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Chapter 8 Synectics. Yet another “creative ideation process” From the producers of brainstorming Starring perspective. An excursion in the mind.
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Chapter 8 Synectics Yet another “creative ideation process” From the producers of brainstorming Starring perspective
An excursion in the mind • First, take a problem and question the person presenting the problem until all aspects of the problem are understood. No brainstorming or solution gathering occurs at this time. • Second, get away from the problem entirely, take a mental holiday. Someone suggests a fantasy or place to go, mentally, emotionally or spiritually: e.g. the top of Mount Everest, a rock concert or rave, an imaginary tour through the valves of the heart. Get as far away from the original problem as possible. Everyone present contributes to the fantasy, and someone takes notes of the excursion or mental ‘holiday’. Examine elements and aspects of the ‘holiday’ and use them as an analogy to the problem solution. Practice ‘force fitting’ the vacation analogy as a metaphoric solution to the problem. For instance, what clues can the top of Mount Everest give us about promoting a brand of vodka? Obvious! Use the pureness of the atmosphere to stress the purity and medicinal qualities of the vodka! Or show someone being reinvigorated by it after having climbed to the top of a high mountain. Synectics facilitates the stretching of existing paradigms to facilitate the creation of new insights.
"Trust things that are alien, and alienate things that are trusted“- W.J. Gordon • To produce five psychological states necessary to achieve creative responses • Involvement and detachment • deferment of premature solutions • Speculation • autonomy of object and • hedonic response. creative breakthroughs would increase their occurrence
Make the Familiar Strange • the personal, direct ,symbolic and fantasy analogies ‘how to’ statements- can be speculative, unrealistic, wishful or challenging
Highlights of the process • No attempt is made to define the problem. • The client’s statement of the problem is taken as the starting-point • He or she gives a brief explanation of the background, as he or she sees it, and • the group and client proceed to restate or paraphrase the problem in a language of ‘how to' statements. • These can be as speculative, unrealistic, wishful or challenging as the group feels inclined to produce. • Their purpose is to open up the whole problem area and give the client an opportunity to get away from conventional ways of looking at the problem.
Synectics steps Excursion
Example of Personal analogyRooh-afza case • Characteristics • Rosy, thin (viscosity). Cold, Red color • Emotions • Summertime, happy, friendly at parties • Feeling when using • Healthy, Energy/tired! • Object's feelings • wanted, cooling We might then look at ways of how we could try to incorporate these feelings into the promotion of the product
Describe the object by listing its basic characteristics Describe the emotions the object might have in a given situation Describe how someone feels when using the object Describe what it feels like to be the given object Personal Analogy
Make comparisons with analogous facts, information or technology. Attributes of atoms and molecules provide interesting analogies for studying the management of information. The idea is to describe a clear, straightforward relationship between the problem and some object, thing or idea. Direct Analogy Homogeneous Information
Direct Analogy: Paths Across Marshes And Decision Making • Decision-making can be likened to finding one’s way across paths over a marsh. • What are seemingly paths across the marshes often lead you the wrong way. • Unfamiliar and potentially hazardous options need careful analysis when making decisions in order to ensure that good choices are made.
Make use of objective and personal images to describe a problem. Examples like a thief in the night like a pirate. Seeking insights on how to deal with the problem. Symbolic Analogy
Symbolic analogyThe scarlet pimpernel • Getting hold of the boss is like finding the scarlet pimpernel. "We seek her here, we seek her there, we seek her everywhere!“ • Insights into how to keep tabs on the whereabouts of the boss.
Symbolic analogyMir-jafar of Lichi Drink Company • The way the competing company is working with their advertisement, it seems like somebody is passing valuable company marketing information to the competition. • Insights on how to limit information leakage.
I repeat ...Synectics steps Potential disaster choosing the wrong Excursion techniques- Experience
How do we In Our Wildest Fantasy want..... (the problem to be solved) Question: How do we In Our Wildest Fantasy (IOWF) Example: Major surgery How do we IOWF want the removal of a tumour to be carried out? Answer: without leaving any marks on the patient's skin. This might lead to the use of two or more laser beams intersecting at a malignant tumour and destroying it. Fantasy Analogy
Fantasy analogy: peaceful management • How do we IOWF want to manage the office? • So that peace reigns all the time? • Solution • Use style of management based on conflict avoidance.
Conducting Synectics Sessions • Specific criteria for group membership and composition. • Should be frequent users of analogies and metaphors • Have an attitude of assistance • Well coordinated bodily movements • The capacity to generalize • Not too many expert • Personality traits • Emotional maturity, ‘constructive childishness’, ‘risk taking’, be non-status-orientated, exhibit commitment to the group and its purpose, be 25 to 40 years of age Steps at P 165
Excursion • The choice of excursion depends on • the degree of novelty required • the element of risk the leader is prepared to take • the type of material which is being worked upon.
Absurd solutions • After everybody contributed, leader asks the group to replay the story in their mind and try to think up some really absurd or impractical solutions • Are the solutions intriguing! • Changing into something more practical/realistic
Example excursion method • Similar method • Ask the group for examples of a keyword chosen from the problem restatements in a different ‘world’
Example: Fantasy excursion • Problem statement • How to finance risky ventures. • Word selected: (Keyword) • Ventures. • Word association preliminary: • Ventures, adventure, excitement, journey, aspiration, jungle, desert, joy.
Weird story • ‘Joy sat entrenched in the bob-sleigh. The ice seemed to seep up through the runners as it began to move. The speed gathered. The sun glinted on the mountains overlooking the course. The first corner came. All was safe. The angle steepened, and the speed increased. Joy’s helmet touched the ice wall. A reverberation rang through her ears. Everything went out of focus except the track. It was white, fast and steep. A big corner. Almost turned over. The finish in sight. Would she stop? Yes. Hugs and kisses. All over.’
Absurd solutions • 1 Win the money on the races. • 2 Give potential backers a ride on a bob-sleigh and charge them exorbitant fares for the ride. • 3 Put on very risky bob-sleigh tournaments and charge spectators for the privilege of watching. • 4 Produce all kinds of spectacular events which will have great entertainment value and will attract sponsorship and TV rights. Make the ventures look very attractive propositions, stressing that what appears to be a risky venture will in fact be quite safe and have substantial pay-offs.
