Creativity, Innovation and Ideas - Assignment Example

Course Name: Innovation and Creativity TechComm 3000 Course Coordinator: Simon Williams and Susan Chant Assignment: Assignment 3 Essay Student name: Student number: Due Date: 06/11/2016 Date Submitted: 03/11/2016 Word count: 1500 words Declaration: I have read and comprehended the standards identifying with copyright infringement and related types of deceiving as incorporated into the Course Information Booklet provided for this course. I comprehend that giving just a reference when straightforwardly citing work, without likewise utilizing quotes or space, still constitutes plagiarism. This submission is a final form and not a draft. It is absolutely my own particular work; it does not include any replicated material. It has not been submitted for some other course. I give approval for this work to be photocopied, analysed and electronically submitted to check for plagiarism. I have kept a photocopy or electronic copy of this task I can convey on request. I comprehend that by writing my name underneath I am giving a computerized signature Signed: Date: 03/11/2016 Question 1: Describe the difference between creativity, innovation and ideas. The term creativity alludes to the creation or harnessing the power of the mind to generate novel ideas on products plans art or sensations. Innovation can be defined as the, needs stability and establishment. It is about changing a common or long-standing process by improving it. The key difference between innovation and creativity is based on focus. In this case, creativity involves unleashing the perspective of the mind when it comes to conceiving new ideas (Amabile, et al. 1996). The manifestation of these concepts can be in numerous ways, however, the most often one is transforming into something that can be seen, heard and touched. The creative thoughts can also be regarded as thought experiments inside individual's brain. Innovation is quantifiable, and it is about change and presentation into generally stable frameworks. Innovation is additionally worried with the efforts made in order to make an idea viable. Once an organization manages to identify the unrecognized and unmet needs, it can apply innovation to use its creative resources, come up with a design of a suitable solution, and reap a return on its investment. The following are some other differences Creativity is the nature of intuition for new thoughts and placing them into reality while innovation is the demonstration or executing the inventive thoughts into practice. Creativity is viewed as an inventive technique contrasted with innovation, which is a lucrative procedure. It is possible to measure innovation unlike creativity Another difference is that creativity is connected with the generation of unique and novel ideas while innovation is the introduction of something better into the market. Question 2: outline a creativity technique and describe its history or background? Brainstorming method This method is taken to be among the best and applied creativity procedures for problem solving in the business world. The method involves acquiring a lot of ideas from people within a short period. It can assist in the generation of numerous solutions and ideas for an operational issue like the engineering design procedures. In addition, the method develops a framework that constitutes the original stage in the implementation of numerous other groups based on creative techniques (Amabile, et al. 1996). Brainstorming method background and history started all the way from 1941 when an advertising executive known as Alex Osborn identified that the conventional business meetings held by organizations used to inhibit generation of new ideas and instead came up with some rules that were designed to help in their stimulation. The rules that were proposed aimed at giving people mind and action freedom to reveal and spark off novel ideas. The term used was to think up and described the procedure developed, which later came to be referred to as brainstorming. He described it as a conference method where a group tries to come up with a solution for a certain problem through the accumulation of all the ideas spontaneously. The rules that Alex Osborn was: accommodate large quantities of ideas, no room for criticism ideas, building on each other’s ideas and encouraging wild and inflated ideas. After generation of these rules, he found out that once the above-stated rules are followed more ideas were being generated where a lot of original ideas rose into a lot of useful ideas. Question 3: Outline a creative method or tool and describe its features and benefits? Provide an example to show the application of creativity  connected to innovation. Brainstorming involves an accusation of a larger amount of ideas from a group of people within a short time. The method can help in the generation of more ideas for a strategy that is well defined. Some features of this method include presence of a leader to help in the stimulation of ideas and preparation of stages needed to collect data to approach the problem. Availability of numerous brainstorming guidelines like suspension of a judgment, the presence of a writer to record problem statement and ideas being created, and the final feature is that the entire process takes a short time like 1 hour. Brainstorming method can also be linked with numerous advantages. One of them is that of collecting diverse standpoints. This implies that whenever a single person holds the responsibility of creating business ideas, they are likely to be stale at some point. However, through a brainstorming session, it is easy and possible to collect ideas from a group of people. Encouragement towards critical think is another benefit in that; brainstorming needs a person to think in a critical way to be