Notes for Session 1 for Thomas Cook CPS

8/12/2019 Notes for Session 1 for Thomas Cook CPS

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Andy Bayley - CPS Loughborough University August 2010 Page 1

Topic 1.1 Introduction

The style of the course will be based around Kolbs learning cycle. This essentially involves

looking at examples of problem solving techniques and then applying them in situ. This,

along, with the practical experience of the candidates provides best opportunity for applying

classroom taught techniques. It is also worth understanding the differing learning styles thatthis model represents as this can help people to relate to others who may have differing

learning styles, allowing you to get over in differing ways the messages you want to deliver

during facilitated meetings and presentations.

Andy Bayley CPS Loughborough UniversityAugust 2010

KOLBS LEARNING CYCLE

KOLB D A (1984) Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and developmentNew Jersey:

Prentice-Hall (0 13 295261 0)

CONCRETE EXPERIENCEConcerned with something that has happened to you or that you have done. This is about

adopting your new ideas and putting into practice.

An activist prefers doing and experiencing

REFLECTIVEConcerned with reviewing the event or experience in your mind and exploring what you did

and how you, and others, felt about it.Reflector observes

ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISATIONConcerned with developing an understanding of what happened by seeking more information

by researching and forming new ideas about ways of doing things in the future.

A theorist who wants to understand underlying reasons, concepts and relationships

ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATIONConcerned with trying out the new ideas as a result of the learning from earlier experiences

and reflection.

A Pragmatist likes to have a go and try things to see if they work


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The opening topic is Decision Making. However, making decisions is often the end point

of other related activity that we label problem solving or innovation or strategy

formulation. All of these concepts are inter-twined in business, and also in this module.


As managers, we all . . . .

Take decisions

Solve problems

Contribute to strategy

setting

Create ideas

Innovate

Think !

Venezuelan school children

study Thinking as a subject

alongside maths, language etc.

How did you learn thinking?

How do you rate your thinkingskills ? (scale of 1 to 10)

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Chris Marples 2006

Operational Research (OR)Departments existed in many large organisations in the past:

rather fewer survive today. Many OR departments were staffed by people, often with higher

level mathematics degrees, whose job it was to take difficult, messy business problemsfaced by line managers, and seek optimal solutions based upon logical thinking and

mathematical models. The OR analyst would often work on given problems in the back

room, consulting only occasionally with the line manager client to clarify issues.

The solution that eventually emerged would be carried proudly back to the client, only to find

that it was dismissed on some point which seemed to the OR Analyst to be illogical or

irrational. It was this syndrome which led eventually to the closure of many OR departments.

The OR community has responded in recent times by developing soft OR techniques whichseek to develop solutions to the same problems while avoiding the backroom elite style. The

idea is that the OR consultant will have methods available to work directly with the wisdomof the group of peopleengaged in problem solving. The consultant now aims to bring out

the best from the groups wisdom, rather than using his or her own knowledge of the problem.

Group problem solving and decision making has taken on a higher profile in consequence of

this change. There has been a shift from logical, numerate, orderly approaches of

management science, towards a broader view encompassing behavioural, sociological and

political influences upon decision making.


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The changing nature of consultancy

As a second instance, management consultants have typically provided expertise into the

problem domain. Describing this approach as it relates to the strategic planning of

information systems (SISP), Michael Earl wrote:

The consultants often become the drivers of the exercise and therefore have substantial

influence on the recommendations. Users may judge [such] exercises as unreal and

high-level and as having excluded the managers who matter, namely themselves. IS

strategic plans may lose their credibility and never be fully initiated. The exercises and

recommendations may be forgotten. Often they are labelled the xyz strategy, where

xyz is the name of the consulting firm employed; in other words, these strategies are

rarely owned by the business.Michael Earl, Experiences in Strategic Information Systems Planning MIS Quarterly 3/93.

Again, some management consultants are abandoning the expert role in favour of a processcontrol role, working with managers to help them formulate their own strategies.

Topic 1.2 Meetings

The fundamental method of group problem solving is the meeting; we bring people together

to provide overlapping domains of knowledge, and to promote creativitythrough people-

interactions. Unfortunately, we also introduce behavioural and psychological issues which do

not always operate for the good of the meeting outcome. It is the objective of soft decision

making techniques to optimise the result of group problem solving activity, by amplifying the

wisdom and thought processes of the group while minimising the negative aspects of

interactions. Methods, processes and sometimes, computer support, can be introduced to

achieve meeting efficiency and outcome effectiveness.

