Page 42 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

0,1.11 , t,olou I his often requires objective thinkiiiy„ 11
111.11 «)urage, and self-confidence. At Federal Expre. , group
tick isions based on CPS are part of the everyday routine,
and so is control. For example when one team solved prob-
lems related to sorting packages, they were required to track
results and make further improvements.°

BUILDING CREATIVITY INTO

PROBLEM SOLVING

Experience with problem solving has produced some dis-
couraging findings. Among them are the following:

1. Creativity is not a major part of the problem-solving pro-
cess for most organizations or individuals.

2. People are not usually encouraged to be creative, either as
individuals or as members of organizations. This means
that creativity is discouraged in most organizations includ-
ing families, schools and companies.

3. Few people really know the creative techniques that can
be applied in the problem-solving process.

4. Few individuals develop their personal creative
problem-solving skills, but that is changing.

It is evident that most people, as well as most organizations,
can improve their CPS skills. Typical of the problem are the
results of a competition held by General Foods for MBA stu-
dents from six of the nation's best graduate business
schools—Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, Northwestern, Michi-
gan, and Columbia. The task was to come up with solutions
to this problem: "Develop a marketing plan to stem the
plunging sales of sugar-free Koolaid." The results were dis-
appointing.

The students had an entire day to develop their strategies.
Each team was allotted twenty minutes to present its solu-
tions. Judges from General Foods, its advertising agency,
and one of its consulting firms evaluated these presentations
over a five-hour period. The criteria used were: understand-
ing of the business situation, feasibility and creativity of so-