1. CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
• How innovative are you?
M.Elangovan

2. Solve the problem
• Remove three sticks to leave four

3. See this figure?
• Divide the figure below into as many pieces as
you can by making four straight cuts with a
long knife

4. 2 Dimensions=11
• Cuts and pieces

5. 3 dimensions=14
• imagine it’s a cake

6. Another Perspective
• Fold it after each cut=16

15. Lateral Thinking
One of the classic lateral thinking puzzles
involves nine dots, as in the example above.
The challenge is to connect them all in four
straight lines, without lifting the pen or
pencil from the page.

16. Divide the box into ___equal parts

17. Divide the box into four equal parts

18. Divide the coloured area into 4 equal
parts

19. New Challenge
• A company manufactures glassware. The last step of
the process is to wrap glasses individually in used
newspapers and then place them in a specially
designed box. The box is then sealed. Management
notices low productivity with this last step, observing
that workers occasionally stop to read the
newspapers? What can management do to increase
productivity?

20. Steps to Personal Creativity
• 1. Accept that you can be creative
• 2. Question traditional assumptions
• 3. Expand your problem-solving styles
• 4. Employ creativity techniques
• 5. Practice thinking in new ways
• 6. Learn when your creative thinking is best
• Adapted in part from Higgins, James M. 1997. Escape From The Maze. New York: New Management
Publishing.

21. Relevance to Globalization
• In a rapidly changing global world, managers
must use all their abilities to anticipate
opportunities and threats

22. Future Visions of the Auto Industry
• Fuel injections will require much less gas
• Need for lean production
• There will be need for small autos to serve utilitarian mass
markets
• There will be more women drivers in Europe and Asia
• Emotions will be used to promote products
• Increased speed limits
• More roads will be needed

23. Future Visions of the Food Industry
• This is a recession-proof industry with very slim profit margins
• We see segmentation of markets and niche development
• Many consumers/nations leapfrog to the latest trends rather
than following a particular development process
• The natural environment is increasingly important
• Computer technology linking suppliers gets food to market at
a lower price
• In Western countries there is a trend toward less cooking in
the home

24. Envisioning Techniques
• Linear
– step-by-step; scenario planning, etc.
• Intuitive
– imagery; brainstorming; analogy

25. Stimulants to Work Creativity*
• 1) FREEDOM in deciding work to do or how to do it
• 2) CHALLENGE to work hard on important projects
• 3) RESOURCES needed to do the work
• 4) ENCOURAGEMENT from a supervisor who is a good work model, sets
appropriate goals, supports and has confidence in the work group
• 5) WORK GROUP SUPPORTS such as diverse skills, people who
communicate well, are open to new ideas, constructively challenge one
another’s work, trust and help each other, and feel committed to their
work
• 6) ORGANIZATIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT in a culture that supports
creativity and communicates a shared vision of organization

26. Obstacles to Work Creativity
• 1) ORGANIZATIONAL IMPEDIMENTS such as internal
political problems, harsh criticism of new ideas,
destructive internal competition, avoidance of risk
and overemphasis on the status quo
• 2) WORKLOAD PRESSURES such as extreme time
pressure, unrealistic expectations, or distractions

27. Weigh the Odds
• You have 50 coins of which one is slightly
heavier than all others. This weight difference
can be detected on a balance scale
• What is the least number of weighings
required to find the heaviest coin?

28. New Challenge
• A
B
A
A
B
C
C