1. Amity School of Business
PROBLEM SOLVING & CREATIVE
THINKING
BS – II
By: Parul Goel

2. Problem - Solving Amity School of Business
- Problem solving is a mental
process.
-Is part of the larger problem process
that includes problem finding and
problem shaping.

3. Amity School of Business
Considered the most complex of
all intellectual function.

4. Amity School of Business
Problem solving occurs when we
move from a given state to a desired
goal state.

5. Amity School of Business
• There are always problems
• There are no big problems; only small ones

6. Amity School of Business
• You can solve
them when YOU
are bigger than
the PROBLEM
• But if you don’t
solve them then,
they become
BIGGER than
you

7. Amity School of Business
• Every problem has a Solution
• Actually every problem has more than one
solution

8. What’s Your Problem-SolvingSchool of Business
Amity Style?
Directions: Circle the correct letter, then distribute the 10 points among choices a, b and c.
1. When I am faced with a complex situation or problem, I tend to:
_____ a. Ask friends
_____ b. Solve it myself
_____ c. Seek professional help
2. People who are great problem solvers:
_____ a. Have very clear goals and objectives
_____ b. Find the best solution
_____ c. Ask the right questions
3. I am happiest when I am deciding:
_____ a. How things should be
_____ b. How to make things better
_____ c. How things are now
4. When I am bothered by something I look at:
_____ a. How I would like things to be different
_____ b. What I should do to make things better
_____ c. The cause of the problem
5. When I am under pressure, I
_____ a. Spend a lot of time thinking about it
_____ b. Solve it quickly
_____ c. Sit back and carefully examine the situation

9. Amity School of Business
6. I am most interested in:
_____ a. The way things could be
_____ b. How to improve things
_____ c. The way things r now
7. When I am in a group, I tend to help the group:
_____ a. Determine goals
_____ b. Take action
_____ c. Obtain the facts
8. When I find out that another person does not like me or is angry with me, I:
_____ a. Try to understand what that person wants
_____ b. Try to make things better between us
_____ c. Get more information
9. When another person asks me for help with a problem, I tend to:
_____ a. Find out what the person wants to accomplish
_____ b. Give suggestions
_____ c. Get more information
10. People in general are likely to get into trouble when they:
_____ a. Lack a vision for the future
_____ b. Don’t take risks
_____ c. Act on impulse

10. Amity School of Business
Add the numbers you have written.
a: 8, b: 2, c: 1
Totals:
A: _____
B: _____
C: _____
Now add 5 points to A and subtract 5 points from C.
A: _____
B: _____
C: _____
A= Idealist interested in values
B= Activist interested in proposals and ideas
C= Realist interested in information and situations

11. EXERCISE Amity School of Business
1. List 10 problems you solved today. What problem-solving skills did you
use?
2. When you have a major problem, is there somebody you go to for help?
What is it about that person that makes you think he or she can handle the
problem?
3. Describe the biggest problem facing you right now. What skills will you
need to solve it?

12. Rating Scale Amity School of Business
• Critical thinking skill
• Problem solving skill
• Expression of ideas
• Thinking creatively
• Emotional intelligence

13. Amity School of Business

14. Amity School of Business
• Means-ends thinking:
– Ability to articulate the step by step means
necessary to carry out the solution to a given
interpersonal problem.
– Ability to recognize obstacles, the social sequences
deriving from these solutions.
– Recognition that interpersonal problem solving
takes time.

15. Amity School of Business
• Consequential thinking:
– Being aware of the consequences of social acts as
they affect self and others.
– Ability to generate alternative consequences to
potential problem solutions before acting.

16. Amity School of Business
• Causal thinking:
– Reflects the degree of appreciation of social and
personal motivation.
– Involves the realization that how one felt and acted
may have been influenced by and, in turn, may
have influenced how others felt and acted.

