Your Creativity Level

Creativity is a manner in which individual decision-making styles differ. Individual creativity requires three characteristics: expertise, creative-thinking skill, and a sense that a task is something one enjoys doing. And Creative-thinking skill includes two basic capabilities: divergent-thinking ability and insight.
To design, say, a marketable new toothbrush, you (or your team) must know a great deal about how people use toothbrushes and how manufacturers make them, be able to imagine a new design and the market for it, and be confident enough to sell your project to corporate higher-ups. Mike Lazaridis invented the Blackberry late one night in 1997, while sitting in his basement. He suddenly had the insight that a tiny keyboard could be more efficient than a large one, if people use their thumbs. Before this, people had ridiculed the idea of such a tiny keyboard. But Lazaridis had been an inventor and scientist since childhood, and he had in mind that combining computers with wireless technology should be useful. Also, he had a way to persevere: He had already founded a company called Research in Motion to develop new ideas.
As a manager, you can enhance creativity in teams by hiring creative individuals by assigning people to tasks they are interested in, by training your team to make effective decisions, and by creating a culture supporting innovation.
You will reduce creativity if you:

1. Closely supervise the decision-making process,
2. Set constraints on how the work will be done,
3. Foster competition among the creators,
4. Focus on how the product will be evaluated, and
5. Emphasize extrinsic rewards.

• To get some idea about how creative you are personally, take this short self-profile test.
  In each pair, circle the description that fits you best:
  1. a. I prefer to approach routine tasks in short bursts.
  b. I am known for being able to pursue routine tasks over long periods of time.
  2. a. I enjoy doing tasks that require a high level of accuracy.
  b. If a task requires a high level of accuracy, I prefer to delegate it to someone else.
  3. a. I am quite sensitive to people.
  b. I am not particularly sensitive to people.
  4. a. People who know me well see me as not particularly disciplined.
  b. People who know me well see me as methodical.
  5. a. I often challenge rules.
  b. I seldom challenge rules.
  6. a. I approach tasks from unsuspected angles.
  b. I approach tasks systematically.
  7. a. I am interested in careers such as accounting, electrical engineering, logistics management,
  police work, pharmacy, and dentistry.
  b. I am interested in careers such as sales, journalism, public relations, human resources management,
  and advertising account management.
  8. a. I get passionately involved in tasks that interest me.
  b. I seldom get passionately involved in tasks.
  9. a. When working in groups, I am seen as a nonconformist.
  b. When working in groups, I am seen as a team player.
  10. a. When solving problems, I doubt myself a lot.
  b. When solving problems, I am sure of myself.
  11. a. I am quite traditional as a person.
  b. I am a non-traditional person.
  12. a. I enjoy doing many different activities during the day.
  b. I enjoy working on one activity for a significant part of the day.
  13. a. I enjoy working under time pressure.
  b. I dislike working under deadlines.
  14. a. I enjoy collaborating with others on projects.
  b. I enjoy working by myself on projects.
  Scoring:
  Indicators of creativity are:
  1-a, 2-b, 3-b, 4-a, 5-a, 6-a, 7-b, 8-a, 9-a,10-b,11-b, 12-b, 13-b, 14-b.
  For each of these answers, give yourself one point. Add up the points. The higher your score, the more likely you are to use creativity in decision making. An average score is 6.1 (based on a sample of 53 undergraduate business students enrolled in organizational behavior classes).
  The test is based upon a variety of sources that describe creative people.

- Excerpted and condensed from “Decision Making”

