Essay Osborn’s Creative Problem Solving PDF

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Osborn’s Creative Problem Solving essay due for submission...

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Alex Osborn created a method to help generate creative and innovative solutions to everyday problems. This method is called Osborn’s creative Problem Solving or CPS. (Osborn 1979, 86-87) As currently we are going green and thinking green, I identified an every day problem within my community. Everyday I see people using take away coffee cups, most people buying a take away coffee doesn’t even realize how that might be bad to the environment. Most of those take away cups don’t even make it to the bin. This way of operating is definitely not sustainable and, therefore requires a sustainable solution to avoid this problem. For “innovation is essential if we are going to … improve health and education, and produce energy sustainably.” (Dodgson & Gann 2010, 117) According to Brundtland from The World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987 “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” To create a solution that would fulfill this definition would require problem solving by using creative thinking tools and processes. Using Osborn’s Creative Problem Solving method I would need to move through three processes, fact-finding, idea finding and solution finding. Ultimately by moving through these three stages with the help of creative thinking tools, I should be able to find a more sustainable solution to this problem. (Osborn 1979, 86-87)

According to Osborn’s Creative Problem solving method fact-finding contains the problem definition and preparation. (Creative education Foundation) I was trying to think of an everyday problem and I couldn’t really come up with too many. I realized I probably need to just go into my community and have a look at everyday things that we miss. I picked up on so many problems, from rubbish all over the streets and around the university, to electricity wastage within a household. Finally I was getting my daily coffee in a take away cup and realized that I am one of the 1.23 Million people that buy take away coffee everyday. (Dugald Jellie 2006) By moving through the preparation stage I conducted some research on the topic and discovered significant amounts of take away coffee being distributed every single day. “ (Dugald Jellie 2006) There are no real figures on how many cups are consumed,” says Les Schirato, head of Cantarella Bros, whose Vittoria and Aurora brands account for about 43 per cent of Australia's $99.5 million pure coffee

market. "But on an average of 7 grams of coffee per cup, we sell about 1.3 million coffees a day." Think about all those paper cups and some even plastic cups and how badly that can affect our environment and how much this contributes to our wastage problem. (Brundtland 1987) This is definitely unsustainable. To identify the real problem, different tools can be used. The first of these used is the reframing matrix. This tool allows you to look at the problem from a number of different viewpoints. Thus it allows you to expand the range of creative solutions that can be generated. (Fogler & LeBlanc 1995) By using this tool I came to the conclusion that, business people does not even realize that using take away cups is a problem. In fact not a lot of people anywhere in my community realized that the take away coffee they were drinking every day has these rising and alarming numbers. When they have one coffee they feel that it is only one cup, but taking a step back from just ourselves and seeing the bigger picture we realize that it is not just one cup anymore but at least 1.3 million cups per day just in Sydney alone. (Dugald Jellie 2006) Asking the older generation, they seem to have less of a tunnel vision when it comes to this issue. They grew up drinking out of tin mugs and normal cups; they see no need for this unnecessary wastage created by take away coffee cups. By using these tools I also covered the five W’s and H questions: Who, what, when, where, why and how. This tool allowed me to see that solving this miniature problem has an effect on bigger problems, like wastage, pollution and even a part of the economic downturn, as society would save a lot of money if they didn’t purchase take away cups excessively. (Dugald Jellie 2006) Not only would this solution contribute to solving the bigger problem but by disintegrating the problem using the five W’s and H gave me the origin of the problem, who the problem is, where the problem is and most importantly what the problem is.

