BRAINSTORMING

AN ASSIGNMENT

ON

BRAINSTORMING

SUBMITTED BY:
OLANRELE OLADEJI OLUNIYI.
MATRIC NO: 134315.
DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL/PRODUCTION ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT.





LECTURER IN CHARGE: ENGINEER A.D ADEYEYE.





AUGUST 2010.
BRAINSTORMING
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem (Osborn 1963). It was proposed that groups could double their creative output with brainstorming but researchers have not found evidence of its effectiveness for enhancing either quantity or quality of ideas generated, because of such problems as distraction, social loafing, evaluation apprehension, and production blocking, conventional brainstorming groups are little more effective than other types of groups, and they are actually less effective than individuals working independently (Nijstad, 2003).


Source: www.nwlink.com/~donclark/perform/brainstorm.html
Visited on 09-08-2010.

INDIVIDUAL BRAINSTORMING.
While group brainstorming is often more effective at generating ideas than normal group problem-solving, study after study has shown that when individuals brainstorm on their own, they come up with more ideas (and often better quality ideas) than groups of people who brainstorm together. Partly this occurs because, in groups, people aren’t always strict in following the rules of brainstorming, and bad group behaviours creep in. Mostly, though, this occurs because people are paying so much attention to other people’s ideas that they're not generating ideas of their own or they're forgetting these ideas while they wait for their turn to speak. This is called "blocking".

When you brainstorm on your own, you'll tend to produce a wider range of ideas than with group brainstorming you do not have to worry about other people's egos or opinions, and can therefore be more freely creative. For example, you might find that an idea you’d be hesitant to bring up in a group session develops into something quite special when you explore it with individual brainstorming. Nor do you have to wait for others to stop speaking before you contribute your own ideas. You may not, however, develop ideas as fully when you brainstorm on your own, as you do not have the wider experience of other members of a group to help you.

GROUP BRAINSTORMING.
When it works, group brainstorming can be very effective for bringing the full experience and creativity of all members of the group to bear on an issue. When individual group members get stuck with an idea, another member's creativity and experience can take the idea to the next stage. Group brainstorming can therefore develop ideas in more depth than individual brainstorming. Another advantage of group brainstorming is that it helps everyone involved to feel that they’ve contributed to the end solution, and it reminds people that other people have creative ideas to offer. What’s more, brainstorming is fun, and it can be great for team-building!

Brainstorming in a group can be risky for individuals, valuable but strange suggestions may appear stupid at first sight. Because of this, you need to chair sessions tightly so that ideas are not crushed, and so that the usual issues with group problem solving don’t stifle creativity.

WHY USE BRAINSTORMING?
Conventional group problem-solving can be fraught with problems. Confident, "big ego" participants can drown out and intimidate quieter group members. Less confident participants can be too scared of ridicule to share their ideas freely. Others may feel pressurized to conform with the group view, or are held back by an excessive respect for authority. As such, group problem-solving is often ineffective and sterile.

By contrast, brainstorming provides a freewheeling environment in which everyone is encouraged to participate. Quirky ideas are welcomed, and many of the issues of group problem-solving are overcome. All participants are asked to contribute fully and fairly, liberating people to develop a rich array of creative solutions to the problems they're facing.



There are four basic rules in brainstorming (Osborn, 1963) intended to reduce social inhibitions among team members, stimulate idea generation, and increase overall creativity:
• No criticism: Criticism of ideas are withheld during the brainstorming session as the purpose is on generating varied and unusual ideals and extending or adding to these ideas. Criticism is reserved for the evaluation stage of the process. This allows the members to feel comfortable with the idea of generating unusual ideas.

• Welcome unusual ideas: Unusual ideas are welcomed as it is normally easier to "tame down" than to "tame up" as new ways of thinking and looking at the world may provide better solutions.

• Quantity Wanted: The greater the number of ideas generated the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution.

• Combine and improve ideas: Not only are a variety of ideals wanted, but also ways to combine ideas in order to make them better.

PLAN AND AGREE THE BRAINSTORMING AIM.
Ensure everyone participating in the brainstorm session understands and agrees the aim of the session (e.g., to formulate a new job description for a customer services clerk; to formulate a series of new promotional activities for the next trading year; to suggest ways of improving cooperation between the sales and service departments; to identify costs saving opportunities that will not reduce performance or morale, etc). Keep the brainstorming objective simple. Allocate a time limit. This will enable you to keep the random brainstorming activity under control and on track.

