0 3 Lecture 3 Creativity II 1011 s1 (1)

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CC2002 Semester One 10/11

Creative and CriticalThinking

Lecture 3Creative Thinking (II):Creative Problem Solvingand Six Thinking Hats



Michael Michalko, Thinkertoys,page IX

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Can you identify the figure?

• Do you focus on the space? Or doyou focus on the shape?



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A matter of perspective

• There is noabsolute rightnessor wrongness inyour judgment.

• But the samething can meandifferently if youchange yourviewpoint.



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What are the differences?



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Problem Solving requires creativity• Sometimes when a problem is identified

and solved, it is not because the personhas a high IQ or he is highly rational.

• Rather, it is that the person changes his orher established way of doing things.

• Such a change involves an alternation of pattern in the person’s perception of theobjects.



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The Use of Pattern• The existence of patterns can enable

people to deal with ordinary businessin an efficient way.

• People tend to treat similar things ina similar manner.

• Patterns involve what we calledrules , habits and ordinary expectations .



Michael Michalko, Thinkertoys,p. 10

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Pattern & Perception

• The H and A are identical in shape. But we do notread them as “TAE CHT” or in any other way.

• The reason is that ordinary expectation is sostrong that it influences us to see what weexpect to see.

• Try not to see it as “THE CAT” . Can you do it?What do you experience?



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Pattern-Switching & Humour• The characteristic of humour involves the

making of a sudden switch in theagent’s perception of a scenario.

Examples(1) ?(2) A

B A



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Trying new routes

• A Switch of Pattern• Normal Pattern

• Sometimes when we break newgrounds and try different paths, we willcause surprises and new discovery maybe made.



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Absurdity can be useful!

• Sometimes it is worthto step on forbiddengrounds.

• Trying somethingprovocative in yourdeliberation. It can

serve as a steppingstone for a fruitfuloutcome.



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How do we improve toothbrushes?



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Why are they better? How do weperceive the situation before

they are improved?



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More changes and innovations?What might be the assumptions that

underlie these changes?• Two-sided

Brushes?• Handle for Infants?



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What problems do they address? Howeffective would these inventions be?

• With flashes & songs?

• ?



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Creativity & Value• Remember that creativity is the process

of generating something new that hasvalue. Many original concepts are new buthave no value.

• A creation is something original that hasvalue and can enable the process of problem solving in the practical world.

• Product innovation is one element in whichcreativity comes into play. Innovation canalso operate at the marketing level as wellas the management level.



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The elevator problem

You are the engineer of this commercial building. In this 70-storey building, there are 8 elevators. However, lately,the management of the building has received a lot of complaints from their tenants that the waiting time forelevators is too long and intolerable, especially duringpeak hours. You are quite surprised by the tenants’ complaints since the speed of the elevators is already atoptimal as allowed by the most advance technologyavailable. You are also very puzzled, since there is no waythat you can add extra elevators to the building sinceeverything is now constrained by the structure of thebuilding. However, you are not handed down with thisproblem and you have to come up with a solution for thesituation.

12 minutes



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Steps of Problem Solving1. What is the situation or the

environment?2. How do you pinpoint the problem ?

3. What is the strategy you adopt to dealwith the problem that you identified?4. What are the assumptions behind the

strategies?5. How effective is the strategy?6. Is there any new problem? What would

be the new situation? ... (go back to 1. for asecond phase of CPS.)



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The Cycle of CPS

• James M. Higgins, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, p. 18



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CPS: The Elevators’ Problem 1. What is the situation or the environment?Ans.: There are complaints about the waiting time

from the tenants.

2. How do you pinpoint the problem ?Ans.: (1) The elevators have been too slow or there

are not enough of them; or,

(2) The passengers feel that they have beenwaiting too long.



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CPS: The Elevators’ Problem 3. What is the strategy you adopt to deal with the

problem that you identified?Ans.: (1) Build a bridge to a building; or,

(2) Division of elevator service, i.e. elevators aredivided to serve designated storeys(3) Parachute jumping for those who are in a hurry;or,(4) Install mirrors or TV by the sides of the lobby, etc.

4. What are the assumptions behind the strategies?Ans.: The tenants’ discontents originate from the lack of

distraction in the lobby.

5. How effective are the strategies?6. Is there any new problem? What is the new situation?

...



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First stage of CPS: IdentifyingProblems

1. What is the situation or the environment?2. How do you pinpoint the problem ?

• In this stage, our aims are(1) to establish the objectives, and

(2) to determine what will constitute evidence that theproblem has been solved.

• Key questions to ask in relation to the first setof questions:

(1) What did happen or will happen?(2) How did it or will it occur?(3) Why did it occur?

Source: James M. Higgins, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques,pp.20-26



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Second Stage of CPS: Strategies & Assumptions

3. What is the strategy you adopt to deal with the problem that youidentified?

4. What are the assumptions behind the strategies?

• In this stage, we will be pondering about thefactors that may affect the potential success of our solution.