Taguchi Concepts

The definition of quality given by the Taguchi methodology is customer orientated. Taguchi defines quality in a negative manner -
"Quality is the loss imparted to society from the time the product is shipped"
. This "loss" would include the cost of customer dissatisfaction that leads to the loss of company reputation. This differs greatly from the traditional producer-orientated definition which includes the cost of re-work, scrap, warranty and services costs as measures of quality. The customer is the most important part of the process line, as quality products and services ensure the future return of the customer and hence improves reputation and increased market share. In general, there are four quality concepts devised by Taguchi:
1. Quality should be designed into the product from the start, not by inspection and screening.
2. Quality is best achieved by minimising the deviation from the target, not a failure to confirm to specifications.
3. Quality should not be based on the performance, features or characteristics of the product.
4. The cost of quality should be measured as a function of product performance variation and the losses measured system- wide.
These concepts are detailed hereunder:
Quality Concept One
“At 99, it is still water. When 100, it becomes steam which can provide the power to pull a fully laden freight train”
- AnonQuality should be designed into the product from the start, not by inspection and screening. Quality improvements should occur during the design stages of a product or process, and continue through to the production phase. This is often called an "off-line" strategy. Poor quality can't be improved by the traditional process of inspection and screening (on the production line). According to Taguchi, no amount of inspection can put quality back into a product; it merely treats the symptom. Quality concepts should therefore be developed by the philosophy of prevention; problems are tackled at the source and not down stream. Taguchi emphasises that quality is something that is designed into a product, to make it robust and immune to the uncontrollable environmental factors in the manufacturing phase. This leads us to the next quality concept of minimising variation in a product.
Quality Concept Two
Quality is best achieved by minimising the deviation from the target, not a failure to confirm to specifications. The product should be designed so that it is robust or immune to uncontrollable environmental factors - eg. noise, temperature and humidity. This concept mainly deals with actual methods of affecting quality. Reducing variation is the key to improving quality. By specifying a target value for critical parameters, and ensuring manufacturing meets the target value with little deviation, the quality may be greatly improved.
Quality Concept Three
Quality is not based on the performance, features or characteristics of the product. Adding features to a product is not a way of improving quality, but only of varying its price and the market it is aimed at. The performance and characteristics of a product, can be related to quality, but should not be the basis of quality. Instead, performance is a measure of product capability.
Quality Concept Four
The cost of quality should be measured as a function of product performance variation and the losses measured system-wide. From given design parameters, the deviations from a target are measured in terms of the overall life cycle costs of the product. This includes costs or re-work, inspection, warrantry servicing, returns and product replacement. It is these costs that provide some guidance as to which major parameters need controlling

- Adapted from an article “Taguchi Methods” of Curtin University of Technology, http://kernow.curtin.edu.au/www/Taguchi/SECT3.HTM

Change Management

People do not accept change if it is not in their personal interest unless there are (1) consequences for not accepting the change, or (2) rewards for accepting the change.
For any project or behavior change, there are antecedents and there are consequences. Even though consequences far outpace antecedents in overall project success, it is generally the antecedents that enjoy the greatest attention and budgeting.

Antecedents can be classified as:

• Training
• Job aides and
• Personnel development

Consequences can be classified as:

• Work process analysis;
• Tangible items such as awards, money, plaques, etc.; and
• Employment, personal rebukes or disciplinary actions

A comprehensive analysis of every department should be made to see how employee workflow behaviors will be affected by the change. You need to identify the antecedents and consequences of this workflow change. Determine the current state and the future state of the process change.
Develop a spreadsheet for determining consequences. Assume that a) the project is a success b) the project is a partial or total failure.

Classify the behavioral consequences as: Positive and/or negative … positive consequences make it more likely that a behavior will occur again. Negative consequences make it less likely.
Present and/or future … consequences that happen during or immediately after a behavior have a stronger influence than do future consequences.
Certain and/or uncertain … consequences that reliably occur after a behavior have a stronger influence than consequences that are uncertain.
Positive/immediate consequences: Sincere praise from a boss or peer; Completing a task more easily than before; Public recognition.
Negative/immediate consequences: Adding complex steps to a work process; Being embarrassed in front of a coworker

You will need to put plans in effect that will take the behavior and process information and turn it into actions that will achieve successful results. Also put into effect measurement tools that will supply timely and accurate data regarding the implementation progress. And a communication plan to provide positive feedback to your employees and to the various implementation departments.

When people have perceived negative consequences from a change, they may resist the new change. Some such negative experiences include:

• Not being informed about what was expected
• Hearing mixed messages from different levels of management
• Being confused about the reason for the change
• Feeling as though their concerns are ignored
• Not being given an opportunity to contribute
• Being assigned extra work without more resources
• Having a comfortable work process, work environment, tool or product eliminated by the change
• Having to learn new skills without understanding what benefits they bring
• Being taken away from everyday work to spend time on activities of unclear value

People may also carry over positive experiences. You can leverage these events to make the change successful. Examples include:

• Feeling included in the process
• Having their contributions valued by the project team and organization’s leaders
• Being given extra resources to address the additional workload during the change
• Having more control over their work after the change process
• Being told clearly why the organization needed to change
• Clearly benefiting personally from the change after it was implemented

We must never take the technology past the limits of our employees without a comprehensive training program before we expect them to do the work. Remember that you cannot judge a person’s performance until you have provided him or her with the tools to do the job.
The resistance and ultimate failure of a change program to achieve the desired effect on your business is brought on by both the perceived and real fears of your employees. Using the wrong tools to approach the implementation can exacerbate this success.

