Methodical approach to creation of competitive thinking organizations

Abstract

There is a methodical approach to creating intellectual organizations, based on the realization of the creative potential and the development of creativity of employees.

Full Text

In a constantly changing environment, world leading companies demonstrate capacity to adapt transforming into intelligent organizations. Intelligent organizations are able to examine themselves and the environment and change to ensure proactive development towards evolution of customer needs as well as challenges launched by competitors on the basis of balance of interests of all market members.Intelligent organizations are guided by the following principles (M. Rubinstein, A. Firstenberg) [1]:Planning from the future to the present.The distribution of decision making so that everyone in the organization could bear responsibility and have the right to make mistakes (mistake as a new opportunity), since everyone participates in creative adaptation to an uncertain future. Making mistakes to bring them to “the surface”, using them for the benefit of the organization.Develop and implement strategies to enhance creativity and innovation of each participant of the business process (the lack of such strategies in the organization - "a mortal sin" - F. Kotler).To cultivate mutual trust, respect, honesty and loyalty, creating an environment that encourage human spirit to aspire.Raise the people as they are the only resource that will be able to see the sense in achieving the target, promote commitment, judgment and intuition to transform the organization into an organism, in the intellectual organization.Break down decisions to those levels that will be imposed to significant events in the future, empower employees with authority, and delegate the freedom to self-decision.Balance between quantitative parameters, facts, and logic with the qualitative judgments, intuition and creativity. Your strategy - optimism, diversity and right to make mistakes. Encourage mutual trust and respect.The implementation of the process of creating an intelligent organization is based on the creative personal fulfillment of each employee.The structure of human creativity, according to Doctor of Psychology V. N. Markov [2] includes:focus on professional interests that ensures the dominance of the leadership-organizational activity;need for innovation, search for optimal solutions, acquisition of innovation activity, that is the key acmeological prerequisite;general intelligence - the adequacy of perception, understanding, acceptance of values and definition of the model, algorithm and technologies of professional activity on their basis;inclination to continuous analysis and evaluation, fast generation of a multivariable associative data arrays that ensure constant involvement and active participation in decision-making process;positive emotional-sensual activity;strong-willed regulation, persistence, determination, creativity and invariance of action within the management process;ability to work out personalized models, algorithms and technologies for productive leadership based on efficient development of all components of professional competence.Indicator of creative evolution is creativity. According to the psychological studies creativity stands for the complex of intellectual and personal characteristics of the individual that encourage self-assignment of problems and generation of numerous amount of original ideas to work out lateral solution. It is necessary to consider creativity as a process and complex of intellectual creative personal features of the individual, inherent in many individuals.Main methods of mastering creativity include: bissociation, smart mobility, lateral thinking, tolerance for uncertainty, use of different types of thinking.Bissociation (from lat. Bi - two and sociafie - connect). Numerous examples justify the value of the process, the essence of which is to connect unrelated ideas to create new, original concepts. The main quality required for a successful implementation of this process is the ability to perceive the situation in two equally possible, but in normal circumstances absolutely incompatible frames of reference.Bissociation implies that the person is competent in at least two different fields. Therefore, the employee that is competent only in one domain is unlikely to succeed. Consequently, it becomes obvious that creative teams which include experts from different unrelated domains are more promising. This explains that such heterogeneous groups have potential advantage for brainstorming as well as expert groups specializing in various areas, including those that, at first sight are not likely to make a significant contribution to solving of this problem.Smart mobility. Smart mobility as a kind of creative method can be illustrated by the concept of "lateral thinking", formulated by Edward de Bono [3], that stands for solving the problems and opportunities analysis in the ways that are not so obvious to normal thinking. Traditional, or vertical, logical thinking implies transition from one level proficiency to the next and this process is continuous, whereas the key features of lateral or unconventional thinking is discretion and discontinuity.Lateral thinking is a process of information processing associated with creativity and the transformation of the concepts. Lateral thinking can be the subject of study and of practical use. This thinking is closely related to the insight, creativity and sense of humor that have the same basis. But if inspiration, creativity and sense of humor seem to be more spontaneous factors, then lateral thinking can and should be intentionally trained. It is a well-defined way of using your mind as well as logical thinking.Insight, creativity and sense of humor are so elusive because of inefficiency of our mind. The main function of our mind is to search for specific trends in the environment and creation of patterns (template of thinking). Once the patterns of thinking were set, it becomes possible to recognize them and use. As you use patterns they dig in even more deeply in our minds.The system of using patterns, or template of thinking, is a very efficient way of information handling. Once established, the patterns form a sort of code. The advantage of encoding is that there is no need to collect all the information. It is sufficient to have the amount of information that allows identifying the template code and then using it to recreate all the information.Even though the system for creating patterns is very useful there are certain disadvantages. In such a system it is easy to mix and match patterns or add new ones, but they are extremely difficultto reconstruct, because these are patterns that hold our own attention. Insight, humor and some creativity allow rebuilding the patterns but creativity put a focus on shifting away from restricting patterns. Lateral thinking involves restructuring of the patterns, escape, and incitement of new patterns.Lateral thinking encourages changes in approaches to solving different problems and to a new view of life. Liberation from old ideas and the incitement of new ones constitute the dual aspect of lateral thinking.This type of thinking differs greatly from the vertical, i.e. the traditional type of thinking. Vertical thinking involves the forward movement by successive steps, each of which must be logically justified. In lateral thinking information is used not for its own sake, but for the result. Lateral thinking means that at some point one can be wrong, if it helps to get the right answer. Vertical thinking (logic and mathematics) does not allow this. Lateral thinking allows the search for information, not relevant to the case; on the contrary, vertical thinking selects only what is directly related to the studied issue. Lateral thinking is not a substitute for vertical; both types of thinking are necessary and complementary. Lateral thinking generates ideas, vertical is responsible for choosing the right one.Table 1 shows the comparative characteristics of the processes that accounts for considered types of thinking.Comparative characteristics of the processes of lateral and vertical thinking [4]Table 1Vertical thinkingLateral thinkingSelects and evaluates developments, proceeding from their conformity to the normGenerates changes for the sake of changeFocus on search for solutionFocus on search for questionDecision making is focused on "Yes/ No"Decision making is focused on "And…/ As well as…"Analytical and regressiveProvocative, forward-lookingEvery thought is logically related to the courseThoughts may not be logicalConclusion follows the evidenceConclusion may precede the proofFocus on what is relevant to the problem.Uses flukes.In practice, creative people use both styles of thinking. It is this feature that distinguishes truly creative individuals from the others who use the same style of thinking whatever the situation is.Tolerance for uncertainty. This ability resides in individuals who enjoy innate curiosity for everything new and unknown.Use of different types of thinking. Creative people and creative organizations harmoniously use the capabilities of left as well as right hemispheres of the human brain (the main function of the left hemisphere: logic, counting, numbers, linearity, analysis, sequence, etc.; the main function of the right hemisphere: rhythm, pattern, regularity, dreams, imagination, space, colour, etc.). This requires adopting an approach to solving the problems based on balanced use of both types of thinking.The acquisition of the examined techniques of creative development, will allow the employees to achieve their creative potential and ensure work out of original high-performance managerial decisions, implementation of which will allow to reach required level of competitiveness.