CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

Lesson 2
• Define creativity
• Contrast the two types of creativity
• Explain the importance of creativity
• Develop a creative frame of mind
• Apply some creative techniques in solving
problems and exploiting opportunities
WHAT IS CREATIVITY
 What is
Creativity
 What is Creativity
• Creativity is the use of the imagination or
original ideas, especially in the production of
artistic or technical work
• Creativity is imagination, inventiveness,
resourcefulness and vision to create something
of value.
• There are two types of creativity
– Artistic creativity
– Technical creativity
 Creativity…..
• Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and
valuable is formed.
• The created item may be intangible or a physical object.
• It is also looked at as the tendency to generate or recognize
ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in
solving problems.
• It is one of those traits that people seem to have an
intrinsic understanding, which can not easily be defined
(Steve Jobs (Apple), Thomas Eddison (Electic Power
generation, mass communication etc), Albert Einsten
(Light/Atoms/Famous equation E=mc^2)
Artistic Creativity
Artistic Creativity
 Artistic Creativity
• More in born of skill, technique and self
expression
 Technical Creativity
• Where people create new theories,
technologies or ideas for business or social
benefit
 Technical Creativity
• This is displayed in different aspects of business and different
industries
– Architecture
– Technology
– Mobile
– Computing
– Medical
– Space
– Products
– Distribution
– Promotion
– Strategy
 Technical Creativity
• Programmed Thinking
Programmed thinking relies on logical or
structured ways of creating a new product or
service.
• Lateral Thinking
Lateral thinking is a manner of solving problems
using an indirect and creative approach via
reasoning that is not immediately obvious.
Programmed Thinking
 Programmed Thinking
• Our brains are pattern recognition systems.
• We can instantly recognize patterns such as faces,
language, and handwriting
• Unfortunately, we get stuck in our patterns.
• We tend to think within them
• Solutions we develop are based on previous
solutions to similar problems
• Effective in making products and services
improvements
Lateral Thinking
Think Outside the Box
Think Outside the Box
Think Outside the Box
 Lateral Thinking
• Breaks out of patterned way of thinking
• Generates completely new concepts and
ideas, and brilliant improvements to existing
systems
• It can be unnecessarily disruptive
 Creative Pause
• The time needed to take a step back and allow
yourself to ask yourself if there is a better way
of doing something
Edward de Bono
• View challenges as opportunities for
improvement
 Creative frame of mind
• The difference between creative and
uncreative people is self-perception
• Creative people see themselves as creative
and give themselves the freedom to create
• Uncreative people do not think about
creativity and do not give themselves the
opportunity to create anything new
 Creative frame of mind

• Knowledge gathering
– background research on the problems or issues.
• Incubation process
– let the subconscious mull over the problem. (Sleep
on it).
• Define the concepts of innovation
• Categorize the forms of innovation
• Explain reasons for innovating
• Describe the sources of innovation
 What is Innovation
• Innovation is production or adoption,
assimilation, and exploitation of a value-added
novelty in economic and social spheres
• Results in
– renewal and enlargement of products, services, and
markets;
– development of new methods of production;
– establishment of new management systems”
Crossan and Apaydin, 2010
 What is Innovation
• Innovation is implementation of a creative
idea or opportunity leading to profitable and
effective outcomes
• Innovation is an adoption of change which is
new to an organization and relevant
environment.

Knight ,1967
Mapping definitions of Innovations
 Forms of Innovations
1. Radical (Revolutionary) Innovations
• Discontinuous, revolutionary, original, basic or
pioneering innovations.
Gilbert, 1994 and Kamm, 1996
 Forms of Innovations
2. Incremental (Evolutionary) Innovations
• Small improvements made to enhance and
extend the establishment, processes, products
and services.

Gilbert, 1994 and Kamm, 1996

Forms of Innovations
Forms of innovation
 Reasons for Innovations in Business

• Survival of business
• Growth of business
• Creating competitive advantage
 Sources of Innovation
1. The Unexpected
– Look out for things you never expected to happen
2. Incongruities
– Thinking differently from competitors and society
3. Process need.
– Think differently and how the processes can be changed
4. Changes in Industry and Market Structures.
– Look out for changes happening in the market and industry or how you can influence
that change
5. Demographics
– Changes in population
6. Changes in Perception
– Perceptions change over time so look out for them
7. New knowledge
 Approaches to Acquiring Innovations

• Buying innovation in the market

• Investing in innovators
• Co sourcing innovation
• Resourcing from highly skilled people
• Internal innovation taskforce
 Barriers to Innovation
• Turfism’ –sticking to old thinking patterns
• Punishment for failure
• Rigid rules
• Lack of funds
• Lack of knowledge
• Lack of time given to innovation
• Lack of top management support
Ahmed,1998
 Factors Affecting Innovativeness
1. Individual Factors
• Expertise
• Creative thinking skills
• Task motivation
• Self confidence
• Curiosity
• Persistence
Amabile,1983
 Factors Affecting Innovativeness
2. Organizational Factors
 Organizational culture
 Degree of specialization
 Management support
 Tolerance of failure
 Time availability
Hornsby et al, 2002
 Factors Affecting Innovativeness
3. Environmental Factors
 Market uncertainties & market changes
 Supply uncertainties
 Perception changes
 Demographic changes

Mc Ginnis & Ackelberg, 1983

Manifestations of Creative Change
 Manifestations
• New products and services,
• New methods of production,
• New markets,
• New sources of supply
• New ways of organizing
 Group discussion

