UNIT 1

Innovation: "Innovation" comes from the Latin word "innovare" which means renewal. Innovation is
something new that brings benefits for an organization or / and for society. Innovation refers to the ability of
a person to develop something new based on his acquired knowledge and skills. Here new means something
should be totally different from all others existing things. It plays a crucial role in every phase of life. It is
mainly related with business, technology even applied on a personal level.
Stephen Robbins: Innovation is a new idea applied to initiating, or improving a product, process or services.
According to Peter Drucker: Innovation is the means by which the entrepreneur either creates new wealth
producing resources with enhanced potential for creating wealth.
Essential features of Innovation:
1. Something New: New means a different and unique product which has never been created before.
Everyone likes to own a thing which is different in all ways. Hence, it can be said newness is the starting
of something.
2. Better than What Exists: Innovation is not only creating something new, but also introducing a better
version of thing that already exists. It should increase the perceived value of a new product form that of an
existing one.
3. Economically Feasible: Along with new and improved features, a product must also be economically
feasible. The entrepreneur should know whether the product is going to be productive enough to bring
profit or not.
4. Widespread Appeal: An innovation should have a basic appeal in a target market. An appeal can only be
formed when a product has all the three elements which are discussed above like newness, better than
existing and economically viable.
Sources of Innovation:
1. Unexpected success or failure: Understanding the reasons for the unexpected success or failure of a
product generates opportunities to innovate. IBM, which wanted to sell accounting machines to banks, but
discovered that it was libraries that wanted to buy these machines. Unexpected product failures can also
give companies new ideas that may help them to come up with something that the market likes.
2. Incongruity: The incongruity between what actually happens and what was supposed to happen. If things
are not happening as they should, there is scope to innovate. In industries which are growing, but where
the margins are falling, there is great potential for innovation. When companies continue to work at
improving something to reduce costs but fail to do so, an innovator can look at other options to cut costs.
3. The deficiencies in a process: If a process is inefficient or suffers from a big gap, there is scope to
innovate. Sometimes, a process that is widely used may have certain deficiencies. An innovator, by
thinking out of the box, may come up with a new idea that removes this deficiency.
4. The changes in industry or market structure: The emergence of new, fast-growing segments provides
scope for innovation. Innovators can serve the needs of these segments. Drucker, “New opportunities
rarely fit the way the industry has always approached the market, defined it, or organized to serve it.
Innovators therefore have a good chance of being left alone for a long time.”
5. Demographic changes: Demographic changes result in new wants and new lifestyles that call for new
products. The Japanese robotics because they anticipated the rising levels of education and the consequent
shortage of blue-collared workers. Demographic changes provide innovation opportunities that are the
most rewarding and the least risky, as the trends are easier to predict.
6. Changes in perception: By changing the common perception of people, new needs can be created. For
example, capitalizing on people’s concern for health and fitness, a booming industry has emerged for
exercise and jogging equipment.
7. New knowledge: New knowledge can be used to develop innovative products. The development of the
computer was facilitated by a combination of binary arithmetic, calculating machine, symbolic logic and
programming. Such innovations are also risky, because there is usually a gap between the emergence of
new knowledge and its conversion into usable technology launched in the market.
Innovation Process:
1. Understanding the Problem: This is the first phase in the process of innovation and involved in
understanding problem and gathering information.
a) Gathering Information: It is first step in the process of innovation. It Includes various activities like
• Selecting the problem & Exploring the main reasons to recognize the problem
• Collecting data, applying to the problem
• Exploring more external business information and
• Analyzing the problem with selecting the best solution.
b) Clarifying the real problem: It includes
• Widening the awareness and clarifying the problem
• Recognizing the possible causes of problem
• Creating alternatives and seleting the best problem statement.
c) Setting Innovation Goalposts: It is the last step of understanding the problem. It Includes
• Exploring the range of alternatives and solutions & Significant standards for decision making
• Reviewing the previous standards and Setting the innovation goals.
2. Imagination: This is the Second phase involved in the imagination of the ideas so as to achieve goals.
a) Finding Stimuli: In this stage entrepreneur generates ideas and information for achieving the predefined
innovation goals.
• Exploring information of Business Environment
 • Researching the past, present and future
• Discovering various perspectives
• Exploring the marketplace
• Examining the stimuli
b) Uncovering Sights: In this stage the entrepreneur perform the following activities
• Using the selected stimuli and findings
• Suspending decisions while uncovering insights
• Usage of creative linkages and power tools
• Selecting insights for further production
c) Identifying Ideas: In this stage the entrepreneur perform the following activities
• Exploring potential ideas to resolve the real problem
• Comparing and choosing the best ideas
• Transforming these ideas into full concepts.
3. Action & Implementations: This is the last phase in the process of innovation and involved the actual
execution and implementation of the ideas so as to achieve goals.
