Creative problem solving for managers : developing skills for decision making and innovation

Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface to the fifth edition
1 CREATIVITY AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN BUSINESS
	Introduction
	Changing times
	Some definitions of creativity
	Paradigm shift
	Innovation, invention and knowledge
	The importance given to creativity in business
	How creative thinking may be used in management
	Conditions in which creative thinking is needed most
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
2 BLOCKS TO CREATIVITY
	Introduction
	The need to be ready for change
	Mindset
	When mindset blocks us
	Other barriers to an individual's creativity
	Dealing with an individual's blocks to creativity
	Diagnosing whether someone is blocked in their thinking
	How techniques help to overcome blocks
	Exercise
	Blocks to organisational creative thinking and ways of dealing with them
	Elements and conditions of creative organisations
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
3 THEORIES OF CREATIVITY AND THE CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS
	Introduction
	Creative thinking
	The investment theory of creativity
	The brain as an information processor
	Convergent and divergent thinking
	The conditions of creative thinking
	Origin of creativity
	The cognitive theory of creativity
	How we get ideas: the index metaphor
	Problem-solving mechanisms
	Analogical reasoning
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
4 PROBLEM SOLVING AND IMPROVISATION
	The nature of problems
	Models
	The problem-solving process
	The problem-solving process and the creative process
	Compositional and improvisational creativity
	Some limitations to formal problem-solving approaches
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
5 FACTORS INFLUENCING PEOPLE'S ABILITY TO UNDERTAKE IDEATION
	What helps people get ideas
	The techniques
	Qualities of a creative person
	Thinking style
	Personality
	Learning style
	Mood or emotions
	Problems in groups
	The range of techniques and their suitability for solving different types of problem
	Conclusion
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
6 OBJECTIVE FINDING, FACT FINDING AND PROBLEM FINDING/DEFINITION
	Objective finding
	Fact finding and problem definition/redefinition
	Dimensional analysis
	Redefinition approaches
	Redefinition approaches: laddering
	Redefinition approaches: goal orientation
	Redefinition approaches: boundary examination
	Redefinition approaches: progressive abstractions
	Redefinition approaches: the 'why' method
	Analytical techniques: decomposable matrices
	Analytical techniques: cause-and-effect diagrams
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
7 MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND RELATED TECHNIQUES
	Introduction
	Checklists
	Morphological analysis
	Force-fitting triggers
	Heuristic ideation technique
	Component detailing
	Sequence-attribute modification matrix
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
8 BRAINSTORMING AND ITS VARIANTS
	Introduction
	Classical brainstorming
	The process of brainstorming
	Wildest idea variant
	Stop-and-go brainstorming
	Round-robin brainstorming
	Gordon-Little variation
	Trigger method
	Problems with brainstorming
	Brainwriting
	Brainlining
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
9 LATERAL THINKING AND ASSOCIATED METHODS
	Introduction
	Overview
	Awareness
	Assumptions
	Alternatives
	Provocative methods
	Metaphorical thinking
	Analogy
	The discontinuity principle
	Six Thinking Hats
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
10 SYNECTICS
	Introduction
	Synectics
	Conducting synectics sessions
	Synectics in action
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
11 PARADIGM-BREAKING TECHNIQUES
	Introduction
	Weights for thought
	Paradigm-breaking techniques
	Disruptive technology
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
12 MISCELLANEOUS IDEATION TECHNIQUES
	Suggestion box, exhibits and competitions
	Clichés, proverbs and maxims
	Storyboarding
	Scenario writing
	Scenario daydreaming
	Bionics
	Free association
	Two words
	Story writing
	Mind map
	Fishbone diagram
	Lotus blossom technique
	TRIZ
	Vision building
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
13 EVALUATION
	Introduction
	Sorting
	Evaluation methods
	Qualitative evaluation: reverse brainstorming
	Financial evaluation
	Mathematical evaluation
	Pay-off tables
	Decision trees
	Strategic framing
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
14 DECISION MAKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING
	Introduction
	Types of decision
	Naturalistic decision making
	Use of heuristics
	The analytic hierarchy process
	Making decisions involving risk or uncertainty: prospect theory
	Groups are better at making decisions
	How creative problem solving can help decision making
	Questions
	Exercise
	Cases
	Further reading
15 IMPLEMENTING IDEAS
	Introduction
	Ideas are not readily implemented
	Sources of resistance to change
	Role of communication in overcoming resistance to change
	Putting ideas into practice
	Reducing resistance to change
	Climate for change
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
16 COMPUTER-ASSISTED CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING
	Introduction
	History of development
	Structured approach to creative problem solving in computer programs
	Types of computer-assisted stimulus
	Conventional software
	Questions
	Cases
	Further reading
Appendix 1: Case example of the creative problem-solving process
Appendix 2: Notes on problems
References
Author index
Subject index