The Problem Domain and Individual Understanding

In resolving complex problems, it is likely that we need to assemble several people to ensure

that their collective knowledge and experience adequately covers the problem domain. We

may also want to ensure that all major stakeholders are engaged. The difficulty is that, the

more people we involve, the greater become the communications and behavioural problems

that can emerge. Research by Marsh and Simon suggests that 7 is an optimum size for aproblem solving group .

The Process Burger

Alongside the taskto be performed within a meeting: the work, information and data,

content, getting on with the job, there are also considerations of processand group. Process

relates to the flow of activity, group methods, time allocations, roles, planning and the

meeting space. Groupis to do with the baggage that individuals bring, conflicts, power

struggles, egos, skills, views aims and backgrounds. For effective meetings, the task has to be

performed, through effective process, while avoiding some of the traps associated with the

group.


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The Process Burger

Process:

The structure: flow of activity; methods;

Time allocation; roles; planning; the meeting space

Task

the work; information; data; content; getting on with the job

Individuals; baggage; conflicts; power struggles; egos

Differing skills, views, aims, backgrounds

People & Group


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Topic 1.3 Environment and Culture

Let us look at a model that describes what tends to happen when there is a problem that needs

to be addressed. We start with a process (any business process will do) that has a defined

capability. The resultant output of this process is a function of the capability and the time

spent working the process. The more time spent working, the more output that can be

achieved at a set capability/efficiency.

Andy Bayley CPS Loughborough UniversityAugust 2010 4

Capabilityinvestment erosion

Time Spent

working

Performance

Gap

Actual

Performance

Desired

Performance

Pressure to

do work

Work harder

Repenning & Sterman Californian Management Review Vol 43 No 4

Capability Trap How do you break the circle?

This actual output will normally be compared to some form of target e.g.financial budgetary

targets, daily /weekly product deliveries, delivery of a particular service level. Where a gap

existsin other words the output is less than expected, then pressure will be exerted to

increase the output. This normally means increasing the time spent working e.g. Overtime,

extra shifts, longer hours for staff/managers. This will manifest itself as extra output at similar

or reduced performance.

In other words the working harder syndrome.The advantage of this approach is its

immediacy - the direct link of the effort expended to the improved process output.

Does this sound familiar?

What are the drawbacks to this approach?


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An alternative approach could be the working smarter syndrome

Andy Bayley CPS Loughborough UniversityAugust 2010 5

Capabilityinvestment

Actual

Performance

Performance

Gap

Work smarter

Pressure to

Improve

Capability

Time spent on

improvement

delay

Repenning & Sterman Californian Management Review Vol 43 No 4

Capability Trap How do you break the circle?

Once again we have a capability in a particular process which gives a resultant actual

performance. If we have a performance gap as before then this time we will increase the

pressure to improve the capability of the process; and will therefore increase the time spent on

improvement rather than spending the time working in the existing process. This may also

mean taking people away from their direct involvement in the process, effectively reducing

the current capacity (time spent) and putting them into an improvement team.

The time spent on improvement means we have invested in the capability and made some

improvement to it and this is the action that improves the output. The big disadvantage with

this is of course that the process output will not be increased immediately, in fact it could

quite easily be further reduced.

So what are the advantages of this approach?

Which approach represents the area you currently work within?

Can you think of any examples of either approach from your company?


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Topic 1.4 Different types of problems

Very few problems have a clear answer.

Andy Bayley CPS Loughborough University

Different Types of Problem

Society is generating too

much rubbish

Wicked problems

Management mess

No given problem

description

Not true or false

Many possible solutions

Many ways of defining the

problem

Etc., etc.

Prod1 Prod2 Prod3

Machine 12 7 5

Labour 8 8 10

Material 17 8 13

30 110

?

Chris Marples 2006

Very simple problems have one answer. (e.g. the triangle where the angle missing.) The next

example shows a more complex issue where some data is available to highlight where the

problem may exist e.g., lack of productivity on a particular production line or a production

process that is too costly. Whilst the problem is obvious the potential solution is not and may

require further data to help pin point where the actions lie.

The next problem is a good example of something that has no immediate obvious answer.

Indeed there may be many potential solutions each one being applicable to a particular

situation or environment. The issue is how do we get to a position where we can identify

some potential solutions?

Andy Bayley CPS Loughborough University

Problem Complexity

August 2010 7

Working harder can it be sustained?may overcome simple problems without too many variablesdoesnt attack root cause

What if the problem is complex?What if the problem is new and not been seen before?What if the problem is a result of a fundamental breakdown in the process?

Problem Solving Meetings

Meetings are the awkward social ritual that organisations put their peoplethrough in the hope that they might productively collaborate.