1. Developing the innovation roadmap: In this stage the entrepreneur perform the following activities
• Considering the concepts and transferring them into plans
• Inspecting the time and responsibilities
• Recogninsing alternative plans
• Selecting the best ideal plan based on goals of innovation
2. Gaining Commitments In this stage the entrepreneur perform the following activities
• Exploring the ideal plan & preparing a plan for presentation & Presenting the plan
• Making necessary changes in the plan & testing the elements of the plan
• Finalizing commitments toward the final plan
3. Implementing the Innovation Roadmap: In this stage the entrepreneur perform the following activities
• Releasing the final plan into action
• Adjusting the plan if required & Monitoring the whole process and results
• Sharing the results and learning
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
J.A. Timmoans has defined entrepreneurship as – “the ability to create and built something from
practically nothing”. Fundamentally it is a creative activity manifested by initiating and building an
enterprise or an organisation. Entrepreneurship can be viewed as a creative and innovative response to the
environment and an ability to recognise, initiate and exploit an economic opportunity.
According to Schumpeter, entrepreneurship is a creative activity. An entrepreneur is an innovator who
introduces something new in an economy. Innovation may be in –
• Introducing a new manufacturing process that has not yet been tested and commercially exploited.
• Introduction of a new product with which the consumers are not familiar or introducing a new quality in
an existing product.
• Locating a new source of raw material or semi-finished product that was not exploited earlier.
• Opening a new market, hitherto unexploited, where the company products were not sold earlier.
• Developing a new combination of means of production.
Peter Drucker argues that “innovation is specific function of entrepreneurship, whether in an existing
business, a public service institution, or a new venture started by a lone individual”.
• Thus, entrepreneurship and the innovation resulting from it are important for large and small firms as well
as for startup ventures, as they compete in the present day competitive landscape.
• Therefore we can conclude that entrepreneurship and innovation are central to the creative process in the
economy and to promoting growth, increasing productivity and creating jobs.
• Innovation involves problem solving and an entrepreneur is a problem solver. An entrepreneur does things
in a new and a better way.
Role of Innovation in an Industry:
1. Competitive advantage in the market: The market nowadays is quite dynamic and volatile in nature.
And the main reasons behind the same are the ever-growing competition from the new as well as the
established players in the market, evolving tastes of the customers, and the changing norms and policies of
the government. It is essential for the brands to come up with the product and services offerings that are
high on the aspect of innovation giving the brand the much required competitive advantage.
2. Loyal customers: One of the most difficult tasks for the brands in the market is to retain the long list of
loyal customers and keep on adding to the list. And that is only possible when the brands are able to solve
their pain and problem areas with the product and service offerings that are new, novel, and innovative.
Hence, it is very crucial for the brands to realize the Importance of Innovation to keep their cash registers
ringing and profits elevated by keeping the customers happy and satisfied.
3. Unique selling proposition: If we conduct market research that can be of primary or secondary nature,
we will figure out that each and every successful brand has a unique selling proposition. And the unique
selling proposition can be arrived and derived on the basis of innovation. And once the brand’s USP is hit
amongst the target audience and they are accepting the same with the open arms, there is literally no
looking back for the brand.
4. Enhanced brand value: If we take a look at the brand examples that are known for their high brand
value, it is the factor of innovation that makes it possible for them. KFC is known for its unique flavors,
 Apple is known for its cutting edge technology, is known for its high-end quality and design elements.
The examples are many, but the main underlining fact is that all the above mentioned brands are offering
something to their target audience that is unique and innovative in nature.
5. Constant Improvement: Research and development are slowly becoming a huge part of every company
in order to stay relevant in the market beating the competition. And one of the crucial motives of the
management of the firm behind the same is to come up with the products and services that are high on
innovation and novelty. With the continuous research and development, there is a constant improvement
in the offerings of the firm as they are as per the latest trends and preferences of the customers.
6. Attracts expert talent: There is a lot of talented workforce in the market that is looking out for the
opportunity and the company that is open to new ideas and innovations. And when the firm itself is open
to embrace the aspects of innovation and break the mundane rut of traditional offerings, it attracts expert
talent. The young generation goes with the latest trends that are ruling the market plus also have the strong
acumen of what will be the future as well. Hence, it is quite vital for the firms to understand the
Importance of Innovation in order to attract expert and talented workforce.
7. Growth and Success: With the factors and attributes of innovative products and services that are meeting
the needs and demands of the customers, expert and talented team of people, through research and
development, and the long list of loyal customers; the company grows in leaps and bounds enjoying the
pinnacle of success. Innovation and coming up with the offerings that are unique and rational in nature is
the must to fight the competition and stay relevant in the market as well as in the minds of the customers.
Creativity: Creativity is concerned with the generation of new idea and innovation, translates new idea into
a new product or an organisation. Creativity is the process of developing a novel idea or a new way of
approaching an old idea, the transformation of creative ideas into products or process that fulfill customer
needs. “Creativity is marked by the ability or power to create-to-bring into existence, to invest with a new
form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new.”
