CHAPTER 7
INNOVATIVE AND CREATIVE THINKING:
GENERATING NEW IDEAS
Working in groups can produce very dull, safe results—but it also can allow people to spark one
another’s creativity and produce innovative solutions to problems. To be creative, a group must
be able to take risks and to be playful. This chapter encourages students to develop that quality
Chapter Outline
Thinking Creatively
Understanding Brain Processes
Facilitating Creative Thinking
Creating a Supportive Environment
Understanding Creativity
Stages of Creative Thinking
“Mind Locks”
Enhancing Creativity
Perception Activities
Puzzles
Delphi Technique
Creating with Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW)
Summary
Exercises
Discussion Suggestions For Boxes
Joe Doodlebug
Students may get frustrated with this exercise, but tell them to hang in there. As they work
through it, you can give them these hints:
1. Remember, Joe said he had to jump four times. There must be a reason for that. [He
must jump four times once he starts in a given direction before he can change.]
2. Are you assuming any rules about how insects eat? [People often assume Joe must face
3. Are you assuming that all the information must be in the answer? [The numbers of
inches are irrelevant, and people lock in on them as part of the answer.]
The Answer: Joe must jump four times because when the food was put down, he already had
The Better Paint Can
People tend to look at packaging changes as cosmetic; a company may change the color, shape,
or size of a package to get the customer’s attention, but in this case, the change was specifically
to enhance the use of the product. You could ask students to imagine themselves as part of the
creative team that thought up that idea.
Strengthen Your Intuitive Powers
This excerpt from Boardroom Reports can provide the foundation for a good assignment. Ask
students to keep an “intuition journal” for two weeks, then come back to discuss their findings
with their groups or teams. This works well either for Syllabus B or as an exercise for teams to
help their work on class assignments.
Finding the Best Time of Day to Do Your Creative Thinking
The article from CIO points out that the least effective time for critical thinking and productivity
is between 11:00 am and 2 pm. There is other information in the article which points out that the
most effective time for critical thinking may not be during the traditional work day hours. Ask
the students how the work day might be restructured to accommodate for the realities of prime
creative thinking times.
Talking Points:
• How would you restructure the work day to make workers more effective in their creative
thinking and effectiveness?
• Should decision makers be encouraged to work in their home office in the morning
before going to work?
Answer For Figure 7.2
The answer to the puzzle looks like this:
Suggestions For Guiding Chapter Exercises
Exercise 1: Ad Creation Team
It’s the process that’s really important in this exercise. You need to move from group to group,
providing stimuli when they are needed.
For brainstorming, be sure that students are working fast, openly, not judging. You might want
to ask one student in a group to be a facilitator whose job it is to keep the process working.
• For metaphor, suggest that students start with brainstorming what bricks are like—choose
a metaphor from that, and move on to thinking of how to sell them.
• For fantasy chaining, suggest students start with a short story of a brick and build on that.
It can develop similarly to the metaphor, but it also can be different. For example, “Once
• Then have each team explain its concept to the rest of the class and describe how the
process worked.
After the reports, ask:
1. In each process, what got in your way?
2. When did breakthroughs and insights occur?
What stimulated them? Frequently they come after members have hit a
Exercise 2: Observation of Group Creative and Critical Thinking
Form 7.1 follows up Exercise 1. It provides a good basis for a journal entry, but it also works
Exercise 3: Self-Assessment of Creative Thinking
This self-assessment (Form 7.2) is very informal; its entire purpose is to get people to see that
there are some ways in which they are creative. It’s useful as it stands, as an individual
assessment and/or a journal assignment.
For further exercise you can have students complete the form and then do the following:
Exercise 4: Team Creation of a Brainstretcher
If students have trouble getting this one started, ask them to think about puzzles or brain-twisters
they’ve seen. They might have to do it with words, logic, mazes; they might be two-dimensional
or three-dimensional. Now ask them to think of new ideas for puzzles—what haven’t they seen
before? Reassure them that their puzzle needn’t be complicated.
Debriefing this exercise should be fun.