Michael Schrange Shared Minds

When you assemble a number of people to have advantage of their jointwisdom, you inevitably assemble with those people all their prejudics, theirpassions, their errors of opinion , their local interests and selfish views. Fromsuch an assembly can a perfect production be expected?!

Benjamin Franklin , Constitutional Convention Sept 15 th 1787


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According to Ackoff (1981), managers are typically faced with a series of overlapping

problems which he calls a mess. Others have coined the term, wicked problems. The

objective is to tackle one problem without making others worse, and so produce an overall

improvement. In general, problems can be:

Solved to produce an optimum course of action

Resolved to produce a workable course of action

Dissolved to redefine or remove the problem

Friend and Hickling (1987) have developed thinking around Ackoffs Mess. In Planning

Under Pressure, Pergamon 1987, they consider that managers operate within todays realities

of confusion, uncertainty and inconsistency, and with pressures of turbulence, urgency,

complexity and overload. Faced with a need to make plans or take decisions, one can hope to

make progress through choosing strategically - working in one area without blocking off

options elsewhere.


Planning Under Pressure Friend & Hickling

8

Todays

reality

Inconsistency

Confusion,

uncertainty

Making

plans

Making

decisions

Turbulence,

urgency

Complexity,

overload

Choosing

strategicallyMaking

progress

Chris Marples 2006

Over time the current problem becomes a different, perhaps smaller, future problem, but wecannot hope to eliminate all problems. When time is available, it can be used to reduce

uncertainty by investigation, to seek guidance on policy, or to co-ordinate with others dealing

with related problems.


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Hicks (2004, pp 19-20) turns to wicked problems, originally defined by Rittel and Webber

(1974), that are more typical of the issues that confront managers.

Wicked problems have the following features:

They do not have a definitive problem description There is no certain way of knowing when you have reached the best solution Their possible solutions are not true or false but somewhere between good and bad There is no immediate or ultimate way of testing the merit of a solution They have an infinite number of possible solutions The problem situation shows no precise indications as to what are / are not permissible

ways of reaching a solution

Each problem is essentially unique There are many ways of looking at (defining) the problem and each one suggests a

different direction in which we should perhaps look for a solution

Every wicked problem can be thought of as a symptom of another problem There is seldom any opportunity to determine a solution by trial and error It is usually imperative that we find a correct solution, preferably at the first attempt

Rittel and Webber (1974)

You may want to take a problem that you have faced in a work place and consider whether itpossesses the features specified by Rittel and Webber. The Spring Water problem overleaf is

an attempt to specify a wicked problem in just a few lines.


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In summary


One of the more useful definitions of a PROBLEM is offered

by Eden, Jones and Sims (1983) which says we usually refer

to ourselves as having a problem if things are not as we

would like them to be, and we are not quite sure what to do

about it

The Business World Needs -

Not right answer seekers, but . . .

Mess resolvers

Handlers of complexity and uncertainty

People who know what to do when they dontknow what to do

12

Chris Marples 2006

Even the most ordered and best run companies face issues that are out of their immediate

control. Wicked problems are a way of life in todays business world! However, maybe they

can offer an opportunity for those who can deal with this ambiguity and be seen to offer

alternative solutions.


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2.0 Creativity

We have seen how wicked problems require us to be capable of coming up with a number

of different solutions which may not have been initially obvious to us in the first instance.

This requires divergant thinking, an ability to keep an open mind and not be distracted or

confined by a particular solution or idea. We need to be able to identify as many solutions aspossible to allow us, at a later stage, to strategically choose those which best suit the problem,

the environment, the culture in which we work. Or, as Friend and Hickling identified, those

which do not preclude us from other options at a later stage.


Two Sorts of Thinkingin which we contemplate barometers and buildings !

Analytical re tiveLogic Imagination

Unique or few answers Many possible

ideas & answers

Convergent Divergent

Vertical Lateral

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Chris Marples 2006

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas Anon.

Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have

Emile Chartier, French philosopher

Analytical thinkingis characterised by mathematics and logic; by a search for unique or few

answers. It is a convergentprocess, in that there is a narrowing down from a number of

possibilities to an eventual solution. The snag is that, unless there is a richness in the ideas

under consideration, analytical thinking is likely to provide mundane solutions. The ideal

position is to diverge through creativity to produce many ideas, and to converge throughanalysis to develop a number of solutions.

The alternative to analytical thinking is creative thinking. This is a divergentprocess,

leading from a blank sheet to a rich list of choices. The Western culture and educational

system tends to favour analytical thinking, but does little to foster or value creative thinking.

When in employment, the laughter, free thinking or contemplation which accompanies

creative thought is suspect, and so we tend towards the analytical.