Oxford dictionary: Creativity means the use of imagination or original ideas to create something.”
Robert: Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives or possibilities that
may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others and entertaining ourselves and others.
Creativity – Nature
1. Approach of Outputs of Creative Efforts: It describes creativity as “the discovery of something that is
novel but also useful or relevant or economical or elegant or valuable.”
2. Approach of Novel Hypothesis: It explains the gravity of a creative act. “The product or outcome of a
creative effort must be both significant and strikingly different from the beaten track.” There are certain
conditions for a product to be treated as creative:
• The product must be adaptive to reality.
• It must serve to solve a problem, fit the need of a given situation and accomplish some goal.
 • The creative product must be produced, developed, evaluated, communicated etc.
• Product is aesthetically pleasing.
3. Approach of Creative Process: According to this approach, “creativity is divergent thinking, the seeking
of relationship between previously unrelated concepts or frames of reference of exploring the under
known”. However, it may be possible that the result of this effort may or may not be creative but the effort
indicates the important features of the creative process.
4. Approach of States of the Being: Under this approach, “creativity is identified with openness in
expressing feelings, receptivity to ideas, and concern for others, desire to grow as a person and actualise
one’s potential etc.”
Creativity – Several Components:
1. Fluency: Fluency Refers to the speed with which a person can produce a number of responses to an
existing problem, e.g., how to using a pencil in different ways?
2. Flexibility: It is the ability to change focus and shift gears quickly. This goes beyond the common sense
logic. For example, when asked to list the uses of cotton, the suggestions can be of making bed covers,
pillow covers, carpets, etc. There may be other alternatives like cotton being used in surgical purposes,
making wicks for kerosene lamps, for cosmetic use, etc. To be creative is to offer different solutions to the
same problem in quick succession.
3. Originality: It is the most basic ingredient of creativity. It refers to a solution that is both novel and
useful. Psychologists usually appreciate originality when the response offered is appropriate but
statistically infrequent. Example, you may be asked to list the uses of a fan. Many would say – drying a
wet floor, drying clothes, cooling a room, etc.
4. Elaboration: It is the ability to follow through on a general idea. It is the ability to think through an idea
and list the steps to implement the same.
5. Sensitivity to Problems: It is the ability to identify gaps in the knowledge in a given situation, separate
the issues that need to be resolved, and list the missing or contradictory elements.
Creativity – Importance
1. Creating New Ideas for Competitive Advantage: The whole process of entrepreneurship is rooted in
creation and exploration of new ideas. When an entrepreneur is able to generate a new idea that is feasible
as well as efficient, it gives him a competitive edge over competitors.
2. Developing New Products & Improving the Business: Creativity helps develop new ways of improving
an existing product or service and optimizing a business. There is always a room for improvement in the
deliverables of an enterprise; it is the creative entrepreneur who can assess how to do it.
3. Thinking the Unthinkable: Creativity requires imagination to produce the most obscure ideas.
Imagination is needed to cross the boundary of “usual” and “normal” or to have out of the box thinking. It
 enables the entrepreneurs to think beyond the traditional solutions, come up with something new,
interesting, versatile, and yet have success potential.
4. Finding Similar Patterns in Different Areas: Sometimes, due to following a routine or a habit, the
thinking process also goes along the line of those established processes. Creativity enables people to
connect dissimilar and unrelated subjects and make successful entrepreneurial ideas. Most people are
afraid of bringing different disciplines together, but most interesting ideas come from different fields.
5. Developing New Niches through Creativity and Entrepreneurship: In entrepreneurship, it is important
that new aspects of traditional business are explored. This can be in the form of changing the method of
manufacturing the product or delivering the service or mechanism through which they are supplied to the
users. All these areas can create a niche that has great potential in business.
6. It helps formulate the best possible idea.
7. It helps in taking decisive actions.
Creativity Process:
1. Idea Germination: Germination is the process of nurturing an idea along with a purpose. However it can
be determined that most of the creative ideas are drawn on the basis of a person’s interest in a particular
field of study.
2. Preparation: Once the idea has been germinated, the next step is to give a concrete and a practical form.
It also involves research work where the inventor of the idea examines the work of others in the same
field. Inventors carry out laboratory experiments, those desiring to launch a new product or services.
3. Incubation: Generally creative ideas are born through insights or in a sudden spark of brilliants. Before
the idea is acted upon it is often allowed to incubate properly. The time given helps the idea to grow and
nurture. During this period the mind also receives ample time to adapt the scope of idea and continues to
work upon it at a subconscious level.
4. Illumination: This is the time when the idea is converted into its real form as imagined by the inventor.
The idea in its promising form remains within mind of the individual for a long time without being
realised or implemented. It is a lengthy and ongoing process where the individual penetrates to find out
the way to reality.
5. Verification: The Illuminated idea is still incomplete until it undergoes the verification stage where the
idea is evaluated. This reveals whether the idea is valuable or not. This is a long process in which the
knowledge of the individual are tested. It requires great patience and tenacity on the part of the individual.
