Creativity and Decision Making

Management
(Human Resource Management)
➔ It is much easier to identify creative Example:
acts than it is to define the term ❏ A novel and
itself. We readily recognize creative
acts, and we often use adjectives elegant proof of a
like novel, insightful, clever, unique, mathematical
different, or imaginative. theorem,
❏ An artist’s creativity in
➔ Creativity is the ability to link or painting or music, and
combine ideas in novel ways, and ❏ A storyteller’s clever
their unique alternatives have to be
retelling of an old telltale
considered useful to others.
are a few examples.

➔ also known as divergent or lateral

thinking.
 in decision making

When we think of creativity in decision making, though, we will

be looking for new alternatives with elements that achieve
fundamental objective in ways previously unseen.
➔Expertise— Technical, procedural and
intellectual knowledge is the foundation for all
creative work. You wouldn’t expect someone who
knows very little about software programming to
come up with creative solutions to problems.
➔Creative Thinking Skills - encompass all those
personality traits we talked about earlier that are
common to creative leaders.
➔Motivation - Here it means that an individual
wants to work on a particular task because it’s
interesting and engaging.
Benefits of creative decision-making
● Fostering collaboration and partnerships - It encourages the entire
group to collaborate and innovate, strengthening team building while
exploring creative solutions.

● Driving progress and originality - Creative decision-making promotes

productivity, progress and innovation. In environments where leaders
encourage creativity, employees are free to utilize more than just the
standard or previous problem-solving methods.

● Improving the quality of decisions - When there are more

alternatives to choose from, this can increase the quality of the
decisions your team makes.
● Developing logical reasoning and critical thinking -
When you feel free to examine a topic from multiple
perspectives, this can reinforce the logic and reasoning
behind your final decision.

● Building a positive reputation - Build a reputation for

being an inclusive, thoughtful contributor who generates
ideas.
1. Preparation — In this stage, the individual learns about the problem.
➔ This includes understanding the elements of the problem and how they
related to each other.
➔ It may include looking at the problem from different perspectives or asking
other people what they know or think about the problem.
• From a decision-making point of view, this stage is very similar to problem
structuring.
• Spending effort understanding fundamental objectives, decisions that must be
made (along with the immediately available set of alternatives), uncertainties
inherent in the situation, and how these elements relate to each other prepares the
decision maker for creative identification of new alternatives.
2. Incubation — In this stage, the prepared decision maker
explores, directly or indirectly, a multitude of different paths toward new
alternatives. We might also use the terms production or generation of
alternatives. The decision maker may do many things that seem to have a
low chance of generating a new alternative, such as eliminating
assumptions or adopting an entirely different perspective. Apparently
frivolous activity may evoke the idea of the decision maker “playing” with
the decision.
3. Illumination — This is the instant of becoming
aware of a new candidate solution to a problem, that flash of
insight when all the pieces come together, either
spontaneously (Aha!) or as the result of careful study and
work.
• Illumination is characterized as the culmination of the
incubation stage.
 Hindrances in Thinking Creatively
● Fear of Taking a Risk - It may be counterproductive, though,
not to offer a creative alternative for consideration in a
decision problem because you risk others thinking your idea
is impossible, too “far out,” or downright silly.

● Status Quo Bias — many people have a built-in bias toward

the status quo. The stronger that bias, the more difficulty one
may have coming up with creative problem solutions and
alternatives.

● Reality versus Fantasy — An individual may place a lot of

value on being realistic and a low value on fantasizing
● Judgment and Criticism — Rather than letting ideas flow
freely, some individuals tend to find fault with ideas as
they arise. Fault finding can discourage the creation of new
ideas and can prevent ideas-one’s own or someone
else’s-from maturing and gathering enough detail to
become usable. Making a habit of judging one’s own
thoughts inevitably sacrifices some creative potential.
● Taboos — This type of block has to do with what is
“proper behavior” or “acceptable” in a cultural sense;
taboos may exist for no apparently good reason.
• Strength of Tradition — There is a cultural counterpart to
status quo; in many cases, the social cultural
environment in which a decision maker operates places a
high value on maintaining tradition. Adopting change can
be difficult in such a situation, which in turn can hinder the
production of creative suggestions in the first place.
Five characteristics that creative leaders seem to
have in common
➔ Perseverance in the face of obstacles and adversity