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Two sorts of thinking

Analytical: logic, unique answer, convergent, vertical

Creative: imagination, many ideas, divergent, lateral

14

Analytical

thinking

Few

solutions

Creative

thinkingMany

ideas

Solution

Solution

Solution

We will see in the generic problem solving model we use (Sidney Parnes Model as defined

by Hicks 2004) that both convergant and divergant thinking is encouraged. Divergant to

create as many suitable solutions as possible, convergant to help choose between the options.

In the model this is represented diagrammatically in diamond shapes, representing this

divergent-convergent processes.


Sidney Parnes Generic Problem Solving Model

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The Mess

Info gatheringProblem

redefinition

Idea generation

Select

Solution finding

& development

Gaining acceptance

& implementation

Chris Marples 2006

The case of the empty soap box happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies.

The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty.

Immediately the management isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all

the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went

through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem.


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Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution

monitors staffed by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to

make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they

spent a large amount in doing so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company had the same problem, he came outwith another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the line. As

each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

The moral of the story? Diverge before you converge. Get a number of ideas to work on,

before deciding which to develop. And, always look for simple solutions.

A variety of factors can have a negative influence on our ability to be creative. As we age, we

become less innovative. Sixteen hundred 5 year olds in the USA were given an innovationtest: 98% scored highly creative. The same children tested 5 years later showed only 30%

highly creative. By the age of 15, the proportion had dropped to 12%, and it is estimated

that by 25 years, it will be just 2%.

Creativity Blocks

Perceptual

Stereotyping, isolating the problem, tunnel vision, viewpoints, failure to use senses

Emotional

Need for security & order, fear of mistake or risk, lack of motivation, inability to

reflect, trying to solve too quickly, preference for judgement, lack of imagination.

Cultural

Being serious, reflection a waste of time, fun is for children, logic is better than

intuition, tradition better than change, taboos, management style, no support . . . .

Environmental

Distractions, monotony, discomfort, lack of communication

Intellectual

Inadequate problem solving skills, lack of information, inadequate means of

expression.

After Hicks (2004, p51 onwards)


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There Are Many Correct Ways To Answer A Question R.L. Loeffelbein

A physics teacher at Washington University in St. Louis was about to give a student a zero for thestudent's answer to an examination problem. The student claimed he should receive a perfect score, ifthe system were not so set up against the student. Instructor and student agreed to submit to an

impartial arbiter, Dr. Alexander Calandra, who tells the story.

The examination problem was: Show how it is possible to estimate the height of a tall building withthe aid of a barometer. The student's answer was, Take the barometer to the top of the building,attach a long rope to it, and lower the barometer to the ground. Then, bring it back up, measuring the

length of the rope.

I, as arbiter, pointed out that the student really had a strong case for full credit since he had answeredthe problem completely and correctly. On the other hand, of course, full credit would contribute to ahigh grade for the student in his physics course, and a high grade is supposed to certify that the studentknows some physics, a fact that his answer had not confirmed. So it was suggested that the studenthave another try at answering the problem.

He was given six minutes to answer it, with the warning this time that the answer should indicate someknowledge of physics. At the end of five minutes, he had not written anything. Asked if he wished togive up, he said no, that he had several answers and he was just trying to think which would be thebest. In the next minute he dashed off this answer. Take the barometer to the top of the building.Lean over the edge of the roof, drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, using theformula (which he noted), calculate the height of the building. At this point, I asked my colleague ifhe gave up and he conceded. The student got nearly full credit.

Recalling that the student had said he had other answers, I asked him what they were. Well, he said,you could take the barometer out on a sunny day and measure the height of the barometer, the lengthof its shadow, and length of the building's shadow, then use simple proportion to determine the height

of the building. And there is a very basic measurement method you might like. You take thebarometer and begin to walk up the stairs. As you climb, you mark off lengths of the barometer alongthe wall. You then count the number of marks to get the height of the building in barometer units.

Of course, if you want a more sophisticated method, you can tie the barometer to the end of a string,swing it as a pendulum. The height of the building can, in principle, be calculated from this.

And, he concluded, if you don't limit me to physics solutions, you can take the barometer to the

basement and knock on the superintendent's door. When he answers, you say, Mr. Superintendent, Ihave here a fine barometer. If you will tell me the height of this building, I will give you thisbarometer.

Finally, he admitted that he even knew the correct textbook answer -- measuring the air pressure at

the bottom and top of the building and applying a simple formula. He went on to say that he was sofed up with college instructors trying to teach him how to think instead of showing the structure of the

subject matter, that he had decided to rebel.

