CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING – Techniques for South African Teams

Drikus Kriek

This book provides a compilation of practical problem solving techniques to assist teams in their creative efforts. It is ideally suited for the South African environment and includes techniques of various levels of complexity to be applied in a variety of contexts.

It provides:  

• helpful information on the creative problem-solving process

• descriptions of 80 problem-solving techniques.
  

Each technique is introduced with comments including:

• In a nutshell: This provides a short, one-line introduction to the technique.
• Purpose: The purpose of the technique is stated to assist teams with the application thereof.
• Ideally suited for: This gives an indication of how the team can apply the technique.
• Procedure: A description of how the technique should be used in solving problems is included.
• Rules: Rules specific to the technique are given to ensure that it is applied correctly.
• Tips for team leaders: General hints facilitate ease of use and experimentation.
• Additional resources: Specific resources required to apply the technique are listed.

• Application: Each technique is illustrated through practical, real-life examples.
  

Model of creative problem solving

This book presents a model of creative problem solving that includes the different modes required to ensure successful problem solving, namely the analytical mode, the generative mode, the evaluative mode and the contextualisation mode. Within each of these modes, two subsets of techniques are presented, namely:

• Investigative techniques
• Representational techniques
• Brainstorming techniques
• Idea-generating techniques
• Screening techniques
• Decision-making techniques
• Alignment techniques

• Implementation techniques

 For each subset, ten techniques have been included.