able to solve an issue or come up with something innovative. Therefore, investing more on brainstorming the process of encountering a problem improves, as there is room to think about it critically. Finally, through brainstorming, it is possible to create a team. Once a group practices the technique there is no place for one individual to be left feeling like he or she is the one who carries the workload for the whole company and cultivation of a team ownership feeling. A good example in this case can be drawn from ford motor company. The whole company and the slew of automobile manufactures managed to have a continued introduction of their own take in the contemporary automobile, introduction of improved parts and new capabilities. In addition, through creativity techniques Henry Ford managed to introduce efficient manufacturing methods that paved way for reduced cost and eventually ford automobiles were offered at a reduced price. This innovation target market was the middle class, which later expanded to fords market profitability and share. Question 4: Discuss why or how creativity methodologies or techniques are best applied in a group or individual context? Give an example. The aim of creativity methods is to generate new and more ideas from either a group or individual context. In a group, there is the use others ideas for inspiration. The idea of using these techniques in both contexts is to use the available and that brought on board as an input for more stimulation (Collaros, and Anderson, 1969). The use of these techniques from an individual context leads into a generation of original ideas. However, there is the risk of the outcomes being predetermined or restricted to the concept of the developer’s way of thinking. Additionally, use of creativity techniques in an individual context results in a free association that produces superficially irrational results, which can be refined later into concepts that are more familiar. Therefore, having in mind that there are potential and limitations of these approaches, it is important to use them both in a group and individual context A good example of a technique that can be used in both context is brainstorming. Individuals can brainstorm to assist them in thinking critically and generate new ideas that can result in an innovation. A team or group is crucial to an effective creativity session in that they can offer a diversified mode of interaction that facilitates new relations. The best way to use this technique in a group context is allowing a free flow of ideas through the application of open-minded group participants from diverse disciplines who are not afraid of questioning. In a group, it is possible to select a wide range of different people such as specialists and generalist as well as creative people who are not experts in any particular field. Brainstorming technique has be applied in many companies and precisely by Georgia-Pacific Corp. The aim of the company is to generate new ideas for process or products improvements. The company pulls together some of its managers and executives for a brainstorming day. Currently many of its employees can be able to participate in a brainstorming session electronically, submit ideas, and build on one another’s suggestions. The company in the idea-management software uses the ideas generated from Imaginatik vendor. This software has helped the company’s collaborative brainstorming procedure in the production of many novel product ideas and process. Question 5: Is an organization or entrepreneur's ability for creativity and innovation be improved? Give an example. The capability of creativity and innovation within an organization can enhance creativity and innovation through the promotion of numerous factors. These includes personal and group factors. The personal characteristics that can assist in creativity and innovation enhancement include certain personality traits, cognitive abilities, self-motivation, and expertise in an area and risk orientation. The problem solvers can also be used as an enhancement tool for ensuring that they remain motivated, skilled, flexible, externally motivated and socially skilled. Another important approach is through the application of domain relevant skills and intrinsic task motivation (Collaros, and Anderson, 1969). The social environment can be used in this enhancement through the encouragement and freedom provision in an organization, well-organized project management approaches and ensuring that there are sufficient resources. All these aspects or factors implies that through the encouragement of organization teams identification and treasuring of precise organization features, sufficient time allocation can assist in the enhancement of creativity and innovation. In addition, an organization needs to have a mechanism that can enhance consideration of new ideas, a corporate climate that is characterized by collaboration across all divisions and an atmosphere in which innovation is prized or rewarded. The main idea is that people in an organization become increasingly creative once they feel motivated mainly by satisfaction, interest, and the challenge of the prevailing situation. This implies that an organization or entrepreneur must try to make sure that they provide an environment that cultivates for passion, interest, individual internal desire towards making something and person sense of challenge into cracking a problem. References  Amabile, T.M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J. and Herron, M., 1996. Assessing the work environment for creativity. Academy of management journal, 39(5), pp.1154-1184. Collaros, P.A. and Anderson, L.R., 1969. Effect of perceived expertness upon creativity of members of brainstorming groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 53(2p1), p.159.     Read More