual 1945 (Hayek) The economic problem is not just how to allocate resources; it is a problem of utilization of knowledge. Knowledge is not given in totality to anyone. Individual 1949 (von Mises) Entrepreneurs & their search for opportunities are driven by a profit motive. Individual 1973 (I. Kirzner) Alertness, not just the possession of information helps one recognize & exploit opportunities. Individual & Environment 1979 (Vesper) Work experience, hobbies, networks, systematic search lead to opportunity recognition. Individual & Environment 1985 (Drucker) Opportunities are innovations that occur due to changes in industry structure, demand, outside events, demographics. Environment 1985 (I. Kirzner) Alertness aids opportunity recognition & exploitation; it “emerges into view at the precise moment when decisions have to be made.” Individual 1988 (Bird & Jelinek) Schemas, mental models, and opportunity recognition. Individual 1988 (Katz & Gartner) Entrepreneurial intention and recognition. Individual 1990 (Christensen & Peterson) Along with market & technological knowledge, specific problems & social encounters are often a source of venture ideas. Environment 1991 (Shaver & Scott) Psychology of new venture creation. Individual
1992 (C. Gaglio & Taub) Pre-recognition stew of environmental, technological, social, economic, cultural, and personal forces lead opportunity recognition Individual 1994 (Bhave) External circumstances and/or desire to start business motivate a conscious search Individual & Environment 1996 (Hamel & Prahalad) Broad experience & the ability to learn & adapt should help individuals recognize opportunities. Individual 1997 (Venkataraman) Opportunity identification & opportunity recognition should be part of what distinguished entrepreneurship as its own. Scholarly field. Individual 1997 (C. Gaglio) Detailed review & critique of opportunity recognition. Literature Review 1997 (I. M. Kirzner) A comparison of the Schumpeter & Kirzner view of the entrepreneur & opportunity Literature Review 1999 (Timmons) The role of experience in opportunity recognition Individual 1999 (De Koning) Initial ideas come from continuous information scanning without a specific objective. Individual & Environment 2000 (Shane & Venkataraman) Entrepreneurship should be concerned with the sources of opportunities and the individual. Individual & Environment 2000 (Krueger) The role of intention in opportunity development Individual 2001 (Ireland, Hitt, & et.al.) The differences between opportunity- seeking & advantage-seeking behavior. Individual 2001 (C. M. Gaglio & Katz) Alertness is the engine that drives opportunity recognition Individual 2003 (Ardichvili, Cardozo, & Ray) Theory building using personality traits, social networks, & prior knowledge as precursors to alertness Individual 2004 (Sarasvathy, Venkataraman, Dew, & Velamuri, 2004) Three views of entrepreneurial opportunity based on the market process: allocative, discovery, & creative Individual & Environment 2007 (Casson & Wadeson) Opportunity is an unexploited project which is perceived by an individual. Invokes the idea of rational action. Individual
INDIVIDUAL FATORS AFFECTING DISCOVERY AND EXPLOITATION PROCESS Table 2: Individual factors affecting discovery process Non-Psychological Factors Psychological Factors Prior Life Experiences Absorptive Capacity Size of Social Network Recognition of Causal Links Ability to Categorize Information Relationship/Pattern Making Understanding Processes Evaluating Information Accurately Table 3 : Individual factors affecting exploitation process Non-Psychological Factors Psychological Factors Opportunity Cost Extroversion Working Spouse Need for Achievement Higher Level of Education Risk-Taking Career Experience Desire for Independence General Business Experience Locus of Control Functional Experience Self-Efficacy Industry Experience Overconfidence Start-up Experience Intuition Having a Role Model
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLOITATION OF OPPORTUNITIES Table 4: Economic Conditions Affecting Entrepreneurial Opportunities Condition Effect on Opportunities ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT Stable economic conditions & economic growth Can increase or decrease Unemployment Can increase or decrease Income disparity Can increase or decrease Capital availability Can increase or decrease High Taxation Decreases Table 5: Policy Conditions Affecting Entrepreneurial Opportunities Condition Effect on Opportunities Rule of Law/Property Rights Increases Macroeconomic Policies Depends Licensing & Bankruptcy Policies Increases Deregulation Increases Resource Policies Increase Sectoral Policies Increase Decentralization of Power Increase
Table 6: Industry Conditions Affecting Entrepreneurial Opportunities Condition Effect on Opportunities KNOWLEDGE CONDITIONS R&D Intensity, Technological Development Provides new markets, products, ways of organizing, technology, raw materials Locus of Innovation Public sector, university research, R&D spillovers encourage new firms Strength of Patents Strong patent protection supports new firms. DEMAND CONDITIONS Market Size Larger markets provide more opportunities Market Growth Growing markets provide excess demand Market Segmentation Segmentation enhances opportunities due to the exploitation of niches by nimble small firms INDUSTRY STRUCTURE Structure Service economy, spin-offs, clusters encourage new ventures Industry Age Age reduces opportunities for new firms Dominant Design Industries converging on a dominant design have less opportunities. Industry Concentration Density increases the likelihood of venture failure. Profitability High profit margins encourage new firms. Cost of Inputs Lower input costs encourage new firms Capital Intensity Lower capital intensity supports new firms Advertising Intensity Lower advertising intensity supports new firms Average Firm Size Small firm sizes encourage new entrants Table 7: Demographic & Cultural Conditions Influencing Entrepreneurial Opportunities Demographic & Cultural Conditions Effect on Opportunities DEMOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS Population Growth Increases Population Density & Urbanization Increases Immigration & Population Mobility Increase/Decrease Educational Infrastructure Increase/Decrease CULTURAL CONDITIONS Social acceptance of entrepreneurship The more acceptance, the more likely
opportunities will be exploited. Attitudes toward failure & bankruptcy The more negative the attitude, the less likely opportunities will be exploited. Bureaucracy & Corruption Decreases the opportunities exploited by legitimate entrepreneurs Tradition Increase/Decrease Social Capital Increases due to cooperation, trust Power Distance (PDI) Depends on context Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) Depends on context Masculinity (MAS) Depends on context Individualism (IDV) Depends on context Table 8: The Individual Framework Affecting the Entrepreneurial Process DISCOVERY PROCESS EXPLOITATION PROCESS Individual Capabilities Psychological Factors Individual Capabilities Psychological Factors Prior Life Experiences Absorptive Capacity Opportunity Cost Extroversion Size of Social Network Recognition of Causal Links Working Spouse Need for Achievement Ability to Categorize Information Education Risk-Taking Relationship/Pattern Making Career Experience Desire for Independence Understanding Processes General Business Experience Locus of Control Evaluating Information Accurately Functional Experience Self-Efficacy Industry Experience Overconfidence Start-up Experience Intuition Having a Role-Model
CREATION VIEW What makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial? Entrepreneurs constantly make decisions and take action.How do they do that? Are there any universal methods or principles they use? Dr. Saras Sarasvathy, a cognitive scientist, conducted a study of expert entrepreneurs and found answer to these questions, the result is effectuation: logic of thinking that uniquely serves entrepreneurs in starting businesses. It provides a way to control a future that is inherently unpredictable. What does effectuation do? • Ideas - Effectuation advances ideas toward sellable products and services with proven customers. • Stakeholder Commitments - Using effectuation, the entrepreneur interacts in search of self- selecting partners to co-create the venture with. • Decisions - Experts entrepreneurs use a set of techniques that serve as the foundation for making decisions about what to do next
Principles of Effectuation Expert entrepreneurs have learned the hard way that the most interesting ventures are built in a space in which the future is not only unknown, but unknowable. Still yet, entrepreneurs do shape this unpredictable future. They use techniques which minimize the use of prediction and allows them to shape the future. These five principles, listed below, make up effectual logic. • Bird-in-hand {start with your means} When expert entrepreneurs set out to build a new venture, they start with their means: who I am, what I know, and whom I know. Then, the entrepreneurs imagine possibilities that originate from their means. Contrasts with... Pre-set goals or opportunities: Causal reasoning works inversely by assembling means after a goal is set. • Affordable Loss {focus on the downside risk } Expert entrepreneurs limit risk by understanding what they can afford to lose at each step, instead of seeking large all-or-nothing opportunities. They choose goals and actions where there is upside even if the downside ends up happening. Contrasts with...Expected return: Causal reasoning first targets a return, then works to minimize associated risk. • Lemonade { leverage contingencies } Expert entrepreneurs invite the surprise factor. Instead of making “what-if” scenarios to deal with worst-case scenarios, experts interpret “bad” news and surprises as potential clues to create new markets. Contrasts with... Avoiding surprises: Causal reasoning works to minimize the probability of unexpected outcomes. • Patchwork Quilt {form partnerships } Expert entrepreneurs build partnerships with self-selecting stakeholders. By obtaining pre- commitments from these key partners early on in the venture, experts reduce uncertainty and co- create the new market with its interested participants. Contrasts with... Competitive analysis: Causal reasoning presumes that competitors are rivals to contend with. • Pilot-in-the-plane { control v. predict} By focusing on activities within their control, expert entrepreneurs know their actions will result in the desired outcomes. An effectual worldview is rooted in the belief that the future is neither found nor predicted, but rather made Contrasts with...Inevitable trends OVERVIEW OF EFFECTUATION IN ACTION An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure with a finite number of steps that seeks a specific outcome. It’s recursive. A heuristic is a problem-solving technique that involves creating a speculative formulation and self-led investigation to reach some desired outcome. The most quintessential heuristic is “trial and error.”
Effectual logic happens in mind of an individual, where it provides a way of thinking about making decisions when non-predictive control is required. The effectual cycle represents the thinking process in a form used in creating products, markets, and ventures. It’s not a prescriptive “do this, do that” algorithm, but rather a set of heuristics* that uniquely and universally apply to the challenges that entrepreneurs are bound to face. Effectual reasoning, however, does not begin with a specific goal. Instead, it begins with a given set of means and allows goals to emerge contingently over time from the varied imagination and diverse aspirations of the founders and the people they interact with. While causal thinkers are like great generals seeking to conquer fertile lands (Genghis Khan conquering two thirds of the known world), effectual thinkers are like explorers setting out on voyages into uncharted waters (Columbus discovering the new world). It is important to point out though that the same person can use both causal and effectual reasoning at different times depending on what the circumstances call for. In fact, the best entrepreneurs are capable of both and do use both modes well. But they prefer effectual reasoning over causal reasoning in the early stages of a new venture, and arguably, most entrepreneurs do not transition well into latter stages requiring more causal reasoning. Effectual reasoning: The logic Underlying all the principles of effectual reasoning is a coherent logic that rests on a fundamentally different assumption about the future than causal reasoning. Causal reasoning is based on the logic, To the extent that we can predict the future, we can control it. That is why both academics and practitioners in business today spend enormous amounts of brainpower and resources on developing predictive models. Effectual reasoning, however, is based on the logic, To the extent that we can control the future, we do not need to predict it. How does one control an unpredictable future? The answer to this question depends on our beliefs about where the future comes from. Is the future largely a continuation of the past? To what extent can human action actually change its course? While the future is always uncertain, not all uncertainties are the same. Entrepreneurs choose to view the future through effectual logic. Consciously, or unconsciously, they act as if they believe that the future is not “out there” to be discovered, but That it gets created through the very strategies of the players. That is because effectual logic is people dependent, unlike causal logic, which is effect dependent. In other words, when a particular effect has already been chosen such as a target segment within an existing market, the people we hire and partner with will depend on the effect we want to create or the market we want to penetrate. Effectual logic, however, does not assume pre-existent markets and builds on the idea that the markets we create will be predicated on the people we are able to bring together. In fact, in effectual reasoning, markets are in essence stable configurations of critical masses of stakeholders who come together to transform the outputs of human imagination into the forging and fulfillment of human aspirations through economic means. So, what makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial? Entrepreneurs are entrepreneurial, as differentiated from managerial or strategic, because they think effectually; they believe in a yet-to-be-made future that can substantially be shaped by human action; and they realize that to the extent that this human action can control the future, they need not expend energies trying to predict it. In fact, to the extent that the future is shaped by human action, it is not much use trying to predict it – it is much more useful to understand and work with the people who are engaged in the decisions and actions that bring it into existent.
MODULE – 3 IDEATION PROCESS Brainstorming Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In other words, brainstorming is a situation where a group of people meet to generate new ideas and solutions around a specific domain of interest by removing inhibitions. People are able to think more freely and they suggest many spontaneous new ideas as possible. All the ideas are noted down and are not criticized and after brainstorming session the ideas are evaluated. The term was popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn in the 1953 book Applied Imagination. Process for generating creative ideas and solutions through intensive and freewheeling group discussion. Every participant is encouraged to think aloud and suggest as many ideas as possible, no matter seemingly how outlandish or bizarre. Analysis, discussion, or criticism of the aired ideas is allowed only when the brainstorming session is over and evaluation session begins. See also lateral thinking and nominal group technique. Individual Brainstorming While group brainstorming is often more effective at generating ideas than normal group problem solving, several studies have shown that individual brainstorming produces more and often better ideas than group brainstorming. This can occur because groups aren't always strict in following the rules of brainstorming, and bad behaviors creep in. Mostly, though, this happens because people pay so much attention to other people that they don't generate ideas of their own – or they forget these ideas while they wait for their turn to speak. This is called "blocking." Brainstorming induvidual brainstorming group brainstorming
When you brainstorm on your own, you don't have to worry about other people's egos or opinions, and you can be freer and more creative. For example, you might find that an idea you'd hesitate to bring up in a group develops into something special when you explore it on your own. Group brainstorming Here, you can take advantage of the full experience and creativity of all team members. When one member gets stuck with an idea, another member's creativity and experience can take the idea to the next stage. You can develop ideas in greater depth with group brainstorming than you can with individual brainstorming. Another advantage of group brainstorming is that it helps everyone feel that they've contributed to the solution, and it reminds people that others have creative ideas to offer. It's also fun, so it can be great for team building. Process STEP 1: PREPARE THE GROUP First, set up a comfortable meeting environment for the session. Make sure that the room is well-lit and that you have the tools, resources, and refreshments that you need. How much information or preparation does your team need in order to brainstorm solutions to your problem? Remember that prep is important, but too much can limit – or even destroy – the freewheeling nature of a brainstorming session. Consider who will attend the meeting. A room full of like-minded people won't generate as many creative ideas as a diverse group, so try to include people from a wide range of disciplines, and include people who have a variety of different thinking styles. When everyone is gathered, appoint one person to record the ideas that come from the session. This person shouldn't necessarily be the team manager – it's hard to record and contribute at the same time. Post notes where everyone can see them, such as on flip charts or whiteboards; or use a computer with a data projector. STEP 2: PRESENT THE PROBLEM Clearly define the problem that you want to solve, and lay out any criteria that you must meet. Make it clear that that the meeting's objective is to generate as many ideas as possible. Give people plenty of quiet time at the start of the session to write down as many of their own ideas as they can. Then, ask them to share their ideas, while giving everyone a fair opportunity to contribute. STEP 3: GUIDE THE DISCUSSION Once everyone has shared their ideas, start a group discussion to develop other people's ideas, and use them to create new ideas. Building on others' ideas is one of the most valuable aspects of group brainstorming. Encourage everyone to contribute and to develop ideas, including the quietest people, and discourage anyone from criticizing ideas.
Brain writing: Brain writing is the silent, written generation of ideas in a group. It was originally popularized in Germany in the 70s. There are two basic types: • nominal ideas in a group that are not shared with other group members while generating ideas and, • Interacting ideas that are shared for additional stimulation. An example of nominal brain writing would be a group of people write down ideas in index cards or Post-It Notes. Brain writing is simple. Rather than ask participants to yell out ideas, you ask them to write down their ideas about a particular question or problem on sheets of paper for a few minutes; then, you have each participant pass their ideas on to someone else, who reads the ideas and adds new ideas. After a few minutes, you ask the participants to pass their papers to others, and the process repeats. After 10 to 15 minutes, you collect the sheets and post them for immediate discussion. Process • Introduce the procedure. • Hand out paper for each person to write down ideas. • Provide a clear and legible problem statement. • Describe the timing of the brain writing and the process for passing the pages. A page-passing process that is not clear could undermine the credibility of the method and waste time. • Ask if anyone has any questions about the problem statement or the brain writing process. • Remind people to read the ideas quickly before entering their own ideas and to feel free to add, modify and combine ideas. Let people know that extra paper is around the room if they run out. • Begin the rounds. Announce the end of each round, and ask people to pass their paper to another person. • At the end of the session, collect the brain writing pages and post them for comment, additional ideas or review. Scamper method Checklist that helps you to think of changes you can make to an existing product to create a new one. You can use these changes either as direct suggestions or as starting points for lateral thinking SCAMPER stands for: S - Substitute - components, materials, people C - Combine - mix, combine with other assemblies or services, integrate
A - Adapt - alter, change function, use part of another element M - Modify - increase or reduce in scale, change shape, modify attributes (e.g. color) P - Put to another use E - Eliminate - remove elements, simplify, reduce to core functionality R - Reverse - turn inside out or upside down When to use SCAMPER? • Use it to discover more ideas when you are running out. • Use it to stimulate new ways of thinking about the problem, perhaps to kick you out of your current rut. How to use SCAMPER? Step 1: Substitute • what parts of the product, service or process may be replaced by other things • Includes components, objects, materials the product is made of, people and roles involved in a process, etc. Step 2: Combine • Look for ways to assemble together things which are separate, to integrate steps and operations Step 3: Adapt • Make the product or service or part of it better suited to its environment or to things that come in contact with it, or to a specific group of clients. Step 4: Modify Change the properties of the product or service to make it larger, smaller, of different colors, tastes, etc Step 5: Put to another use Find other uses for the product or service that are different from the original intention. Step 6: Eliminate Remove a major function or component of the product or service. Step 7: Rearrange
Change the order of operation, turn things upside down, or arrange the components in a new order . Examples of SCAMPER Substitute • use of high tech materials for specific markets • use high-speed components Combine • integrate computer and printer, printer and scanner Adapt • put high quality ink in printer, use high quality paper Modify • produce different shape, size and design of printer and computer Put to another use • printers as photocopies or fax machines Eliminate • eliminate speakers, colour screens, colour ink etc. Reverse • make computer desks as well as computers and printers, or computer chairs etc Metaphoric thinking Metaphorical Thinking USING COMPARISONS TO EXPRESS IDEAS AND SOLVE PROBLEMS "Time is money." How often have heard that statement? Probably many times and in various contexts. By thinking about time as money, you can create some powerful images. Time wasted is money down the drain. Time well spent is an investment. The seconds are ticking away. A direct comparison between two unrelated or indirectly linked things is called a metaphor. And as we see in the example of "time is money," metaphors can create strong images that can be used to great effect in everyday communications and thinking. The manager who stands up in front of his team and says, "We need to finish this work quickly", creates considerably less impact that the manager who opens his comments using the metaphor: "As we all know, time is money." The English language is littered with metaphors, and this is testimony to the
their power. So metaphors can be used to improve communications: They can add impact or can help you explain a difficult concept by association with a more familiar one. Metaphorical thinking can also be used to help solve problems: Use and extend metaphors to generate new ideas for solutions. CREATING IMPACT Metaphors are great for creating impact and making something memorable. So making use of them is a technique often used in marketing and advertising. But it's just as effective for making impact in your presentations, speeches and even in everyday discussions. With metaphors, you help people get the idea quickly and efficiently. Here's a marketing example: In a pitch to sell a vacuum cleaner, you could go on and on about how great the new cleaner is and why people should buy it. But, see how much more impact can you create with metaphors: "This vacuum cleaner is so powerful, it can suck the light out of a black hole". The vivid image helps your product and pitch stand out, and so can help you make that sale. COMMUNICATION 1. Identify what you are trying to communicate. 2. Determine the essence of the message. 3. Think of other instances in life where that same characteristic, idea, emotion, state, etc. applies. 4. There may be many metaphors for the situation you are describing – choose the one that will best relate to your audience. THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX When you use a metaphor to link two ideas together, you are combining elements that have little or no logical connection. By breaking the rules of logic in this way, metaphors can open up the creative side of the brain – the part that is stimulated by images, ideas, and concepts. So metaphorical thinking can help you with creative problem solving: To use another famous metaphor, it helps you "think outside the box". Take the problem of how to cut production costs. You could attack the problem logically, and research new technologies or analyze inefficiencies in the production process. You might come up with some cost saving, but will you hit the jackpot? Problem solving often starts with brainstorming and bouncing ideas back and forth with your team. Brainstorming is great for getting the creative juices flowing; it can open up a floodgate of ideas (. more metaphors!) However, people may still be constrained by the images they have of the current problem, or by their preconceived notions about the potential solutions. When using metaphors for solving problems, you link the problem to something seemingly unrelated. Doing this allows your brain to see the issue from a completely different perspective – one that you may not even have known existed. If the problem is how to cut production costs, you could use the metaphor of someone wanting to lose weight. The next step is to generate solution to the problem of
losing weight rather than the problem of shedding production costs. As you identify various solutions to the metaphorical problem, you can then relate these back to the real problem. Chances are, you will come up with something creative ideas for solutions. Here are the steps for using metaphorical problem solving, using our product costs example: 1) First identify the metaphor for your problem or challenge. There's no "right metaphor" – the ideas can be as unrelated as you like. If the problem involves increasing something, make sure the metaphor relates to an increase as well, otherwise it can become too difficult to visualize. Increase sales > Build larger muscles Decrease recruitment costs > Lower the price of bread Attract more investors > Harvest more corn So here's the metaphor of our example: Problem: Cut production costs Metaphor: Lose weight 2) Now it's time to generate solution ideas for the metaphorical problem, in this case, losing weight. Brainstorming is a good way to facilitate this. • Count calories • Exercise • Monitor food intake • Limit intake of certain food categories • Fill up on low calorie foods • Drink lots of water • Join a slimming club 3) Then, the next step is to see how the solution ideas for the metaphorical problem might relate back to the real problem: Solution ideas for the metaphorical problem Solutions ideas relating back to the real problem Count calories Control expenditure on inputs Exercise to burn calories Use up all of their inputs (recycle, remanufacture, etc.)
Solution ideas for the metaphorical problem Solutions ideas relating back to the real problem Monitor food intake Control inputs Limit intake of certain food categories Save costs by carefully choosing certain suppliers Fill up on low calorie food Find cost substitutes Drink lots of water Flush out duplicate processes Join a slimming club Share ideas and support with other similar departments • Use the solution ideas you have generated for the metaphorical problem to find a workable solution to the real problem. OUTRAGEOUS THINKING We need to engage in outrageous thinking about learning environments. Outrageous means exceeding all bounds of reasonableness, it means something shocking. However, we need to realize that reasonableness is defined by present context. We further need to realize that what unreasonableness is today. Being creative is not just about being good at generating ideas. Above all, it’s about having the right mind-set. If you want your team to be more creative you’ll have to challenge them to embrace (and build upon) bizarre ideas. At HatRabbits we’ve developed a simple little exercise that helps people to become more comfortable with “exceptional ideas”. People who haven’t had proper training in creative thinking are likely to behave like idea killers. Most of us are very pragmatic when it comes to judging ideas. There is always this little voice in the back of our minds, telling us why an idea won’t work. Although everybody likes creative ideas, most of us find it very difficult to come up with extreme solutions. Even just considering the possibilities of a strange idea is often too much to ask. That’s why HatRabbits developed “That’s Outrageous!” a simple technique that helps you to get people in the right mood. It’s a short little exercise to show that there is value in every idea. For example: “How can we make sure that our fish restaurant is filled with customers on Monday evening?” ➢ Hand Out Outrageous Ideas Give each pair a bizarre suggestion to solve the fictional challenge.
For example: “We put super glue on every chair in our restaurant.” “We hire top models to work in our restaurant as waiters.” “We kidnap people from the streets and lock them in our restaurant.” Obviously, these suggestions are unacceptable or not very realistic. Yet they spark our imagination. Most people will smile or laugh about these weird solutions. These outrageous ideas help to get the creative juices flowing. ➢ Look For Benefits Ask every pair to think (approximately 2 or 3 minutes) about the positive sides of their “outrageous” idea. Challenge your team to come up with original points of view. Let them write down circa 3 – 5 benefits. “We put super glue on every chair in our restaurant.” Nobody leaves, so our restaurant will always be filled with people. We don’t need to clean the chairs anymore. Our customers have something to talk about during dinner. Customers can relate and identify with each other. ➢ Look For Positive Alternatives In what other ways can we reach these benefits? Ask participants to look for feasible (yet original) alternative ideas. Associate on the ideas. Our restaurant will always be filled with people. We place lots of mirrors in our restaurant so it seems crowded. We don’t need to clean the chairs anymore. We remove our furniture and become the first ‘Fish & Disco’ where you can dance and eat delicious fish snacks. Our customers have something to talk about during dinner. We provide conversation topics with every meal like the messages in fortune cookies. Customers can relate and identify with each other. We specialize in groups and give them a large discount to eat in our restaurant. ➢ Look For Downsides Ask every pair to think (approximately 2 or 3 minutes) about the negative sides of their “Outrageous” idea.
