DB 5.1

BOOK:

*Developing Management Skills

· Author: David A. Whetten and Kim S. Cameron

· Publisher: Pearson

· Edition: 9th edition

Read chapter 3, Solving Problems Analytically and Creatively

Solving Problems Analytically and Creatively

In today's global world no manager or organization can afford to be complacent, rely on past practices and procedures, and avoid innovation. Computer technology is more advanced than ever before. The Internet can provide instantaneous information. Creative problem solving is increasingly a prerequisite for success. The movie Apollo 13 is about leaders and teams brilliantly improvising their way through an unprecedented crisis. The routine "stirring" of oxygen tanks on the spacecraft (known as housekeeping procedures) creates a mysterious explosion that cripples Apollo 13's command module, sending it into a catastrophic countdown toward 100 percent failure. No moon landing, no spaceship, no astronauts. What's more intriguing is that a high-performance team trained in difficult procedures, carried out a project that had never occurred before. It's both a leadership nightmare and a leadership adventure in that an unexpected, but inevitable event wakes you up to the truth about leadership. You can't rely on reports, records, profiles, predictions, troubleshooters, expert staff, assessors, mediators, consultants, or a pile of books. You can't rely on training, procedures, guidelines, or manuals to get you through - you know immediately that you can count on nothing. If you love the idea of using talent and skill and flying blind, you are probably cut out for leading others through the maze of missions large or small. In Apollo 13 , Commander Jim Lovell's eerily calm radio transmission, "Houston, we have a problem," turns out to be the last link in a chain of events. Leadership demands ingenuity, clever improvisation, flexibility, and the imagination to "work the problem, people!" as Houston's Flight Operations Commander, Gene Kranz, says to the NASA engineers. The digital revolution makes the rapid production of new ideas almost mandatory. The quality revolution of the 1980s and 1990s impressed upon us the important lessons about carefully proscribed, sequential, and analytical problem-solving processes. Error rates, response times, and missed deadlines focused on process improvement when analytical problem solving was institutionalized in manufacturing and service companies.

There are four separate and sequential stages in solving problems analytically.

· Defining a problem

· Generating alternative solutions

· Evaluating and selecting the best solution

· Implementing the chosen solution

Unfortunately, not all problems can be solved in a straightforward manner; some require creative approaches. Eight conceptual blocks inhibit creative problem-solving abilities. Conceptual blocks are mental obstacles that artificially constrain problem definition and solution and that keep most people from being effective, creative problem solvers. The four separate and sequential stages for problem solving include:

· Constancy

· Commitment

· Compression

· Complacency

Overcoming these conceptual blocks is a matter of innate ability. Practice is the key to becoming a skilled creative problem solver. Becoming aware of these thinking inhibitors helps individuals overcome them.