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Lesson Iv PDF

The document discusses several factors that affect problem solving activities: 1. Personality types, temperaments, thinking patterns, and skills/competencies can impact one's approach to problem solving. For example, sensing individuals focus on facts while intuitive individuals consider relationships between facts. 2. Organizational hierarchies and bureaucratic hurdles can stifle creativity and innovation in problem solving. 3. External environmental factors are often the root cause of problems, so understanding the external environment is key to reconciling business operations and finding effective solutions.

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Wendy Mae Lapuz
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93 views4 pages

Lesson Iv PDF

The document discusses several factors that affect problem solving activities: 1. Personality types, temperaments, thinking patterns, and skills/competencies can impact one's approach to problem solving. For example, sensing individuals focus on facts while intuitive individuals consider relationships between facts. 2. Organizational hierarchies and bureaucratic hurdles can stifle creativity and innovation in problem solving. 3. External environmental factors are often the root cause of problems, so understanding the external environment is key to reconciling business operations and finding effective solutions.

Uploaded by

Wendy Mae Lapuz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LESSON IV

Factors that Affect Problem-Solving Activities

IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM

The most important of factors that affect problem-solving activities is realization of the
problem. A problem is decided by the purpose. For instance, manufacturing managers evaluated
based on the percentage of time they have operated the production lines do not have a problem
with operating the production line without orders from their sales division. On the other hand,
the sales division will have a major problem with this action if there are no orders and excessive
inventory piles up as a result of this action.

Identification or realization of the problem, keeping the big picture in mind, is the first and most
important step toward problem solving. They key to doing so lies in understanding the purpose
of the action. The basic steps toward this direction include:

1. Defining the problem.


2. Identifying the potential causes for the problems.
3. Listing out the various solutions.
4. Selecting the best alternative.
5. Planning implementation.
6. Monitoring and verifying the implementation.

PERSONALITY TYPES

In 1987, M. McCaulley undertook one of the earliest research projects to link individual
differences in personality to problem-solving approaches. He used Carl Jung’s theory of
individual preferences to correlate the four mental processes of sensing, intuiting, thinking, and
feeling to decision-making preferences. Sensing individuals considers facts, details, and reality
when making decisions to solve problems. Intuitive individuals try to understand the
meaningfulness of the facts, the relationships among the facts, and the possibilities of future
events that can be imagined from these facts to make decisions, and usually develop new, original
solutions. Thinking individuals tend to use logic and objective analysis during problem solving,
and Feeling individuals tend to veer toward subjective considerations of values and feelings in
the problem-solving process. Sensing and Intuitive people approach problems through their
perceptions, and they prefer flexibility and adaptability. Thinking- and Feeling-oriented people
usually make judgments and tend to prefer the problem-solving process to demonstrate closure.
Individuals preferring introversion take time to think and clarify their ideas before acting,
while those preferring extroversion talk through their ideas to clarify them before acting.
Introverts remain concerned with their own understanding of important concepts and ideas,
whereas extroverts seek feedback from the environment.

TEMPERAMENT

The ability of a person to solve problems depends on both personality type and
temperament. People motivated toward a goal, or those who are high achievers, take that
extra effort and initiative to find the root cause of problems and solve it. Others go by the routine
procedure and do the minimum required.

High-risk takers who usually find themselves in more problems generally tend to be more
adept in solving problems, also.

A far bigger personality dimension, however, lies in the positive treatment of the problem,
or considering it as an opportunity to learn new things. A negatively charged problem impedes
solution.

THINKING PATTERNS

Another of the major factors that affect problem-solving activities includes the thought
processes or thinking patterns of the concerned individual.

The major thought process dimensions include:

 Strategic thinking or a bigger long-term focus instead of short-term departmental focus.


 Emotional thinking or judging whether a solution is right or wrong based on emotional
commitment.
 Realistic thinking or the approach of starting from what can be done and fixing the essential
problem first.
 Empirical thinking or judging whether the situation is right or wrong based on past
experiences.

Problem solvers need to choose the appropriate thinking pattern based on the situation.
Besides such dimensions, the ability to think systematically through a rational process, such as
systems things, thought and effect process, and contingent thinking, and the ability to forge
hypothesis improves the thinking processes.

SKILLS AND TECHNICAL COMPETENCY

The ability to solve a problem depends greatly on the person’s competency relative to the
problem in hand. For instance, a team leader skilled in computer networking might be able to
manage a network failure, create ad hoc procedures until the systems are restored, or effectively
direct the recovery by functional experts. A team leader with no clue on networking would remain
totally at sea and at the mercy of the functional experts.

At times problem-solving requires creativity and innovation, which again depends on the
personality and temperament of the person, and the culture of the organization.

HIERARCHIES

Hierarchical organizations that tend to give importance to designations and fixed job
descriptions, insist on adherence to procedures, and do not encourage ad hoc measures, stifle
creativity and innovation and have a profound impact on problem-solving activities.

The ability to solve problems often depends on the administrative mazes and bureaucratic
hurdles. For instance, a computer expert working in human resources might be the best person
to recover a crashed system. This person, however, might not have the necessary permissions or
authorization to access the main server, and the work remains disrupted until the authorized
repair personnel arrive from far away.

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

The external environment of an organization remains the root cause of many problems
in a project, and the solution depends on the external environment itself. For instance, availability
of skilled manpower depends on the labor market, running of machinery depends on the provision
of energy by the utility provider, and starting operations depends on compliance with the
procedures to securing the necessary permits. The best approach to problem solving is having a
good understanding of the state of the external environment to reconcile the business operations
with the external environment.

A business cannot control or alter the external environment. It can only harness it to its
advantage. In this realization lies the key to solving most problems.
Teacher’s Insights

Many factors affect the problem solving process and hence it can become
complicated and drawn out when they are unaccounted for. Acknowledging the factors that
affect the process and taking them into account when forming a solution gives teams the
best chance of solving the problem effectively.

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