Different Types of Creativity as Suggested by Various Authors
1. Abraham Maslow: According to him nature of creativity deals with the following aspects-
• Primary Creativity- It deals with spontaneous creations. Spontaneous creations, as in a child belong to
primary creativity,
• Secondary Creativity: It is more conscious & skilled as in the application of ideas & insight to
inventions.
2. Ainsworth Land: According to him there are the following levels of creativity-
• Elaborative
• Improvement oriented
• Combination or syntheses of superior quality
• Transformation
3. Iring Taylor: Iring Taylor has suggested the following quality hierarchy-
• Spontaneous Creativity- It is similar to Maslow’s primary creativity. It deals with spontaneous creations,
• Technical Creativity – It involves striking improvement in a process that increases the level of
proficiency or efficiency.
• Inventive Creativity – It involves ingenuous new combination of materials or ingredients. In this context,
we can mention the Edison’s light bulb or Bell’s telephone.
• Innovative Creativity – It involves far-reaching application of more basic ideas such as management
applications of principles of psychology to develop a much more effective system for motivating staff.
• Emergentive Creativity – It consists of new revolutionary principles for an art or a science such as the
psycho-analytical concepts of Freud or the relativity concept of Einstein or Picasso’s cubist ideas.
Link between Entrepreneurship and Creativity
• We have now assessed that entrepreneurs can attribute their success to creativity. But what exactly links
entrepreneurship and creativity? Entrepreneurs link the creative mind and the business mind.
• In today’s world, due to globalization and excessive industrialization, products are manufactured and
exported to international markets. As a result, there is easier access to every product, everywhere. The
consumer has access to various kinds of products differing in terms of type and quality. A creative mind
answers all those questions. Creativity helps us think of how to improve existing business practices.
• A brand might be very established and popular among the consumers, but there is always something that
can be done differently from them and in a better way.
• A creative mind is like an artist who creates new and exciting patterns on canvas. Creativity can come up
with the most unthinkable ideas and bring innovation into existing practices.
• Creativity is simply the ability of imagination. Imagination leads someone to reach never before explored
areas. In business, imagination alone is what is known as “thinking outside the box”. Using imagination,
an entrepreneur can put aside the practical norms and think of something creative and innovative.
• However, a creative mind has to have entrepreneurial skills to bring those creative ideas to life in a
business setting. An entrepreneur assesses the requirements of how to execute an idea by analyzing
available vs. required resources, how to establish a new enterprise and how to manage it.
• An entrepreneur designs business models that can support and execute innovative ideas in the first place.
Therefore, an entrepreneur bridges the gap between the creative genius & a traditional business approach.

BASIS CREATIVITY INNOVATION

Meaning Creativity is an act of creating new Innovation is the introduction of something

ideas, imaginations and possibilities. new and effective into the market.

Process Imaginative Productive

Quantifiable No Yes

Related to Thinking something new Introducing something new

Money No Yes
Consumption

Risk No Yes

Meaning of Creative Thinking: Creative thinking means thinking outside the box. Creative thinking might
mean devising new ways to carry out tasks, solve problems, and meet challenges. It means bringing a fresh,
and sometimes unorthodox, perspective to your work. This way of thinking can help departments and
organizations be more productive. Creative thinking is the ability to consider something in a new way.
Creative thinking includes analysis, open-mindedness, problem-solving, organization, and communication.
Guilford: "Creative thinking consists of forming new combinations of associative elements."
Mednik: "Creative thinking involves new forms of thinking away from the traditional forms. Thus creativity
includes curiosity, imagination, research, novelty and inventions etc."
Characteristics of Creative Thinking
1. In order to be creative, a person should be very well aware of the problems in his circumstances.
2. A creative person is aware of the problems present in his circumstances and makes every effort to find out
new solutions to these problems.
3. A creative person not only thinks creatively, but he will be having dynamic thinking. He has more
capacity of adjustment, but this tuning is sought through new combinations.
4. Divergent thinking involves continuity, flexibility, and originality. These qualities can be observed in the
works of great scientists, philosophers and literary thinkers.
5. An important trait of creative thinking is flexibility of thinking and behaviour. The creative person is
always prepared to adopt new attitude, ideas or behaviour.
6. A creative person is not confined to ideas or experiences. He uses new ideas, new attitudes and new
methods.
Characteristics of Creative Thinkers
1. Receptivity: "Creative people are open to new ideas and welcome new experiences." Judgment is
something we project on people due to conditioning we've received whether that be by others or our own
observations. While we can determine probability based on past events, we have to be open to the idea
that we may be missing information.
2. Curiosity: "Researching unfamiliar topics and analyzing unusual systems is a source of delight for most
creative people." While undertaking unknown concepts, with the intent to fully understand, can be scary,
it's necessary if you want to learn, what you have set out to learn. Because you might reach a learning
curve doesn't mean you should abandon this journey. Conflict or tension is present in almost everything in
my opinion. During your process of learning, it's important to be honest with yourself.