MAPPING THOUGHTS OR MIND MAPPING Mind mapping is one of the best ways to capture your thoughts and bring them to life in visual form. Beyond just note-taking, though, mind maps can help you become more creative, remember more, and solve problems more effectively. Whether you're new to mind maps or just want a refresher, here's all you need to know about this technique. What Are Mind Maps? A mind map is basically a diagram that connects information around a central subject. I like to think of it like a tree, although it has more of a radial structure. In any case, at the center is your main idea, say, poetry, and the branches are subtopics or related ideas, such as types of poetry, famous poets, and poetry publications. Greater levels of detail branch out from there and branches can be linked together. Mind maps can be used for pretty much any thinking or learning task, from studying a subject (such as a new language) to planning your career or even building better habits. The Asian Efficiency blog offers a few unusual ways to use mind maps you might not have considered: create a knowledge bank (since mind mapping software lets you attach files and add links), solve problems (such as which credit card to use), create book summaries, and set goals. They're great for teams to use as well, for group brainstorming and interactive presentations. Why Mind Maps Are Better Than Text Notes Mind maps can be more effective than other brainstorming and linear note-taking methods for a number of reasons: It's a graphical tool that can incorporate words, images, numbers, and colour, so it can be more memorable and enjoyable to create and review. The combination of words and pictures is six times better for remembering information than words alone. • Mind maps link and group concepts together through natural associations. This helps generate more ideas, find deeper meaning in your subject, and also prompt you to fill in more or find what you're missing. • A mind map can at once give you an overview of a large subject while also holding large amounts of information.
• It's also a very intuitive way to organize your thoughts, since mind maps mimic the way our brains think—bouncing ideas off of each other, rather than thinking linearly. • You can generate ideas very quickly with this technique and are encouraged to explore different creative pathways. Making a thought map The following guidelines show you the three steps to making a thought map that is well organised and easy to read. Step 1: o Use blank paper, turned sideways (landscape). o Start in the centre with an image and/or word that represents the topic of your thought map. o Choose the keywords or images that will represent your main themes and put each one on a line that is connected to your topic in the centre. o The best keywords are the ones that use your own personal associations to link the keyword to the point it represents. Step 2: o Branch off from the main themes with points represented by keywords or images. o Put each word or image on its own line. o Make each line the same length as the word or image. o Words and images are larger in the centre and smaller further out. o Keep the lines thicker in the centre, thinning out towards the edges of your thought map. This helps to show the order of your material. Step 3: o Add more levels of thought as necessary. o Use colour to categorise your information and make the thought map visually stimulating. Use three or more colours for the central image and then use a different colour for each branch. o Use symbols and images in place of keywords to represent a point concisely, or in addition to keywords to reinforce a point and aid recall. o Keep your thought map clear and add levels of order by enclosing grouped branches, using numbers and showing links with arrows. Once you are familiar with these guidelines, you can adapt the technique to your own particular needs. Develop your own personal style of thought mapping to make the best use of your own personal associations and thought processes.
SYSTEMATIC LOGICAL THINKING Logical thinking is the process in which one uses reasoning consistently to come to a conclusion. Problems or situations that involves logical thinking call for structure, for relationships between facts, and for chains of reasoning that “make sense.” To think logically is to think in steps. It has been proven that specific training processes can make people “smarter.” Logical thinking allows a child to reject quick answers, such as “I don’t know,” or “this is too difficult,” by empowering them to explore or search deeper into their thinking processes and understand better the methods used to arrive at a solution and even the solution itself. Examples: • Conducting market research tests to gauge consumer reaction to a new product prior to devising an advertising strategy. • Developing a recruiting profile for new sales representatives based on an assessment of the qualities of the company’s most productive sales representatives. Logical (or left-brain) thinking comes into its own when we are working with verifiable and reasonably certain information. This is information we can be sure about because it has been confirmed scientifically. Using “scientific” information allows us to develop our knowledge by making logical deductions. It is the kind of thinking used in playing games of chess, (where there are quite definite rules) and solving puzzles for which there is an answer. Logical thinking uses 5 steps: 1. A clear goal or solution: Working towards clear goals is often described by the mnemonic SMART. These are goals which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bounded. 2. Systematic planning: Systematic planning is the second step in the SMART process towards a goal. We know the “what?” because we have defined a clear goal; systematic planning tells us the “how?” to get us there. Systematic planning aims to find the correct method, the correct procedure, the correct system that can logically take us to our goal. 3. Using information: The remaining steps in the SMART process involve using our left-sided brains to work towards our goals. Information is key to this process. We need to group it, organize it, rank it, fit it into the bigger picture, and make connections with it. 4. Reasoning 5. Checking conclusions
10 tips for sharpening your logical thinking Logical thinking helps you discern the truth, solve problems, and make good decisions -- unless your logic is flawed. Here are a few principles that will help ensure correct reasoning. Logical thinking is critical for IT professionals, managers, and executives. You must be able to diagnose problems end users are having. You must be able to evaluate vendor claims. You must be able to refute your boss when he or she turns down your request for a raise or promotion. The following concepts will help you hone your logical thinking skills. 1: The conditional statement Have you ever dropped your smartphone into water? Not good, correct? Let's assume, for purposes of this article, that every time it happens, without exception, that phone is ruined. In other words, this statement is true: "If you drop your smartphone into water, then it will become ruined."This statement, in logic, is known as a conditional statement. The first part of the sentence states a condition or requirement. The second part of the sentence states the result of that condition. If the condition is fulfilled, the result will occur. If you've done any application programming, you doubtless have worked with conditional statements. The principles of conditional statements are the same for logical thinking. 2: Understanding premise and conclusion shorthand The two parts of a conditional statement have specific terms with respect to logic. The first part is called a premise, and the second part is called a conclusion. Within a conditional statement, if a premise is true, the conclusion will be too, because it follows, or results from, the truth of the premise. Sometimes, in shorthand, you will see the abbreviations "p" and "q" for "premise" and "conclusion," respectively. The causal relationship (the "then") is indicated by an arrow: →. Here, "p" would represent "If you drop your smartphone into water," "q" would represent "the smartphone will become ruined," and → would represent the "then." The general nature of a conditional statement can be represented as p → q. Once we understand the structure of an original conditional statement in terms of p and q, we can understand three other statements related to it. They are the converse, the inverse, and the contrapositive. Knowing these three is important to avoid faulty reasoning and to detect faulty reasoning by others. 3: The converse statement The converse of the original conditional statement simply reverses the premise and the conclusion. In shorthand terms, therefore, the converse is q → p. In our smartphone example, the converse statement would be: "If your smartphone is ruined, then it was because you dropped it into water." As you can see, in this case the converse is not true, because a smartphone can be ruined in many other ways besides dropping it into water. Similarly, though someone who lives in Florida lives in the United States, not everyone who lives in the United States lives in Florida. Assuming that the converse is true, in fact, leads to the fallacy of the "false syllogism": If a phone is dropped into water, it is ruined. John's phone is ruined. Therefore, John's phone must have been dropped into water. 4: The inverse statement The inverse of the original statement keeps the original premise and original conclusion but negates each one. In shorthand, the inverse is ~p → ~q. The inverse of the smartphone statement would be: "If you do not drop your smartphone into water, your smartphone will not become ruined." Sometimes, the
inverse is true. But other times, such as with our example, it isn't. A smartphone can be ruined in many ways. Therefore, even if we refrain from dropping the phone into water, it doesn't prevent other bad things from happening to it. The inverse of the virus statement would be: "If a computer does not have virus x, it will not have symptom y." This statement might not be true if symptom y can result from reasons other than virus x. Be careful of inverse reasoning. 5: The contrapositive statement The contrapositive is either the converse of the inverse or the inverse of the converse. That is, it involves a negation of both the premise and the conclusion, along with their reversal. Our smartphone contrapositive would be: "If your smartphone is not ruined, then you did not drop it into water." The virus contrapositive would be "If a computer does not have symptom y, then it does not have virus x." In shorthand, the contrapositive is ~q → ~p. Assuming the truth of the original conditional statement, the contrapositive is the only alternative statement that will always be true. 6: Necessary conditions Closely related to the conditional and related statements are the ideas of necessary conditions and sufficient conditions. A necessary condition is one that must be met for a certain result to be achieved. For a smartphone not to be ruined, it must be kept out of water. Therefore "keeping a smartphone out of water" is necessary to prevent it from being ruined. The absence of virus x is necessary to have assurance that a computer does not have symptom y.I know the objections you are raising right now, but keep reading for my further points. 7: Sufficient conditions A sufficient condition is one that, if met, absolutely guarantees the occurrence of a certain result — that is, a result that is dependent on that condition. Dropping a smartphone into water is sufficient for ruining that phone. Doing so guarantees that the phone is ruined. The presence of virus x is a sufficient condition for a computer to exhibit symptom y. 8: Necessary but not sufficient A condition can be necessary but not sufficient. Keeping your smartphone out of water is necessary for preventing its ruin. However, even if you do so, your smartphone could be ruined in other ways, such as being crushed by a car or dropped from a height. In the same way, even if virus x is absent from the computer, they system could still display symptom y for some other reason. Therefore, keeping a smartphone out of water, and keeping virus x off a computer are necessary but not sufficient conditions for preventing smartphone ruin or the presence of symptom y. 9: Sufficient but not necessary Similarly, a condition can be sufficient but not necessary. Dropping the smartphone into water is a sufficient condition for ruining it. However, it is not a necessary condition for ruining it. Having virus x is a sufficient condition for symptom y. However, if symptom y can arise from other causes, having virus x is not a necessary condition. 10: Neither necessary nor sufficient
A condition can be neither necessary nor sufficient with respect to a result. To prevent the ruin of your smartphone, it is neither necessary nor sufficient that its area code begin with an even number. To prevent virus x, it is neither necessary nor sufficient that the system unit have a property tag. IDEATION Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, where an idea is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete, or abstract. Ideation comprises all stages of a thought cycle, from innovation, to development, to actualization. EIGHT DIMENTIONAL APPROACH TO IDEATION The Eight-Dimensional Methodology for innovative thinking is a systematic approach that stimulates innovation by effectively using both sides of the brain. It is a unified approach that builds on comprehensive problem solving knowledge from industry, business, marketing, math, science, engineering, technology, and daily life. The different dimensions, namely: • Uniqueness • Dimensionality • Directionality • Consolidation • Segmentation • Modification • Similarity • Experimentation Provide leaders, managers, and other problem solvers with new insights and thinking strategies to solve everyday problems they face in the workplace. The new methodology: o Looks at problems systematically o Enhances creative power and innovative skills of problem solvers o Helps to generate unique “out-of-the-box” unexpected and high quality multiple solutions o Stimulates innovation by generating more and better ideas quickly o Increases productivity of the idea generation process. 1. Uniqueness 1.1 Discover what does not change ➢ Discover and use invariants 1.2 Compare characteristics/features ➢ Look for and use unique/distinguishing features ➢ Magnify the difference
2. Dimensionality 2.1 Start with less ➢ Solve a special case or several special cases ➢ Simplify / reduce the problem ➢ Solve an easier related problem ➢ Identify and solve sub-problems/ cases 2.2 Start with more ➢ Look at the global picture ➢ Generalize & solve a more general/global case 2.3 Manipulate time/space/cost dimensions and structure/topology/state ➢ Take it to the extreme ➢ Change Spatial dimensions ➢ Change temporal dimension ➢ Observe upper and lower limits ➢ Move it ➢ Move back in time; reverse ➢ Move forward in time Extrapolate/ predict/ anticipate ➢ Combine operations in time (in parallel) ➢ Add dimension ➢ Eliminate dimension ➢ Trade/exchange dimensions ➢ Separate dimensions ➢ Share dimensions ➢ Compare dimensions 2.4 Reduce details: Look from Far Away Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Education 2.5 Duplicate it/ Repeat it ➢ Copy and duplicate ➢ Continue useful actions 3. Directionality 3.1 The other way around ➢ Solve it indirectly ➢ Use indirect measurement ➢ Solve a complementary problem ➢ Inverse it implement the opposite action
➢ Turn it upside down 3.2 All Directions ➢ Start backwards ➢ Start forward ➢ Start both ways ➢ Start somewhere ➢ Reverse roll ➢ Find a better path 4. Consolidation 4.1 Combine ➢ Combine and put together 4.2 Use many ➢ Multi- purpose 5. Segmentation ➢ Learn to share and Manage resources ➢ Segment/cut ➢ Divide an object into independent parts ➢ Make an object sectional ➢ Increase the degree of segmentation ➢ Separate 6. Modification 6.1 Rearrange 6.2 Extract/pull ➢ Extract unnecessary elements ➢ Extract disturbing parts ➢ Extract only the necessary part/property; use what’s needed. 6.3 Substitute/exchange ➢ Substitute ➢ Reject and regenerate parts ➢ Replace linear motion with rotational motion; utilize centrifugal force ➢ Replace mechanical system with another system 6.4 Add/ Subtract ➢ Add ➢ Subtract
6.5 Change ➢ Change the colour ➢ Transform physical or chemical states of an object ➢ Add saturation/ hystheresis 6.6 Self Modification ➢ Convert harm into benefit ➢ Use self service ➢ Feedback 6.7 Add something in between 6.8 Localize ➢ Focus on local quality ➢ Use different parts to carry different functions ➢ Place parts in most favourable conditions 6.9 Take partial or overdone action 6.10 Automate It Add automation 6.11 Purify / mix 7. Similarity 7.1 Look for Pattern/Rule ➢ Follow the pattern ➢ Generalize the pattern 7.2 Look and use analogy ➢ Recall same or similar problem/goal ➢ Recall a path of thought. Adapt it ➢ Recall and combine two or more other ➢ Adapt an old/new principle to an old/new problem ➢ Use metaphors 7.3 Make it similar ➢ Use counterweight ➢ Make it equal potential 8. Experimentation 8.1 Work it out ➢ Simulate and experiment
➢ Estimate and check ➢ Try it out ➢ Guess and test Example for the Uniqueness strategy There is a need to separate juicy and non-juicy oranges at a high rate. How can this be done? A solution: look for a feature or property of an orange that highly correlates with juiciness. Obviously it is not colour, size, weight, or texture. The main property that distinguishes the oranges is specific density. To measure the specific density it is not necessary to measure the weight and volume of each orange separately and then find the ratio of the two. It can be done directly by observing the time it takes for an orange to surface from under the water after being thrown from a certain height. The longer time the juicier the orange. This simple “uniqueness” strategy was used to separate oranges at a high rate, by letting them slide into a canal with moving water that had some longitudinal dividers. When an orange surfaces, it appears between two dividers, signifying a certain level of juiciness. Example for the Dimensionality strategy One of the major problems in picking an object from a pile (known as the “bin-picking” problem) using a robotic arm, a camera, and a computer, is to identify which object is on top. A solution is to move a light source around the bin. The portions in the image of the bin that get no shadow from all illuminated directions belong to surfaces of objects on top. Here a time dimension was added to solve the problem. Example for the Directionality strategy A frequently used sub-strategy in this category is “starting backwards”, i.e., starting from the desired state and working towards the initial state. A well- known example is: An eight-gallon jug is full, and both a three-gallon jug and a five-gallon jugs are empty. Without using any other containers, divide the water into two equal amounts. Working backwards leads to: 0-4-4, 3-4-1, 2-5-1, 2-0-6, 0-2-6, 3-2-3, 0- 5-3, 0-0-8. Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Example for the Consolidation strategy How would you measure the diameter of a thin wire with a regular ruler? A solution: wind the wire around a cylinder to form a coil. Measure the length obtained by many diameters (say, 100) and then divide the result by the number of rotations (100). For example, if this length is 8 mm (+/- 0.5mm), after dividing by 100 we get 0.08 (+/-0.005) mm. Examples for the Segmentation strategy Venetian blinds are made of many parts. Railroad train and cars are many independent parts put together. Garden hoses can be joined together to form a longer hose. Personal computers are modular to allow flexibility in personalizing and changing them, as well as for easy maintenance. Example for the Modification strategy A well-known sub-strategy in this case is “using feedback”. Feedback can be added to a system or may be an integral part of it. Examples: Cruise control system of a car uses velocity feedback to maintain a constant speed. Some eyeglasses adjust to the ambient light by changing the colour of the lenses.
Example for the Similarity strategy How can sunflower seeds be separated from their shell? How can parts wrapped in protective paper be unpacked? An inventive (patent-based) solution to both problems is: place some quantity of the product into a hermetic chamber. Slowly increase the pressure inside the chamber. Then abruptly let the pressure drop. This will result in an explosion that will split the product. Example for the Experimentation strategy This strategy refers to estimating, guessing, simulating, and using the trial and error approach. Example: Estimate the number of barbers in New York City.
MODULE 4 SYSTEMATIC INVENTIVE THINKING TRIZ TRIZ (/ˈtriːz/; Russian: теория решения изобретательских задач, teoriya resheniya izobretatelskikh zadach, literally: "theory of the resolution of invention-related tasks") is "a problem-solving, analysis and forecasting tool derived from the study of patterns of invention in the global patent literature". It was developed by the Soviet inventor and science-fiction author Genrich Altshuller (1926-1998) and his colleagues, beginning in 1946. In English the name is typically rendered as "the theory of inventive problem solving", and occasionally goes by the English acronym TIPS. Following Altshuller's insight, the theory developed on a foundation of extensive research covering hundreds of thousands of inventions across many different fields to produce a theory which defines generalisable patterns in the nature of inventive solutions and the distinguishing characteristics of the problems that these inventions have overcome. An important part of the theory has been devoted to revealing patterns of evolution and one of the objectives which has been pursued by leading practitioners of TRIZ has been the development of an algorithmic approach to the invention of new systems, and to the refinement of existing ones. TRIZ includes a practical methodology, tool sets, a knowledge base, and model-based technology for generating innovative solutions for problem solving. It is intended [by whom?] for application in problem formulation, system analysis, failure analysis, and patterns of system evolution. There is a general similarity of purposes and methods with the field of pattern language, a cross discipline practice for explicitly describing and sharing holistic patterns of design. The research has produced three primary findings: • problems and solutions are repeated across industries and sciences • patterns of technical evolution are also repeated across industries and sciences • the innovations used scientific effects outside the field in which they were developed TRIZ practitioners apply all these findings in order to create and to improve products, services, and systems. Basic principles TRIZ presents a systematic approach for understanding and defining challenging problems: difficult problems require an inventive solution, and TRIZ provides a range of strategies and tools for finding these inventive solutions. One of the earliest findings of the massive research on which the theory is based is that the vast majority of problems that require inventive solutions typically reflect a need to
overcome a dilemma or a trade-off between two contradictory elements. The central purpose of TRIZ- based analysis is to systematically apply the strategies and tools to find superior solutions that overcome the need for a compromise or trade-off between the two elements. By the early 1970s two decades of research covering hundreds of thousands of patents had confirmed Altshuller's initial insight about the patterns of inventive solutions and one of the first analytical tools was published in the form of 40 inventive principles, which could account for virtually all of those patents that presented truly inventive solutions. Following this approach the "Conceptual solution" shown in the diagram can be found by defining the contradiction which needs to be resolved and systematically considering which of the 40 principles may be applied to provide a specific solution which will overcome the "contradiction" in the problem at hand, enabling a solution that is closer to the "ultimate ideal result". The combination of all of these concepts together – the analysis of the contradiction, the pursuit of an ideal solution and the search for one or more of the principles which will overcome the contradiction, are the key elements in a process which is designed to help the inventor to engage in the process with purposefulness and focus. One of the tools which evolved as an extension of the 40 principles was a contradiction matrix in which the contradictory elements of a problem were categorized according to a list of 39 factors which could impact on each other. The combination of each pairing of these 39 elements is set out in a matrix (for example, the weight of a stationary object, the use of energy by a moving object, the ease of repair etc.) Each of the 39 elements is represented down the rows and across the columns (as the negatively affected element) and based upon the research and analysis of patents: wherever precedent solutions have been found that resolve a conflict between two of the elements, the relevant cells in the matrix typically contain a sub-set of three or four principles that have been applied most frequently in inventive solutions which resolve contradictions between those two elements. Basic terms • Ideal final result (IFR) - the ultimate idealistic solution of a problem when the desired result is achieved by itself. Note that the Ideal Final Result is also an ARIZ term for the formulation of the inventive problem in the form of a Technical Contradiction (IFR-1) and a Physical Contradiction (IFR-2); The Ideal Final Result (abbreviated IFR) is an implementation-free description of the situation after the problem has been solved. It focuses on customer needs or functions needed, not the current process or equipment. The goal of formulating the IFR is to eliminate rework ( solve the right problem the first time!) by addressing the root cause of the problem or customer need. The IFR helps you reach breakthrough solutions by thinking about the solution, not the intervening problems. • Administrative contradiction - contradiction between the needs and abilities; • Technical contradiction - an inverse dependence between parameters/characteristics of a machine or technology; • Physical contradiction - opposite/contradictory physical requirements to an object; • Separation principle - a method of resolving physical contradictions by separating contradictory requirements; • Vepol or Su-field - a minimal technical system consisting of two material objects (substances) and a "field". "Field" is the source of energy whereas one of the substances is "transmission" and the other one is the "tool"; • Fepol or Ferfiel - a sort of Vepol (Su-field) where "substances" are ferromagnetic objects;
TRIZ is about providing means for problem solvers to access the good solutions obtained by the world’s finest inventive minds. The basic process by which this occurs is illus- trated below. Essentially, TRIZ researchers have encapsulated the principles of good inventive practice and set them into a generic problem-solving framework. The task of problem definers and problem solvers using the large majority of the TRIZ tools thus becomes one in which they have to map their specific problems and solutions to and from this generic framework. The Four Pillars of TRIZ 1500 person years of TRIZ research have produced a significant number of innovation tools and methods.. This section offers a brief summary of the four main elements that make the method distinct from other innova- tion and problem solving strategies. • Contradictions TRIZ researchers have identified the fact that the world’s strongest inventions have emerged from situations in which the inventor has successfully sought to avoid the conventional trade-offs that most designers take for granted. More importantly they have offered systematic tools through which problem solvers can tap into and use the strategies employed by such inventors. The most commonly applied tool in this regard is the Contradiction Matrix – a 39639 matrix con- taining the three or four most likely strategies for solving design problems involving the 1482 most common contradiction types. Prob- ably the most important philosophical aspect of the contradiction part of TRIZ is that, given there are ways of ‘eliminating’ contradic- tions’, designers should actively look for them during the design process. A management version of the Contradiction Matrix idea has recently emerged from TRIZ research – and will be described in a future article. • Ideality While studying the patent database, TRIZ founder Genrich Altshuller identified a trend in which systems always evolve towards increasing ‘ideality’ and that this evolution process takes place through a series of evolu- tionary S-curve characteristics. A key finding of TRIZ is that the steps denoting a shift from one S-curve to the next are predictable. A number of underlying technology evolution trends consistent with the ideality concept have been identified during the course of research on the global patent database. Used as a problem definition tool, the ideality part of TRIZ encourages problem solvers to break out of the traditional ‘start from the current situation’ type of thinking, and start instead from what is described as the Ideal Final Result (IFR). The simple definition of IFR is that the solution contains all of the benefits and none of the costs or ‘harms’ (environ- mental impact, adverse side-effects, etc). Although there are many instances where systems have been seen to evolve all the way to their Ideal Final Result, many have not. The method gets users to think about these situations by working back from the IFR to something which is practicably realisable. Generally speaking these solutions incorpo- rate the concept of systems solving problems ‘by themselves’. The key word is ‘self’; things that achieve functions by themselves – self- cleaning, self-balancing, self-heating, self- aerating, etc – all represent, when incorpor- ated in a true TRIZ fashion, very powerful and resource-efficient solutions. • Functionality Although the functionality aspects of TRIZ owe a significant debt to the pioneering work on Value Engineering, the method of defining and using functionality data is markedly different; sufficient at
the very least to merit discussion as a distinct paradigm shift in thinking relative to traditional occidental thought processes. Three aspects are worthy of particular note:- 1) The idea that a system possesses a Main Useful Function (MUF) and that any system component which does not con- tribute towards the achievement of this function is ultimately harmful. In a heat exchanger, for example, the MUF is to transfer heat to the working medium; everything else in the system is there solely because we don’t yet know how to achieve the MUF without the support of the ancillary components. 2) In traditional function mapping, the em- phasis is very much on the establishment of positive functional relationships be- tween components. TRIZ places consider- able emphasis on plotting both the positive and the negative relationships contained in a system, and, more importantly, on using the function analysis as a means of identifying the contradictions, in-effective, excessive and harmful relationships in and around a system. Function and attribute analysis thus becomes a very powerful problem definition tool. 3) Functionality is the common thread by which it becomes possible to share knowl- edge between widely differing industries. A motor car is a specific solution to the generic function ‘move people’, just as a washing powder is a specific solution to the generic function ‘remove dirt’. By classifying and arranging knowledge by function, it becomes possible for manufac- turers of washing powder to examine how other industries have achieved the same basic ‘remove’ function. ‘Solutions change, functions stay the same’ is a message form- ing a central thread in the TRIZ methodology. • Use Of Resources The Resources part of TRIZ relates to the unprecedented emphasis placed on the maxi- misation of use of everything contained within a system. In TRIZ terms, a resource is anything in the system which is not being used to its maximum potential. TRIZ demands an aggressive and seemingly relentless pursuit of things in (and around) a system which are not being used to their absolute maximum potential. Discovery of such resources then reveals opportunities through which the de- sign of a system may be improved. In addi- tion to this relentless pursuit of resources, TRIZ demands that the search for resources also take due account of negative as well as the traditionally positive resources in a system. Thus the pressures and forces we typically attempt to fight when we are design- ing systems, are actually resources. By way of an example of this ‘turning lemons into lemonade’ concept, TRIZ users often think of resonance as a resource. This is in direct contradiction to most Western practice, where resonance is commonly viewed as something to be avoided at all costs. TRIZ says that somewhere, somehow, resonance in a system can be used to beneficial effect. In effect, resonance is a potent force lever capable of amplifying small inputs into large outputs. Resonance is currently being used to generate beneficial effects in a number of new product developments from vacuum cleaners, paint stripping systems on ships (firing a pulsed jet of water – existing resource! – at the local resonant frequency of the hull), and in help- ing to empty trucks carrying powder-based substances more quickly. TRIZ an overview TRIZ is a problem solving toolkit: the principal TRIZ tools direct us to find all the ways of solving a problem, to find new concepts and the routes for developing new products. TRIZ has simple general lists of how to solve any problem; these TRIZ solution triggers are distilled from analysing all known engineering success. There are also tools for problem understanding, for system analysis and for understanding what we want.