The next step of Osborn’s model of creative problem solving, Is generating ideas or idea finding. Within this step ideas are generated, risks are taken and connections or new combinations are made. (Osborn 1979, 86-87) This step requires another set of tools to assist in successfully solving the original unsustainable problem. The tools that can be used reversals, six thinking hats and SCAMPER. Using the reversal technique, you ask the opposite of the action you want

to ask. (Michalko 2006, 43-52) So in this instance, how can I create more pollution with take away cups? Coming up with quite a few ways, this tool helped me think of the very obvious things that we can do to solve this problem. The last tool I used for generating ideas was the six thinking hats, created by Dr. Edward de Bono. Applying this parallel thinking process was quite difficult. As this is an individual assignment it was hard to imitate 6 different points of view by myself. This exercise wasn’t obsolete at all; it allowed me to apply both criticism and realism to my current possible solution. Thus by using the six thinking hats I was able to place all my ideas in the right categories. From the blue hat that controls the guidelines of the six thinking hats and ensures that this process is followed successfully. To the white hat that calls for research that has been undertaken and facts, then the yellow hat for positives and optimism. Then the black hat for judgment and criticism, to the red hat for intuition and hunches. Last but not least the green hat completely focuses on creativity, generating new ideas, new possibilities and new perceptions, is applied. (De Bono 1985) This tool for parallel thinking allows for me to see my problem and solution from different viewpoints, while allowing criticism and realism. Another idea generating tool can be used, SCAMPER. This is a checklist to find the most suitable solution, created by Bob Eberle and explained by Michael Michalko in Thinkertoys. SCAMPER is an acronym for substitute, combine, adapt, modify, put to another use, eliminate and reverse. This method allowed me to consider a few more options for my solution. (Eberle 1996, 7-8) So instead of just thinking about replacing paper cups with ceramic cups, or “bring your own” cups, I thought that a substitute material that can be used is recyclable paper cups or biodegradable cups. Another option that came up while using the six thinking hats is a reward system. This would either give you a percentage discount when bringing your own cup or a free coffee will be given when say you bring your own cup five times.

After all the tools used for identifying the problem and then generating ideas or solutions for the problem, I now need to use a few tools to help evaluate my

solution. The tools used for evaluating the solution would be an evaluating matrix and using PMI or triage. In this step of Osborn’s model the ideas for a solution are evaluated against criteria. These criteria can be put into an evaluating matrix. This would include the legality of the solution, are the costs acceptable, would the general public accept it and would the owners of the coffee shops or higher-level administrators accept it? (Osborn 1979, 86-87) The second tool I used to evaluate my final solution was triage also called PMI. This is the method where you have three boxes or categories of ideas, good, weak or impossible and interesting ideas. This allows you to take a few of your options, some even created from using the previous method SCAMPER, and separate them into groups. This identifies which of the ideas are too out there and which ones are very possible. After applying the matrix and PMI or Triage to my solution I only found one stand out problem. That is if the owners of the coffee shops would accept it. If they don’t accept it then this would never be applied. Are they willing to lose a little bit of money to save the environment? At the same time they could be making money by attracting green supporting customers and even by selling the ceramic cups with the name of their shop on it.

To provide a sustainable solution, to the problem, that take-away coffee cups is a great form of pollution and harming the environment, we can apply Osborn’s method of creative problem solving. By following the three steps of Osborn’s model, identifying the problem, generating ideas and evaluating the solution would successfully lead you to a sustainable solution. (Osborn 1979, 86-87) Without the creative thinking tools this model would be like a tradesman trying to complete his job without his tools. Thus they are essential to Osborn’s model. By using this model along with the creative thinking tools Perth can now start selling ceramic cups and take home cups that people can bring back and get their coffee for cheaper because they provide their own cup. Even a reward system would be suggestible where every time you bring your own cup you either get discount or it gives you a free coffee after you have brought your cup say five times. These solutions would not have been generated without these creative thinking tools along with Osborn’s model of creative problem solving.

Referencing list: Cropley, A Cropley and D.2007. Fostering Creativity. NJ: Hampton Press. de Bono, Edward. 1985. Six Thinking Hats: An Essential Approach to Business Management. Little, Brown, & Company.

Dodgson, Mark and David Gann. 2010. Innovation: A very Short Introduction. New York. Oxford University Press. Dugald, Jellie. 2006. Coffee by numbers. The Sydney Morning Herald. Eberle, Bob. 1996. SCAMPER: Creative Games and Activities for Imagination Development. Texas. Waco, Prufrock Press. Fogler, H. Scott and Steven E. LeBlanc. 1995. "First steps in solving Open-Ended Problems."

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