- Adapted from “Managing the Change” in Plant Services.com by Carl C. Hughes

Winning Strategy

We can discern many management principles in the 3000 year old epic, Mahabharata.
The Pandavas were exiled for 13 years and had no kingdom; on the other hand, the Kauravas were in power for 13 years and the subjects did not really miss the Pandavas. Duryodhana was completely focused on the war but the three elder Pandavas were against going to war. The war lasted 18 days and on the night of the 18th, Aswatthama slaughtered the Pandava camp in sleep.
Despite all this, how did the Pandavas win the 18 day war?
Preparation: Karna went on a nationwide campaign and subdued many kingdoms. But it meant loss of a large number of army men and creating a lot of new enemies. Though in exile, the Pandavas used the time to improve their weak aspects. Arjuna went on a mission to acquire divyastras (special weapons). Bhima met his brother Hanuman and got his blessings for enhanced strength. Yudhishtira got wisdom from many rishis and also lessons in dice to become unbeatable in the game of dice.
Allies: The Kauravas had the greatest empire of the time, but with centralized controls. They did not have powerful allies except for relatives from far off kingdoms. In contrast, the Pandavas had no wealth or political power of their own but had powerful allies from all over India, mainly through marriages
Leadership: The Kauravas had a centralised leadership with one head of army at any one time, commanding 11 akshouhinis, one akshouhini consisting of 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 65,610 horses and 1,09,350 foot-soldiers. But the Pandavas had a distributed leadership with seven commanders, each commanding one akshouhini.
Team spirit: The great Kaurava warriors fought their own personal wars. They did not gel well with each other. But the Pandavas were one team with one goal. They all had great respect for Krishna and Yudhishtira. They were all part of the decision making process, fighting a common war.
Individual motives: Except for Duryodhana, none of the other senior members wanted the war because of strong ties with the Pandavas. Bhishma & Drona would not kill the Pandavas. Shalya was uncle of Nakula and covertly helped the Pandavas. Karna had promised not to kill any of the Pandavas except Arjuna. In contrast, the Pandavas had a common goal and their individual goal was tied in with the team’s objective.
Commitment: Bhishma gave away the secret of how to kill him and would not fight Shikandi because of personal bias. Drona abandoned his weapon when he heard that his son was killed. Karna gave away his protective gear to prove his personal reputation for charity. On the other hand, in a suicidal mission, 16 year old Abhimanyu single handedly entered the Chakravuh and killed innumerable enemy soldiers. Even while dying, Ghatotkatch finished off almost half of opposition army. Yudhishtira did not stick to his personal principle of truth when he had to utter a lie for the good of his team.
Right managers: Krishna was the greatest crisis-manager ever. Yudhishtira was a low-key strategist. On the first day of the war, in the guise of seeking their blessing, he talked to the elders in the opposite side and had them unfold the secrets of defeating them.
The roots: The Kauravas were princes brought up in comfort and in romanticized ideas of power, fame, courage and valour without experience of ground realities. The Pandavas spent the greater part of their lives in poverty. They had contacts with various strata of society, different regions and different races of people like Rakshasas, Gandharvas, Apsaras, Nagas.
Empowerment of women: The Kauravas were of a patriarchal society where there were no women in decision-making. The Queen mother was confined to the inner chamber and nobody listened to her. The Pandavas were of a matriarchal society and the mother was the supreme authority. Draupadi had a big role in all decision-making.
So what we learn is:
· Turn your weaknesses into strengths
· Turn enemies into allies
· Share your responsibilities
· Teamwork scores over individual effort
· Right team means the right man for the right job
· Commitment scores over competence
· Put team interests over individual interests
· Know your opposition and challenges. Exploit its weaknesses. Take calculated risks
· Use the right managers to inspire, invigorate, counsel in crisis
· Know ground realities. Accept different ideologies. Cooperate
· Empower women.
- Condensed from “Mahabharata-A winning strategy”, a. pps slide presentation, author: anon.