TRIZ offers systematic innovation; by learning TRIZ and following its rules we can accelerate creative problem solving for both individuals and project teams. Companies that successfully apply TRIZ are using the success and knowledge of the whole world, and are not dependent on the spontaneous and occasional creativity of individuals, or groups of engineers, within their organisation. TRIZ is not just powerful for technical problem solving but is also successfully used on a wide range of management issues. WHAT CAN TRIZ DO? • help us solve problems • help us think clearly, powerfully and see the wood for the trees when confronted with a complex problem situation • help us be creative (invent new systems, find next generation systems, come up with lots of new ideas etc.) • help us be innovative (find new ways of using and improving existing systems, existing technologies etc.) • help teams work together to pool their brain power and experience, enhanced by the distilled world’s knowledge of the TRIZ tools • help us improve existing systems and increase the ideality of systems by lowering costs, removing harms or increasing benefits • helps us use our resources: we can often find quick, cheap solutions to problems with TRIZ and it will help us turn harm into good • gives us quick solutions • gives us a structure to brainstorm around difficult problems – even with those unfamiliar with TRIZ • help us structure and use our thinking time effectively - we know that we’ll be looking in the right direction and places. TRIZ was developed as a theory and a set of applied tools to support solving so-called “nonordinary” problems in technology and engineering: problems which can not be solved with known formal methods, for example, mathematical optimization or configuration change. Such problems require new, out of the box solutions unknown before. Usually we refer to such solutions as “innovative” or “inventive” while calling the problems innovative (or inventive) as well. To develop TRIZ, Russian inventor Genrich Altshuller (founder of TRIZ) and his associates studied a vast massive of technological solutions, patents, inventions, and extracted a number of common solution patterns which existed among them [1,2]. Another important achievement of TRIZ studies was discovering mechanisms which help to transform an illdefined initial problem situation to a solution by solving an inventive problem at abstract level thus drastically reducing solution search space by directly navigating to the area of most relevant solutions. Such approach helps to re-use previous experience available as a collection of high-order solution patterns and reduces time and efforts needed to solve an innovative problem.
“Basic TRIZ” PROCESS To support a problem solving process with TRIZ for Business and Management, we developed a process called “Basic TRIZ”: 1. Situation Analysis and Problem Formulation: Understanding what a problem situation is, documenting a problem, defining solution criteria, constraints, goals, and targets. 2. Problem Mapping and Decomposing: application of RCA+ to decompose a general problem and create a map of manageable contradictions. 3. Key Issue or Problem Selection: Identifying what critical conflicts (contradictions) should be resolved to achieve the expected results. 4. Using TRIZ Patterns to Generate Solution Ideas: application of TRIZ techniques, such as Contradiction Matrix and Inventive Principles to eliminate selected conflicts, generation of new solution ideas. 5. Building Ideas Portfolio: composing a tree of generated ideas. 6. Scoring and Selection of best Solution Candidates: applying Multi-Criteria Decision Matrix to evaluate the Idea Portfolio and identify best solution candidates.
Contradictions Matrix The concept of contradiction is central to the TRIZ tool-kit and gives immediate confidence in finding successful and powerful solutions. We learn how to uncover contradictions (often the heart of the problem) and then eliminate them using the relevant tools. Problem solving often involves understanding and resolving conflicting requirements - improvement in one part is at the expense of something else getting worse (technical contradictions), or we may want the same thing in opposite states but at different times or places e.g. an umbrella needs to be small and large (physical contradictions). Once we understand the conflict in our requirements then we can use TRIZ processes for uncovering contradictions and the tools for solving them. Understanding all the benefits we want, getting those in the right order of priority, and seeing where these benefits conflict is the first stage in solving contradictions. This needs structure and practice for successful problem solving. 'A contradiction is a simple clash of solutions. Either we want opposite solutions, or by introducing a new solution, i.e. an improving change to one feature in a system, another feature in our system has got worse. Engineers recognize contradictions as familiar situations, such as when we improve strength by adding more material we find that this solution often makes weight get worse. Contradictions can also be the need for opposite benefits which are achieved with opposite features or functions - an everyday item such as an umbrella has the benefits of being both large and small. there are many situations of wanting opposites such as white and black - TRIZ shows us all the way to achieve such opposite benefits.'
MODULE-5 DECISION AND OWNERSHIP DECISION AND EVALUATION Making decisions for your small business might seem to require wisdom beyond your capabilities. However, if you are methodical about your decision-making process, there is a better chance that your resulting determinations will lead to success. To ensure that your decisions benefit your company, properly evaluating their effectiveness will help you know if you should stay on track or make subsequent changes. Pinpoint the Issue As a business owner, you are faced with a variety of decisions every day. Some are important and affect the course of your company's future, while others are not as vital but must be acknowledged. For minor issues, quick thinking and experience can direct your response. However, matters needing more thought and discernment should be closely analyzed. You must pinpoint the issue requiring a decision. You may have found a problem that needs resolving, but upon closer analysis, you've identified an underlying situation needing to be addressed. For example, if a customer complains about inadequate service, it may not be the fault of your employee but rather the poor implementation of a company policy. Determine Solutions Once you have adequately identified the decision that must be made, determine if the solution will be isolated to one situation or become a company-wide policy. If your decision will affect employees and customers through comprehensive changes in systems or processes, ask for input from management. Make a list of the advantages and disadvantages of viable decisions. Project the impact of the decision to your sales, revenues and profits. Even minor decisions that are not far-reaching should be considered carefully in case implementation affects other areas of business. Implement Decision You may be tempted to implement an important decision before conducting an analysis of its merits. Your insight as an experienced small business owner can give you confidence that you are making the right decision without thinking of the ramifications. Instead of being hasty, carefully consider all aspects of your decision and its application. If you are changing a company policy, notify your employees and meet with them to answer questions and discuss the implementation strategy. If customers are affected, send letters and post a notice on your website explaining the changes and benefits involved. Be confident in your decision so others will not question its validity.
Evaluate Effectiveness Perform online surveys and ask customers to answers questions to evaluate the effectiveness of your decisions. Document workplace data if your decision involves employees, manufacturing, or processes and systems. Expect complaints from customers and employees. Determine if they do not like changes in general and eventually will adapt to them or if you have made a mistake that needs further analysis to resolve. Don't overlook serious feedback that can have a negative impact on your profits, but be open to suggestions and continue the process of decision-making and implementation until all departments run smoothly. Insights for the Decision making Process • Guiding Information Collection: Discovering values early in the process helps inform all other information collection. If values are unclear, they should be clarified; if something is unimportant, effort should not be wasted on it. • Evaluating Alternatives: With clear and consistent objectives, VFT-powered analysis of objectives is often better than unsophisticated analysis. • Interconnecting Decisions: Strategic objectives, fundamental objectives, attributes, and value tradeoffs are all likely to be useful in multiple decision contexts. By adopting the same values across the board, a decision-maker may be able to make better tradeoffs and satisfy their values better or at lower cost. • Improving Communication: Clear and coherent values both improve thinking and communication. Multiple decision-makers can negotiate more effectively and act in concert with explicit and defined objectives. • Facilitating Involvement in Multiple-Stakeholder Decisions: VFT provides a natural way to incorporate the preferences of other stakeholders into the decision-making process, often improving both their satisfaction with the process and the quality of the solution for all involved. • Guiding Strategic Thinking: The strategic objectives of a decision-making activity, which is much easier when those objectives are clearly stated and quantified. Focused thinking framework Steps of focused thinking • Thinking about Values • The Framework of Value-Focused Thinking • Identifying and Structuring Objectives
• Measuring the Achievement of Objectives • Quantifying Objectives with a Value Model • Uncovering Hidden Objectives • Creating Alternatives for a Single Decisionmaker • Creating Alternatives for Multiple Decisionmakers • Identifying Decision Opportunities An argument is an exchange of diverging or opposite views, typically a heated or angry one. An arguments consist of premises and conclusions. The argument start with Premises and ends with a conclusions are statements. • Premise indicator words: since, because, for, given that, seeing that, considering that, inasmuch as, as, in view of the fact that, as indicated by, judging from, on account of • Conclusion indicator words: therefore, thus, hence, consequently, so, accordingly, it follows that, for this reason, that is why, which shows that, wherefore, this implies that, as a result, this suggests that, this being so, we may infer that. Diagramming Short Arguments Example Argument : The death penalty should be abolished because it’s racially discriminatory, there’s no evidence that it’s a more effective deterrent than life imprisonment, and innocent people may be executed by mistake. ❖ Step 1: Identify (circle, underline, etc.) all premise and / or conclusion indicators. The death penalty should be abolished because it’s racially discriminatory, there’s no evidence that it’s a more effective deterrent than life imprisonment, and innocent people may be executed by mistake ❖ Step 2: Number the statements consecutively as they appear in the argument. • The death penalty should be abolished • because it’s racially discriminatory, • there’s no evidence that it’s a more effective deterrent than life imprisonment, and • innocent people may be executed by mistake. ❖ Step 3: Arrange the numbers on a page with the premises placed above the conclusion(s) they claim to support. 2) 3) 4) 1) ❖ Step 4: Omit any logically irrelevant statements. ❖ Step 5: Use arrows to mean ‘is offered as evidence for’ to show relationship of argument support.
Here 2), 3), and 4) offer independent support for the conclusion. A premise provides independent support for a conclusion when the amount of support it provides would not be weakened or destroyed by the removal of any other premise in the argument. A premise provides linked support when it works conjointly with another premise to support the conclusion: GENERAL RULES FOR: SHORT ARGUMENTS 1. Distinguish between premises and conclusion: “The conclusion is the statement for which you are giving reasons. The statements which give you reasons are called ‘premises.’” 2. Present your ideas in a natural order: “Put the conclusion first, followed by your reasons, or set out your premises first and draw the conclusion at the end. In any case, set out your ideas in an order that unfolds your line of thought most naturally for the reader.” 3. Start from reliable premises: “No matter how well you argue from premises to conclusion, your conclusion will be weak if your premises are weak. . . If you are not sure about the reliability of a premise, you may need to do some research, and/or give a short argument for the premise itself.” 4. Use definite, specific, concrete language: “Write concretely: avoid abstract, vague, general terms. ‘We hiked for hours in the sun’ is a hundred times better than ‘It was an extended period of laborious exertion.’” 5. Avoid loaded language: “Do not make your argument look good by caricaturing the opposing side. Generally people advocate a position for serious and sincere reasons. Try to figure out their view, even if you think they are dead wrong. . . In general, avoid language whose only function is to sway the emotions of your readers or hearers, either for or against the view you are discussing.” 6. Use consistent terms: “Stick to a single set of terms for each idea. . . Consistent terms are especially important when your argument depends on the connections between the premises.” 7. Stick to one meaning for each term: “The opposite temptation is to use a single word in more than one sense. This is the classical fallacy of ‘equivocation.’
Non-Arguments For greater appreciation of what an argument is and what it does, it is useful to contrast the entire category of arguments with things that are not arguments. What other kinds of things do we typically do with words, in passages of text or in speeches, conversations, etc.? Normal we think of arguments as ways to gather information and to acquire new beliefs. But information is not always given in the form of arguments. It might be that you’re reading some opinion piece in the newspapers, or maybe you’re listening to talk-back radio, or you’re talking with your friends on some hot topic, and they’re not really trying to make a point by using an argument. Sometimes people assert their beliefs without giving reasons; all they do is tell you what they believe. But stating beliefs is not giving arguments! Reporting, advising, warning, stating your belief about something or expressing your opinion about something –these are all very commonplace everyday things we do with words. Being able to identify and name cases of them as they occur –around us and within us–is a matter of a tiny little skill at observing, paying attention, and categorizing. In Philosophy in general, and in Logic in particular, that kind of skill is quite important to cultivate. Explanations - An explanation is a statement or collection of statements asserting why or how something is the case. Advice - Like explanations, advice is not an argument, even when expressed as a collection of statements. SIX THINKING HATS Six Thinking Hats is a system designed by Edward de Bono which describes a tool for group discussion and individual thinking involving six colored hats. "Six Thinking Hats" and the associated idea parallel thinking provide a means for groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way, and in doing so to think together more effectively.[2] How to Use the Six Thinking Hats Model You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. In meetings, it has the benefit of preventing any confrontation that may happen when people with different thinking styles discuss a problem, because every perspective is valid. Each "Thinking Hat" is a different style of thinking. These are explained below: 1. White Hat: with this thinking hat, you focus on the available data. Look at the information that you have, analyze past trends, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and try to either fill them or take account of them. 2. Red Hat: "wearing" the Red Hat, you look at problems using your intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also, think how others could react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning. 3. Black Hat: using Black Hat thinking, look at a decision's potentially negative outcomes. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not work. This is important because it
highlights the weak points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to counter them. Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans "tougher" and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. It's one of the real benefits of this model, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that they often cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties. 4. Yellow Hat: this hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult. 5. Green Hat: the Green Hat represents creativity. This is where you develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. (You can explore a range of creativity tools to help you.) 6. Blue Hat: this hat represents process control. It's the hat worn by people chairing meetings, for example. When facing difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS It is an accumulation of values and principles that address questions of what is good or bad in human affairs. Ethics searches for reasons for acting or refraining from acting; for approving or not approving conduct; for believing or denying something about virtuous or vicious conduct or good or evil rules. SOME OF THE ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ARE:- • Informed consent • Voluntary participation • Do no harm • Confidentiality • Anonymity • Only assess relevant components. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flouris. Intellectual property rights is a legal concept that confers rights to owners and creators of the work, for their intellectual creativity. Such rights can be granted for areas related to literature, music, invention etc, which are used in the business practices. In general, the intellectual property law offers exclusionary rights to the creator or inventor against any misappropriation or use of work without his/her prior knowledge. Intellectual property law establishes an equilibrium by granting rights for limited duration of time.
COPYRIGHT Copyright is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings. PATENT A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application. TRADEMARK A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights. TRADESECRET A trade secret is the information which • is not generally known to the public; • confers economic benefit on its holder because the information is not publicly known; and • is the subject of reasonable efforts by the holder to maintain its secrecy. UNFAIR COMPETITION Unfair competition" is a term applied to dishonest or fraudulent rivalry in trade and commerce. It's a branch of intellectual property law, particularly applied to the practice of endeavoring to substitute one’s own goods or products in the market for those of another for the purpose of deceiving the public.
REFERENCE 1. Chris Bilton, Management and Creativity: From Creative Industries to Creative Management, Wiley-Blackwell. 2. E. de Bono, Serious Creativity: Thoughts on Reinventing Society, Vermilion. 3. E. de Bono, The Use of Lateral Thinking, Penguin Books. 4. E. de Bono, Six Thinking Hats, Penguin. 5. E. Sickafus: Unified Structured Inventive Thinking, Ntelleck. 6. Donald H. Weiss: Creative Problem Solving, Amacom. 7. Ira Flatow: They All Laughed From Light Bulbs to Lasers, San Val. 8. James Higgins: 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques: The Handbook of New Ideas for Business, San Val. 9. Scott Shane, A General Theory of Entrepreneurship The Individual-Opportunity Nexus, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. 10. J G. Altschuller: Creativity as an Exact Science, CRC Press, 1984 11. H. Altov: The Art of Inventing (And Suddenly The Inventor Appeared), Technical Innovation Ctr, 1995 12. Genrikh Altshuller, Lev Shulyak and Steven Rodman: 40 Principles: Triz Keys to Technical Innovation: 1 (Triztools, V. 1), Technical Innovation Ctr, 1997 13. Tony Buzon, Use Both Sides of Your Brain, Plume, 1991. 14. Karl H Vesper, New venture strategies. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1496217 15. Saras Sarasvathy, what is effectuation? http://www.effectuation.org/sites/default/files/documents/effectuation-3-pager.pdf
THANKING OUR HR TEAM MEMBERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE Afra A Amitha Sabeer Ammu S Anu Miriam Jacob Annie Nirmala Aravind R Arjun V Athira Babu Athira K S Jasna Jahangeer Jisha Antony Krishna R Thampi Majeesh M Mohammad. Tharshafeer Reji Mohanan Saranya A Sasi Sonu E Soumya G Sugapriya E Teena Mariam Eby Uma M Varsha Ramakrishnan Veena Chandran P Further details Contact: praseetha925@gmail.com hajnagafoor@gmail.com
38 A textbook on MANAGEMENT OF CREATIVITY This textbook named “A textbook on MANAGEMENT OF CREATIVITY“ is written and published by the Human Resource Management students 2016-2018 batch at Rajadhani Business School,Nagaroor, Attingal,Thiruvananthapuram,as per the MBA syllabus of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. In this great moment we thank our mentor Mr scaria Thomas(Assistant professor, Rajadhani Business School) who helped us in making this book a reality,We are thankful to Prof Rajit Karunakaran Nair(Director,Rajadhani Business School),Prof (Dr) Rajesh S Pyngavil (Professor Head, Department of Business Administration,Rajadhani Business School),the entire RBS faculty. Finally we thank our friends and family for being with us to publish this book. Team HR,RBS

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Management of creativity e book

  • 1.
    A textbook on MANAGEMENTOF CREATIVITY Self-published by students of HR domain Rajadhani Business School 2018
  • 2.
    A Textbook on MANAGEMENTOF CREATIVITY Self Published By HR Students of Rajadhani Business School Nagaroor, Attingal, Thiruvananthapuram 2016-2018 For internal circulation only
  • 3.
    FOREWORD I congratulate ScariaThomas (Assistant professor, Rajadhani Business School) and our T6 MBA students (HR domain, 2016 Batch) for publishing a textbook on Management Of Creativity, based on the MBA syllabus of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. A great effort indeed! Students always look for the textbooks that they could easily understand and apprehend. When I was a student too, I wanted such a textbook! I could not find it. I could find some fantastic books on the subject, but could not find a book that provided real life examples and explanations. This book is the result of a few MBA students with research insight and want to explore more into the subject. Once they compiled, they wanted to share the wealth of information with other fellow students. The intent of the authors is to help readers, i.e., management students and faculty, to have easy access to information and help them to attain good grades. I am sure this book is going to be a ‘live project’ and the same authors will keep on updating it once they start their career in this field. In closing, I am excited to share with readers “A Textbook on Management Of Creativity” that would definitely help you to in understanding the subject. Without doubt, I can say that this book is an enthusiastic celebration of techniques involved in Management Of Creativity. I think that the authors can be confident that there will be many grateful readers who will gain a broader perspective of the discipline . Rajit Karunakaran Nair Director, Rajadhani Business School, Trivandrum, Kerala (Author of “Making of a Sensible Consultant” & “Fearless or Shameless”)
  • 4.
    FOREWORD I feel proudto know about the academic initiative by our MBA T6 students by publishing a book of “Management Of Creativity”. This is the second initiative of our students in this direction. The first book of Sales and Distribution was well appreciated and acclaimed by our management and student fraternity. This noble sharing efforts and initiatives make RBS, a different learning place. I take this opportunity to congratulate Mr Scaria Thomas, Assistant Professor and the entire members of student team for this commendable work. I wish and expect more such efforts from our students and faculty members in future. Prof (Dr) Rajesh S Pyngavil Professor and Head Rajadhani Business School
  • 5.
    FOREWORD Creativity is essentialin every walk of life the same way it essential for management too. They go hand in hand. Creativity is the keystone of all the successful management ventures. This book on “Management Of Creativity” is a sincere effort by the HR students of the college, purely based on KTU Syllabus of T6 HR paper named Management of Creativity. The Book details about Creativity styles, Creativity in problem solving, Lateral thinking, Ideation, TRIZ, Six thinking hats, Decision and Evaluation. An outstanding portrayal of the minuet accepts of creativity in Human Resources Management. This book is a sure help for the students specializing in HR. Scaria Thomas Assistant professor Rajadhani Business School, Trivandrum
  • 6.
    FOREWORD A great initiativeby the HR specialization students of RBS by producing a book on “Management Of Creativity” as per KTU syllabus. Credits to entire crew and Scaria sir for this superb attempt. Shaan R S Assistant Professor Rajadhani Business School, Trivandrum
  • 7.
    MANAGEMENT OF CREATIVITY AUTHORS MANASAPRADEEP PRASEETHA GOKHALEY HAJNA.G.S LEKSHMI PRAKASH SUDHINA NAZER MINNU SABU
  • 8.
    ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We thank God,almighty giving as a splendid opportunity for completing our work “A Textbook on Management Of Creativity” as per the KTU syllabus. We would like to thank our mentor Asst. Prof.Scaria Thomas, Rajadhani Business School, for encouraging and supporting us to publish this book. We would like to express our gratitude and thanks to Prof. Rajit Karunakaran Nair, Director Rajadhani Business School and Prof. Dr. Rajesh S Pyngavil Professor & Head, Rajadhani Business School, for helping us making this book a reality. Last but not least we thank all our RBS faculty, all our friends of Rajadhani Business School and our family, for giving their support and well wishing. We beg forgiveness of all those have been with our work and those we have failed to mention. Team Human Resources Management RBS 2016-2018
  • 9.
    INDEX Units Contents PageNo: 1 Creativity & Concepts: Making a case for creativity; Creative thinking as a skill; Valuing diversity in thinking – Thinking preferences, Cognitive biases of creativity.Creativity styles; setting the stage for success – Basic philosophy, Having a vision, Setting the right attitude, Recognizing and avoiding mental blocks, Avoiding mindsets, Risk taking, Paradigm shift and paradigm paralysis, Individual and team work; Creativity in problem solving – Problem definition, Understanding, Representing; Pattern Breaking – Thinking differently, Changing your point of view, Watching for paradigm shift, Challenging conventional wisdom, Lateral thinking, Provocation (escape, random word), Mind stimulation: games, brain-twisters and puzzles. 1 – 21 2 (a) 2 (b) Idea and Opportunity: History of ideas – development of ideas in history (post-it notes, coke bottles); Ideation – Basic of human information processing; Factors influencing ideation - social factors, resources, motivation, context, time; Recognizing Opportunities – how to recognize opportunities; Exploration, evaluation, exploitation, Factors revealing opportunities - Alertness, knowledge, luck. Defining an opportunity - objective or subjective nature, underlying needs and wants, newness, entrepreneurial strategies of Vesper; Discovery view (building on cognitive foundations and Scott Shane’s material) - sources of opportunities, key correlates with opportunity recognition); Creation view - building on Saras Sarasvathy’s effectuation Logic, implications on the process. 22 – 42
  • 10.