3. Wide Range of Interests: "...an artist who has a background in literature, geology, archery, music and
history can make more connections than a narrow-minded specialist." Stewart makes being a specialist
sound unworthy, while it can be the opposite, however, creative people have the propensity to learn about
various different areas of life. This assortment of knowledge enables us to make more connections.
4. Attentiveness: "Realizing that every experience is valuable, creative people pay attention to seemingly
minor details." My belief is that everything is interconnected. I'm constantly finding myself connected to
objects like paper or materials like cement, because i think, how they can be transformed. Pay attention to
the details, they're how you get to a functional big picture.
5. Connection Seeking: "Seeing the similarity among seemingly disparate parts has often sparked a creative
breakthrough." This harks back to making connections, once we are receptive to new ideas, we see how
even opposites are connected.
6. Conviction: "Creative people value existing knowledge". Our knowledge base is built upon. Scientists
build upon old ideas to extend their work, sometimes transforming those older ideas and creating
something new. I've always felt as though the wheel needs to be re-invented, especially as time
progresses, however, there is something to leaving the wheel the way it is. There are some fundamentals
that might not be absolutely true, albeit they can give us direction nonetheless.
7. Complexity: "The risk-taker gets the job started; the safe-keeper gets the job done." There are a plethora
of things/emotions that occur when completing a project. There's excitement, there's fear, there's passion,
there's critical analysis, you may have to start over a few times, you might abandon the project, you might
need to follow certain steps to get the work done, the project might require you to experiment. Either way
you must continue to have focus, determination or direction and consistency.
Types of Creative Thinking
1. Divergent thinking: “The work of art is the exaggeration of the idea”. The psychologist J.P. Guilford was
the first who proposed that an element of divergence is involved in the creative process. Divergent
thinking is the process of thought where a person uses flexibility, fluency and originality to explore as
many solutions or options to a problem or issue as possible. It is the opposite of convergent thinking,
which has the characteristic to focus on only one idea or single solution. Brainstorming is a typical
example of divergent thinking, where “downloading” or emptying the brain of a certain topic takes place.
2. Lateral thinking: “Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a
different way.” Creativity researcher Edward De Bono came up with the term lateral thinking in 1967 to
“distinguish between artistic creativity and idea creativity”. The term was invented as an alternative to
step-by-step thinking, so-called vertical thinking, which is justified with sequential steps based on logic.
Lateral thinking can be used for generation of new ideas and problem solving as it by definition leaves the
already-used behind and looks for completely new options. This type of thinking is based on avoiding the
intrinsic limitations in the brain, which rapidly sees patterns and handles information in a distinctive way.
3. Aesthetic thinking: “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”. The
philosophy of aesthetics concerns the creation and appreciation of art and beauty. Taste is also a key
concept here and the study of for instance form, colour and shape can augment a person’s aesthetic
thinking. This type of thinking involves producing or discovering things, which are pleasant, harmonious
and beautiful to our senses. Some of the types of aesthetic thinking are visual and spatial, where
knowledge of structure, colour schemes and shapes can be used to make things aesthetically pleasing.
Many architects, designers, thinkers through the ages have been fascinated with mathematical
characteristics of aesthetics, and how patterns, can be represented by numbers & in creative pursuits.
4. Systems thinking: “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did
something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. Systems
thinking can be described as the ability to see how things are interrelated and form a larger “whole”.
Systems thinking are closely related to aesthetic thinking, as mentioned above, in that synthesis and
making things “whole” and perfect, somehow is related to elegance and beauty. It is also closely related to
the next type of thinking — inspirational thinking.
5. Inspirational thinking: This type of creative thinking concerns the perception of receiving insights from
somewhere or someone else. It often happens in dreams or other states, but sometimes in extremely
powerful, rapid bursts of clarity and focus, peak experiences. Some researchers call this breakthrough
insights higher creativity. Compared to normal creative outputs, these seem to take a quantum leap beyond
what can be achieved with other types of thinking. These extraordinary experiences, when everything
seems to make sense in one instant moment, have been called poetic imagination, revelation and
sometimes channeling.
Dynamics of Creative Thinking:
1. Motivation: Motivation is the measure of the emotional investment taken from the people to break natural
inertia and to shift from their present situation towards their goals. This activating desire acts as the
dynamic that help a person to get involved in the creative process. Each individual and every organisation
needs motivation in order to begin a creative process.
2. Fear & Curiosity: Motivation is followed by curiosity. With curiosity comes fear. It involves searching
for potentially relevant and valuable information and transforming an unfamiliar situation into something
feasible, advantageous and manageable. This unknown situation is often terrifying and fearful. It become
hard for people to sustaining curiosity in the situation of fear.