The attribute listingmethod is very applicable here. When handed a barometer, there is anassumption that the primary function of the instrument (indicate air pressure) must be used. Whenlooked at in a different way, finding new uses for the object (the barometer), we see that it has

monetary value, mass, height, and so on.


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2.1 Physiology of Creativity


PHYSIOLOGY OF CREATIVITY

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Which title best reflects the subject?Why?

Who in the room feels that they are naturally creative? Would it surprise you to know we all

have latent ability. The real question is how do we recognize and release this creative talent

not only in others, during the meetings/facilitated sessions we run, but also in ourselves?

The work carried out by Sperry in the 50s and 60s was able to identify the physiological

processes that led to the different forms of thinking, in other words there were tangible

differences within the brain that created these thoughts . Therefore there must be ways ofexercising these areas to enable them to develop to their potential.



Late 1950s and 1960s research by Roger W Sperry was finally honoured when he received a

Nobel Prize for medicine in 1981

This showed that that the right and left hemispheres of the human brain use contrasting

methods of information processing

Both modes are involved in high level functioning but each specialises in its own style they

can act in cooperative complementary way but retain their individual styles of thinking

In response to an event one half may jump in and dominate conscious awareness , whereas ifthe other half came in it may have a differing or conflicting view

In some instances one response or the other may be suppressed and kept out of the

conscious awareness (this may be as a result of conditioning such as teaching and the

education someone receives)

In some instances both responses may be processed and both expressed

eg I hear the good words in the politicians speech but there is something about her I dont

like !!

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Left Hemisphere

Specialises in verbal , logical analytical thinking

It excels in reading, writing , arithmetic

It likes to name and categorise things

It tends to rely upon rules to reduce experience to concepts that are compatiblewith its style of working

It prefers clear, un-ambiguous, sequential logical thought

It does not like paradox and ambiguity

L MODE MODE17



Right Hemisphere

Specialises in visual, spatial perceptual information

It excels in creative processes

It tends to seek relationships between parts and searches for the way

parts fit together to form a whole It prefers perceived information, searching for patterns and seeking spatial

order and visual fit

It can cope with paradox and ambiguity

Because of its quickness , complexity and nonverbal nature it is , bydefinition , hard to put into words

L MODE MODE18

Which hemisphere do you think our education systems tends to encourage?


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A good example of this latter style of thinking is the drive to work. Have you ever got to work

and not been able to remember anything about the journey? This is because the drive requires

requires rapid thought processing of information that is constantly changing. L mode is not

really suited to this as it tends to process information in a linear and verbal waythe car on

the left is approaching at 45.5 mph and will overtake in 3.5 seconds. This is far too slow for

all of the information processed when driving so the L mode bows out of the task and R modetakes over.

The other factor to this is that because R mode is working whilst driving you will naturally

tend to be more creative. How many of you have good ideas driving to work or even day

dream? If you ever have been involved in a creative task, drawing, painting, music you will

have also been surprised how you forgot the time and became oblivious to things around you;

another example of being in R brain mode. So we can move to R mode, what we need are

triggers to do so.



Creative processing is no ordinary activity

It may occur in stages

Each stage requiring the brain to shift gear from one mode to another

These shifts may create the Eureka Moments associated with invention

and innovation

5 stages of creativity as described by Getzel

FirstInsight Saturation Incubation The ah-ah Verification

It is not unusual to have a period of uneasiness or distress prior to an

insight or Eureka moment.

19

Earlier this morning in the introduction I mentioned that I would like you to think of the

learning points as we go through the course and in particular any aha moments you mayhave had. Reflect for a moment on what we have talked about and write down, if any,

thoughts that have come to mind.


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Unfortunately in this 2 day course we cannot delve any further into this topic but for those of

you who are interested I would strongly recommend one of the books on the reading list -

Betty EdwardsDrawing on the Right Hand Side of the Brian. If you are prepared to spend

the time undergoing the exercises exactly as she lays them out then I can assure you that you

will surprise yourselves on the creative ability that you did not know you had. I can also

vouch for it being an extremely effective stress buster. As one of the side effects of usingthe right hand side of the brain is this lack of awareness of time passing and being divorced

from the surroundings. So if you want to clear the mind of the latest worries then this can help

but please warn your partners at home they may not be pleased to see you go into a self

induced trance!

Creative thinking is not a talent, it is a skill that can be learnt. It empowers people by

adding strength to their natural abilities which improves teamwork, productivity and

where appropriate profits.Edward De Bono

Whether you believe you can, or whether you believe you can't, you're absolutely right.Henry Ford

Notes for Session 1 for Thomas Cook CPS

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