    3 Ideation process: Idea-collection processes- Brainstorming/Brain-writing, The SCAMPER methods, Metaphoric thinking, Outrageous thinking, Mapping thoughts, Other (new approaches); Using Math and Science - Systematic logical thinking, Using math concepts; Eight-Dimensional (8D) Approach to Ideation - Uniqueness, Dimensionality, Directionality, Consolidation, Segmentation, Modification, Similarity, Experimentation. 43 – 63 4 Systematic Inventive Thinking: TRIZ - Fundamentals of TRIZ, Trial and Error and Systematic Innovation, Patents, sources of Technological Innovation; Key finding in TRIZ Patents Research - Level of Invention, Definition of Inventive Problem, Patterns of Technology Evolution, Patterns of Invention; Ideal Final Result (IFR), Psychological Inertia, TRIZ Process, Cause Effect Chains Diagram, Contradictions Matrix, 40 Inventive Principles to resolve technical contradiction 64 – 72 5 Decision and Ownership: Decision and Evaluation - Focused thinking framework; Recognizing Reasoned Arguments – short arguments and non arguments; drawing conclusions, inference, or hypothesis; Assumptions - implicit assumptions, underlying assumptions; Reasoning – reasoning, explanations, flaws in reasoning; Six Thinking hats; Ethical considerations. Intellectual Property - Introduction to intellectual property rights- Patents, Copyrights , Trademarks , Trade Secret, Unfair Competition. 73 – 80 6 Reference 81
  • 11.
    MODULE 1 CREATIVITY CREATIVITY Creativity isthe act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. CONCEPT OF CREATIVE THINKING Creative thinking has two aspects: 1. The process of creative thinking 2. The product of creative thinking While the process of creation is an inner happening, the product of creation is seen and defined COMPONENTS OF CREATIVITY 1. Imagination- the process by which items of experience are combined to form new products. 2. Fluency-it means the frequency with which relevant and unrepeated ideas come to one’s mind after a question is put. 3. Flexibility-it is represented by a person’s ability to produce ideas which differ in approval or thought trend. 4. Originality-it is uniqueness of response, defines originality as the production of unusual, for fetched, remote or clever responses among members of a certain population. 5. Elaboration-it is indicated by a person’s ability to add pertinent details to the minimum and primary response to the stimulus. 6. Curiosity-it is an exploratory behavior. 7. Giftedness-it was considered only children with greater IQ were gifted, but now it is intelligence or talent and artistic ability. CREATIVE THINKING AS A SKILL: It’s important to have a creative thinking to solve problems more effectively. So we have to improve our creative thinking. Some of the ways to improve our creative thinking are as follows: Sensing • Use all your senses—see, taste, smell, touch, hear, think, speak. • Be a good observer of people, nature, and events around you.
  • 12.
    Thinking • Engage thinkingon the right side of your brain (intuition, open-mindedness, visual perception, rhythm . . .). • Change your interpretation of an event, situation, behavior, person, or object. • Allow ideas to incubate. • Be open to insight as ideas pop into your mind. Imagining • Brainstorm by generating ideas with a group of people. • Ask, “What would happen if . . .” • Ask, “In how many different ways . . .” • Develop ideas and expand their possibilities. • Envision the future. Speaking and Writing • Use your words and your “voice” when conveying your original ideas. • Avoid using clichés or overly familiar responses to questions or problems. • Explain how your ideas move beyond the status quo and contribute to a discussion. • Take notes. Drawing • Use mind-mapping to capture ideas; start with a key concept and write it in the center of your page; use connecting lines, radiating from the central concept, and write down any connected or related ideas that come to you. • Create pictures or drawings of situations (“rich pictures”) to show them in a different way. Learning • Find ways to demonstrate your personal investment in projects. • Gather knowledge and conduct research. • Have more fun learning! Moving • Do physical activities to engage the creative areas of your brain and think differently. Resting • Take breaks.
  • 13.
    Dimensions of CreativeStyle VALUING DIVERSITY IN THINKING: Here are four tips for getting the most from your own and others’ thinking diversity: 1. Expect it and plan for it so you’re not quite so surprised when you face it. Awareness can keep you from having a knee-jerk reaction or jumping to conclusions. 2. Look for the learning you can get from different perspectives: What might you overlook without them? That, alone, may encourage you to seek out differences. 3. Keep in mind this process requires a mental stretch. If you’re irritated, the other person probably is, too. You both have to stretch to bridge the thinking divide, so recognize what’s happening and cut each other some slack. 4. Unique is normal—so have fun with it! In nearly every discussion we have with clients, they share stories of how recognizing and valuing thinking diversity has helped them lighten up about it. They realize the differences aren’t personal, it’s just “where she’s coming from” THINKING PREFERENCES:
  • 14.
    The awareness ofone’s own thinking preferences and the thinking preferences of others, combined with the ability to act outside of one’s preferred thinking preferences is known as “Whole Brain Thinking.” The model was developed by Ned Herrmann. Using brain research developed by others and his own studies, Herrmann discovered that there were four patterns that emerged in terms of how the brain perceives and processes information. The Whole Brain Thinking is a methodology designed to help thinkers, teams and organizations better benefit from all of the thinking available to them. It acknowledges that while different tasks require different mental processes, and different people prefer different kinds of thinking, organizations will get better results when they can strategically leverage the full spectrum of thinking available. Each person (yes, you!) has thinking preferences, some strong, others intermediate. Those preferences develop into dominances, and without the awareness of those preferences, you may fall victim to blind spots when it comes to other people’s ways of thinking. But Whole Brain Thinking reminds us that everyone has access to all four ways of thinking. Applying Whole Brain Thinking means being able to fully leverage one’s own preferences, stretch to other quadrants when necessary, and adapt to and take advantage of the preferences of those around you to improve performance and results.
  • 15.
    COGNITIVE BIASES OFCREATIVITY: A cognitive bias is a mistake in reasoning, evaluating, remembering, or other cognitive process, often occurring as a result of holding onto one's preferences and beliefs regardless of contrary information. There are many cognitive biases that should be avoided for creative thinking. Some of the cognitive biases are given below: 1. Conservatism Belief: When old established information is favoured above new more recent information. 2. Dunning-Kruger Effect: When unskilled people overestimate their skills and skilled people underestimate theirs. 3. Functional Fixedness: Limits the use of an object to what it is designed for. Absence of this bias is one of the markers for increased creativity. And the practice of relinquishing the bias can help you boost creative thinking. 4. Hyperbolic Discounting: This is the tendency to favour short-term immediate gains over longer term gains. Leads to poor long-term decisions. 5. Planning Fallacy: The tendency to underestimate the time it will take to complete certain tasks. Cognitive Biases that Impact Innovation Our everyday decisions, and those of our colleagues, our consumers, and our families are constantly influenced by hundreds of cognitive biases. 1. Mere Exposure; We like things we are familiar with. So the more we have seen something, the more we will like it. It’s one reason why advertising works, as it makes things more familiar, and hence makes us more likely to choose them. A similar bias is the availability cascade, where if we repeat something enough, it becomes true.
  • 16.
    2. Backfire effectwhen people react to evidence that challenges their opinion by strengthening their existing beliefs. Closely related is irrational escalation, a phenomenon where people justify increased commitment to a course of action based on prior investment, even in the face of new evidence suggesting that the original action was wrong. If you innovate for long enough, you’ll find these somewhere! 3. Illusory Correlation, or False Cause Fallacy: Inaccurately perceiving a relationship between two unrelated events, often because they occur in close temporal proximity. Correlation does not mean causation, but we are wired to make that connection. Often harmless, it can lead to superstitions like a lucky jacket. However, it can also be a barrier to innovation, particularly in situations where a new product is incorrectly linked to background problems that routinely occur, but become more visible simply because the innovation focuses more attention on the whole usage experience. For example, linking vaccination to Autism, or a new drug to apparent side effects, such as an upset stomach, which in reality would have occurred with or without the drug 4. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, or interpret information in a way that confirms our preconceptions. Expectation bias is closely related, and is the tendency for experimenters to believe data that agree with their expectations for the outcome of an experiment, and to disbelieve and discard data that appear to conflict with those expectations 5. Functional fixedness limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used. The killer application of many inventions is not the one it was originally created for. Being able to see though this bias can be a huge enabler for innovation, whether it leads to the Post-It note, or James Dyson’s use of centripetal separation in his vacuum cleaner. 6. Framing effect: We draw different conclusions from the same information, depending upon on how or where that information is presented. Most people would rather have a surgery that has a 90% survival rate than one that has a 10% mortality rate. We prefer a car with a 99% reliability record than one that breaks down more than 3 days a year! We are used to framing, or spinning in politics (are you pro choice or pro life?), but it also matters when you are pitching an idea, service, or a new innovation. 7. Context Effect: Never go shopping when you are hungry, you will buy more calories! People who are happy will respond to an innovation differently to people who are frustrated. Refreshed people are more open to new ideas, while tired people are more likely to fall back on old habits. Context is also crucial for Innovation research. Data generated in a lab, a focus group, or when someone is wired up to an EEG machine or brain scanner, will often be different to behavior in the real world.
  • 17.
    8. Zero-risk bias:We prefer reducing a small risk to zero over reducing a big risk to a small one. We also love things that are free, which is a close cousin to zero risk. Whether it is free shipping, 20% extra free, buy one get one free, or a money back guarantee, we are tapping into this bias. This is closely related to Prospect Theory for anyone who wants to dig a little deeper. 9. Distinction bias is the tendency to view two options as more dissimilar when evaluating them side by side than when evaluating them separately. This is important for research, where we often compare different option in close proximity, when in the real world they may never be seen together. Also related to, “the new prototype is 5x better than the old one”. Making big improvements is a faulty prototype can be seductive to a team who has put their all into the improvement. But this doesn’t matter to a potential customer who never saw the old prototype. All that matters to them is how we compare to the market. This is also related to the Relativity bias, which is the tendency to make relative, rather than absolute evaluations. 10. Mental accounting The tendency to value things differently based on what internal classification we put on them. The way we think of money is different depending upon whether we are paying cash or using a credit card. We think of value differently for luxury versus commodity items. Framing an innovation to match the right internal classification for potential buyers can be the difference between success and failure just as much as the innovation itself. 11. Hyperbolic discounting the tendency for people to have a stronger preference for more immediate payoffs relative to later payoffs. This bias for short-term gains probably made a lot of sense on the savannah, but today it contributes to obesity, poor diet, lack of compliance to life saving medications, even texting and driving. 12. Endowment effect and Loss Aversion Bias: People often demand much more (often 2x) to give up an object than they would be willing to pay to acquire it. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, even if we are given a guarantee that we’ll get the ones in the bush later. Giving someone a bonus, and then taking it back if somebody doesn’t meet a goal is often more powerful than giving them the same bonus if they do. 13. Planning Fallacy the tendency to underestimate task-completion times and cost. I suspect we’ve all experienced this in some form, but it never seems to completely go away! 14. Peak End Rule. We tend to remember things in terms of the peak (negative or positive) experience in the process, and the end result. So a medical procedure may be remembered by the most intense moment of pain, and how it ended, rather than for little bursts of pain that occurred throughout. An innovative meal by the first bite of an amazing dish, and the check! It is worth thinking about the experience with our innovations from peak end perspective, which also embraces the weakest link.
  • 18.
    15. Availability heuristic:We estimate what is more likely by what is more available in memory, which is in turn biased toward vivid, unusual, or emotionally charged examples, or recall driven by current context. This is really important for advertizing, as we remember things that were encoded into memory under similar conditions to where we are at the moment, so there is a lot of value of connecting advertizing to the point of purchase, or in creating advertizing where our innovation is associated with vivid emotional events (ideally positive) 16. Rhyme as reason effect rhyming statements is perceived as more truthful and/or more likeable. Rhyme all the time, your innovation will shine! 17. Dunning Kruger effect where incompetent people fail to realize they are incompetent because they lack the skill to distinguish between competence and incompetence. Common when people are moved to areas that are new with the same responsibility they had in their old space, and when people are promoted beyond their abilities. I’ve been fortunate to only have to deal with this in a small number of occasions, but when I have, there has been a somewhat irrational comfort in being able to give it a name! 18. Information bias is the tendency to seek information even when it cannot affect action. This delays action, and hence risk, and the potential for loss or blame, but of course, also slows down innovation. 19. Knowledge bias the tendency of people to choose the option they know best rather than the best option. As innovators, overcoming this bias can be the key to disruption, as looking in unexpected places is more likely to drive big, innovative leaps. 20. Bandwagon effect the tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people believe the same. Not always a bad idea. If everyone believes something is poisonous, you may not want to eat it, and crowd sourcing can be a powerful tool. However, challenging widely held givens can also be a way to be at the front of the crowd, rather than following it.
  • 19.
    CREATIVITY STYLES: SETTING THESTAGE FOR SUCCESS: • Basic philosophy • Having a vision • Setting the right attitude • Recognizing and avoiding mental blocks • Avoiding mindsets • Risk taking • Paradigm shift and paradigm paralysis • Individual and teamwork SETTING THE RIGHT ATTITUDE: • Remember that YOU control your attitude. • Adopt beliefs that frame events in a positive way.
  • 20.
    • Create a"library" of positive thoughts. • Avoid angry or negative media. • Ignore whiners and complainers. • Use a more positive vocabulary. RECOGNIZING AND AVOIDING MENTAL BLOCKS: An inability to recall something or to perform a mental action is termed as mental block. Mental blocks can be caused by physical disabilities or simply a lack of focus. Mental blocks are also often used to describe a temporary inability to recall a name or other information. Recognizing Mental Blocks: 1. Perceptual blocks • Stereotypes – This is a broad category that consists of seeing what you expect to see. Stereotyping is an efficient form of decision making in many cases, but prevents you from seeing what is really there. • Excess information – Key information may be difficult to isolate from the environment. There is a huge amount of information to be processed by your brain and knowing which information will be important in the future can be difficult. • Boundaries – Some problems are difficult to analyze because the frame around the problem is the wrong size. The think-out-of-the-box metaphor speaks to this block. Sometimes clarity comes from expanding the boundaries, but sometimes it comes from narrowing the boundary. May organizations carry a bias towards convergence that reinforces the tendency to look at problems more narrowly. The boundaries that are established can have a large effect on the potentials solutions that can be imagined. • Limited perspective – The importance of a problem will differs to different people, as does what is important about a problem. The inability to empathize with other perspectives and interests blocks you from a complete view of the problem. • Capacity – You are constantly flooded with information and so select which things to attend to and remember. As a consequence, you forget much more than you remember. In some cases, people are actually trained to ignore details, but mostly they just pay less attention. • Limited attention to the senses – Most people is strongly visual and use their other four senses much less intently. Some professions (e.g., cooking, mechanical repair) require development of other senses, but in most business settings vision and hearing dominate sensory input. 2. Emotional blocks: • Fear – expressing an idea is personal risk (of looking ignorant or foolish). There may also be fear of future failure and loss of money (or something equivalent). • Discomfort with chaos – Often new ideas are unclear and increase ambiguity, before they increase clarity. Anticipation of an increased feeling of chaos hinders people and groups. Most people are more comfortable with order and expect problem solving to increase
  • 21.
    order. The factthat the first stages of problem solving often increase disorder causes trouble. • Reluctance to incubate – People want to immediately judge ideas, reach conclusions and take action. Better ideas that come out after the action begins are ignored. The feeling is that it is too late, nobody wants to go “backwards”. In a related way, people resist working on the problem for a while to get “primed”, and then take a break to let the mind “work on the problem”. This may be based on the sense that this incubation requirement is an indication of being less intelligent or committed. • Lack of focus – People who are multi-tasking will struggle to generate the focus required to really think about the problem. Distractions clog short-term memory and prevent ideas from being noticed or novel connections between ideas from being made. 3. Cultural and environmental blocks These blocks may simply prevent people from expressing their ideas out of concern about upsetting the group. When the block is stronger, it may prevent people from even thinking about the blocked area. Examples of these blocks include: • Taboos – These are primarily unspoken social norms that are defended by the group. Certain words are never used and some topics are never brought up in groups. The absence of these sources of inspiration or clarification blocks thinking. • Commitment to being serious – Humor is based on a discontinuity with expectations. So is creativity. By keeping all interactions serious, individuals and groups block themselves from discussions about “silly” insights that make have useful implications. • Logic & reason – Logic is very powerful and most adults and organizations believe that they are governed by logic. Excess attachment to reason prevents individuals from accessing “hunches” about solutions. More importantly, the attachment prevents people from expressing their hunches. 4. Intellectual and Expressive blocks: • Using the wrong “language” to think about the problem – Some problems are best examined in visual terms, while others are suited for mathematical analysis. However, most people default to thinking about problems using words. While suitable in some cases, many problems are nearly impossible to solve when words are the sole medium of approach. More generally, attempting to think about a problem in the “wrong” language blocks us from potentially understanding the problem or expressing the solution. • Overuse of a few thinking patterns – One of the most popular thinking strategies in business is analysis: the process of “taking apart”. But the solutions for many problems require a different thinking strategy. People with relatively few thinking strategies are blocked in their ability to create ideas. The book lists over 60 thinking strategies, which are basically verbs that describe different actions. Sample verbs/strategies include combine, select, visualize, vary and cycle. • Incorrect and incomplete information – Because the quality of a solution is often dependent on the quality of the inputs, poor quality information can block development of a proper solution. It is often forgotten that it is more common for errors to propagate through an analysis than it is for good information to “cancel” bad information.
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    AVOIDING MENTAL BLOCKS: AVOIDINGMINDSETS: 7 real life fixed mindset mistakes and how to avoid doing them 1. Fixed mindset: Thinking that you can’t develop in something. Growth mindset: Whatever it is, you can always develop in it, even if it’s simply figuring out how to do it more efficiently or differently. If you want to become more of an extrovert, learn about how to socialize and find events which you find interesting to network in. If you want to improve your fitness, work with a personal trainer, like Oitoo, to come up with a suitable training scheme. 2. Fixed mindset: Being obsessed with being perceived a certain way, such as “smart”. Growth mindset: Be the real authentic you. The thoughts people have of you shouldn’t matter. And if you focus on learning and growing, I guarantee you will be appreciated and seen in a completely different positive light for wanting to continuously develop and grow. 3. Fixed mindset: Avoid challenges for fear of failure. Growth mindset: Take up challenges as an opportunity to learn. If you don’t fail, you’re less likely to learn. So take risks, look for challenges and try things differently. You’re more likely to discover the real gems that will make you succeed and it will be a hell lot more fun too! 4. Fixed mindset: Give up easily. Growth mindset: Persist at the things you want most. Don’t let obstacles stop you but motivate you further. Most things worth having don’t come easily. 5. Fixed mindset: See effort as something untalented people have to do. Growth mindset: Effort & hard work will get you where you want to go. And when you’ve put hard work into it, good results will taste so much sweeter. 6. Fixed mindset: Ignore useful negative feedback.
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    Growth mindset: Usefeedback to help you progress forward. Your friends, customers, and managers want to help you to improve, so listen to the feedback they have for you. 7. Fixed mindset: Feel threatened by others’ success. Growth mindset: Get inspired and learn from them instead. Ask them how they got to where they are and what were their secrets behind their success. Learn from their learning. RISK TAKING: The act or fact of doing something that involves danger or risk in order to achieve a goal. Starting a business always involves some risk-taking. Reasons why risk taking leads to success: 1. Unforeseen opportunities often come from risk-taking. 2. Taking risks shows confidence and helps you stand out. 3. We learn from risks and those lessons may lead us on an important, new path. 4. Success won't fall in your lap, you have to pursue it. 5. You don't achieve your dreams by playing it safe. 6. Embracing risk-taking helps you overcome a fear of failure. PARADIGM SHIFT AND PARADIGM PARALYSIS: Think of your favorite fruit. Imagine that for as long as you could remember, your favorite fruit was an apple. Not just any type of apple - it had to be a Granny Smith apple! You loved the bright green color, the scent of the apples in the fruit market, the crisp juicy crunch, and the mixture of sweetness and tartness that was just the right balance. You were sure that Granny Smith apples were simply the most perfect fruit ever created. Then, you visited a tropical island, and in the village where you stayed, there was a whole new and wonderful rainbow of fruits available for you to taste. There were fruits that you had heard of before, but had never tasted, like plantains, papayas, and mangoes. Then there were others still that you had never even heard of before, like kumquats, rambutans, lychees, and dragon fruit. You tried them all, and guess what? You found out that you loved mangoes even more than Granny Smith apples! You have just experienced what is known as a paradigm shift. A paradigm is a perception or a group of ideas about how things should be done, made, or thought about. In other words, it's your perspective on the world, your point of view, or your beliefs about what's true. A paradigm shift occurs whenever there's a significant change in the way an individual or a group perceives something, and the old paradigm is replaced by a new way of thinking, or a new belief. Individuals have their own personal paradigms, or lenses through which they view the world. Corporations and other organizations have corporate paradigms regarding the methods by which they believe their goals will best be accomplished. Likewise, cultural communities have cultural paradigms that include their sets of beliefs about themselves, about others, and about the world. A paradigm shift (also radical theory change), a concept identified by the American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996), is a fundamental change in the basic concepts and
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    experimental practices ofa scientific discipline. A fundamental change in an individual’s or a society’s view of how things work in the world is called paradigm shift. The 6 major paradigm shifts: ❖ Push to pull. ❖ Consume to Create ❖ Assets to Access ❖ Linear to Complex ❖ Scarcity to Abundance ❖ Universal to Unique 1. Push to pull is the shift from pushing structures and products to pulling in resources and demand. We are moving from marketing existing stocks to manufacturing on demand; shifting from top-down allocation to pulling resources for projects; moving from fixed structures to varying constellations, and understanding and responding to emergent patterns of user behavior. 2. Consume to create is the shift from passively consuming to actively contributing and creating. We are shifting to a more participatory experience, in which the customer is actively involved, co-creating the product or experience. People are using their cognitive surplus to create communal projects such as Wikipedia and open-source software. 3. Assets to Access is the shift from acquiring and hoarding knowledge to spreading and sharing knowledge. In education, it means shifting from memorizing facts to knowing where to find information. The new skill is searching for and evaluating information. In media, we see a shift from an emphasis on authoring to an emphasis on curating. In scientific research, the difficulty has shifted from being able to find data to navigating and mining massive databases. 4. Linear to complex is the shift from independent and predictable systems to interdependent adaptive systems. We are transitioning from seeing the world in a linear way, in which small causes have small effects and large causes have large effects, to realizing that it’s perfectly possible for large marketing campaigns to have almost no result, while small things go viral and flood the market. When we are moving from a predictable world to a world that is unpredictable in principle, we must shift our strategy from planning to prepare. 5. Scarcity to abundance is the shift from scarce natural resources to using natural abundance. Where a specific situation may have had a limited set of choices, it now specializes on an abundance of renewable resources. 6. Universal to unique is the shift from mass production to tailored and individualized artifacts. In the health-care field, it is shown by the emergence of individualized medicine tailored to the genetic make- up of the user, and by the rise of individual quantified self-data. In terms of consumer empowerment, it is the possibility to design your own clothes, shoes, consumer products, and to 3D-print your own version of consumer goods. Paradigm paralysis refers to the refusal or inability to think or see outside or beyond the current framework or way of thinking or seeing or perceiving things. Paradigm paralysis is often used to indicate a general lack of cognitive flexibility and adaptability of thinking.