17. The Jug Activity
Amity School of Business

18. Amity School of Business
In “everyday” language:
G
IN
K
IN
• Thinking “outside” the box TH
• Thinking about thinking
• “Unlimited” thinking
• Divergent thinking

19. What Is Critical Thinking? Amity School of Business
• It is thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed.
• It is literally thinking about something from many angles.
• Examples of people who use critical thinking in their daily lives:
lawyer who found loophole to free his client, computer repair
technician who found the one tiny circuit problem in your computer,
homemaker who discovered a way to reduce the household debt
each month, the student who discovered that reading the material
before class made listening easier.
• Critical thinking is about making informed, enlightened, educated,
open-minded decisions in college, in relationships, in finances, and
in life in general.

20. Critical Thinking Amity School of Business
Huitt’s (1992) classification of problem-solving
techniques:
• Critical thinking--linear and serial, more
structured, more rational and analytical, and
more goal-oriented
• Creative thinking--holistic and parallel,
more emotional and intuitive, more
creative, more visual, and more tactual/
kinesthetic

21. Amity School of Business
Springer & Deutsch’s (1993) classification of
brain-lateralization dominance:
• Left brain thinking--analytic, serial, logical,
objective
• Right brain thinking--global, parallel,
emotional, subjective

22. Exercise Amity School of Business
• How many addition signs should be put between digits of the number
987654321 and where should we put them to get a total of 99?
• Divide the face of the clock into three parts with two lines so that the sum
of the numbers in the three parts are equal.
• If you begin with a one digit integer, multiply by 3, add 8, divide by 2 and
subtract 6, you will get the integer back.
• If Jane is older than Kim, Kim is older than Shawn. Shawn is younger than
Jane and Rachel is older than Jane List the people from oldest to youngest.

23. Solutions Amity School of Business
1) 9+8+7+65+4+3+2+1 = 99 -> 7 addition signs.
2) 2) 9+8+7+6+5+43+21 = 99 -> 6 addition signs.
Trial and error
[(2 * 3 + 8)/2] - 6 = 1 <- NO
[(6 * 3 + 8)/2] - 6 = 7 <- NO
[(8 * 3 + 8)/2] - 6 = 10 <- NO
[(4 * 3 + 8)/2] - 6 = 4 <- YES!!
The number is 4
Algebraically: [(3*x + 8)/2] -6 = 4
Rachel, Jane, Kim, Shawn

24. Match Problem Amity School of Business
• Can you arrange these six matches into
four equilateral triangles?

25. Match Problem Amity School of Business
Fixation
• The inability to
see a problem
from a new
perspective.

26. Making It Work For Amity School of Business
You
Critical thinking skill development involves:
• Restraining emotions
• Looking at things differently
• Analyzing (breaking down) information
• Asking questions
• Solving problems
• Distinguishing fact from opinion

27. Restraining Emotions Amity School of Business
• It is crucial that you know when your emotions
are clouding an issue. Example: Should drugs
be legalized? Should terminally
ill patients have the right to state assisted and/or
privately assisted suicide?
• If we allow our emotions to run rampant and fail
to use research, logic, and evidence (expansive
thinking), we cannot examine the issues critically
and have a logical discussion regarding the
statements.

28. Restraining Emotions Amity School of Business
If you feel that your emotions caused you to be less than
objective, you might consider the following tips you are faced
with an emotional decision:
• Listen to all sides of an argument or statement before you
make a decision or form an opinion.
• Make a conscious effort to identify which emotions are causing
you to lose objectivity.
• Do not let your emotions withdraw you or turn you off from the
situation.
• Don’t let yourself become engaged in “I’m right, you’re wrong”
situations.

29. …Restraining Emotions Amity School of Business
• Work to understand why others feel their side is valid.
• Physiological reactions to emotions, such as increased heart rate
and blood pressure, should be recognized as an emotional
checklist. If you begin to experience these reactions, relax,
take a deep breath, and concentrate on being open-minded.
• Control your negative self-talk or inner voice toward the other
person(s) or situation.
• Determine whether your emotions are irrational.

30. Activity Amity School of Business
• Think of a situation you were in recently where you
experienced a negative emotion such as anger, frustration,
depression, insecurity, fear, etc.
1) Write out in detail what was going on in the situation
and how you felt in the situation.
2) Now try to figure out the thinking you were doing in the
circumstance, which led to the negative feeling. Write out
the thinking in detail.
3) Then write how your thinking and feeling impacted
your behavior.