3. Breaking & Making Connections: Most of the work of creativity gets done in breaking and making
connection. Destruction involves the breaking of rigid sets of assumption about what could and could not
be done in a specific situation. In case of connections, day by day creativity mostly occurs when people
gain large amounts of inter related knowledge in a specific area over a period of time.
4. Analysis: Before thinking creatively about something, you first have able to understand it. This requires
the ability to examine things carefully to know what they mean. Whether you are looking at a text, a data
set, a lesson plan, or an equation, you need to able to analyze it first.
5. Open Mindedness & Communication: To think creatively, set aside any assumptions or biases you may
have, and look at things in a completely new way. By coming to a problem with an open mind, you allow
yourself the chance to think creatively. People will only appreciate your creative idea or solution, if you
communicate it effectively. You need to have strong oral or written communication skills. Communication
is very important tool for creative thinking.
6. Problem Solving: Employers want creative employees who will help them to solve work related issues.
When faced with in problem consider ways that you can solve it before asking for help. If you need the
input of a manager, suggest solutions rather than just presenting problems.
7. Evaluation: One has to make decisions sooner or later. New ideas are ready to be accepted or rejected and
are not completely developed. One can make a fair decision about the worth of the new ideas once they
are improved, explored and tailored. With rejection and acceptance of idea evaluation ends.
Benefits of Creative Thinking:
1) Ability to Identify Best Practices: Best practices needs to be applied in order to achieve high
performance. Work related task involved best practices that signify the most effective way to accomplish a
task. This acts as a success formula. They continuously look towards the ways to establish the best
practices and to improve the old practices or approaches.
2) Credibility & Prestige: A creative thinker is able to make the team perform quickly with their team
members, management and supervisor. As the creative thinker gain status in the eyes of their teammates
and others thus, after a period of time the credibility comes into the prestige.
3) Better Problem Solving: A creative thinker can be a better problem solver. It is essential because solving
a problem in critical in a competitive environment. Moreover in case of creative thinking it is very
important to solve the problem. Therefore both critical and creative thinking are fundamental to solving
business problem to the success of the organisation.
4) More Support for Ideas: There is a possibility that an idea cannot be accepted by every members of an
organisation. Creative thinking involves on factual and logical arguments. An individual thinkers
generates the idea by creative thinking and before proposing this idea, critically evaluate this idea.
5) Better Focus during Discussion: A critical or creative thinker can never lose their focus during the
discussion because he or she thinks that every topic is important for them. Whereas a non critical thinker
cannot do this. Thus the critical thinkers stay focused during discussion and more valuable partner during
the problem solving discussion.
Barriers to Creative Thinking:
1) Fault Finding: Improvement can be made in mostly all the things in the world. Commitment and
creativity will diminish sooner or later if we constantly listen to people who find faults in others. These
people are aware the maintaining a high level of self esteem and confidence is important in order to use
critiques to improve ideas.
2) Impatience: Impatience rather than forcing non perpetual generators to use more time in the beginning of
their thinking so as to obtain a more effective and creative plan forces them to invest energy in executing
conceived plans which ultimately limits the creativity of non perpetual generators.
3) Success: Success can act a serious barrier to creativity. The management of a successful company can
easily get locked in to those practices and methods that have been proved beneficial for them. They may
be unwilling to accept or identify that there can be more effective methods and practices.
4) Respect for Authority: This barrier is most difficult to overcome. Conformity and uniformity is required
even if a person perceived as an authority and motivates their co workers to seek new ideas. Even though
challenging his or her views may not be impossible but difficult in many organizational and natural
cultures. That’s why manager and clients should abstain from supporting one particular situation.
5) Seeing New Possibilities: Seeing new possibilities limits the creativity of the leader because it restricts
the ability of leader to recognize uniqueness in each new challenges, ideas and projects. Whenever a
unique feature is identified by perpetual generators a competitive advantage is established by them.
6) Excessive Individualism: Framing to use teamwork and excessive individualism is one of the serious
barriers to creativity. In the situation where a complex problem is examined from various angles by the
people working in a team, a new idea presented by a team member generally helps another member of the
team to expand their outlook and to present another new idea.
Meaning of Design Thinking: Design thinking term has become a label for the awareness that any kind of
business and organization can benefit from designers way of thinking and working. Design thinking refers to
the cognitive, strategic and practical processes by which design concepts are developed. It is also associated
with prescriptions for the innovation of products and services within business and social contexts. Today,
Design Thinking is understood as a complex thinking process of conceiving new realities, expressing the
introduction of design culture and its methods into fields such as business innovation. Design thinking is a
process for solving problems by prioritizing the consumer's needs above all else. It relies on observing, with
empathy, how people interact with their environments, and employs an iterative, hands-on approach to
creating innovative solutions.
According to Tim Brown: “Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from
the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements
for business success.”