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    8 Steps toThinking Creatively: Overcoming Paradigm Paralysis: 1. Look at a problem in many different ways. Much like Leonardo da Vinci did in looking at his creations from multiple vantage points. He drew the different points of view. (And the added benefit if you draw is that maybe someday you will be famous too.) 2. Make your thoughts visible. Diagrams are an excellent tool to make your thoughts visible. 3. Produce a lot. And this means a lot. Edison is famous for this as is Issac Asimov, who wrote 450 books. 4. Combine Things in new ways. New relationships of well-known concepts or ideas may spark something for you. It worked for Albert Einstein with E=mc2 . No one had thought of combining energy, mass and the speed of light together. 5. Force Relationships. Samuel Morse came up with the solution to weak telegraph signals one day by watching a team of horses being switched out at a relay station thus getting the idea of boosting the signal as it went along the wires. 6. Think in opposites. What if we ate dessert before dinner or we grew younger rather than older. How might this apply to incentives versus rewards? 7. Think metaphorically. Can you recognize resemblances between very different situations? Take a lesson from Aristotle. 8. Prepare for the benefits of chance. Chance happens. As Louis Pasteur said “Luck favors the prepared mind.” TEAM WORK: Importance of teamwork is as follows: ➢ Teamwork motivates unity in the workplace. ➢ Teamwork offers differing perspectives and feedback. ➢ Teamwork provides improved efficiency and productivity. ➢ Teamwork provides great learning opportunities. ➢ Teamwork promotes workplace synergy. The Basics of Creative Problem Solving – CPS Creative problem solving isn't just brainstorming, although that's what many people may associate it with. It's actually a well-defined process that can help you from problem definition to implementing solutions, according to Jeffrey Baumgartner. Creative ideas do not suddenly appear in people’s minds for no apparent reason. Rather, they are the result of trying to solve a specific problem or to achieve a particular goal. Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity were not sudden inspirations. Rather they were the result of a huge amount of mental problem solving trying to close a discrepancy between the laws of physics and the laws of electromagnetism as they were understood at the time. Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and other creative geniuses have always worked in the same way. They do not wait for creative ideas to strike them. Rather they focus on trying to solve a clearly stated, at least in their minds, problem. This is just like important TED talks to ideate for business innovation specifically discussed to get a better solution for existing problems.
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    This approach hasbeen formalized as Creative Problem Solving (CPS). CPS is a simple process that involves breaking down a problem to understand it, generating ideas to solve the problem and evaluating those ideas to find the most effective solutions. Highly creative people tend to follow this process in their heads, without thinking about it. Less naturally creative people simply have to learn to use this very simple process. A 7-step CPS framework Although creative problem solving has been around as long as humans have been thinking creatively and solving problems, it was first formalized as a process by Alex Osborn, who invented traditional brainstorming, and Sidney Parnes. Their Creative Problem Solving Process (CPSP) has been taught at the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo College in Buffalo, New York since the 1950s. However, there are numerous different approaches to CPS. Mine is more focused on innovation (that is the implementation of the most promising ideas). It involves seven straightforward steps. CPS Steps • Clarify and identify the problem • Research the problem • Formulate creative challenges • Generate ideas • Combine and evaluate the ideas • Draw up an action plan • Do it! (implement the ideas) Let us look at each step more closely: 1. Clarify and identify the problem Arguably the single most important step of CPS is identifying your real problem or goal. This may seem easy, but very often, what we believe to be the problem is not the real problem or goal. For instance, you may feel you need a new job. However, if you break down your problem and analyse what you are really looking for, it may transpire that the actual issue is that your income does not cover your costs of living. In this case, the solution may be a new job, but it might also be to re-arrange your expenses or to seek a pay rise from your existing employer. 2. Research the problem The next step in CPS is to research the problem in order to get a better understanding of it. Depending on the nature of the problem, you may need to do a great deal of research or very little. The best place to start these days is with your favorite search engine. But do not neglect good old fashioned sources of information and opinion. Libraries are fantastic for in-depth information that is easier to read than computer screens. Friends, colleagues and family can also provide thoughts on many issues. Fora on sites like LinkedIn and elsewhere are ideal for asking questions. There’s nothing an expert enjoys more than imparting her knowledge. Take advantage of that. But always try to get feedback from several people to ensure you get well-rounded information.
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    3. Formulate oneor more creative challenges Creative challenges should be simple, concise and focus on a single issue. For example: “How might I improve my Chinese language skills and find a job in Shanghai?” is two completely separate challenges. Trying to generate ideas that solve both challenges will be difficult and, as a result, will stifle idea generation. So separate these into two challenges: “How might I improve my Chinese language skills?” and “How might I find a job in Shanghai?” Then attack each challenge individually. Once you have ideas for both, you may find a logical approach to solving both problems in a coordinated way. Or you might find that there is not a coordinated way and each problem must be tackled separately. 4. Generate ideas Finally, we come to the part most people associate with brainstorming and creative problem solving: idea generation. And you probably know how this works. Take only one creative challenge. Give yourself some quiet time and try to generate at least 50 ideas that may or may not solve the challenge. You can do this alone or you can invite some friends or family members to help you. 5. Combine and evaluate ideas After you have written down all of your ideas, take a break. It might just be an hour. It might be a day or more. Then go through the ideas. Related ideas can be combined together to form big ideas (or idea clusters). Then, using the criteria you devised earlier, choose all of the ideas that broadly meet those criteria. This is important. If you focus only on the “best” ideas or your favorite ideas, the chances are you will choose the less creative ones! Nevertheless, feel free to include your favorite ideas in the initial list of ideas. 6. Draw up an action plan At this point, you have some great ideas. However, a lot of people have trouble motivating themselves to take the next step. Creative ideas may mean big changes or taking risks. Some of us love change and risk. Others are scared by it. Draw up an action plan with the simple steps you need to take in order to implement your ideas. Ideas that involve a lot work to implement can be particularly intimidating. Breaking their implementation down into a series of readily accomplished tasks makes these ideas easier to cope with and implement. 7. Do it! This is the simplest step of all. Take your action plan and implement your idea. And if the situation veers away from your action plan steps, don’t worry. Rewrite your action plan! Diversity of thought What is Diversity of Thought? “The idea of more than one way” Diversity of thought—the idea of more-than-one-way— is key to understanding the potential of diversity and inclusion as an organizational resource. The way each of us interprets and negotiates the world around us is informed by our identity, culture and experience. Diversity of thought allows for differing perspectives on ideas and unique insights into problems. It creates opportunities for innovation, and partnerships in unexpected places. It allows you to take a "reality check" before plunging into new activities. Most important, it helps avoid groupthink. It
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    encompasses the ideathat different ideas, even conflicting ideas, will rub and bump against one another. Eventually this collision will instigate newer and more forward-thinking ideas that can be implemented as successful business strategies. Here are four tips for getting the most from your own and others’ thinking diversity: • Expect it and plan for it so you’re not quite so surprised when you face it. Awareness can keep you from having a knee-jerk reaction or jumping to conclusions. • Look for the learning you can get from different perspectives: What might you overlook without them? That, alone, may encourage you to seek out differences. • Keep in mind this process requires a mental stretch. If you’re irritated, the other person probably is, too. You both have to stretch to bridge the thinking divide, so recognize what’s happening and cut each other some slack. • Unique is normal—so have fun with it! In nearly every discussion we have with clients, they share stories of how recognizing and valuing thinking diversity has helped them lighten up about it. They realize the differences aren’t personal, it’s just “where she’s coming from.” How to Creating a Culture that Embraces Diversity of Thought • Encourage open discussion • Explore all problems from the four-point sequence – beginning with What do you know • Assign roles for asking difficult questions (have a devil's advocate) • Reward truth speakers • Train staff for the art of the difficult conversation • Invite new perspectives to discussions • Build in time to reflect and revisit tough decisions When defining or considering how best to execute organizational diversity of thought management or strategy, there are some best practices associated with executing this kind of diversity: Evaluate opportunity - Not every decision requires multiple, diverse perspectives to ensure that it’s solid. Determine the perspectives needed - When considering whom to invite to exploratory meetings, include those who will be impacted by the decision or who have pertinent knowledge. Identify information-gathering mechanisms - How a team gathers diverse perspectives will depend on who the audience is. Teams can leverage multiple tools from survey products, to intranets, to email systems and telephone conferencing capabilities to gather and deliver information. When the number of participants is small, real-time conversations are ideal.
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    Challenges to ImplementingDiversity of Thought Challenge: Grasping that Executive Leadership and Subject Matter Experts (SME) may not always have the right answer ➢ An understated challenge may be getting the leadership to admit that he or she doesn’t hold all the answers. According to IBM’s “Leading through Connections” study, more CEOs rely on their workforces to provide the full picture. In the meantime, the workforce is hungry for more ways to fully collaborate with their organizations; they want to have a real stake in the company’s success. ➢ Professor Scott E. Page has used mathematic models showing that "diversity trumps ability". His case studies have demonstrated that strong teams of diverse individuals have better problem solving skills than teams of more qualified people that come from the same perspective. ➢ Businesses generally tend to link innovation with a creative drive that is exclusive to the top and brightest talent, however, scientific research confirms that true innovation thrives in an inclusive culture that values diverse ideas, leverages unique perspectives and invites everyone to achieve collaborative breakthroughs across the entire organization. Pattern Breaking We base our thinking on past experiences. In our everyday life this is good; it makes us efficient at performing tasks. However, when it comes to thinking of new ideas it can inhibit our creativity because we automatically revert to past patterns of thinking based on what we know has worked before. If we are going to be genuinely creative and come up with something new we need to break our current patterns of thinking. Therefore, the wider we look for inspiration and the more new connections we open up to, the more likely we are to come up with genuinely new ideas. The same can also be said when we are searching for a solution to a specific problem. If we deliberately work to break our patterns of thinking in our everyday lives we will be better equipped with a resource of experiences from which we can draw when we are required to think more creatively. Tips to help us all break patterns. • Read a different newspaper or magazine – read something as different as possible to your ‘normal’ paper or magazine and note the differences. • Watch a film that you wouldn’t usually watch – maybe a different genre, or a film with subtitles, or ask someone else to choose for you as long as it’s different from your normal preferences. Then talk about how you feel about it. Were you pleasantly surprised or bored to tears? Think about why • Take up a new activity – as long as it’s new, it doesn’t matter what it is. What have you been meaning to do –singing, dancing the tango, or learning a new language? • Go for coffee or lunch with a colleague who works in a different team and who will have a different perspective. If you don’t normally go out for coffee or lunch all the better, and if you do go out regularly then go somewhere new.
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    • Ask children– children are more creative than adults because they haven’t got such ingrained patterns of behavior. They are not afraid to ask why and they will certainly have a different perspective on a problem. • Take a different route to work ¬ you will have a different experience, encounter different people and break some of the most ingrained everyday patterns in your life. • Cook a new recipe – use ingredients that you have never tried before. If you are not a natural chef, take a cookery lesson, or eat out in a restaurant that you have never been to. • Listen to a different radio station – try one that is totally different to your normal preference. Listen to it for a week. Then change again. • Get out of your normal environment for a set time every week. Go and work from the local coffee shop, hold a meeting in the park, hot-desk in a different department. • Take a walk in the park during office hours. Deliberately change the pace of your thinking. Take time to ponder. • Listen to the music charts – do you know what’s number one at the moment? No, me neither. Find out; amaze your colleagues. • Do lateral thinking puzzles – these puzzles are scenarios which give you a small amount of information and you then have to try and figure out what is going on by asking questions. They help to challenge your assumptions and force you to approach a question in a different way. There are many books and web resources including Destination Innovation from Paul Sloane (Sterling Publishing, London, 1991.
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    MODULE 2 IDEAS ANDOPPORTUNITY Module 2 (a) Difference between an innovative idea and a business opportunity An idea is the first milestone in the process of founding a business. Every successful business started as someone’s idea. A business idea is a concept that can be used to make money. It has no commercial value initially. It centers on a product or service that can be offered for money. Most business ideas exist in abstract form; usually in the mind of its creator or investor and not all business ideas, no matter how brilliant they may seem, would end up being profitable. A promising business idea must have the following characteristics: • Relevant • Innovative • Unique • Clear focus • Profitable in the long run Any business idea that, at least, focuses on lowering costs would most likely be profitable in the long term. A successful business idea must meet the following three conditions: ➢ It must offer benefit to the customer by solving a problem or fulfilling a need. Customers buy products and services for just one reason; to satisfy a need. So, if your business idea cannot satisfy customers, it won’t be successful. Every successful business idea must have a unique selling proposition. ➢ It must have a market that is willing to accept it. A promising business idea must offer a product or service that would be accepted by a large market. It must also have feasible arrangements for catering to that large market as well as unique values that differentiates it from the competition. ➢ It must have a mechanism for making revenue. A successful business idea must show how much money can be earned from it and how the money will be earned. The acceptability and profitability of a business idea hinges largely on how innovative the idea is. Being innovative means using conventional production or distribution methods that have rarely been adopted before.
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    For example, FedExrevolutionized mail post services through 24-hour operation and very quick delivery worldwide. The company therefore adopted an innovative system, which eventually spurred it to becoming one of the world’s leading mail and parcel delivery services. A business opportunity is a proven concept that generates on-going income. In other words, a business opportunity is a business idea that has been researched upon, refined and packaged into a promising venture that is ready to launch. An opportunity is regarded as one after it has been found to meet the following criteria: • It must have high gross margins. • It must have the potential to reach break-even cash flow within 12 months – 36 months. • The startup capital investment must be realistic and within the range of what you can provide. • You must have the strength and ability needed to drive the business to success. • Your level of enthusiasm for the business must be very high. • It must have the potential to keep on improving with time. • It must have a low level of liability risk. Multiple business ideas may strike on a daily basis, but only few of them will be profitable in the long run based on market research and feasibility study conducted. These few are the real business opportunities. Eg:- Colonel Sanders tried for many years to sell his chicken recipe idea but no one listened to him until he repackaged it and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) was born.
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    How to prepare,plan, define and implement a business idea? Business ideas are all within you and within your environment. Some of these business ideas emanate from analysis of market and consumer needs, while others emanate from a long research process. • Look within yourself and examine your skills, talent, passion • Keep up with current events and be ready to take advantage of business opportunities • Invent a new product or service • Add value to an already existing product • Franchising: Franchising may take several forms, but the most interesting one is the type that offers a name, method of running business, image and operating principles. • Mass media • Exhibitions, Expos and Trade shows : means to discover business ideas and opportunities • Industrial Surveys: The main point for a new business idea should be the customer. • Listen to customers complaints • Brainstorming: Brainstorming is a creative problem-solving technique, and also a source for generating ideas. HISTORY OF IDEAS DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS IN HISTORY (POST-IT NOTES, COKE BOTTLES) Post it notes: History Timeline: For over 35 years, the Post-It Brand has helped people be more productive, communicate better and express themselves in a number of creative ways. • Dr. Spencer Silver, a 3M scientist, who was busily researching adhesives in the laboratory. Discovered something peculiar: an adhesive that stuck lightly to surfaces but didn’t bond tightly to them. • What Silver discovered was something called microspheres which retain their stickiness but with a "removability characteristic," allowing attached surfaces to peel apart easily. • Meanwhile, Art Fry, another 3M scientist, who was frustrated needed a bookmark that would stick to the paper without damaging the pages. • Partnering with Silver, they began developing a product. Once they found themselves writing messages on their new notes to communicate around the office, they realized the full potential of the idea. • Fry supplied the entire company with the new adhesive notes. Employees loved them. • 3M initially launched the product in four cities under the name Press 'n Peel with mixed results. • 1980 to 1986: The notes was always a self-advertising product because customers would put the notes on documents they sent to others, arousing the recipient's curiosity. • Yellow Gets Its Due: On April 6, Silver and Fry’s unsung hero debuted in US stores as Post-it Notes. Later Notes are introduced in Canada and Europe. • 1987 to 1996: The Post-it Note celebrated its 10th anniversary and was featured on many lists of top consumer products of the decade. • Post-it Easel Pads were introduced. 1997 to 2003 • Post-it Notes are sold in more than 100 countries. The now famous Post-it adhesive continues to be used on many 3M products. • Post-it Super Sticky Notes were introduced with a stronger adhesive that adheres better to vertical and non-smooth surfaces. • The Post-it Flag Highlighter received high marks from students for being a highlighter. • The Post-it Big Pad made its debut.
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    • Post-it Brandteamed up with Evernote, the organizational note-taking app. • Post-it Notes are now available in more than 150 countries. Collectively, there are more than 4,000 Post-it Products. COKE BOTTLES: Coca Cola’s history has got a lot of bottle - more than 115 years’ worth, in fact. The world’s favorite soft drink started life as a soda fountain beverage, selling for five cents a glass, but it was only when a strong bottling system developed that Coca-Cola became the world-famous brand it is today. • 1894 - A modest start for a bold idea: Mississippi shop owner Joseph A. Biedenharn began bottling Coca-Cola after he was impressed by its sales. He sold the drink to his customers in a common glass bottle called a Hutchinson. • 1916 - Birth of the Contour Bottle: Bottlers worried that a straight-sided bottle wasn’t distinctive enough and that Coca-Cola was becoming easily confused with ‘copycat’ brands. Glass manufacturers were approached to come up with a unique bottle design for Coca-Cola. The Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, designed with the famous contour shape, which won enthusiastic approval from Coca-Cola in 1915 and was introduced in 1916. • 1923 – Six packs: Six pack carriers of Coca-Cola bottles were introduced to encourage people to take their drinks home – and were a huge hit. • 1928 – Bottle overtakes fountain: For the first time, the volume of Coca-Cola sold in bottles exceeded the amount sold through soda fountains. • 1950 – Media moments: The Coca-Cola Contour Bottle was the first commercial product to appear on the cover of TIME magazine, establishing Coca-Cola as a truly international brand. Also this year, the first television advert featuring Coca-Cola's Contour Bottle appeared during CBS' The Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy Show. • 1955 – Packaging innovations: For the first time, people could buy different sized bottles of Coca-Cola. As well as the traditional 6.5 ounce contour bottle, shops also started selling larger 10, 12 and 26 ounce versions. • 1960 – Trademark no.1: The Contour Bottle with the word ‘Coca-Cola’ written on it received its first trademark from the US Patent and Trademark Office. • 1977 – Trademark no.2: The Coca-Cola Contour Bottle was granted a second trademark for the contour shape itself, with no words written on it. • 1978 – Recyclable bottles: Coca-Cola introduced the world to the two liter PET plastic bottle. It became popular for a lot of reasons: it doesn’t break; it’s re-sealable, lightweight and recyclable. • 2000 – Reducing waste: Coca-Cola introduced the ultra-glass Contour Bottle designed for improved impact resistance, reduced weight and cost. These bottles are 40 per cent stronger and 20 per cent lighter than the original Coca-Cola Contour Bottle – saving approximately 52,000 metric tons of glass in 2006. • 2005 – Aluminum bottles: Coca-Cola joined forces with design firms from five continents to launch a new aluminum Contour Bottle called the ‘M5’ (Magnificent 5). • 2009 – Green bottles: Coca-Cola launched the innovative Plant Bottle in the US, a completely recyclable PET container made with 30 per cent plant materials, including sugar cane extracts. • 2011 – Going green globally: Plant Bottle packaging is available in nine countries with launches planned for many additional markets in 2011 and beyond. • 2013/14 – Your name on our bottles: Coca-Cola swaps its iconic logo with Great Britain’s most popular names for the summer-long ‘Share a Coke’ campaign.
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    IDEATION: Ideation has beendefined in these ways: ❖ Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas. ❖ Ideation is a technique that involves both the left and right sides of the brain to allow breakthroughs from entrenched habits of thought and persistent difficult problems. ❖ Ideation is the process of creating new ideas. In the Ideation stage, design thinkers spark off ideas — in the form of questions and solutions — through creative and curious activities such as Brainstorms and Worst Possible Idea. In this article, we’ll introduce you to some of the best Ideation methods and guidelines that help facilitate successful Ideation sessions and encourage active participation from members. When facilitated in a successful way, Ideation is an exciting process. The goal is to generate a large number of ideas — ideas that potentially inspire newer, better ideas — that the team can then cut down into the best, most practical and innovative ones. “Ideation is the mode of the design process in which you concentrate on idea generation. Mentally it represents a process of “going wide” in terms of concepts and outcomes. Ideation provides both the fuel and also the source material for building prototypes and getting innovative solutions into the hands of your users.” The main aim of the Ideation stage is to use creativity and innovation in order to develop solutions. By expanding the solution space, the design team will be able to look beyond the usual methods of solving problems in order to find better, more elegant, and satisfying solutions to problems that affect a user's experience of a product. In the Design Thinking process, the Ideation stage often follows the first two stages, which are the Empathies stage and Define stage. There is a significant overlap between the Define and Ideation stages of a typical Design Thinking process. Interpreting information and defining the problem(s) and ideation both drive the generation of problem solutions. This overlap is represented in the types of methods design teams employ during these two stages. For example, Body storm and “How Might We” questions are often used in both of these stages. Ideation Will Help You: • Ask the right questions and innovate. • Step beyond the obvious solutions and therefore increase the innovation potential of your solution. • Bring together perspectives and strengths of team members. • Uncover unexpected areas of innovation. • Create volume and variety in your innovation options. • Get obvious solutions out of your heads, and drive your team beyond them. • Ideation Methods to Spark Innovative Ideas There are hundreds of ideation methods. Some methods are merely renamed or slightly adapted versions of more foundational techniques. Here you’ll get brief overview of some of the best methods: • Brain storm • Brain dump • Brain write • Brain walk
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    • Challenge Assumptions •SCAMPER • Mind map • Sketch or Sketch storm • Storyboard • Analogies • Provocation • Movement • Body storm • Game storming • Cheat storm • Crowd storm • Co-Creation Workshops • Prototype • Creative Pause There is a basic 4 step process that explains how an idea can turn into a billion dollar company, and the more familiar you are with it the more effective you will be at following it! Phase 1: Knowledge Accumulation This initial stage is all about absorbing as much information as possible. This stage is all about hunger for knowledge which you can attempt to satisfy through reading articles, joining discussion groups, or attending events that educate us on our domain of interest. As you process these new concepts, you end up with many more questions than you started out with. This is your brain telling you what pieces of the puzzle are missing, to encourage you to continue feeding yourself more information. “Synchrony”, the more information you feed your mind, the quicker your brain can establish new connections to generate ideas from. Phase 2: Incubation With all that newly acquired information, it’s always best to step away to let it all sink in. Your subconscious knows your goals, desires, and needs more clearly than your conscious does. Once you rest from knowledge absorption, the incubation phase begins transferring that information to your subconscious which reorganizes and strengthens neuron connections. The brain incorporates past experiences and knowledge with our conscious accumulation of information, to find unique solutions to our interests. From this, it can identify gaps and will attempt to work itself using the information it has. As the difficulty of finding a solution increases, the level of creativity required does as well. If you are still stumped, it means you don’t have enough of the puzzle put together yet to see the big picture, so the best solution is to return to the absorption phase and build on from there. Phase 3: The Idea Experience If you are having trouble getting from Phase 2 to 3, some proven ways to speed up the transition are to; contemplate the idea some more, switch up your work environment, participate in monotonous activities to relax your mind, address tasks that are distracting you, and write down any thoughts that pop into your head. These actions will help you relax and clarify your mind so you can extract those ideas more effortlessly when the time comes.