➔ Willingness to take risks

➔ Willingness to grow and openness to experience

➔ Tolerance of ambiguity

➔ Effective use of analogy to apply a known situation to an unknown

situation
1.Questioning attitude. Organizations need to continually question the long-held
beliefs of their industry if they’re going to stay ahead of the curve and come up with
creative ways to bring services and products to their customers.
2.Culture. Our traditional values are sometimes at odds with the creative solutions we
might come up with to solve organizational problems. If an organization’s culture puts
too much emphasis on tradition, they’re likely to stifle creativity around problem
solving.
3.Leadership. Similar to culture, leaders who are bound to traditional characteristics of
the leader-follower relationship, who don’t promote questioning attitudes or invite their
employees to challenge the status quo, will not do much to foster a creative
environment.
4.Attitude toward risk. Finally, employees who are afraid to try something new will
never put their creative solutions into action! Just as one of the characteristics of a
creative leader is a willingness to take risks, so must employees feel comfortable
doing so in an organization.
Techniques of Creative Thinking
➔ Idea Checklists

➔ Fluent and Flexible Thinking

➔ Nominal Group Technique (NGT)

➔ Devil’s advocacy and dialectical inquiry

➔ Brain Storming
Idea Checklists

–Write down attributes of a problem

–List alternative options under each attribute, and then
–Consider various combinations and permutations of the
alternatives.
Fluent and Flexible Thinking

–An individual who can write down many ideas quickly,

regardless of what they may be, would be a fluent thinker.
–The flexible thinker might have a shorter list of ideas, but
the ideas would tend to cover a broader range of
possibilities.
 Nominal Group Technique (NGT)
• Individuals in the group each write down as many ideas as they can on
pieces of paper.
• Then each individual in turn presents one of his or her ideas.
• The group leader records these ideas on a flipchart of chalkboard.
• Discussion begins after ideas from each participant are written down.
• At the end, each individual writes down his or her ranking or rating of the
ideas. These are then combined mathematically to arrive at a group
decision.
• Discussion is not permitted until after the ideas are presented, thus
creating a more supportive environment.
Devil’s advocacy and Dialectical Inquiry
•techniques in which individuals take sides in a debate.
•On the surface, this might appear to hamper creative
thought, but when such techniques are used only after
ideas have been generated and a healthy creative
environment has been established, they can work well.
•The main advantage of this kind of approach is that it can
help a group of individuals consider a problem from
multiple perspectives.
•Being forced into an alternative viewpoint can lead to
new creative ideas.
 Brain Storming
Brainstorming is another popular way of generating a long list of ideas
quickly. To be effective, a brainstorming session should include at least
two people, and probably no more than 8 or 10. The rules for a
brainstorming session are simple:
1. No evaluation of any kind is permitted.
2. All participants should think of the wildest ideas possible
3. Participants should try to build upon or modify ideas of others.
LEGO:
Challenge: LEGO faced declining sales in
the late 1990s and needed to engage
younger generations. Creative Solution:
They launched LEGO Ideas, a platform
where users could submit their own ideas for
new LEGO sets and vote on others'
submissions.
Outcome: The platform has been a huge
success, generating popular sets like the
Wall-E and Minecraft sets. It fostered a
sense of community and ownership among
LEGO fans, driving sales and innovation.
AIRBNB:
Revolutionizing Hospitality Challenge: The
traditional hotel industry lacked flexibility and often
came with high costs. Creative Solution: Airbnb
created a platform connecting individuals with
spare space to travelers seeking unique lodging
experiences. They offered a diverse range of
accommodations at various price points, catering
to a wider audience.
Outcome: Airbnb revolutionized the hospitality
industry by disrupting the traditional hotel model.
They leveraged the power of the sharing economy
and embraced creativity to create a successful
business based on connecting people and
providing unique experiences.
Thank you