Creativity and Problem Solving Process - Research Paper Example

 Creativity and Problem Solving Process Introduction Creativity is often linked with problem solving. There can be a wide range of problems including cross word puzzles, scientific paradox, ethical dilemma, complicated managerial decision taking etc. When entrepreneurial problems are concerned, the scope of creativity and problem solving are much significant than in other types of problems. Business contexts and work environments are rapidly changing with highly complicated and diverse elements and therefore entrepreneurs and managers need flexible as well innovative responses. Creative thinking, creative functioning and creative responses can provide flexibility by increasing the options and by helping to cope and adapt to the changes (VanGundy, 2004, p. 3). Organizations face a variety of problems and challenges related to new product development, service, new process of manufacturing, marketing strategy, and convenient ways for allocating available resources and these issues can be solved through creative thinking and actions. Creative Thinking Treffinger Isaksen and Stead-Dorval (2005) argued that creative thinking is a divergent process in which we begin from a single point like single question but extends our search in to a variety of directions by generating wide possibilities of actions (p. 3). Creative thinking involves coming across gaps, paradoxes, challenges, problems, opportunities, and concerns and then searching for new connections by finding and generating various possibilities, varied opportunities, original chances and expanding the possibilities (Bessant and Tidd, 2007, p. 49). Creative thinking involves breaking down and restructuring one’s knowledge about something so that new insights can be gained in to its nature. In creative thinking, understanding the cognitive model of reality will be an important determinant (Proctor, 2005, p. 2).Treffinger Isaksen and Stead-Dorval (2005) emphasized that creative thinking is an important aspect of everyday life, it is natural and observable, and it exists wherever or whenever people direct their efforts to new ideas (p. 3- 5). Barriers and Triggers to creative thinking Runco and Pritzker (1999) described that availability of the resources remain to be a trivial form of barrier to creative thinking. Creative thinking can be adversely affected by shortage of people, money, time, supplies and information that are needed for creative thinking (p. 169). The environment also may affect creative thinking because one’s creative thinking ability will perform better in an environment free from mental distractions and difficulties. Sousa (2009) argued that creative thinking and creativity are more likely the results of cognitive processes that can be developed in most people (p. 55), Basically, creative thinking is inborn quality that many possess and this can be developed with training or experiences. Educations, experience, skills earned and achieved through training are the major triggers of creative thinking. Rickards (1997) argued that all those who think and imagine that they are doing the creating may be wrong because creativity is a gift which we possess and this can be developed through appropriate training and application (p. 9). Problem to be solved One of the problems most entrepreneurs recently experience is related with employees’ knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and knowledge improvement (Noe, 2002, p. 168). Organizations are increasingly seeking to create and share knowledge among employees so that this knowledge can be utilized for the overall productivity and profitability of the business. Most knowledgeable employees are more productive than others. In solving this sort of problem, alternative hypotheses are produced, assumptions are challenged and the current idea is examined and teased out. This problem solving has been highly useful in a work context in which problems are ‘stale’ or same problems crop up again (Patterson and Zibarras, June 2009). The entrepreneur may come across a variety of options and possibilities to solve this problem. For instance, there are wide opportunities to create and share knowledge among employees, which are, training and development programs, recruiting highly knowledgeable employees, motivation, reward and recognition and retaining older employees (Noe R.A and Hollenbeck J.R, 2004). Problem solving process used In solving the above problem, fact finding and problem finding are used to gather all possible background information to help define the real problem and to emphasize on restating the problem for solution. Once the problem is identified, idea finding occurs that is designed to ideas and possible solutions. There can be deferred judgment, research of solutions, generating innovative ideas etc. in the fourth step, solution will be found in which the best alternative will be selected (Creative Problem Solving, 2006). From the above example, once the problem and possible solutions are identified, retaining older employees will be selected to solve the knowledge issue because in the third phase, from the research it was found that retaining older workforce helps the organization to make use best experienced and knowledgeable people by retaining in them in the business and thus to share their knowledge with those who are less knowledgeable (Hosie and Sevastos, 2006, p. 305). Adoption and diffusion of innovation Introduction Adoption is considered to be the decision to acquire something whereas diffusion refers to the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over a period of time among the members of a social system. In diffusion, a special type of message, in which new ideas are related, is communicated. It involves the analysis of spread of product or idea in a given social system (Bessant and Tidd, 2007, p. 341, Beck, 2006, p. 15). Diffusion and entrepreneurship are affected by the availability and distribution of resources or individual access to the production and public goods such as access to capital through loans, skills or education, electricity