Discussion: Shared Practice: Convergent and Divergent Thinking
It is mandatory that you use the headings listed below.
Discussion: Shared Practice: Convergent and Divergent Thinking
To get a great idea, come up with lots of them.
–Thomas Edison
Have you ever found yourself faced with a substantial challenge and realized that you had no idea how to begin addressing the problem? Many people, when they want to overcome a difficulty or problem, wait for “inspiration to strike.” As you’ve learned in this course, however, being creative is not a process of passively waiting for inspiration to strike you, but rather a systematic process requiring active thought and effort.
In the Resources this week you will explore how to actively generate ideas, refine those ideas, and address problems and challenges. For this Shared Practice, you will practice divergent and convergent thinking to solve a challenge facing you.
Select one problem, either in your personal or professional life, that you currently have ownership of and motivation to solve. Practice divergent thinking by generating a list of possible solutions or approaches to your problem. Then, practice convergent thinking and select the solution that you think holds the most promise. Be sure to justify your selection. Read “The Paradox of Samsungâ€
s Rise” and consider how Samsung integrated the cultures of employees from all over the globe in order to stimulate creativity and innovation. Consider the influences of culture on this type of thinking and creativity in general.
With these thoughts in mind:
By Day 3
Post post the following:
- A brief description of the problem along with your list of solutions, the solution you selected, and the justification for your selection.
- Next, describe the experience of using divergent thinking and convergent thinking. If you had not approached the problem using divergent and convergent practices in a systematic way, would you have arrived at the same solution? Explain why or why not.
- Finally, explain any aspects of culture that could either inhibit or support this creative process
You are required to organize your initial discussion post using this template. These headings are mandatory! Put your thoughts under each heading. Then post. Regards.
Initial Post Template
A brief description of the problem along with your list of solutions, the solution you selected, and the justification for your selection.
Next, describe the experience of using divergent thinking and convergent thinking. If you had not approached the problem using divergent and convergent practices in a systematic way, would you have arrived at the same solution? Explain why or why not.
Finally, explain any aspects of culture that could either inhibit or support this creative process.
References
Learning Resources
Note: To access this week’s required Harvard Business Review resources, select the article link and navigate to the relevant article or go back to Blackboard and select Harvard Business Articles from the course navigation menu.
Required Readings
Document: Week 3 Weekly Briefing (PDF)
The Week 3 Weekly Briefing provides an essential introduction to the content and concepts that you will be studying during the week. After viewing the Weekly Introduction, the Week 3 Weekly Briefing should be your initial reading this week.
Grivas, C., & Puccio, G. J. (2012). The innovative team: Unleashing creative potential for breakthrough results.
- Epilogue, “Where Are They Now?” (pp. 187–189)
- Chapter 17, “Applying the Framework” (pp.193–194)
- Chapter 18, “Clarifying the Situation” (pp. 195–204)
- Chapter 19, “Generating Ideas” (pp. 205–214)
The assigned sections this week will begin to help you contextualize some of the creative-thinking styles and apply strategies in the workplace to bring diverse thinking styles together toward a common goal.
Björk, J. (2012). Knowledge domain spanners in ideation. Creativity & Innovation Management, 21(1), 17-27.
Björk, J., Boccardelli, P., & Magnusson, M. (2010). Ideation capabilities for continuous innovation. Creativity & Innovation Management, 19(4), 385-396.
The authors of this article develop an analysis of the ideation process by studying four Swedish companies. Some paradoxes emerge for management as a result, and the authors suggest a more deliberate approach to ideation for it to be successful.
Jing, Z., & Yanjie, S. (2010). A missing piece of the puzzle: The organizational context in cultural patterns of creativity J. Zhou and Y. Su organization context in cross-cultural creativity research. Management & Organization Review, 6(3), 391-413.
In this article, the authors review similarities and differences between East Asian and Western cultures on creativity. On the basis of this review, the authors conclude the need to theorize why cultural differences influence creativity.
Puccio, G. J., Mance, M., Switalski, L. B., & Reali, P. D. (2012). Principles for divergent and convergent thinking: Becoming a better creative thinker. In Creativity Rising: Creative thinking and creative problem solving in the 21st century (pp. 51–70). Buffalo, NY: ICSC Press. Have you ever tried the process known as ‘brainstormingâ€
Puccio, G. J., Mance, M., Switalski, L. B., & Reali, P. D. (2012). Principles for divergent and convergent thinking: Becoming a better creative thinker. In Puccio, G.J., Mance, M., Switalski, L.B. et al. (Eds.), Creativity Rising: Creative thinking and creative problem solving in the 21st century (1st Ed.), (pp. 51–70). Buffalo, NY: ICSC Press. Copyright 2012 by ICSC Press. Reprinted by permission of Omniskills, LLC/ICSC Press.
Khanna , T., Song, J., & Lee, K. (2011). The paradox of Samsungâ€
Samsung is a worldwide leader in the electronics industry, relying on continual innovation efforts to support their leadership of their industry. But how did this organization become a global leader in the first place? This article explores how Samsungâ€
Mind Tools. (n.d.) Mind maps. Retrieved October 5, 2013, from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm
When faced with an opportunity to apply creative thinking, you don’t need to passively wait for inspiration. You can apply a methodical set of thinking tools in order to generate new ideas. This tool can be used to organize your ideas when dealing with many of the challenges that you will face in the workplace.
Optional Resources
Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor model. Annual Review of Psychology, 41, 417–440.
HSM Global. (Producer). (2008). Daniel Pink: Innovative thinking. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
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