• Pick one organization you know well and

consider to be innovative. Discuss the factors
that make this organization innovative.
Creative Techniques
 Learning Outcomes
• Develop creative ability
• See the world from a creative perspective
• Ability to apply lateral (divergent) and
programmed (logical) thinking patterns to
bring about new products, services or radical
solutions
1. Ansoff Matrix
• The Ansoff Matrix is a strategic planning tool that
provides a framework to help executives, senior
managers, and marketers devise strategies for future
business growth.
• It is named after Igor Ansoff.
• It uses four strategies:
• Product Development
• Market Development
• Market Penetration
• Diversification
 2. SCAMPER Technique
• The SCAMPER Technique is a team brainstorming technique
used to develop or improve products or services.
• SCAMPER is an acronym for Substitute, Combine, Adapt,
Modify/Magnify, Purpose, Eliminate/Minimize and
Rearrange /Reverse.
• SCAMPER is a checklist that helps you to think of changes you
can make to an existing product to create a new one
• This is a list of changes that you could make to existing
products and services to open new opportunities
• You can use these changes either as direct suggestions or as
starting points for lateral thinking
 SCAMPER Technique
• Developed by Bob Eberle
• It is an acronym that stands for:
– Substitute
– Combine
– Adapt
– Modify
– Put to another use
– Eliminate
– Reverse
• Substitute
– Substitute components, materials, people
• Combine
– Mix, combine assemblies, integrate
• Adapt
– Alter, change function, use another part
• Modify
– Increase or reduce in scale, change shape, modify
attributes
 SCAMPER Technique
• Put to another use
– Find new uses
• Eliminate
– Remove elements, simplify, reduce to core
• Reverse
– Turn inside out or upside down
 3. Attribute Listing, Matrix Analysis &
Morphological Analysis
• Good technique to generate new products and
services
• List the attributes of the product, service or
strategy you are examining
• Attributes are parts, properties, qualities or
design elements of the thing being looked at
 Using the Technique

• Draw up a table using these attributes as column headings

(Zwicky Box) by Fritz Zwicky, 1960s.
• The Zwicky box is a powerful method for problem solving
and creativity; it is a simple and creative way to create many
unique ideas by breaking the problem down into categories,
adding values to each category.
• Write down as many variations of the attribute as possible
within these columns.
• The table should now show all possible variations of each
attribute
 Zwicky Box
Product Name……………………………………….
A B C D E F G

             

             

             

             

             
ZWICKY BOX EXAMPLE
 Draw Possible Product Ideas
• Now select one entry from each column
• By mixing one item from each column, you will
create a new mixture of components
• Examine the ideas for practicality
• Then you can develop a new product, service
or strategy
 Technique Focus
• Attribute Listing focuses on the attributes of
an object, seeing how each attribute could be
improved
 Technique Focus
• Matrix Analysis focuses on businesses. It is
used to generate new approaches, using
attributes such as market sectors, customer
needs, products, promotional methods, etc
 4. Random Inputs
• Is a lateral thinking tool that involves picking a random
word (usually a noun) or an image and following its
associations until you find new ideas that can be
applied to your problem.
• It is very useful when you need fresh ideas or new
perspectives during problem solving
• Select a random noun from either a dictionary or a
pre-prepared wordlist
• Use this noun as the starting point for brainstorming
your problem
 Please Note
• Use concrete nouns from your field of
expertise
• Do not use nouns directly related to the
problem
 Random input example
• It has been said that Campbell’s Chunky Soups originated with random
input.
• When Campbell’s Soup were brainstorming new ideas for soup products
• They used the random word tool and started with the word “apartment.”
• No logic, they just let the ideas flow – apartment led to building, build, tools,
hammer, saw, drill, knife, which eventually lead to fork.
• Someone on team said, “You can’t eat soup with a fork. It would have to be
in chunks to do that.” So Chunky Soup was born.

Clearly, some of your ideas may be wrong or impractical. But some of them
might be original, and may be the basis of some useful development.
 5. Provocation
• Is an important lateral thinking technique
• It works by moving your thinking out of the
established patterns that you use to solve
problems.
 Using the Technique
• Make a deliberately stupid comment relating
to the problem you are thinking about
• Then suspend judgment, and use the
statement as the starting point for generating
ideas
• Often this approach will help you to generate
completely new concepts, fresh and original
 Provocation technique example
• Problem
Cars run out of gas after only a few hundred
miles
• Provocations
Po, Invent a car that tows a gas station behind it
Po, Invent a car that runs on air
Po, Make everything that the car must drive to
closer
Invent a car that tows a gas station

• Principle: Having a gas station towed behind the

car would allow a large amount of gas to always be
at the car’s disposal
• Solutions utilizing principle
Tank size of cars could be increased
Invent a car/gas station system where cars could be
refilled from mobile gas stations (car equivalent to in-
flight refueling)*
Invent a car that runs on air

• Principle: By having the car run on air you

would make the fuel the car runs on readily
available in its environment
• Solutions utilizing principle
Look to add solar panels to car for supplemental power
In hybrid cars look to supplement battery recharging
with wind resistance when slowing not just when brakes.
Make everything that the car must drive to closer

• Principle: If everything is closer to each other

than you just have to drive shorter distances, thus
your gas goes further time wise
• Possible solutions utilizing principle
– Plan out your routes for the week based on task location
– Analyze what things you need at the store to combine
and reduce trips
 Summary Of Techniques Learnt
• Techniques covered:
SCAMPER
Attribute listing/ morphological analysis
Random input
Provocation technique