or water systems etc (Brown, 1981, p. 271). Innovation that changed my life E-commerce has been one of the recent innovations that brought tremendous changes in the way the business is carried out. It has profound impacts on all aspects of entrepreneurship as well as business concepts. As an entrepreneur, my way of thinking and my perception about business routes have recently changed because of the innovation caused by online business opportunities. The diffusion model of E-commerce innovation shows that it was early adopted by mainstream businesses, then by early adopters that account be around 15% of the businesses worldwide and then sooner being adopted by a large number of businesses worldwide. Mohr and Sengupta (2009) emphasized that there are many factors that affect one’s likelihood of adoption of the innovation that are, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trial-ability, observability and ability to communicate product benefits (p. 236). During the process of diffusion of E-commerce, innovation is diffused to the entrepreneurs and other members of the society within a certain time through media of communication channels. Innovation, communication, channels, time and social system are the significant elements in this diffusion (Baker, 2001, P. 552). During the process of adoption of E-commerce, people pass through the following stages of behavior in sequence- awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, adoption or rejection and confirmation (Banyte and Salickaite, 2008, p. 49). Becoming aware of the innovation I became aware of the innovation of E-commerce through the communication of diffusion. As Al-Qirim (2006) described, diffusion is the spread of the capacity to produce or use an innovation and its use in practice (p. 159). According to him, information technology has been one of the fastest growing innovations in both productions and use in the second half of the last century. E-commerce has been one of the most significant information technology innovations that have been diffused to the members within a short period of time. Apart from the human capital and economic resources and issues, cultural and national differences have played vital role in the diffusion of e-commerce innovation (Gunasekaran, Khalil and Rahman, 2003, p. 253). The use of e-commerce has been spread among many business people and it has thus quickly been practice by a large number of entrepreneurs worldwide. I became aware of this innovation once highly successful businesses like Amazon, Ebay started e-commerce and it has become part of my everyday life when many of our day to day needs and wants are being satisfied through e-commerce like e-ticketing of major travel companies and so on. In the adoption of e-commerce, I was an early adopter because of that I helped publicize e-commerce and it has helped me get a boost in the initial markets (Mohr and Sengupta, 2009, p. 240). Decision Process and key actors in innovation decision process In the adoption and diffusion of innovation, the decision process is structured through five steps that are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. Innovators are those who are fundamentally committed to new technology, whereas early adopters help publicize it. Early majority are those who make bulk purchase of the technology infrastructure, late majority are those who are pessimistic about the innovation and laggards are those who are never targeted by such innovation and infrastructure. Key actors in the innovation process include relative advantages of adopting it, complexity and compatibility, trialability and observability etc as is discussed earlier (Wüstenhagen, 2008, p. 12). Financing the venture Introduction Every entrepreneur who is willing to start a business, and are skilled and knowledgeable to run the business often comes to the dilemma and uncertainty of raising funds for the business. in order to raise startup capital, entrepreneurs have wide options like commercial loans, venture capital, public offering, private placements and many of the entrepreneurs are not well aware of best combination of financial packages. Venture capital markets are valuable and strong source of equity funding for new ventures. They are experienced professionals and they offer financial services for starting a new venture or its expansion, market research and strategy implementation, management consulting functions, for technical assistances and establishing management and accounting standards. My choice of financing for entrepreneurship I have not yet tried to get a venture of any sort for the entrepreneurial purposes, but, I always find venture capital as the best financing option for a startup entrepreneurship. Venture capital has been considered to be a better option for entrepreneurs who like to start a business or expand his business. Kanniainen and Keuschnigg (2005) found that the success of entrepreneurial companies in the US since 1980s is mainly driven by the increased availability of venture capital financing in the US (p. 3- 5). Butler, Lockett and Ucbasaran (2006) argued that venture capital financing can play pivotal role in the economic growth by catalyzing entrepreneurship and accelerating technological progress (p. 47). Golis, Mooney and Richardson (2009) emphasized that an entrepreneur must comprise of four qualities that are enthusiasm, interest in money, creative tendency and calculated risk taking. Many people reject business plans due to inability in any of these qualities. An entrepreneur must be able and well equipped to manage the business, he must be a good communicator, he must be risk taker and apart from all these, he must be aware of the financing options available to him (p, 5- 6). Venture capital financing Gladstone and Gladstone (2002) found that venture capitals are similar to partnerships and it is set up as a corporation to invest in business that is related to the business of the corporation. It is commonly considered to be a new window for the new technology because it helps businesses to emerge and to function in the market by providing many different