MANAGE THE ACTUAL BRAINSTORMING ACTIVITY.
Brainstorming enables people to suggest ideas at random. Your job as facilitator is to encourage everyone to participate, to dismiss nothing, and to prevent others from pouring scorn on the wilder suggestions (some of the best ideas are initially the daftest ones - added to which people won't participate if their suggestions are criticised). During the random collection of ideas the facilitator must record every suggestion on the flip-chart. Use Blue-Tack or sticky tape to hang the sheets around the walls. At the end of the time limit or when ideas have been exhausted, use different coloured pens to categorise, group, connect and link the random ideas. Condense and refine the ideas by making new headings or lists. You can diplomatically combine or include the weaker ideas within other themes to avoid dismissing or rejecting contributions (remember brainstorming is about team building and motivation too - you don't want it to have the reverse effect on some people). With the group, assess, evaluate and analyse the effects and validity of the ideas or the list. Develop and prioritise the ideas into a more finished list or set of actions or options

BRAINSTORMING STEPS:
• Gather the participants from as wide a range of disciplines with as broad a range of experience as possible. This brings many more creative ideas to the session.
• Write down a brief description of the problem; the leader should take control of the session, initially defining the problem to be solved with any criteria that must be met, and then keeping the session on course.
• Use the description to get everyone's mind clear of what the problem is and post it where it can be seen. This helps in keeping the group focused.

• Encourage an enthusiastic, uncritical attitude among brainstormers and encourage participation by all members of the team. Encourage them to have fun!
• Write down all the solutions that come to mind (even ribald ones). Do not interpret the idea; however you may rework the wording for clarity's sake.
• Do not evaluate ideas until the session moves to the evaluation phase. Once the brainstorming session has been completed, the results of the session can be analyzed and the best solutions can be explored either using further brainstorming or more conventional solutions.
• Do not censor any solution, no matter how silly it sounds. The silly ones will often lead to creative ones, the idea is to open up as many possibilities as possible, and break down preconceptions about the limits of the problem.
• The leader should keep the brainstorming on subject, and should try to steer it towards the development of some practical solutions.
• Once all the solutions have been written down, evaluate the list to determine the best action to correct the problem.

SELECTING A SOLUTION.
When you are sure the brainstorming session is over, it is time to select a solution:
• Use a show of hands (or another voting method) to allow each person to vote.
• Write the vote tallies next to the ideal.
• Once the voting is completed, delete all items with no votes.
• Next, look for logical breaks. For example, if you have several items with 5 or 6 votes, and no 3 or 4 and only a couple of 1 and 2, then retain only the 5 and 6 votes. The group can help to decide the breaking point.
• Now, it is time to vote again. Each person gets half number of votes as there are ideals left. For example is you narrowed the number of generated ideals down to 20, then each person gets 10 votes (if it is a odd number, round down). Each person will keep track of his or her votes. The scribe should again tally the votes next to the ideal, only this time use a different colour.
• Continue this process of elimination until you get down to about 5 ideals.
• Put the remainder ideas into a matrix. Put each ideal into its own row (first column). Next label some columns using selected criteria. For example:

Generated Idea Low Cost Easy to Implement and is Feasible Will Help Other Processes TOTAL
Outsource it to a vendor.
Hire a new employee.
Share the extra workload.

• Next, working one column at a time, ask the group to order each idea. Using the above example, which one will cost the least, the most, and will be in the middle.

• In this case, the lowest number column, "Hire a new employee," would be the best solution.
• Note that you should work each column first (not each row).
• Some of the columns will require much discussion, as choosing an arbitrary number will not be that easy in some cases.
• Often, you will have a couple of ideas that tie, but having it diagrammed out in a matrix makes it easier to make a decision.


REFERENCES
Nijstad, B. A., Stroebe, W. Lodewijkx, H. F. M. (2003). Production blocking and idea generation: Does blocking interfere with cognitive processes? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 531-548.

Osborn, A.F. (1963) Applied imagination: Principles and procedures of creative problem solving (Third Revised Edition). New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Son.