Characteristics of Design Thinking
1) Conditioned Inventiveness: Creative thinking for designers is directed toward inventing—as opposed to
discovering for the scientist. Designers tend to be more interested in the "what" questions than the "whys"
of interest to science. Design creativity complements scientific creativity. Design brings to invention a
concern that what is produced not only be inventive, but be so within the frameworks of human-centered
and environment-centered measures governing the designer’s efforts.
2) Human-centered Focus: Science to a lesser extent, technology generally, have few built-in governors. As
in the arts, exploration proceeds where discoveries direct. Design, on the other hand, is client-directed.
Design thinking must continually consider how what is being created will respond to the client’s needs.
3) Environment-centered: In recent years, design thinking has acquired a second present, level client: the
environment. Thinking puts environmental interests at a level with human interests as primary constraints
on the design process. The ultimate value of human & environment will be considered in any project.
4) Ability To Visualize: Designers do much of their work visually. Designers can visualize ideas in a range
of media, bringing a unifying view to concepts otherwise imagined uniquely by everyone in a discussion.
Designers can reveal the whole elephant that the blind men only partially and imperfectly conceive.
5) Tempered Optimism: It is difficult to work—and especially to work creatively, critical mood. Designers
are taught to recognize this and to establish optimistic and proactive ways of working. Definite mood are
not unusual among creative individuals, but designers learn to control these to level out both lows and
highs in the interests of professionalism—designers must be able to turn on enthusiasm on demand.
6) Bias for Adaptively: In recent years, the emergence of adaptive processes in manufacturing and
information technologies has greatly reinforced a practice historically followed by progressive designers.
Design thinking today has accepted that concept, approaching with the view, where solutions should be
adaptive in production to fit the needs of users uniquely, throughout their use to fit users’ evolving needs.
7) Predisposition toward Multifunctionality: Solutions to problems need not be nonfunctional. Designers
routinely look for multiple dividends from solutions to problems. The story reported proposals made by
the science community at a special invited meeting with White House officials. All six science proposals
were serious proposals for macro-engineering projects. Five of the six proposed single-valued means for
relieving global warming—at considerable cost, and with no additional benefits.
8) Systemic Vision: Design thinking is holistic. In the last, roughly since the computer began to influence
design thinking, designers have moved to considering problems more broadly. Modern design treats
problems as system problems with opportunities for systemic solutions involving mixes of hardware,
software, procedures, policies, concepts and whatever else is necessary to create a holistic solution.
9) Ability to Use Language as a Tool: Language is usually thought of as means for communication. Visual
language is used diagrammatically to abstract concepts, patterns, and simplify complex phenomena to
their fundamental essences. Mathematical language is used to explore "what if" questions where feasibility
may be established by approximation—by calculations not exact, but close enough to support an idea or
change a line of reasoning.
10) Affinity for Teamwork: Because designers work for clients, it is natural that good interpersonal skills
become part of the professional set of tools they develop. Design thinking today is highly influenced by
designers routinely work closely with other designers and experts from other fields. On multi-discipline
teams, designers are a valuable asset because of their characteristic abilities to generalize, communicate
across disciplines, work systematically with qualitative information, and visualize concepts.
11) Self-governing Practicality: Design is a field in which inventiveness is prized. In very few fields is there
the freedom to dream expected in design. The best design thinkers understand this and learn to govern
flights of fantasy with a latent sense of the practical. This is embedded in a style of thinking that explores
freely in the foreground, while maintaining in the background a realistic appraisal of costs that can be met
and functionality that can be affected.
12) Ability To Work Systematically with Qualitative Information: As design research has matured and
design methodology progressed, design processes with component methods and tools have been
developed and refined. As one such process, Structured Planning contains a tool-kit of methods for a
complete range of planning tasks covering ways to find information, gain insights from it, organize it
optimally for conceptualization, evaluate results and communicate a plan to the public and follow-on
teams in the development process.
13) Into Play: These special characteristics of design thinking are not normally discussed in a university
catalog. Indeed, they are seldom taught explicitly. Where they come into play most effectively is in
conjunction with other kinds of thinking brought to the innovation process by those with different values
and training—from the physical sciences, arts, political and social sciences, engineering, business, etc.
Design thinking can be introduced as a service of design or planning consultancies.
Goals of Design Thinking:
1) Desirability focuses on the end user of your innovation: who needs what? It is about learning from users
about their needs frustrations & expectations. If your innovation ambition is radical or “transformational”
as Monitor’s co-partners you might not know who your future target audience will be. But you can see
and sense where the future is going today to define the early adopters of your future product.
2) Feasibility is about ensuring that your business has the capabilities (or can acquire the capabilities)
required to develop and sustain your future innovation: how will I make it work? Feasibility is about
resources (people, financial, technology), organizational structures, internal buy-in, partnerships, and
ecosystems. It requires commitment and vision.
3) Viability (or as I like to call it “impact”) is the raison d’être of any for-profit company, and it is not only
about business model innovation. In fact, impact applies to all organizations because having an impact on
your market, your employees, your partners, your customers is not only financial. And without impact,
you only have a working invention, not an innovation. What impact am I working to create?