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    This next phaseoccurs when your mind overcomes a gap and you have your notorious ‘aha’ moment. Suddenly, your confusion is simplified and clouded thoughts seem much clearer. Once the subconscious can piece together a creative solution in a way that makes logical sense, the solution is brought into conscious awareness where you can then decide on a plan of action. Phase 4: Implementation The Implementation phase is where you find ways to incorporate your idea into daily life. Persistence is a key factor as each idea worth implementing will most likely run into temporary setbacks before it becomes successful. It will take several attempts at restructuring your idea before it will achieve its final form. In the meantime, begin testing your idea, ask for consumer opinion, and most importantly, don’t let your hunger go satisfied. FACTORS INFLUENCING IDEATION Factors influencing ideation process is -social factors, resources, motivation, context, time; The social factors usually influence the character of the person, and this factor will that helps and motivate to think creatively and that will support ideation. The resources like personal, educational, environmental and metal trades will helps in ideation. Motivation from the family and society has a major influencing factory in the case of ideation. Context means the situation where you think, the context of thinking is depended the mood, surrounding climate all influxes. At last time that is factor of luck. RECOGNISING OPPORTUNITES Exploration: the action of exploring an unfamiliar area, thorough examination of a subject. Evaluation: Evaluation is a systematic determination of a subject's merit, the making of a judgment about the amount, number, or value of something; assessment. Exploitation: the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work. This is an action of making use of and benefiting from resources. FACTORS REVEALING OPPORTUNITIES Alertness: it means the quality of being alert. How quick to notice any unusual and potentially dangerous or difficult circumstances; vigilant. Knowledge: facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Luck: the success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions. DEFINING OPPORTUNITY • Objective and Subjective nature • Underlying needs and wants • Newness • Entrepreneurial Strategies of Vesper
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    MODULE 2(b) DEFINING OPPORTUNITY Opportunityrefers to a favorable set of circumstances that creates a need for a new product, service or business. Window of opportunity describes the time period in which a firm can realistically enter a new market. Essential qualities of opportunity: • Attractive • Timely • Durable • Creates or adds value for its buyer or end user Approaches used for entrepreneurs to identify opportunities: • Observing Trends • Solving a problem • Identifying gaps in the marketplace • Create a product that no one knows they need yet • Underlying needs and wants • Newness Observing Trends: Trends creates opportunities for entrepreneurs to pursue. Important trends are: economic forces, social forces, technological advances, political action and regulatory changes. Solving a problem: Identifying opportunities involve noticing problem and finding a way to solve it. Gaps in the marketplace: A gap in the marketplace is created when a product or service is needed by a specific group of people but it may not represent large market to be of the interest to mainstream retailers. Personal characteristics of the entrepreneur that help to identify business opportunity: • Prior experience • Cognitive factors • Social Networks • Creativity RECOGNISING OPPORTUNITES • Exploration • Evaluation • Exploitation FACTORS REVEALING OPPORTUNITIES • Alertness • Knowledge • Luck
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    ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGIES OFVESPER Karl Vesper could shed new light to the concept during 1980. Vesper states entrepreneurship is expressed according to one’s perception. Vesper explained psychologists will perceive them as achievement oriented individuals facing challenges for new accompaniments. Marxist philosophers may see them as exploitative adventurers and professional corporate managers may view them as small businesspersons lacking in professional qualification to do corporate management. THEORY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP: According to Karl H Vesper, Entrepreneur is seen differently by economist, psychologist, politicians and businesspersons. He had presented different views about entrepreneurship. According to economists, entrepreneurship is an activity of earning profitability through proper co-ordination of means of production. According to psychologist, entrepreneur is an agent of change. According to socialists, the role of entrepreneur is to meet the changing needs of society. ENTREPRENEURIAL TYPOLOGIES Vesper 1980 At least 11 types of entrepreneurs: • Solo self-employed individuals • Team builders • Independent innovators • Multipliers of existing models • Economy-of-scale exploiters • Capital aggregators • Acquirers • Artists who buy and sell • Conglomerate builders • Speculators • Manipulators of apparent values There are various factors responsible for the failure of entrepreneurship. Karl H Vesper has identifies the following: • Lack of viable concept • Lack of market knowledge • Lack of technical skill • Lack of capital • Lack of Business Knowledge • Lack of motivation • Time pressure and distractions • Legal constraints
  • 40.
    • Monopoly • Lowlevel of commitment • Shortage of resources • Poor communication network DISCOVERY VIEW: SOURCES OF OPPORTUNITY AND INNOVATION IN A TURBULENT ENVIRONMENT • Demographic change • Increasing diversity • Customers / Change in perception • Idea of crowd sourcing • Time based opportunities • Increased value of information/ New knowledge • Reduced distance through technology • Industry and Market structure change • Process Need SOURCES OF ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES If opportunities have such an integral role in entrepreneurship, where do they come from and what are their characteristics? Researchers have categorized the sources of entrepreneurial opportunity in many different ways: by discipline - psychology, sociology, economics, and management, by level of analysis (micro, meso, and macro) by the institutional landscape, by demand and supply (market) factors, and government policy. In each discipline two factors are continually in interaction: the individual and the environment. Opportunities define how the entrepreneur behaves and what kind of entrepreneurship is manifested. The two integral parts of entrepreneurial process are entrepreneurial opportunity discovery and exploitation. The field of entrepreneurship has two general entrepreneurial opportunities: the Schumpeterian and the Kirznerian perspectives. Schumpeter saw entrepreneurial opportunity anchored in the individuals of society. It has wide reaching social repercussions specially for increasing nation output and job growth. The Kirznerian entrepreneurs are found in the environment .It is considered to be non-level and not a major contributor to national economic well-being. Sources for Schumpeterian opportunities: • Technological changes • Political/Regulatory changes • Socio-demographic changes Kirznerian opportunities occur at any time or place. It emerges because of market disequilibria created by market errors or omissions that create surplus or shortages.
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    Shane (2003) describesan entrepreneurial opportunity as: “…a situation in which a person can create a new means-end framework for recombining resources that the entrepreneur believes will yield a profit. This definition of an entrepreneurial opportunity is useful in that entrepreneurial opportunities are about two things: something happening in the environment (resources) and something to do with the individual (creation, beliefs, and recombination). Since opportunities are not always profitable the key word “believes” is well placed. Table 1: Opportunity Recognition Year Author Contribution Level of Examination 1934 (Schumpeter) Entrepreneurs create opportunity by disrupting the equilibrium in the marketplace. Individual 1945 (Hayek) The economic problem is not just how to allocate resources; it is a problem of utilization of knowledge. Knowledge is not given in totality to anyone. Individual 1949 (von Mises) Entrepreneurs & their search for opportunities are driven by a profit motive. Individual 1973 (I. Kirzner) Alertness, not just the possession of information helps one recognize & exploit opportunities. Individual & Environment 1979 (Vesper) Work experience, hobbies, networks, systematic search lead to opportunity recognition. Individual & Environment 1985 (Drucker) Opportunities are innovations that occur due to changes in industry structure, demand, outside events, demographics. Environment 1985 (I. Kirzner) Alertness aids opportunity recognition & exploitation; it “emerges into view at the precise moment when decisions have to be made.” Individual 1988 (Bird & Jelinek) Schemas, mental models, and opportunity recognition. Individual 1988 (Katz & Gartner) Entrepreneurial intention and recognition. Individual 1990 (Christensen & Peterson) Along with market & technological knowledge, specific problems & social encounters are often a source of venture ideas. Environment 1991 (Shaver & Scott) Psychology of new venture creation. Individual
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    1992 (C. Gaglio& Taub) Pre-recognition stew of environmental, technological, social, economic, cultural, and personal forces lead opportunity recognition Individual 1994 (Bhave) External circumstances and/or desire to start business motivate a conscious search Individual & Environment 1996 (Hamel & Prahalad) Broad experience & the ability to learn & adapt should help individuals recognize opportunities. Individual 1997 (Venkataraman) Opportunity identification & opportunity recognition should be part of what distinguished entrepreneurship as its own. Scholarly field. Individual 1997 (C. Gaglio) Detailed review & critique of opportunity recognition. Literature Review 1997 (I. M. Kirzner) A comparison of the Schumpeter & Kirzner view of the entrepreneur & opportunity Literature Review 1999 (Timmons) The role of experience in opportunity recognition Individual 1999 (De Koning) Initial ideas come from continuous information scanning without a specific objective. Individual & Environment 2000 (Shane & Venkataraman) Entrepreneurship should be concerned with the sources of opportunities and the individual. Individual & Environment 2000 (Krueger) The role of intention in opportunity development Individual 2001 (Ireland, Hitt, & et.al.) The differences between opportunity- seeking & advantage-seeking behavior. Individual 2001 (C. M. Gaglio & Katz) Alertness is the engine that drives opportunity recognition Individual 2003 (Ardichvili, Cardozo, & Ray) Theory building using personality traits, social networks, & prior knowledge as precursors to alertness Individual 2004 (Sarasvathy, Venkataraman, Dew, & Velamuri, 2004) Three views of entrepreneurial opportunity based on the market process: allocative, discovery, & creative Individual & Environment 2007 (Casson & Wadeson) Opportunity is an unexploited project which is perceived by an individual. Invokes the idea of rational action. Individual
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    INDIVIDUAL FATORS AFFECTINGDISCOVERY AND EXPLOITATION PROCESS Table 2: Individual factors affecting discovery process Non-Psychological Factors Psychological Factors Prior Life Experiences Absorptive Capacity Size of Social Network Recognition of Causal Links Ability to Categorize Information Relationship/Pattern Making Understanding Processes Evaluating Information Accurately Table 3 : Individual factors affecting exploitation process Non-Psychological Factors Psychological Factors Opportunity Cost Extroversion Working Spouse Need for Achievement Higher Level of Education Risk-Taking Career Experience Desire for Independence General Business Experience Locus of Control Functional Experience Self-Efficacy Industry Experience Overconfidence Start-up Experience Intuition Having a Role Model
  • 44.
    ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCINGTHE DISCOVERY AND EXPLOITATION OF OPPORTUNITIES Table 4: Economic Conditions Affecting Entrepreneurial Opportunities Condition Effect on Opportunities ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT Stable economic conditions & economic growth Can increase or decrease Unemployment Can increase or decrease Income disparity Can increase or decrease Capital availability Can increase or decrease High Taxation Decreases Table 5: Policy Conditions Affecting Entrepreneurial Opportunities Condition Effect on Opportunities Rule of Law/Property Rights Increases Macroeconomic Policies Depends Licensing & Bankruptcy Policies Increases Deregulation Increases Resource Policies Increase Sectoral Policies Increase Decentralization of Power Increase
  • 45.
    Table 6: IndustryConditions Affecting Entrepreneurial Opportunities Condition Effect on Opportunities KNOWLEDGE CONDITIONS R&D Intensity, Technological Development Provides new markets, products, ways of organizing, technology, raw materials Locus of Innovation Public sector, university research, R&D spillovers encourage new firms Strength of Patents Strong patent protection supports new firms. DEMAND CONDITIONS Market Size Larger markets provide more opportunities Market Growth Growing markets provide excess demand Market Segmentation Segmentation enhances opportunities due to the exploitation of niches by nimble small firms INDUSTRY STRUCTURE Structure Service economy, spin-offs, clusters encourage new ventures Industry Age Age reduces opportunities for new firms Dominant Design Industries converging on a dominant design have less opportunities. Industry Concentration Density increases the likelihood of venture failure. Profitability High profit margins encourage new firms. Cost of Inputs Lower input costs encourage new firms Capital Intensity Lower capital intensity supports new firms Advertising Intensity Lower advertising intensity supports new firms Average Firm Size Small firm sizes encourage new entrants Table 7: Demographic & Cultural Conditions Influencing Entrepreneurial Opportunities Demographic & Cultural Conditions Effect on Opportunities DEMOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS Population Growth Increases Population Density & Urbanization Increases Immigration & Population Mobility Increase/Decrease Educational Infrastructure Increase/Decrease CULTURAL CONDITIONS Social acceptance of entrepreneurship The more acceptance, the more likely
  • 46.
    opportunities will beexploited. Attitudes toward failure & bankruptcy The more negative the attitude, the less likely opportunities will be exploited. Bureaucracy & Corruption Decreases the opportunities exploited by legitimate entrepreneurs Tradition Increase/Decrease Social Capital Increases due to cooperation, trust Power Distance (PDI) Depends on context Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) Depends on context Masculinity (MAS) Depends on context Individualism (IDV) Depends on context Table 8: The Individual Framework Affecting the Entrepreneurial Process DISCOVERY PROCESS EXPLOITATION PROCESS Individual Capabilities Psychological Factors Individual Capabilities Psychological Factors Prior Life Experiences Absorptive Capacity Opportunity Cost Extroversion Size of Social Network Recognition of Causal Links Working Spouse Need for Achievement Ability to Categorize Information Education Risk-Taking Relationship/Pattern Making Career Experience Desire for Independence Understanding Processes General Business Experience Locus of Control Evaluating Information Accurately Functional Experience Self-Efficacy Industry Experience Overconfidence Start-up Experience Intuition Having a Role-Model
  • 47.
    CREATION VIEW What makesentrepreneurs entrepreneurial? Entrepreneurs constantly make decisions and take action.How do they do that? Are there any universal methods or principles they use? Dr. Saras Sarasvathy, a cognitive scientist, conducted a study of expert entrepreneurs and found answer to these questions, the result is effectuation: logic of thinking that uniquely serves entrepreneurs in starting businesses. It provides a way to control a future that is inherently unpredictable. What does effectuation do? • Ideas - Effectuation advances ideas toward sellable products and services with proven customers. • Stakeholder Commitments - Using effectuation, the entrepreneur interacts in search of self- selecting partners to co-create the venture with. • Decisions - Experts entrepreneurs use a set of techniques that serve as the foundation for making decisions about what to do next
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    Principles of Effectuation Expertentrepreneurs have learned the hard way that the most interesting ventures are built in a space in which the future is not only unknown, but unknowable. Still yet, entrepreneurs do shape this unpredictable future. They use techniques which minimize the use of prediction and allows them to shape the future. These five principles, listed below, make up effectual logic. • Bird-in-hand {start with your means} When expert entrepreneurs set out to build a new venture, they start with their means: who I am, what I know, and whom I know. Then, the entrepreneurs imagine possibilities that originate from their means. Contrasts with... Pre-set goals or opportunities: Causal reasoning works inversely by assembling means after a goal is set. • Affordable Loss {focus on the downside risk } Expert entrepreneurs limit risk by understanding what they can afford to lose at each step, instead of seeking large all-or-nothing opportunities. They choose goals and actions where there is upside even if the downside ends up happening. Contrasts with...Expected return: Causal reasoning first targets a return, then works to minimize associated risk. • Lemonade { leverage contingencies } Expert entrepreneurs invite the surprise factor. Instead of making “what-if” scenarios to deal with worst-case scenarios, experts interpret “bad” news and surprises as potential clues to create new markets. Contrasts with... Avoiding surprises: Causal reasoning works to minimize the probability of unexpected outcomes. • Patchwork Quilt {form partnerships } Expert entrepreneurs build partnerships with self-selecting stakeholders. By obtaining pre- commitments from these key partners early on in the venture, experts reduce uncertainty and co- create the new market with its interested participants. Contrasts with... Competitive analysis: Causal reasoning presumes that competitors are rivals to contend with. • Pilot-in-the-plane { control v. predict} By focusing on activities within their control, expert entrepreneurs know their actions will result in the desired outcomes. An effectual worldview is rooted in the belief that the future is neither found nor predicted, but rather made Contrasts with...Inevitable trends OVERVIEW OF EFFECTUATION IN ACTION An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure with a finite number of steps that seeks a specific outcome. It’s recursive. A heuristic is a problem-solving technique that involves creating a speculative formulation and self-led investigation to reach some desired outcome. The most quintessential heuristic is “trial and error.”
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    Effectual logic happensin mind of an individual, where it provides a way of thinking about making decisions when non-predictive control is required. The effectual cycle represents the thinking process in a form used in creating products, markets, and ventures. It’s not a prescriptive “do this, do that” algorithm, but rather a set of heuristics* that uniquely and universally apply to the challenges that entrepreneurs are bound to face. Effectual reasoning, however, does not begin with a specific goal. Instead, it begins with a given set of means and allows goals to emerge contingently over time from the varied imagination and diverse aspirations of the founders and the people they interact with. While causal thinkers are like great generals seeking to conquer fertile lands (Genghis Khan conquering two thirds of the known world), effectual thinkers are like explorers setting out on voyages into uncharted waters (Columbus discovering the new world). It is important to point out though that the same person can use both causal and effectual reasoning at different times depending on what the circumstances call for. In fact, the best entrepreneurs are capable of both and do use both modes well. But they prefer effectual reasoning over causal reasoning in the early stages of a new venture, and arguably, most entrepreneurs do not transition well into latter stages requiring more causal reasoning. Effectual reasoning: The logic Underlying all the principles of effectual reasoning is a coherent logic that rests on a fundamentally different assumption about the future than causal reasoning. Causal reasoning is based on the logic, To the extent that we can predict the future, we can control it. That is why both academics and practitioners in business today spend enormous amounts of brainpower and resources on developing predictive models. Effectual reasoning, however, is based on the logic, To the extent that we can control the future, we do not need to predict it. How does one control an unpredictable future? The answer to this question depends on our beliefs about where the future comes from. Is the future largely a continuation of the past? To what extent can human action actually change its course? While the future is always uncertain, not all uncertainties are the same. Entrepreneurs choose to view the future through effectual logic. Consciously, or unconsciously, they act as if they believe that the future is not “out there” to be discovered, but That it gets created through the very strategies of the players. That is because effectual logic is people dependent, unlike causal logic, which is effect dependent. In other words, when a particular effect has already been chosen such as a target segment within an existing market, the people we hire and partner with will depend on the effect we want to create or the market we want to penetrate. Effectual logic, however, does not assume pre-existent markets and builds on the idea that the markets we create will be predicated on the people we are able to bring together. In fact, in effectual reasoning, markets are in essence stable configurations of critical masses of stakeholders who come together to transform the outputs of human imagination into the forging and fulfillment of human aspirations through economic means. So, what makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial? Entrepreneurs are entrepreneurial, as differentiated from managerial or strategic, because they think effectually; they believe in a yet-to-be-made future that can substantially be shaped by human action; and they realize that to the extent that this human action can control the future, they need not expend energies trying to predict it. In fact, to the extent that the future is shaped by human action, it is not much use trying to predict it – it is much more useful to understand and work with the people who are engaged in the decisions and actions that bring it into existent.
  • 50.
    MODULE – 3 IDEATIONPROCESS Brainstorming Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In other words, brainstorming is a situation where a group of people meet to generate new ideas and solutions around a specific domain of interest by removing inhibitions. People are able to think more freely and they suggest many spontaneous new ideas as possible. All the ideas are noted down and are not criticized and after brainstorming session the ideas are evaluated. The term was popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn in the 1953 book Applied Imagination. Process for generating creative ideas and solutions through intensive and freewheeling group discussion. Every participant is encouraged to think aloud and suggest as many ideas as possible, no matter seemingly how outlandish or bizarre. Analysis, discussion, or criticism of the aired ideas is allowed only when the brainstorming session is over and evaluation session begins. See also lateral thinking and nominal group technique. Individual Brainstorming While group brainstorming is often more effective at generating ideas than normal group problem solving, several studies have shown that individual brainstorming produces more and often better ideas than group brainstorming. This can occur because groups aren't always strict in following the rules of brainstorming, and bad behaviors creep in. Mostly, though, this happens because people pay so much attention to other people that they don't generate ideas of their own – or they forget these ideas while they wait for their turn to speak. This is called "blocking." Brainstorming induvidual brainstorming group brainstorming
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    When you brainstormon your own, you don't have to worry about other people's egos or opinions, and you can be freer and more creative. For example, you might find that an idea you'd hesitate to bring up in a group develops into something special when you explore it on your own. Group brainstorming Here, you can take advantage of the full experience and creativity of all team members. When one member gets stuck with an idea, another member's creativity and experience can take the idea to the next stage. You can develop ideas in greater depth with group brainstorming than you can with individual brainstorming. Another advantage of group brainstorming is that it helps everyone feel that they've contributed to the solution, and it reminds people that others have creative ideas to offer. It's also fun, so it can be great for team building. Process STEP 1: PREPARE THE GROUP First, set up a comfortable meeting environment for the session. Make sure that the room is well-lit and that you have the tools, resources, and refreshments that you need. How much information or preparation does your team need in order to brainstorm solutions to your problem? Remember that prep is important, but too much can limit – or even destroy – the freewheeling nature of a brainstorming session. Consider who will attend the meeting. A room full of like-minded people won't generate as many creative ideas as a diverse group, so try to include people from a wide range of disciplines, and include people who have a variety of different thinking styles. When everyone is gathered, appoint one person to record the ideas that come from the session. This person shouldn't necessarily be the team manager – it's hard to record and contribute at the same time. Post notes where everyone can see them, such as on flip charts or whiteboards; or use a computer with a data projector. STEP 2: PRESENT THE PROBLEM Clearly define the problem that you want to solve, and lay out any criteria that you must meet. Make it clear that that the meeting's objective is to generate as many ideas as possible. Give people plenty of quiet time at the start of the session to write down as many of their own ideas as they can. Then, ask them to share their ideas, while giving everyone a fair opportunity to contribute. STEP 3: GUIDE THE DISCUSSION Once everyone has shared their ideas, start a group discussion to develop other people's ideas, and use them to create new ideas. Building on others' ideas is one of the most valuable aspects of group brainstorming. Encourage everyone to contribute and to develop ideas, including the quietest people, and discourage anyone from criticizing ideas.
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    Brain writing: Brainwriting is the silent, written generation of ideas in a group. It was originally popularized in Germany in the 70s. There are two basic types: • nominal ideas in a group that are not shared with other group members while generating ideas and, • Interacting ideas that are shared for additional stimulation. An example of nominal brain writing would be a group of people write down ideas in index cards or Post-It Notes. Brain writing is simple. Rather than ask participants to yell out ideas, you ask them to write down their ideas about a particular question or problem on sheets of paper for a few minutes; then, you have each participant pass their ideas on to someone else, who reads the ideas and adds new ideas. After a few minutes, you ask the participants to pass their papers to others, and the process repeats. After 10 to 15 minutes, you collect the sheets and post them for immediate discussion. Process • Introduce the procedure. • Hand out paper for each person to write down ideas. • Provide a clear and legible problem statement. • Describe the timing of the brain writing and the process for passing the pages. A page-passing process that is not clear could undermine the credibility of the method and waste time. • Ask if anyone has any questions about the problem statement or the brain writing process. • Remind people to read the ideas quickly before entering their own ideas and to feel free to add, modify and combine ideas. Let people know that extra paper is around the room if they run out. • Begin the rounds. Announce the end of each round, and ask people to pass their paper to another person. • At the end of the session, collect the brain writing pages and post them for comment, additional ideas or review. Scamper method Checklist that helps you to think of changes you can make to an existing product to create a new one. You can use these changes either as direct suggestions or as starting points for lateral thinking SCAMPER stands for: S - Substitute - components, materials, people C - Combine - mix, combine with other assemblies or services, integrate
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    A - Adapt- alter, change function, use part of another element M - Modify - increase or reduce in scale, change shape, modify attributes (e.g. color) P - Put to another use E - Eliminate - remove elements, simplify, reduce to core functionality R - Reverse - turn inside out or upside down When to use SCAMPER? • Use it to discover more ideas when you are running out. • Use it to stimulate new ways of thinking about the problem, perhaps to kick you out of your current rut. How to use SCAMPER? Step 1: Substitute • what parts of the product, service or process may be replaced by other things • Includes components, objects, materials the product is made of, people and roles involved in a process, etc. Step 2: Combine • Look for ways to assemble together things which are separate, to integrate steps and operations Step 3: Adapt • Make the product or service or part of it better suited to its environment or to things that come in contact with it, or to a specific group of clients. Step 4: Modify Change the properties of the product or service to make it larger, smaller, of different colors, tastes, etc Step 5: Put to another use Find other uses for the product or service that are different from the original intention. Step 6: Eliminate Remove a major function or component of the product or service. Step 7: Rearrange
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    Change the orderof operation, turn things upside down, or arrange the components in a new order . Examples of SCAMPER Substitute • use of high tech materials for specific markets • use high-speed components Combine • integrate computer and printer, printer and scanner Adapt • put high quality ink in printer, use high quality paper Modify • produce different shape, size and design of printer and computer Put to another use • printers as photocopies or fax machines Eliminate • eliminate speakers, colour screens, colour ink etc. Reverse • make computer desks as well as computers and printers, or computer chairs etc Metaphoric thinking Metaphorical Thinking USING COMPARISONS TO EXPRESS IDEAS AND SOLVE PROBLEMS "Time is money." How often have heard that statement? Probably many times and in various contexts. By thinking about time as money, you can create some powerful images. Time wasted is money down the drain. Time well spent is an investment. The seconds are ticking away. A direct comparison between two unrelated or indirectly linked things is called a metaphor. And as we see in the example of "time is money," metaphors can create strong images that can be used to great effect in everyday communications and thinking. The manager who stands up in front of his team and says, "We need to finish this work quickly", creates considerably less impact that the manager who opens his comments using the metaphor: "As we all know, time is money." The English language is littered with metaphors, and this is testimony to the
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    their power. Sometaphors can be used to improve communications: They can add impact or can help you explain a difficult concept by association with a more familiar one. Metaphorical thinking can also be used to help solve problems: Use and extend metaphors to generate new ideas for solutions. CREATING IMPACT Metaphors are great for creating impact and making something memorable. So making use of them is a technique often used in marketing and advertising. But it's just as effective for making impact in your presentations, speeches and even in everyday discussions. With metaphors, you help people get the idea quickly and efficiently. Here's a marketing example: In a pitch to sell a vacuum cleaner, you could go on and on about how great the new cleaner is and why people should buy it. But, see how much more impact can you create with metaphors: "This vacuum cleaner is so powerful, it can suck the light out of a black hole". The vivid image helps your product and pitch stand out, and so can help you make that sale. COMMUNICATION 1. Identify what you are trying to communicate. 2. Determine the essence of the message. 3. Think of other instances in life where that same characteristic, idea, emotion, state, etc. applies. 4. There may be many metaphors for the situation you are describing – choose the one that will best relate to your audience. THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX When you use a metaphor to link two ideas together, you are combining elements that have little or no logical connection. By breaking the rules of logic in this way, metaphors can open up the creative side of the brain – the part that is stimulated by images, ideas, and concepts. So metaphorical thinking can help you with creative problem solving: To use another famous metaphor, it helps you "think outside the box". Take the problem of how to cut production costs. You could attack the problem logically, and research new technologies or analyze inefficiencies in the production process. You might come up with some cost saving, but will you hit the jackpot? Problem solving often starts with brainstorming and bouncing ideas back and forth with your team. Brainstorming is great for getting the creative juices flowing; it can open up a floodgate of ideas (. more metaphors!) However, people may still be constrained by the images they have of the current problem, or by their preconceived notions about the potential solutions. When using metaphors for solving problems, you link the problem to something seemingly unrelated. Doing this allows your brain to see the issue from a completely different perspective – one that you may not even have known existed. If the problem is how to cut production costs, you could use the metaphor of someone wanting to lose weight. The next step is to generate solution to the problem of
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    losing weight ratherthan the problem of shedding production costs. As you identify various solutions to the metaphorical problem, you can then relate these back to the real problem. Chances are, you will come up with something creative ideas for solutions. Here are the steps for using metaphorical problem solving, using our product costs example: 1) First identify the metaphor for your problem or challenge. There's no "right metaphor" – the ideas can be as unrelated as you like. If the problem involves increasing something, make sure the metaphor relates to an increase as well, otherwise it can become too difficult to visualize. Increase sales > Build larger muscles Decrease recruitment costs > Lower the price of bread Attract more investors > Harvest more corn So here's the metaphor of our example: Problem: Cut production costs Metaphor: Lose weight 2) Now it's time to generate solution ideas for the metaphorical problem, in this case, losing weight. Brainstorming is a good way to facilitate this. • Count calories • Exercise • Monitor food intake • Limit intake of certain food categories • Fill up on low calorie foods • Drink lots of water • Join a slimming club 3) Then, the next step is to see how the solution ideas for the metaphorical problem might relate back to the real problem: Solution ideas for the metaphorical problem Solutions ideas relating back to the real problem Count calories Control expenditure on inputs Exercise to burn calories Use up all of their inputs (recycle, remanufacture, etc.)