Additional Exercise
ORIENT THE FRESHMEN
Objective
To practice creative skills
Time
One class period
Materials
1. Newsprint sheets
3. Scissors
5. Random assortment of “findings”
Procedure
2. Give groups their instructions.
4. Alternatively, have groups administer their creation to the class (this will take an extra class
Instructions
Your team is a special group assigned to orient incoming freshmen to the college.
1. Your objective is to create a game that will give freshmen essential information about
departments, programs, and services at the college.
2. Your criteria are that the game should provide information; it should be involving and fun; it
3. The parameters are: About 500 freshmen are expected to attend; Orientation lasts one full
day and evening; it’s divided into units of 1.5 hours, with time for lunch and dinner; you may use
Debriefing
Let students suffer through brainstorming for awhile. If they’re getting nowhere, you can
provide these starters:
1. Think of places. Where do freshmen have to go to get information they need? (Catalog,
2. Think of questions. What confuses freshmen the most? (Where are the advisors? What do
I do about financial aid? What do I have to take? etc.)
3. Think of approaches. Brainstorm kinds of games that people play (cards, board games,
sports, indoor/outdoor, competitive, cooperative, etc.)
Case Study: The Funworld Quality Circle
The Funworld Corporation has instituted quality circles to come up with ways to improve
Funworld operations and services. One QC is composed of:
Randall Quill, Transportation Supervisor
Jeanette Baez, Plant Manager for Funworld Production.
The QC has been charged with “finding an area that can be improved and finding a way to
improve it.” The first meeting goes like this:
Jeanette: Could we get to know each other? I’m Jeanette Baez—I’m Plant Manager for
Funworld Production.
(The members take a few moments to introduce themselves.)
Randall: Okay, now does anyone know what we’re supposed to do? I’ve got fifty trucks
moving out and I’ve got to take care of them…
Jeanette: Well, I think we’re supposed to figure out an area of the company where we could
improve quality.
Lewis: That’s not the kind of thing we’re looking for.
Jeanette: Yes, it is—everything’s okay. We’re brainstorming. Employ people. What else?
Sherrell: Create fantasy.
Lewis: Give me a break!
Sherrell: Well, we do.
This meeting goes on, and at the end the members decide that at the next meeting they’ll zero in
on how Funworld Theme Parks can teach children facts and values. At the next meeting, some
of the dialogue goes like this:
Sherrell: I think of Funworld Theme Parks as a kind of open encyclopedia.
Cheri: Yeah. It has facts and pictures and color…
Tansy: And stories…
Randall: And definitely lots of action.
Questions
1. Identify which of the creative thinking techniques are being used during these two bits of
dialogue.
2. Where is the process being used well? Where are people blocking off their own or others’
ability to think creatively? What actions do group members use to get back into the flow?
3. Speculate as to where this dialogue might take the QC; what kinds of suggestions might they
come up with to improve the quality of learning opportunities at Funworld Theme Parks?
Debriefing
Question 1. Guide students to see that brainstorming starts spontaneously, and Cheri takes the
role of facilitator/recorder, making sure that ideas keep coming and are not evaluated.
Question 2. At the beginning, Lewis presents evaluative statements and mind locks, but the
Question 3. Encourage students to take the dialogue further. You could break them into groups,
Additional Resources
Print Resources
Blake, R. R., & Mouton, J. S. (1987). Don’t let group norms stifle creativity. In A. D. Timpe
(Ed.), Creativity: The art and science of business management. New York: Facts on File.
Rawlinson, J. G. (1981). Creative thinking and brainstorming. New York: Wiley.
Ruggiero, V. R. (1988). The art of thinking: A guide to critical and creative thought. (2nd ed.).
New York: Harper and Row.
Solomon, C. M. (1990, May). What an idea: Creativity training. Personnel Journal, 69, 64-71.
Van Gundy, Jr., A. B. (1988). Techniques of structured problem solving (2nd ed.). New York:
Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Media Resources
How to think creatively. New York: Insight Media. 104 min. (2 vols.)