Double Diamond design model: Double Diamond is the name of a design process model developed by the
British Design Council in 2005. Divided into four phases — Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver. The
main feature of the Double Diamond is its emphasis on the “divergent” and “convergent thinking”, where
first many ideas are created, before refining and narrowing down to the best idea. This is happening twice in
this model—once to confirm the problem definition and once to create the solution.

1) Discover: The first diamond helps people understand, rather than simply assume, what the problem is. It
involves speaking to and spending time with people who are affected by the issues.
2) Define: The insight gathered from the discovery phase can help you to define the challenge in a different
way.
3) Develop: The second diamond encourages people to give different answers to the clearly defined
problem, seeking inspiration from elsewhere and co-designing with a range of different people.
4) Deliver: Delivery involves testing out different solutions at small-scale, rejecting those that will not work
and improving the ones that will.
Innovation Challenges in Design Thinking
1) People Desirability: People desirability asks the question ''Is there a place for this product or service in
the market?'' Navigating whether or not your customers desire a product or whether there is a market for it
is the first innovation challenge that design teams must contend with. Understanding the desirability of
your product or service is knowing whether it solves a customer need or not.
2) Business Viability: When we're talking about business viability, we're asking, ''Should we do this? Is it
sustainable?'' Yes, design thinking is about focusing on solving customers' needs, but if it costs too much
or takes too long to create, is it a smart business decision? Business viability is concerned with making
sure that an innovative idea fits with a company's business goals and can be accomplished both in terms of
the money it costs to create and the time it takes to produce.
3) Technical Feasibility: Technical feasibility simply asks, ''Will this idea work?'' Does your team or your
company have the processes, resources, skills and tools to make this product or service feasible for your
organization? For example, an automobile manufacturer probably isn't going to undertake creating a meal
kit system delivered to consumers' homes every week.
Importance of Design Thinking
1) Comprehensive & holistic: Design thinking includes the number of individuals from a wide range of
offices. With more and more number of contributions from different individuals with changing degrees of
abilities and expertise, more points of view for handling the current problem occur in design thinking.
2) Logical & scientific: Such type of thinking requires investigating how audiences connect with items and
looking at the conditions in which they will utilize the product or service. This way of thinking involves
exploring questionable components for uncovering inventive methodologies for solving problems.
3) It is for everyone: This form of thinking is best-suited for UX/UI companies, freelancers, inventive
employees, leaders, managers, and all others who wish to take care of a wide scope of issues.
4) It empowers testing: Design thinking suggests performing a wide range of testing for reexamining
solutions again and again.
Design thinker: Any individual who typifies the below-given features can be considered as a design thinker-
• Concern for people and the ambiance they work for multi-tasking or multi-functionality
• Love for cooperation and teamwork, Capacity to envision
• Foundational or systematic vision & Arranged to utilize language as a supporting tool
Different Stages of Design Thinking or Process of Design Thinking
1) Empathize: The primary step is to identify the problem. It involves extensive research about what your
users need and feel. It is essential to spot areas of inconvenience for users while also understanding what
needs to be changed. The goal of the empathizing process is to answer the following question: “What do
my users need in my product for them to be satisfied?”
2) Define: After identifying the needs of your users, classify these needs, and determine the different
opportunities available. These opportunities must be detected after correctly analyzing the set of data that
you have gathered. The list of requirements and problems must be categorized for a clear understanding of
the procedures to be followed. The main goal of the defining process is to answer the following question:
“How can we define the needs of my users in a commercial manner?”
3) Ideate: The opportunities you define must be beneficial to your end-users as well as your organization. To
ideate is to think innovatively and develop the best possible solution after analyzing all perspectives and
alternatives available. The main goal of the ideating process is to answer the following question: “How
can I produce the best possible solution to satisfy my clients in the most innovative way possible?”
4) Prototype: Prototypes are an experimental design that starts the process of transforming your innovative
ideas into a tangible resource. Building prototypes involve creating a low-scale and cost-friendly version
of the final product. The main goal of creating prototypes is to answer the following question: “How can I
investigate the ideas generated for its real-time applicability?”
5) Testing: The final step is to test the prototypes and build the next version based on the results of testing.
Testing is helpful to understand the functioning and operating feasibility of the product. The main goal of
the testing process is to answer the following question: “What components of the product require changes
to improve its quality and meet its standards?”

Key Elements of Design Thinking

1) Being future-oriented: To begin with, Design thinking is future-oriented. It involves collecting data from
the past and analyzing it to implement future processes based on this data.
2) Comprising ample research: It is also crucial to always conduct ample research to be sure about the
validity and credibility of the data. If the research process is not undertaken faultlessly, it will rupture the
fundamental building blocks of the final product.
3) Offering better adaptability: Design thinking helps an organization adapt itself to serve the public in a
better and ingenious manner. It identifies the needs of the users and fulfills them.