Creative Approaches to Problem Solving, Methods and Framework

Creativity is sub-set of intelligence, meaning a group of basic relational process. Creativity is fueled by the process of conscious or unconscious insight. It is a mental and social process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts. A model of creative process is shown in figure:

Creative Process

1. Idea Germination: This stage is seeding process. It is not like planting seed as a former does to grow, but more like the natural seeding that occurs when pollinated flower seeds, scattered by the wind, find fertile ground to take root. Exactly how an idea is germinated is a mystery; it is not something that can be examined under microscope.
2. Preparation:  Once a seed of curiosity has taken form as a focused idea, creative people embark on a conscious search for answers. If there is a problem they are trying to solve, then they are began an intellectual journey, seeking information about the problem.
3. Incubation: The idea once seeded and given substances through preparation, is rut on a back burner; the subconscious mind is allowed time to assimilate information.
4. Illumination: In this stage the idea surfaces as realistic creation. Illumination may be triggered by an opportune incident.
5. Verification: An idea once illuminated in the mind of an individual still has little meaning until verified as realistic and useful. Verification is the development stage of refining knowledge into application.

Creative Problem Solving:

It is a mental process of creating a solution to a problem. In this solution is independently created rather than learn ideas. It usually involves team approach because people within work place are empowered to participate in the change process and looking for creative solution. It is finding innovation approaches for finding solution. Creative problem solving always involves creativity, however creativity does not involve creative problem solving, especially in field such as music, poetry and art.

Creativity is often linked with problem-solving. Problems come in all shapes and sizes including crossword puzzles, scientific paradoxes, industrial relations conflicts, ethical issues, difficult managerial decisions and global questions. Problems are what people have when they want something and don’t know how to get it.

A) Creative Problem Solving Framework:

There are many creative problems solving model used in today, but they all follow two basic principles:

1. Define the problem, and then solve it.
2. Diverge, and then converge, at each step.

B) Creative Problem Solving Methods:

We can solve any problem by different way. There are some methods which help to solve the problem in creative way. These solving techniques are mentioned below-

1. Brainstorming:  It is a group creativity technique design to generate a large no. of ideas. For the solution of a problem. This method was popularised by Alex Faickney Osborn in a book Applied Imagination. The groups are organised by sitting together and stimulate greater creativity by exchange of mutual experience and participating in discussions. There are some rules for it-

• No criticism is allowed.
• Free willingness is allowed.
• Combination & improvements are sought from the method.
• Quantity of member is desirable.

The main advantages of this technique are broader participation, enthusiasm, deferred judgement, greater task orientation, team work and stimulated thinking. This technique is very effective when problem is comparatively specific and can be simply defined.

This process is very time consuming and requires an experienced and sensitive facilitator.

2. Heuristic: It involves experience based technique for problem solving, learning and discovering. A heuristic method is particularly used to rapidly come to a solution that is hoped to be close to the best possible answer or optimal solution. It may be argued that the most fundamental heuristic is “trial and error”.

The advantage of heuristic evaluation is that it is cheap, intuitive, it hardly requires any planning, and it can be hardly used early in the design process. The disadvantage is that there is a focus on problems rather than solutions.

3. Synectics:  Term Synectics is taken from greek word which means “bringing for together” or “bringing difficult things into unified combination”. Creativity involves the co-ordination of things in new structure, every creative thought or action draws on synectic thinking. Synectic thinking is process of discovering the links that seemingly disconnected. 

Synectics encourage the ability to live with complexity and apparent contradiction. It stimulates creating thinking. It mobilize both side of brain, the right brain and the left brain.

4. Value Analysis: Value is personal perspective of a person’s willingness to pay for the performance delivered by a product, process or project.

Good value is achieved when the required performance can be accurately defined and delivered at the lowest life cycle cost.

                           Value (P) = Desired Performance/Overall costs (C)

Value can be increased by the either improving the performance or reducing the cost. Value of a function can be increased by four methods:

• Decrease the cost while ensuring the same level of information.
• Enhance the performance at same cost.
• Decrease the cost and increase the performance.
• Increase both cost and performance ensuring that performance increases more than the increment in the cost.

5. Innovation: It can be defined as to create something new based on knowledge that has been attained. Innovation plays an important role virtually in every aspect of life. Though it is usually connected to business, technology, or engineering and can even be useful on a personal level.

According to Stephen P. Robbins,” Innovation is a new idea applied to initiating or improving a product, process or services”.

Innovation is not something that has to be unique to society as a whole. It could be unique to someone on a personal level.

Relationship between factors in the Improved Standing of Entrepreneurial Process