kinds of financial services (p. 11). Venture capital investing is all about a willingness to accept a high risk in order to obtain potentially a high degree of rate of return. It is also a desire to build a small company in to a very large one (Hill and Power, 2001, p. 1). Venture capital is industrial finance which is a more broadly based private equity market. The investments made by institutions, firms and individuals are not quoted in a stock exchange market and these have potential to grow. Normally, a venture capital is regarded as a partner for five or ten years in the ventures in which they invest (Landstrom, 2009, p. 5). Issues related to fundraising There are many factors that affect the fundraising for entrepreneurship. The major factors are the availability of fund, source, period allowed, interest and agreement etc. the major concern related to fundraising is the risk associated with the selected fundraising choice. For instance, if debt factoring has been chosen, the entrepreneur may lose certain amount being charged by the factoring agent for their service. Implementation versus planning Planning is linked with implementation because planning often described as the first stage in the implementation. Planning is managerial function that is structured with decision making as well forward looking. Planning is followed by control or implementation etc. For instance, implementation of a marketing strategy is closely related to the planning of it (Ferrell and Hartline, 2007, p. 313) Intellectual Property Management and Commercialization Introduction This part of the research work cites an article titled “Google to end censorship in China over cyber attacks” by Tania Branigan (13th January 2010) from Guardian.co.uk. The article relates to the decision of Google Inc to end censorship in China followed by a cyber attack which was aimed at gathering information on Chinese human rights activists. This article outlines the importance of intellectual property protection and management. Intellectual Property Protection Intellectual property protection is extremely important to any business and it is highly critical to fostering innovation. According to World Intellectual Property Organization (1997), intellectual property means the legal rights that result from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields (p. 3) Intellectual property management has recently become one of the most responsibilities of an organization because there have been a number of issues of intellectual property infringement in recent years (Martin and Drews, 2005, p. 8, Thomas B, 2003). Intellectual property refers to creations of mind like literary and article works, symbols, brand names and images of company and organizations, inventions that are used in the business. Trademarks, copyrights, patents and royalty are the major intellectual properties that many businesses need extreme protection of it (Wherry, 2008, p.1). If intellectual properties are not protected globally, the business cannot make results of their creative findings and works. Their efforts will be wasted if their IP is not managed properly. Generally, many of the firms in various countries, that export and import goods or services are not well aware of their intellectual property and same time their brand name, image and patent are being counterfeited in other countries (Higgins, 2009). Over the last three decades, a number of different legal instruments have been emerged in various countries to protect intellectual property. The protection instruments will be different and the legal structure varies widely around the world. When intellectual property protection has become more important in the international trade, the difference between different protection laws also has made issues in international economic relation as well. In 1994, Patents are legal rights and this can be protected if the invention is new, non-obvious and commercially acceptable. Trademarks are words or signs or symbols that identify a company and it can be protected if they can endure virtually indefinitely once they are in the use. The administration of Intellectual Property Rights is most significant in the area of patents, industrial signs, designs and trademarks etc. To protect these intellectual properties, the applicants have to submit their intellectual creations to the IPRs office (Braga and Fink, 2000, p. 3-6) Summary of the article I have chosen this article because; there have been many incidents of Chinese attacks on intellectual property in the last few years. Chinese companies have largely copied the technology from USA and other countries and they have manufactured and sold large number of electronic items worldwide. It not only affects the intellectual property of the companies from other countries, but, caused to lose huge amounts of profits. The article I have chosen is an example for this. According to an American security firm, it has traced the sophisticated cyber attack against Google and 30 other large US companies by Chinese state of proxies (Branigan, 14th January 2010). The article I have chosen says that Google has decided not to offer censorship for search results on its Chinese services. Google’s website has been attacked by Chinese proxies and it is a threat to the intellectual property because it can cause loss of intellectual assets as well as millions of dollars. Google acknowledged that its decision will be to close Google.cn and to end its official services in China. Google has accused Chinese government for the cyber attack. From the words of US state department, “every nation has an obligation regardless of the origin of malicious cyber activities” (Branigan, 13th Januray). Google has revealed that highly sophisticated and targeted cyber attack held in last year December has affected at least 20 other firms. The intellectual property has become a highly imperative responsibility of firms worldwide because internet and other technological advances itself are the gateways for all the so called intellectual property infringements. 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