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    Solution ideas forthe metaphorical problem Solutions ideas relating back to the real problem Monitor food intake Control inputs Limit intake of certain food categories Save costs by carefully choosing certain suppliers Fill up on low calorie food Find cost substitutes Drink lots of water Flush out duplicate processes Join a slimming club Share ideas and support with other similar departments • Use the solution ideas you have generated for the metaphorical problem to find a workable solution to the real problem. OUTRAGEOUS THINKING We need to engage in outrageous thinking about learning environments. Outrageous means exceeding all bounds of reasonableness, it means something shocking. However, we need to realize that reasonableness is defined by present context. We further need to realize that what unreasonableness is today. Being creative is not just about being good at generating ideas. Above all, it’s about having the right mind-set. If you want your team to be more creative you’ll have to challenge them to embrace (and build upon) bizarre ideas. At HatRabbits we’ve developed a simple little exercise that helps people to become more comfortable with “exceptional ideas”. People who haven’t had proper training in creative thinking are likely to behave like idea killers. Most of us are very pragmatic when it comes to judging ideas. There is always this little voice in the back of our minds, telling us why an idea won’t work. Although everybody likes creative ideas, most of us find it very difficult to come up with extreme solutions. Even just considering the possibilities of a strange idea is often too much to ask. That’s why HatRabbits developed “That’s Outrageous!” a simple technique that helps you to get people in the right mood. It’s a short little exercise to show that there is value in every idea. For example: “How can we make sure that our fish restaurant is filled with customers on Monday evening?” ➢ Hand Out Outrageous Ideas Give each pair a bizarre suggestion to solve the fictional challenge.
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    For example: “We putsuper glue on every chair in our restaurant.” “We hire top models to work in our restaurant as waiters.” “We kidnap people from the streets and lock them in our restaurant.” Obviously, these suggestions are unacceptable or not very realistic. Yet they spark our imagination. Most people will smile or laugh about these weird solutions. These outrageous ideas help to get the creative juices flowing. ➢ Look For Benefits Ask every pair to think (approximately 2 or 3 minutes) about the positive sides of their “outrageous” idea. Challenge your team to come up with original points of view. Let them write down circa 3 – 5 benefits. “We put super glue on every chair in our restaurant.” Nobody leaves, so our restaurant will always be filled with people. We don’t need to clean the chairs anymore. Our customers have something to talk about during dinner. Customers can relate and identify with each other. ➢ Look For Positive Alternatives In what other ways can we reach these benefits? Ask participants to look for feasible (yet original) alternative ideas. Associate on the ideas. Our restaurant will always be filled with people. We place lots of mirrors in our restaurant so it seems crowded. We don’t need to clean the chairs anymore. We remove our furniture and become the first ‘Fish & Disco’ where you can dance and eat delicious fish snacks. Our customers have something to talk about during dinner. We provide conversation topics with every meal like the messages in fortune cookies. Customers can relate and identify with each other. We specialize in groups and give them a large discount to eat in our restaurant. ➢ Look For Downsides Ask every pair to think (approximately 2 or 3 minutes) about the negative sides of their “Outrageous” idea.
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    MAPPING THOUGHTS ORMIND MAPPING Mind mapping is one of the best ways to capture your thoughts and bring them to life in visual form. Beyond just note-taking, though, mind maps can help you become more creative, remember more, and solve problems more effectively. Whether you're new to mind maps or just want a refresher, here's all you need to know about this technique. What Are Mind Maps? A mind map is basically a diagram that connects information around a central subject. I like to think of it like a tree, although it has more of a radial structure. In any case, at the center is your main idea, say, poetry, and the branches are subtopics or related ideas, such as types of poetry, famous poets, and poetry publications. Greater levels of detail branch out from there and branches can be linked together. Mind maps can be used for pretty much any thinking or learning task, from studying a subject (such as a new language) to planning your career or even building better habits. The Asian Efficiency blog offers a few unusual ways to use mind maps you might not have considered: create a knowledge bank (since mind mapping software lets you attach files and add links), solve problems (such as which credit card to use), create book summaries, and set goals. They're great for teams to use as well, for group brainstorming and interactive presentations. Why Mind Maps Are Better Than Text Notes Mind maps can be more effective than other brainstorming and linear note-taking methods for a number of reasons: It's a graphical tool that can incorporate words, images, numbers, and colour, so it can be more memorable and enjoyable to create and review. The combination of words and pictures is six times better for remembering information than words alone. • Mind maps link and group concepts together through natural associations. This helps generate more ideas, find deeper meaning in your subject, and also prompt you to fill in more or find what you're missing. • A mind map can at once give you an overview of a large subject while also holding large amounts of information.
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    • It's alsoa very intuitive way to organize your thoughts, since mind maps mimic the way our brains think—bouncing ideas off of each other, rather than thinking linearly. • You can generate ideas very quickly with this technique and are encouraged to explore different creative pathways. Making a thought map The following guidelines show you the three steps to making a thought map that is well organised and easy to read. Step 1: o Use blank paper, turned sideways (landscape). o Start in the centre with an image and/or word that represents the topic of your thought map. o Choose the keywords or images that will represent your main themes and put each one on a line that is connected to your topic in the centre. o The best keywords are the ones that use your own personal associations to link the keyword to the point it represents. Step 2: o Branch off from the main themes with points represented by keywords or images. o Put each word or image on its own line. o Make each line the same length as the word or image. o Words and images are larger in the centre and smaller further out. o Keep the lines thicker in the centre, thinning out towards the edges of your thought map. This helps to show the order of your material. Step 3: o Add more levels of thought as necessary. o Use colour to categorise your information and make the thought map visually stimulating. Use three or more colours for the central image and then use a different colour for each branch. o Use symbols and images in place of keywords to represent a point concisely, or in addition to keywords to reinforce a point and aid recall. o Keep your thought map clear and add levels of order by enclosing grouped branches, using numbers and showing links with arrows. Once you are familiar with these guidelines, you can adapt the technique to your own particular needs. Develop your own personal style of thought mapping to make the best use of your own personal associations and thought processes.
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    SYSTEMATIC LOGICAL THINKING Logicalthinking is the process in which one uses reasoning consistently to come to a conclusion. Problems or situations that involves logical thinking call for structure, for relationships between facts, and for chains of reasoning that “make sense.” To think logically is to think in steps. It has been proven that specific training processes can make people “smarter.” Logical thinking allows a child to reject quick answers, such as “I don’t know,” or “this is too difficult,” by empowering them to explore or search deeper into their thinking processes and understand better the methods used to arrive at a solution and even the solution itself. Examples: • Conducting market research tests to gauge consumer reaction to a new product prior to devising an advertising strategy. • Developing a recruiting profile for new sales representatives based on an assessment of the qualities of the company’s most productive sales representatives. Logical (or left-brain) thinking comes into its own when we are working with verifiable and reasonably certain information. This is information we can be sure about because it has been confirmed scientifically. Using “scientific” information allows us to develop our knowledge by making logical deductions. It is the kind of thinking used in playing games of chess, (where there are quite definite rules) and solving puzzles for which there is an answer. Logical thinking uses 5 steps: 1. A clear goal or solution: Working towards clear goals is often described by the mnemonic SMART. These are goals which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bounded. 2. Systematic planning: Systematic planning is the second step in the SMART process towards a goal. We know the “what?” because we have defined a clear goal; systematic planning tells us the “how?” to get us there. Systematic planning aims to find the correct method, the correct procedure, the correct system that can logically take us to our goal. 3. Using information: The remaining steps in the SMART process involve using our left-sided brains to work towards our goals. Information is key to this process. We need to group it, organize it, rank it, fit it into the bigger picture, and make connections with it. 4. Reasoning 5. Checking conclusions
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    10 tips forsharpening your logical thinking Logical thinking helps you discern the truth, solve problems, and make good decisions -- unless your logic is flawed. Here are a few principles that will help ensure correct reasoning. Logical thinking is critical for IT professionals, managers, and executives. You must be able to diagnose problems end users are having. You must be able to evaluate vendor claims. You must be able to refute your boss when he or she turns down your request for a raise or promotion. The following concepts will help you hone your logical thinking skills. 1: The conditional statement Have you ever dropped your smartphone into water? Not good, correct? Let's assume, for purposes of this article, that every time it happens, without exception, that phone is ruined. In other words, this statement is true: "If you drop your smartphone into water, then it will become ruined."This statement, in logic, is known as a conditional statement. The first part of the sentence states a condition or requirement. The second part of the sentence states the result of that condition. If the condition is fulfilled, the result will occur. If you've done any application programming, you doubtless have worked with conditional statements. The principles of conditional statements are the same for logical thinking. 2: Understanding premise and conclusion shorthand The two parts of a conditional statement have specific terms with respect to logic. The first part is called a premise, and the second part is called a conclusion. Within a conditional statement, if a premise is true, the conclusion will be too, because it follows, or results from, the truth of the premise. Sometimes, in shorthand, you will see the abbreviations "p" and "q" for "premise" and "conclusion," respectively. The causal relationship (the "then") is indicated by an arrow: →. Here, "p" would represent "If you drop your smartphone into water," "q" would represent "the smartphone will become ruined," and → would represent the "then." The general nature of a conditional statement can be represented as p → q. Once we understand the structure of an original conditional statement in terms of p and q, we can understand three other statements related to it. They are the converse, the inverse, and the contrapositive. Knowing these three is important to avoid faulty reasoning and to detect faulty reasoning by others. 3: The converse statement The converse of the original conditional statement simply reverses the premise and the conclusion. In shorthand terms, therefore, the converse is q → p. In our smartphone example, the converse statement would be: "If your smartphone is ruined, then it was because you dropped it into water." As you can see, in this case the converse is not true, because a smartphone can be ruined in many other ways besides dropping it into water. Similarly, though someone who lives in Florida lives in the United States, not everyone who lives in the United States lives in Florida. Assuming that the converse is true, in fact, leads to the fallacy of the "false syllogism": If a phone is dropped into water, it is ruined. John's phone is ruined. Therefore, John's phone must have been dropped into water. 4: The inverse statement The inverse of the original statement keeps the original premise and original conclusion but negates each one. In shorthand, the inverse is ~p → ~q. The inverse of the smartphone statement would be: "If you do not drop your smartphone into water, your smartphone will not become ruined." Sometimes, the
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    inverse is true.But other times, such as with our example, it isn't. A smartphone can be ruined in many ways. Therefore, even if we refrain from dropping the phone into water, it doesn't prevent other bad things from happening to it. The inverse of the virus statement would be: "If a computer does not have virus x, it will not have symptom y." This statement might not be true if symptom y can result from reasons other than virus x. Be careful of inverse reasoning. 5: The contrapositive statement The contrapositive is either the converse of the inverse or the inverse of the converse. That is, it involves a negation of both the premise and the conclusion, along with their reversal. Our smartphone contrapositive would be: "If your smartphone is not ruined, then you did not drop it into water." The virus contrapositive would be "If a computer does not have symptom y, then it does not have virus x." In shorthand, the contrapositive is ~q → ~p. Assuming the truth of the original conditional statement, the contrapositive is the only alternative statement that will always be true. 6: Necessary conditions Closely related to the conditional and related statements are the ideas of necessary conditions and sufficient conditions. A necessary condition is one that must be met for a certain result to be achieved. For a smartphone not to be ruined, it must be kept out of water. Therefore "keeping a smartphone out of water" is necessary to prevent it from being ruined. The absence of virus x is necessary to have assurance that a computer does not have symptom y.I know the objections you are raising right now, but keep reading for my further points. 7: Sufficient conditions A sufficient condition is one that, if met, absolutely guarantees the occurrence of a certain result — that is, a result that is dependent on that condition. Dropping a smartphone into water is sufficient for ruining that phone. Doing so guarantees that the phone is ruined. The presence of virus x is a sufficient condition for a computer to exhibit symptom y. 8: Necessary but not sufficient A condition can be necessary but not sufficient. Keeping your smartphone out of water is necessary for preventing its ruin. However, even if you do so, your smartphone could be ruined in other ways, such as being crushed by a car or dropped from a height. In the same way, even if virus x is absent from the computer, they system could still display symptom y for some other reason. Therefore, keeping a smartphone out of water, and keeping virus x off a computer are necessary but not sufficient conditions for preventing smartphone ruin or the presence of symptom y. 9: Sufficient but not necessary Similarly, a condition can be sufficient but not necessary. Dropping the smartphone into water is a sufficient condition for ruining it. However, it is not a necessary condition for ruining it. Having virus x is a sufficient condition for symptom y. However, if symptom y can arise from other causes, having virus x is not a necessary condition. 10: Neither necessary nor sufficient
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    A condition canbe neither necessary nor sufficient with respect to a result. To prevent the ruin of your smartphone, it is neither necessary nor sufficient that its area code begin with an even number. To prevent virus x, it is neither necessary nor sufficient that the system unit have a property tag. IDEATION Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, where an idea is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete, or abstract. Ideation comprises all stages of a thought cycle, from innovation, to development, to actualization. EIGHT DIMENTIONAL APPROACH TO IDEATION The Eight-Dimensional Methodology for innovative thinking is a systematic approach that stimulates innovation by effectively using both sides of the brain. It is a unified approach that builds on comprehensive problem solving knowledge from industry, business, marketing, math, science, engineering, technology, and daily life. The different dimensions, namely: • Uniqueness • Dimensionality • Directionality • Consolidation • Segmentation • Modification • Similarity • Experimentation Provide leaders, managers, and other problem solvers with new insights and thinking strategies to solve everyday problems they face in the workplace. The new methodology: o Looks at problems systematically o Enhances creative power and innovative skills of problem solvers o Helps to generate unique “out-of-the-box” unexpected and high quality multiple solutions o Stimulates innovation by generating more and better ideas quickly o Increases productivity of the idea generation process. 1. Uniqueness 1.1 Discover what does not change ➢ Discover and use invariants 1.2 Compare characteristics/features ➢ Look for and use unique/distinguishing features ➢ Magnify the difference
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    2. Dimensionality 2.1 Startwith less ➢ Solve a special case or several special cases ➢ Simplify / reduce the problem ➢ Solve an easier related problem ➢ Identify and solve sub-problems/ cases 2.2 Start with more ➢ Look at the global picture ➢ Generalize & solve a more general/global case 2.3 Manipulate time/space/cost dimensions and structure/topology/state ➢ Take it to the extreme ➢ Change Spatial dimensions ➢ Change temporal dimension ➢ Observe upper and lower limits ➢ Move it ➢ Move back in time; reverse ➢ Move forward in time Extrapolate/ predict/ anticipate ➢ Combine operations in time (in parallel) ➢ Add dimension ➢ Eliminate dimension ➢ Trade/exchange dimensions ➢ Separate dimensions ➢ Share dimensions ➢ Compare dimensions 2.4 Reduce details: Look from Far Away Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Education 2.5 Duplicate it/ Repeat it ➢ Copy and duplicate ➢ Continue useful actions 3. Directionality 3.1 The other way around ➢ Solve it indirectly ➢ Use indirect measurement ➢ Solve a complementary problem ➢ Inverse it implement the opposite action
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    ➢ Turn itupside down 3.2 All Directions ➢ Start backwards ➢ Start forward ➢ Start both ways ➢ Start somewhere ➢ Reverse roll ➢ Find a better path 4. Consolidation 4.1 Combine ➢ Combine and put together 4.2 Use many ➢ Multi- purpose 5. Segmentation ➢ Learn to share and Manage resources ➢ Segment/cut ➢ Divide an object into independent parts ➢ Make an object sectional ➢ Increase the degree of segmentation ➢ Separate 6. Modification 6.1 Rearrange 6.2 Extract/pull ➢ Extract unnecessary elements ➢ Extract disturbing parts ➢ Extract only the necessary part/property; use what’s needed. 6.3 Substitute/exchange ➢ Substitute ➢ Reject and regenerate parts ➢ Replace linear motion with rotational motion; utilize centrifugal force ➢ Replace mechanical system with another system 6.4 Add/ Subtract ➢ Add ➢ Subtract
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    6.5 Change ➢ Changethe colour ➢ Transform physical or chemical states of an object ➢ Add saturation/ hystheresis 6.6 Self Modification ➢ Convert harm into benefit ➢ Use self service ➢ Feedback 6.7 Add something in between 6.8 Localize ➢ Focus on local quality ➢ Use different parts to carry different functions ➢ Place parts in most favourable conditions 6.9 Take partial or overdone action 6.10 Automate It Add automation 6.11 Purify / mix 7. Similarity 7.1 Look for Pattern/Rule ➢ Follow the pattern ➢ Generalize the pattern 7.2 Look and use analogy ➢ Recall same or similar problem/goal ➢ Recall a path of thought. Adapt it ➢ Recall and combine two or more other ➢ Adapt an old/new principle to an old/new problem ➢ Use metaphors 7.3 Make it similar ➢ Use counterweight ➢ Make it equal potential 8. Experimentation 8.1 Work it out ➢ Simulate and experiment
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    ➢ Estimate andcheck ➢ Try it out ➢ Guess and test Example for the Uniqueness strategy There is a need to separate juicy and non-juicy oranges at a high rate. How can this be done? A solution: look for a feature or property of an orange that highly correlates with juiciness. Obviously it is not colour, size, weight, or texture. The main property that distinguishes the oranges is specific density. To measure the specific density it is not necessary to measure the weight and volume of each orange separately and then find the ratio of the two. It can be done directly by observing the time it takes for an orange to surface from under the water after being thrown from a certain height. The longer time the juicier the orange. This simple “uniqueness” strategy was used to separate oranges at a high rate, by letting them slide into a canal with moving water that had some longitudinal dividers. When an orange surfaces, it appears between two dividers, signifying a certain level of juiciness. Example for the Dimensionality strategy One of the major problems in picking an object from a pile (known as the “bin-picking” problem) using a robotic arm, a camera, and a computer, is to identify which object is on top. A solution is to move a light source around the bin. The portions in the image of the bin that get no shadow from all illuminated directions belong to surfaces of objects on top. Here a time dimension was added to solve the problem. Example for the Directionality strategy A frequently used sub-strategy in this category is “starting backwards”, i.e., starting from the desired state and working towards the initial state. A well- known example is: An eight-gallon jug is full, and both a three-gallon jug and a five-gallon jugs are empty. Without using any other containers, divide the water into two equal amounts. Working backwards leads to: 0-4-4, 3-4-1, 2-5-1, 2-0-6, 0-2-6, 3-2-3, 0- 5-3, 0-0-8. Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Example for the Consolidation strategy How would you measure the diameter of a thin wire with a regular ruler? A solution: wind the wire around a cylinder to form a coil. Measure the length obtained by many diameters (say, 100) and then divide the result by the number of rotations (100). For example, if this length is 8 mm (+/- 0.5mm), after dividing by 100 we get 0.08 (+/-0.005) mm. Examples for the Segmentation strategy Venetian blinds are made of many parts. Railroad train and cars are many independent parts put together. Garden hoses can be joined together to form a longer hose. Personal computers are modular to allow flexibility in personalizing and changing them, as well as for easy maintenance. Example for the Modification strategy A well-known sub-strategy in this case is “using feedback”. Feedback can be added to a system or may be an integral part of it. Examples: Cruise control system of a car uses velocity feedback to maintain a constant speed. Some eyeglasses adjust to the ambient light by changing the colour of the lenses.
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    Example for theSimilarity strategy How can sunflower seeds be separated from their shell? How can parts wrapped in protective paper be unpacked? An inventive (patent-based) solution to both problems is: place some quantity of the product into a hermetic chamber. Slowly increase the pressure inside the chamber. Then abruptly let the pressure drop. This will result in an explosion that will split the product. Example for the Experimentation strategy This strategy refers to estimating, guessing, simulating, and using the trial and error approach. Example: Estimate the number of barbers in New York City.