• Creative techniques for generating strategiescan help us develop many more solutions than

we might come up with otherwise.• The operation of this stage will involve critical

as well as creative thinking.

Source: James M. Higgins, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, pp.20-26.



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Third Stage of CPS: Implementation & Control

5. How effective is the strategy?6. Is there any new problem? What would be the new situation?

• In this stage, we estimate the extent to

which the actions we took have solvedthe problem.• This is a stage that we anticipate and

overcome obstacles.

• In this stage we also foresee furtherproblems and new opportunities.

Source: James M. Higgins, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, pp.20-26



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Case Study Apply the CPS to the followingexample and examine the thought process that may have

involved when the new product is introduced.



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Now let’s turn to a usefultechnique of

problem solving developed by

Edward de Bono …



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Six Thinking Hats

'Six Thinking Hats' is a technique used totackle problems and make decisions from anumber of important perspectives. Thisforces you to move outside of your habitual

thinking style, and helps you get a morerounded view of a situation.

If you deal with a problem with the 'Six

Thinking Hats' technique, then you willsolve it using all approaches. Your decisionsand plans will mix ambition, skill inexecution, public sensitivity, creativity and

good contingency planning.



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What is a Hat?

A Hat indicates a role .

When people start thinking along a certainrole, they adopt a certain direction of thinking .

(page 5, Six Thinking Hats )



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Hats can be changed at will

The Six Thinking Hats are not used fordescribing categories of people.

Rather, hats represent only modes of behaviour.

“ Every person must be able, and skilled tolook in all the directions. ” Page 7



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Colours

They represent different Directions of Thought.

They enable people to visualize andmakes the imagining easier.

When we change to a hat with a differentcolour, we adopt a different rule of thought.



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Functions of each colourWhite Hat: Neutral and objective. It is aboutfacts and figures.

Red Hat: Anger, rage and emotion. It gives theemotional view.

Black Hat: Somber and serious, careful andcautious. It points out the weakness in an idea.

Yellow Hat: Sunny and optimistic. It covers hopeand positive thinking.



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Functions

Green Hat: Grass, vegetation, abundant,fertile and growth. It indicates creativityand new ideas.

Blue Hat: Cool. Colour of the sky. It isabove everything. Control. Organization of the thinking process.



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Six Thinking Hats

White Hat: With this thinking hat you focus on the dataavailable. Look at the information you have, and

see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps inyour knowledge, and either try to fill them ortake account of them.

This is where you analyze past trends, and try toextrapolate from historical data.



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Six Thinking Hats

Red Hat: 'Wearing' the red hat, you look atproblems using intuition, gut reaction, andemotion. Also try to think how otherpeople will react emotionally. Try tounderstand the responses of people who

do not fully know your reasoning.



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Six Thinking Hats

Black Hat: Using black hat thinking, look at all thebad points of the decision. Look at it

cautiously and defensively. Try to see whyit might not work. This is importantbecause it highlights the weak points in aplan. It allows you to eliminate them, alterthem, or prepare contingency plans tocounter them.



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Six Thinking Hats

Black Hat: Black Hat thinking helps make your plans'tougher' and more resilient. It can also help youspot fatal flaws and risks before you embark ona course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as manysuccessful people get so used to thinkingpositively that often they cannot see problems inadvance. This leaves them under-prepared fordifficulties.



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Six Thinking Hats

Yellow Hat: The yellow hat helps you think positively.It is the optimistic viewpoint that helpsyou see all the benefits of the decisionand the value in it. Yellow Hat thinkinghelps you keep going when everything

looks gloomy and difficult.



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Six Thinking Hats

Green Hat: The Green Hat stands for creativity. This iswhere you can develop creative solutionsto a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. A whole range of creativity tools

can help you here.



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Six Thinking Hats

Blue Hat: In addition to making summaries andconclusions, the Blue Hat also stands for process

control. This is the hat worn by people chairingmeetings. When running into difficulties becauseideas are running dry, they may direct activityinto Green Hat thinking. When contingencyplans are needed, they will ask for Black Hatthinking, etc.



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Six Thinking HatsKey points:

1 Six Thinking Hats is a good technique for looking at theeffects of a decision from a number of different points of view.

2 It allows necessary emotion and scepticism to bebrought into what would otherwise be purely rationaldecisions. It opens up the opportunity for creativitywithin decision making. The technique also helps, forexample, persistently pessimistic people become morepositive and creative.



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Six Thinking Hats

Key points:

3 Plans developed using the '6 Thinking Hats'technique will be sounder than would otherwisebe the case. It may also help you avoid publicrelation mistakes, and give you good reasons toavoid wrong-headed commitments.



Reference

James M. Higgins, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques , revised edition, US: NewManagement Pub. Co., 2005.Edward De Bono, Six Thinking Hats, 2nd edition,Penguin Books Ltd., 2000.Edward De Bono, Thinking course , BBC

Worldwide limited, 2005.Edward De Bono, Lateral Thinking : Creativity Step by Step , London: HarperCollins, 1973.

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