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    MODULE 4 SYSTEMATIC INVENTIVETHINKING TRIZ TRIZ (/ˈtriːz/; Russian: теория решения изобретательских задач, teoriya resheniya izobretatelskikh zadach, literally: "theory of the resolution of invention-related tasks") is "a problem-solving, analysis and forecasting tool derived from the study of patterns of invention in the global patent literature". It was developed by the Soviet inventor and science-fiction author Genrich Altshuller (1926-1998) and his colleagues, beginning in 1946. In English the name is typically rendered as "the theory of inventive problem solving", and occasionally goes by the English acronym TIPS. Following Altshuller's insight, the theory developed on a foundation of extensive research covering hundreds of thousands of inventions across many different fields to produce a theory which defines generalisable patterns in the nature of inventive solutions and the distinguishing characteristics of the problems that these inventions have overcome. An important part of the theory has been devoted to revealing patterns of evolution and one of the objectives which has been pursued by leading practitioners of TRIZ has been the development of an algorithmic approach to the invention of new systems, and to the refinement of existing ones. TRIZ includes a practical methodology, tool sets, a knowledge base, and model-based technology for generating innovative solutions for problem solving. It is intended [by whom?] for application in problem formulation, system analysis, failure analysis, and patterns of system evolution. There is a general similarity of purposes and methods with the field of pattern language, a cross discipline practice for explicitly describing and sharing holistic patterns of design. The research has produced three primary findings: • problems and solutions are repeated across industries and sciences • patterns of technical evolution are also repeated across industries and sciences • the innovations used scientific effects outside the field in which they were developed TRIZ practitioners apply all these findings in order to create and to improve products, services, and systems. Basic principles TRIZ presents a systematic approach for understanding and defining challenging problems: difficult problems require an inventive solution, and TRIZ provides a range of strategies and tools for finding these inventive solutions. One of the earliest findings of the massive research on which the theory is based is that the vast majority of problems that require inventive solutions typically reflect a need to
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    overcome a dilemmaor a trade-off between two contradictory elements. The central purpose of TRIZ- based analysis is to systematically apply the strategies and tools to find superior solutions that overcome the need for a compromise or trade-off between the two elements. By the early 1970s two decades of research covering hundreds of thousands of patents had confirmed Altshuller's initial insight about the patterns of inventive solutions and one of the first analytical tools was published in the form of 40 inventive principles, which could account for virtually all of those patents that presented truly inventive solutions. Following this approach the "Conceptual solution" shown in the diagram can be found by defining the contradiction which needs to be resolved and systematically considering which of the 40 principles may be applied to provide a specific solution which will overcome the "contradiction" in the problem at hand, enabling a solution that is closer to the "ultimate ideal result". The combination of all of these concepts together – the analysis of the contradiction, the pursuit of an ideal solution and the search for one or more of the principles which will overcome the contradiction, are the key elements in a process which is designed to help the inventor to engage in the process with purposefulness and focus. One of the tools which evolved as an extension of the 40 principles was a contradiction matrix in which the contradictory elements of a problem were categorized according to a list of 39 factors which could impact on each other. The combination of each pairing of these 39 elements is set out in a matrix (for example, the weight of a stationary object, the use of energy by a moving object, the ease of repair etc.) Each of the 39 elements is represented down the rows and across the columns (as the negatively affected element) and based upon the research and analysis of patents: wherever precedent solutions have been found that resolve a conflict between two of the elements, the relevant cells in the matrix typically contain a sub-set of three or four principles that have been applied most frequently in inventive solutions which resolve contradictions between those two elements. Basic terms • Ideal final result (IFR) - the ultimate idealistic solution of a problem when the desired result is achieved by itself. Note that the Ideal Final Result is also an ARIZ term for the formulation of the inventive problem in the form of a Technical Contradiction (IFR-1) and a Physical Contradiction (IFR-2); The Ideal Final Result (abbreviated IFR) is an implementation-free description of the situation after the problem has been solved. It focuses on customer needs or functions needed, not the current process or equipment. The goal of formulating the IFR is to eliminate rework ( solve the right problem the first time!) by addressing the root cause of the problem or customer need. The IFR helps you reach breakthrough solutions by thinking about the solution, not the intervening problems. • Administrative contradiction - contradiction between the needs and abilities; • Technical contradiction - an inverse dependence between parameters/characteristics of a machine or technology; • Physical contradiction - opposite/contradictory physical requirements to an object; • Separation principle - a method of resolving physical contradictions by separating contradictory requirements; • Vepol or Su-field - a minimal technical system consisting of two material objects (substances) and a "field". "Field" is the source of energy whereas one of the substances is "transmission" and the other one is the "tool"; • Fepol or Ferfiel - a sort of Vepol (Su-field) where "substances" are ferromagnetic objects;
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    TRIZ is aboutproviding means for problem solvers to access the good solutions obtained by the world’s finest inventive minds. The basic process by which this occurs is illus- trated below. Essentially, TRIZ researchers have encapsulated the principles of good inventive practice and set them into a generic problem-solving framework. The task of problem definers and problem solvers using the large majority of the TRIZ tools thus becomes one in which they have to map their specific problems and solutions to and from this generic framework. The Four Pillars of TRIZ 1500 person years of TRIZ research have produced a significant number of innovation tools and methods.. This section offers a brief summary of the four main elements that make the method distinct from other innova- tion and problem solving strategies. • Contradictions TRIZ researchers have identified the fact that the world’s strongest inventions have emerged from situations in which the inventor has successfully sought to avoid the conventional trade-offs that most designers take for granted. More importantly they have offered systematic tools through which problem solvers can tap into and use the strategies employed by such inventors. The most commonly applied tool in this regard is the Contradiction Matrix – a 39639 matrix con- taining the three or four most likely strategies for solving design problems involving the 1482 most common contradiction types. Prob- ably the most important philosophical aspect of the contradiction part of TRIZ is that, given there are ways of ‘eliminating’ contradic- tions’, designers should actively look for them during the design process. A management version of the Contradiction Matrix idea has recently emerged from TRIZ research – and will be described in a future article. • Ideality While studying the patent database, TRIZ founder Genrich Altshuller identified a trend in which systems always evolve towards increasing ‘ideality’ and that this evolution process takes place through a series of evolu- tionary S-curve characteristics. A key finding of TRIZ is that the steps denoting a shift from one S-curve to the next are predictable. A number of underlying technology evolution trends consistent with the ideality concept have been identified during the course of research on the global patent database. Used as a problem definition tool, the ideality part of TRIZ encourages problem solvers to break out of the traditional ‘start from the current situation’ type of thinking, and start instead from what is described as the Ideal Final Result (IFR). The simple definition of IFR is that the solution contains all of the benefits and none of the costs or ‘harms’ (environ- mental impact, adverse side-effects, etc). Although there are many instances where systems have been seen to evolve all the way to their Ideal Final Result, many have not. The method gets users to think about these situations by working back from the IFR to something which is practicably realisable. Generally speaking these solutions incorpo- rate the concept of systems solving problems ‘by themselves’. The key word is ‘self’; things that achieve functions by themselves – self- cleaning, self-balancing, self-heating, self- aerating, etc – all represent, when incorpor- ated in a true TRIZ fashion, very powerful and resource-efficient solutions. • Functionality Although the functionality aspects of TRIZ owe a significant debt to the pioneering work on Value Engineering, the method of defining and using functionality data is markedly different; sufficient at
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    the very leastto merit discussion as a distinct paradigm shift in thinking relative to traditional occidental thought processes. Three aspects are worthy of particular note:- 1) The idea that a system possesses a Main Useful Function (MUF) and that any system component which does not con- tribute towards the achievement of this function is ultimately harmful. In a heat exchanger, for example, the MUF is to transfer heat to the working medium; everything else in the system is there solely because we don’t yet know how to achieve the MUF without the support of the ancillary components. 2) In traditional function mapping, the em- phasis is very much on the establishment of positive functional relationships be- tween components. TRIZ places consider- able emphasis on plotting both the positive and the negative relationships contained in a system, and, more importantly, on using the function analysis as a means of identifying the contradictions, in-effective, excessive and harmful relationships in and around a system. Function and attribute analysis thus becomes a very powerful problem definition tool. 3) Functionality is the common thread by which it becomes possible to share knowl- edge between widely differing industries. A motor car is a specific solution to the generic function ‘move people’, just as a washing powder is a specific solution to the generic function ‘remove dirt’. By classifying and arranging knowledge by function, it becomes possible for manufac- turers of washing powder to examine how other industries have achieved the same basic ‘remove’ function. ‘Solutions change, functions stay the same’ is a message form- ing a central thread in the TRIZ methodology. • Use Of Resources The Resources part of TRIZ relates to the unprecedented emphasis placed on the maxi- misation of use of everything contained within a system. In TRIZ terms, a resource is anything in the system which is not being used to its maximum potential. TRIZ demands an aggressive and seemingly relentless pursuit of things in (and around) a system which are not being used to their absolute maximum potential. Discovery of such resources then reveals opportunities through which the de- sign of a system may be improved. In addi- tion to this relentless pursuit of resources, TRIZ demands that the search for resources also take due account of negative as well as the traditionally positive resources in a system. Thus the pressures and forces we typically attempt to fight when we are design- ing systems, are actually resources. By way of an example of this ‘turning lemons into lemonade’ concept, TRIZ users often think of resonance as a resource. This is in direct contradiction to most Western practice, where resonance is commonly viewed as something to be avoided at all costs. TRIZ says that somewhere, somehow, resonance in a system can be used to beneficial effect. In effect, resonance is a potent force lever capable of amplifying small inputs into large outputs. Resonance is currently being used to generate beneficial effects in a number of new product developments from vacuum cleaners, paint stripping systems on ships (firing a pulsed jet of water – existing resource! – at the local resonant frequency of the hull), and in help- ing to empty trucks carrying powder-based substances more quickly. TRIZ an overview TRIZ is a problem solving toolkit: the principal TRIZ tools direct us to find all the ways of solving a problem, to find new concepts and the routes for developing new products. TRIZ has simple general lists of how to solve any problem; these TRIZ solution triggers are distilled from analysing all known engineering success. There are also tools for problem understanding, for system analysis and for understanding what we want.
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    TRIZ offers systematicinnovation; by learning TRIZ and following its rules we can accelerate creative problem solving for both individuals and project teams. Companies that successfully apply TRIZ are using the success and knowledge of the whole world, and are not dependent on the spontaneous and occasional creativity of individuals, or groups of engineers, within their organisation. TRIZ is not just powerful for technical problem solving but is also successfully used on a wide range of management issues. WHAT CAN TRIZ DO? • help us solve problems • help us think clearly, powerfully and see the wood for the trees when confronted with a complex problem situation • help us be creative (invent new systems, find next generation systems, come up with lots of new ideas etc.) • help us be innovative (find new ways of using and improving existing systems, existing technologies etc.) • help teams work together to pool their brain power and experience, enhanced by the distilled world’s knowledge of the TRIZ tools • help us improve existing systems and increase the ideality of systems by lowering costs, removing harms or increasing benefits • helps us use our resources: we can often find quick, cheap solutions to problems with TRIZ and it will help us turn harm into good • gives us quick solutions • gives us a structure to brainstorm around difficult problems – even with those unfamiliar with TRIZ • help us structure and use our thinking time effectively - we know that we’ll be looking in the right direction and places. TRIZ was developed as a theory and a set of applied tools to support solving so-called “nonordinary” problems in technology and engineering: problems which can not be solved with known formal methods, for example, mathematical optimization or configuration change. Such problems require new, out of the box solutions unknown before. Usually we refer to such solutions as “innovative” or “inventive” while calling the problems innovative (or inventive) as well. To develop TRIZ, Russian inventor Genrich Altshuller (founder of TRIZ) and his associates studied a vast massive of technological solutions, patents, inventions, and extracted a number of common solution patterns which existed among them [1,2]. Another important achievement of TRIZ studies was discovering mechanisms which help to transform an illdefined initial problem situation to a solution by solving an inventive problem at abstract level thus drastically reducing solution search space by directly navigating to the area of most relevant solutions. Such approach helps to re-use previous experience available as a collection of high-order solution patterns and reduces time and efforts needed to solve an innovative problem.
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    “Basic TRIZ” PROCESS Tosupport a problem solving process with TRIZ for Business and Management, we developed a process called “Basic TRIZ”: 1. Situation Analysis and Problem Formulation: Understanding what a problem situation is, documenting a problem, defining solution criteria, constraints, goals, and targets. 2. Problem Mapping and Decomposing: application of RCA+ to decompose a general problem and create a map of manageable contradictions. 3. Key Issue or Problem Selection: Identifying what critical conflicts (contradictions) should be resolved to achieve the expected results. 4. Using TRIZ Patterns to Generate Solution Ideas: application of TRIZ techniques, such as Contradiction Matrix and Inventive Principles to eliminate selected conflicts, generation of new solution ideas. 5. Building Ideas Portfolio: composing a tree of generated ideas. 6. Scoring and Selection of best Solution Candidates: applying Multi-Criteria Decision Matrix to evaluate the Idea Portfolio and identify best solution candidates.
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    Contradictions Matrix The conceptof contradiction is central to the TRIZ tool-kit and gives immediate confidence in finding successful and powerful solutions. We learn how to uncover contradictions (often the heart of the problem) and then eliminate them using the relevant tools. Problem solving often involves understanding and resolving conflicting requirements - improvement in one part is at the expense of something else getting worse (technical contradictions), or we may want the same thing in opposite states but at different times or places e.g. an umbrella needs to be small and large (physical contradictions). Once we understand the conflict in our requirements then we can use TRIZ processes for uncovering contradictions and the tools for solving them. Understanding all the benefits we want, getting those in the right order of priority, and seeing where these benefits conflict is the first stage in solving contradictions. This needs structure and practice for successful problem solving. 'A contradiction is a simple clash of solutions. Either we want opposite solutions, or by introducing a new solution, i.e. an improving change to one feature in a system, another feature in our system has got worse. Engineers recognize contradictions as familiar situations, such as when we improve strength by adding more material we find that this solution often makes weight get worse. Contradictions can also be the need for opposite benefits which are achieved with opposite features or functions - an everyday item such as an umbrella has the benefits of being both large and small. there are many situations of wanting opposites such as white and black - TRIZ shows us all the way to achieve such opposite benefits.'
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    MODULE-5 DECISION AND OWNERSHIP DECISIONAND EVALUATION Making decisions for your small business might seem to require wisdom beyond your capabilities. However, if you are methodical about your decision-making process, there is a better chance that your resulting determinations will lead to success. To ensure that your decisions benefit your company, properly evaluating their effectiveness will help you know if you should stay on track or make subsequent changes. Pinpoint the Issue As a business owner, you are faced with a variety of decisions every day. Some are important and affect the course of your company's future, while others are not as vital but must be acknowledged. For minor issues, quick thinking and experience can direct your response. However, matters needing more thought and discernment should be closely analyzed. You must pinpoint the issue requiring a decision. You may have found a problem that needs resolving, but upon closer analysis, you've identified an underlying situation needing to be addressed. For example, if a customer complains about inadequate service, it may not be the fault of your employee but rather the poor implementation of a company policy. Determine Solutions Once you have adequately identified the decision that must be made, determine if the solution will be isolated to one situation or become a company-wide policy. If your decision will affect employees and customers through comprehensive changes in systems or processes, ask for input from management. Make a list of the advantages and disadvantages of viable decisions. Project the impact of the decision to your sales, revenues and profits. Even minor decisions that are not far-reaching should be considered carefully in case implementation affects other areas of business. Implement Decision You may be tempted to implement an important decision before conducting an analysis of its merits. Your insight as an experienced small business owner can give you confidence that you are making the right decision without thinking of the ramifications. Instead of being hasty, carefully consider all aspects of your decision and its application. If you are changing a company policy, notify your employees and meet with them to answer questions and discuss the implementation strategy. If customers are affected, send letters and post a notice on your website explaining the changes and benefits involved. Be confident in your decision so others will not question its validity.
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    Evaluate Effectiveness Perform onlinesurveys and ask customers to answers questions to evaluate the effectiveness of your decisions. Document workplace data if your decision involves employees, manufacturing, or processes and systems. Expect complaints from customers and employees. Determine if they do not like changes in general and eventually will adapt to them or if you have made a mistake that needs further analysis to resolve. Don't overlook serious feedback that can have a negative impact on your profits, but be open to suggestions and continue the process of decision-making and implementation until all departments run smoothly. Insights for the Decision making Process • Guiding Information Collection: Discovering values early in the process helps inform all other information collection. If values are unclear, they should be clarified; if something is unimportant, effort should not be wasted on it. • Evaluating Alternatives: With clear and consistent objectives, VFT-powered analysis of objectives is often better than unsophisticated analysis. • Interconnecting Decisions: Strategic objectives, fundamental objectives, attributes, and value tradeoffs are all likely to be useful in multiple decision contexts. By adopting the same values across the board, a decision-maker may be able to make better tradeoffs and satisfy their values better or at lower cost. • Improving Communication: Clear and coherent values both improve thinking and communication. Multiple decision-makers can negotiate more effectively and act in concert with explicit and defined objectives. • Facilitating Involvement in Multiple-Stakeholder Decisions: VFT provides a natural way to incorporate the preferences of other stakeholders into the decision-making process, often improving both their satisfaction with the process and the quality of the solution for all involved. • Guiding Strategic Thinking: The strategic objectives of a decision-making activity, which is much easier when those objectives are clearly stated and quantified. Focused thinking framework Steps of focused thinking • Thinking about Values • The Framework of Value-Focused Thinking • Identifying and Structuring Objectives
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    • Measuring theAchievement of Objectives • Quantifying Objectives with a Value Model • Uncovering Hidden Objectives • Creating Alternatives for a Single Decisionmaker • Creating Alternatives for Multiple Decisionmakers • Identifying Decision Opportunities An argument is an exchange of diverging or opposite views, typically a heated or angry one. An arguments consist of premises and conclusions. The argument start with Premises and ends with a conclusions are statements. • Premise indicator words: since, because, for, given that, seeing that, considering that, inasmuch as, as, in view of the fact that, as indicated by, judging from, on account of • Conclusion indicator words: therefore, thus, hence, consequently, so, accordingly, it follows that, for this reason, that is why, which shows that, wherefore, this implies that, as a result, this suggests that, this being so, we may infer that. Diagramming Short Arguments Example Argument : The death penalty should be abolished because it’s racially discriminatory, there’s no evidence that it’s a more effective deterrent than life imprisonment, and innocent people may be executed by mistake. ❖ Step 1: Identify (circle, underline, etc.) all premise and / or conclusion indicators. The death penalty should be abolished because it’s racially discriminatory, there’s no evidence that it’s a more effective deterrent than life imprisonment, and innocent people may be executed by mistake ❖ Step 2: Number the statements consecutively as they appear in the argument. • The death penalty should be abolished • because it’s racially discriminatory, • there’s no evidence that it’s a more effective deterrent than life imprisonment, and • innocent people may be executed by mistake. ❖ Step 3: Arrange the numbers on a page with the premises placed above the conclusion(s) they claim to support. 2) 3) 4) 1) ❖ Step 4: Omit any logically irrelevant statements. ❖ Step 5: Use arrows to mean ‘is offered as evidence for’ to show relationship of argument support.
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    Here 2), 3),and 4) offer independent support for the conclusion. A premise provides independent support for a conclusion when the amount of support it provides would not be weakened or destroyed by the removal of any other premise in the argument. A premise provides linked support when it works conjointly with another premise to support the conclusion: GENERAL RULES FOR: SHORT ARGUMENTS 1. Distinguish between premises and conclusion: “The conclusion is the statement for which you are giving reasons. The statements which give you reasons are called ‘premises.’” 2. Present your ideas in a natural order: “Put the conclusion first, followed by your reasons, or set out your premises first and draw the conclusion at the end. In any case, set out your ideas in an order that unfolds your line of thought most naturally for the reader.” 3. Start from reliable premises: “No matter how well you argue from premises to conclusion, your conclusion will be weak if your premises are weak. . . If you are not sure about the reliability of a premise, you may need to do some research, and/or give a short argument for the premise itself.” 4. Use definite, specific, concrete language: “Write concretely: avoid abstract, vague, general terms. ‘We hiked for hours in the sun’ is a hundred times better than ‘It was an extended period of laborious exertion.’” 5. Avoid loaded language: “Do not make your argument look good by caricaturing the opposing side. Generally people advocate a position for serious and sincere reasons. Try to figure out their view, even if you think they are dead wrong. . . In general, avoid language whose only function is to sway the emotions of your readers or hearers, either for or against the view you are discussing.” 6. Use consistent terms: “Stick to a single set of terms for each idea. . . Consistent terms are especially important when your argument depends on the connections between the premises.” 7. Stick to one meaning for each term: “The opposite temptation is to use a single word in more than one sense. This is the classical fallacy of ‘equivocation.’
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    Non-Arguments For greater appreciationof what an argument is and what it does, it is useful to contrast the entire category of arguments with things that are not arguments. What other kinds of things do we typically do with words, in passages of text or in speeches, conversations, etc.? Normal we think of arguments as ways to gather information and to acquire new beliefs. But information is not always given in the form of arguments. It might be that you’re reading some opinion piece in the newspapers, or maybe you’re listening to talk-back radio, or you’re talking with your friends on some hot topic, and they’re not really trying to make a point by using an argument. Sometimes people assert their beliefs without giving reasons; all they do is tell you what they believe. But stating beliefs is not giving arguments! Reporting, advising, warning, stating your belief about something or expressing your opinion about something –these are all very commonplace everyday things we do with words. Being able to identify and name cases of them as they occur –around us and within us–is a matter of a tiny little skill at observing, paying attention, and categorizing. In Philosophy in general, and in Logic in particular, that kind of skill is quite important to cultivate. Explanations - An explanation is a statement or collection of statements asserting why or how something is the case. Advice - Like explanations, advice is not an argument, even when expressed as a collection of statements. SIX THINKING HATS Six Thinking Hats is a system designed by Edward de Bono which describes a tool for group discussion and individual thinking involving six colored hats. "Six Thinking Hats" and the associated idea parallel thinking provide a means for groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way, and in doing so to think together more effectively.[2] How to Use the Six Thinking Hats Model You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. In meetings, it has the benefit of preventing any confrontation that may happen when people with different thinking styles discuss a problem, because every perspective is valid. Each "Thinking Hat" is a different style of thinking. These are explained below: 1. White Hat: with this thinking hat, you focus on the available data. Look at the information that you have, analyze past trends, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and try to either fill them or take account of them. 2. Red Hat: "wearing" the Red Hat, you look at problems using your intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also, think how others could react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning. 3. Black Hat: using Black Hat thinking, look at a decision's potentially negative outcomes. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not work. This is important because it
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    highlights the weakpoints in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to counter them. Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans "tougher" and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. It's one of the real benefits of this model, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that they often cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties. 4. Yellow Hat: this hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult. 5. Green Hat: the Green Hat represents creativity. This is where you develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. (You can explore a range of creativity tools to help you.) 6. Blue Hat: this hat represents process control. It's the hat worn by people chairing meetings, for example. When facing difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS It is an accumulation of values and principles that address questions of what is good or bad in human affairs. Ethics searches for reasons for acting or refraining from acting; for approving or not approving conduct; for believing or denying something about virtuous or vicious conduct or good or evil rules. SOME OF THE ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ARE:- • Informed consent • Voluntary participation • Do no harm • Confidentiality • Anonymity • Only assess relevant components. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flouris. Intellectual property rights is a legal concept that confers rights to owners and creators of the work, for their intellectual creativity. Such rights can be granted for areas related to literature, music, invention etc, which are used in the business practices. In general, the intellectual property law offers exclusionary rights to the creator or inventor against any misappropriation or use of work without his/her prior knowledge. Intellectual property law establishes an equilibrium by granting rights for limited duration of time.
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    COPYRIGHT Copyright is alegal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings. PATENT A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application. TRADEMARK A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights. TRADESECRET A trade secret is the information which • is not generally known to the public; • confers economic benefit on its holder because the information is not publicly known; and • is the subject of reasonable efforts by the holder to maintain its secrecy. UNFAIR COMPETITION Unfair competition" is a term applied to dishonest or fraudulent rivalry in trade and commerce. It's a branch of intellectual property law, particularly applied to the practice of endeavoring to substitute one’s own goods or products in the market for those of another for the purpose of deceiving the public.
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    REFERENCE 1. Chris Bilton,Management and Creativity: From Creative Industries to Creative Management, Wiley-Blackwell. 2. E. de Bono, Serious Creativity: Thoughts on Reinventing Society, Vermilion. 3. E. de Bono, The Use of Lateral Thinking, Penguin Books. 4. E. de Bono, Six Thinking Hats, Penguin. 5. E. Sickafus: Unified Structured Inventive Thinking, Ntelleck. 6. Donald H. Weiss: Creative Problem Solving, Amacom. 7. Ira Flatow: They All Laughed From Light Bulbs to Lasers, San Val. 8. James Higgins: 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques: The Handbook of New Ideas for Business, San Val. 9. Scott Shane, A General Theory of Entrepreneurship The Individual-Opportunity Nexus, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. 10. J G. Altschuller: Creativity as an Exact Science, CRC Press, 1984 11. H. Altov: The Art of Inventing (And Suddenly The Inventor Appeared), Technical Innovation Ctr, 1995 12. Genrikh Altshuller, Lev Shulyak and Steven Rodman: 40 Principles: Triz Keys to Technical Innovation: 1 (Triztools, V. 1), Technical Innovation Ctr, 1997 13. Tony Buzon, Use Both Sides of Your Brain, Plume, 1991. 14. Karl H Vesper, New venture strategies. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1496217 15. Saras Sarasvathy, what is effectuation? http://www.effectuation.org/sites/default/files/documents/effectuation-3-pager.pdf
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    THANKING OUR HRTEAM MEMBERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE Afra A Amitha Sabeer Ammu S Anu Miriam Jacob Annie Nirmala Aravind R Arjun V Athira Babu Athira K S Jasna Jahangeer Jisha Antony Krishna R Thampi Majeesh M Mohammad. Tharshafeer Reji Mohanan Saranya A Sasi Sonu E Soumya G Sugapriya E Teena Mariam Eby Uma M Varsha Ramakrishnan Veena Chandran P Further details Contact: [email protected] [email protected]
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    38 A textbook onMANAGEMENT OF CREATIVITY This textbook named “A textbook on MANAGEMENT OF CREATIVITY“ is written and published by the Human Resource Management students 2016-2018 batch at Rajadhani Business School,Nagaroor, Attingal,Thiruvananthapuram,as per the MBA syllabus of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. In this great moment we thank our mentor Mr scaria Thomas(Assistant professor, Rajadhani Business School) who helped us in making this book a reality,We are thankful to Prof Rajit Karunakaran Nair(Director,Rajadhani Business School),Prof (Dr) Rajesh S Pyngavil (Professor Head, Department of Business Administration,Rajadhani Business School),the entire RBS faculty. Finally we thank our friends and family for being with us to publish this book. Team HR,RBS