Chapter 2: Positive Approach

A. Problem solving and problem solving approach

1. Problem solving

Problem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that
includes problem finding and problem shaping. Considered the most complex of all
intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive
process that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental
skills. Problem solving occurs when an organism or an artificial intelligence system
needs to move from a given state to a desired goal state.

There are many approaches to problem solving, depending on the nature of the
problem and the people involved in the problem. The more traditional, rational
approach is typically used and involves, e.g., clarifying description of the problem,
analyzing causes, identifying alternatives, assessing each alternative, choosing
one, implementing it, and evaluating whether the problem was solved or not.

Another, more state-of-the-art approach is appreciative inquiry. That approach

asserts that "problems" are often the result of our own perspectives on a
phenomenon, eg, if we look at it as a "problem," then it will become one and we'll
probably get very stuck on the "problem." Appreciative inquiry includes identification
of our best times about the situation in the past, wishing and thinking about what
worked best then, visioning what we want in the future, and building from our
strengths to work toward our vision.

2. Problem-solving techniques
a. Appreciation:
It consists of extracting Maximum Information from Facts. Appreciation is a very
simple but powerful technique for extracting the maximum amount of information
from a simple fact.

How to Use the Tool: Starting with a fact, ask the question 'So what?' i.e. what are
the implications of that fact? Keep on asking that question until you have drawn all
possible inferences
Example: Appreciation is a technique used by military planners, so we will take a
military example. Fact: It rained heavily last night

So What?: – The ground will be wet

So What? – It will turn into mud quickly

So What? – If many troops and vehicles pass over the same ground, movement will
be progressively slower and more difficult as the ground gets muddier and more
difficult.

So What? – Where possible, stick to paved roads. Otherwise expect movement to be

much slower than normal.

While it would be possible to reach this conclusion without the use of a formal
technique, Appreciation provides a framework within which you can extract
information quickly, effectively and reliably.

b. 5 Whys

The 5 Whys is a simple problem-solving technique that helps users to get to the root
of the problem quickly. Made popular in the 1970s by the Toyota Production System,
the 5 Whys strategy involves looking at any problem and asking: "Why?" and "What
caused this problem?"

Very often, the answer to the first "why" will prompt another "why" and the answer
to the second "why" will prompt another and so on; hence the name the 5 Whys
strategy.

Benefits of the 5 Whys include:

 It helps to quickly determine the root cause of a problem

 It is easy to learn and apply

How to use the tool:

When looking to solve a problem, start at the end result and work backward (toward
the root cause), continually asking: "Why?" This will need to be repeated over and
over until the root cause of the problem becomes apparent.

Tip:
The 5 Whys technique is a simple technique that can help you
quickly get to the root of a problem. But that is all it is, and the
more complex things get, the more likely it is to lead you down a
false trail. if it doesn't quickly give you an answer that's obviously
right, then you may need more sophisticated technique problem
solving techniques

Example:

Following is an example of the 5 Whys analysis as an effective problem-solving

technique:

 Why is our client, Hinson Corp., unhappy? Because we did not deliver our
services when we said we would.
 Why were we unable to meet the agreed-upon timeline or schedule for
delivery? The job took much longer than we thought it would.

 Why did it take so much longer? Because we underestimated the complexity

of the job.

 Why did we underestimate the complexity of the job? Because we made a

quick estimate of the time needed to complete it, and did not list the
individual stages needed to complete the project.

 Why didn't we do this? Because we were running behind on other projects.

We clearly need to review our time estimation and specification procedures.

c. Cause and Effect Diagrams

Cause and Effect Diagrams help you to think through causes of a problem
thoroughly. Their major benefit is that they push you to consider all possible causes
of the problem, rather than just the ones that are most obvious.

The approach combines brainstorming with use of a type of concept map.

Cause and Effect Diagrams are also known as Fishbone Diagrams, because a
completed diagram can look like the skeleton of a fish.

How to Use the Tool:

Follow these steps to solve a problem with a Cause and Effect Diagram:

 Identify the problem:

Write down the exact problem you face in detail. Where appropriate identify
who is involved, what the problem is, and when and where it occurs. Write
the problem in a box on the left hand side of a large sheet of paper. Draw a
 line across the paper horizontally from the box. This arrangement, looking like
the head and spine of a fish, gives you space to develop ideas.

 Work out the major factors involved:

Next identify the factors that may contribute to the problem. Draw lines off
the spine for each factor, and label it. These may be people involved with the
problem, systems, equipment, materials, external forces, etc. Try to draw out
as many possible factors as possible. If you are trying to solve the problem as
part of a group, then this may be a good time for some brainstorming.

Using the 'Fish bone' analogy, the factors you find can be thought of as the
bones of the fish.

 Identify possible causes:

For each of the factors you considered in stage 2, brainstorm possible causes
of the problem that may be related to the factor. Show these as smaller lines
coming off the 'bones' of the fish. Where a cause is large or complex, then it
may be best to break it down into sub-causes. Show these as lines coming off
each cause line.
 Analyze your diagram:
By this stage you should have a diagram showing all the possible causes of
your problem that you can think of. Depending on the complexity and
importance of the problem, you can now investigate the most likely causes
further. This may involve setting up investigations, carrying out surveys, etc.
These will be designed to test whether your assessments are correct.

d. Affinity Diagrams

Affinity diagram consists of organizing ideas into common themes.

Is it ever a bad thing to have too many ideas?

Probably not, but if you've ever experienced information overload or struggled to

know where to begin with a wealth of data you've been given, you may have
wondered how you can use all of these ideas effectively. When there's lots of "stuff"
coming at you, it is hard to sort through everything and organize the information in a
way that makes sense and helps you make decisions.

Whether you're brainstorming ideas, trying to solve a problem or analyzing a

situation, when you are dealing with lots of information from a variety of sources,
you can end up spending a huge amount of time trying to assimilate all the little bits
and pieces. Rather than letting the disjointed information get the better of you, you
can use an affinity diagram to help you organize it.
Also called the KJ method, after its developer Kawakita Jiro (a Japanese
anthropologist) an affinity diagram helps to synthesize large amounts of data by
finding relationships between ideas. The information is then gradually structured
from the bottom up into meaningful groups. From there you can clearly "see" what
you have, and then begin your analysis or come to a decision.

Affinity diagrams can be used to:

 Draw out common themes from a large amount of information.

 Discover previously unseen connections between various ideas or
information.
 Brainstorm root causes and solutions to a problem.

Because many decision-making exercises begin with brainstorming, this is one of the
most common applications of affinity diagrams. After a brainstorming session there
are usually pages of ideas. These won't have been censored or edited in any way,
many of them will be very similar, and many will also be closely related to others in a
variety of ways. What an affinity diagram does is start to group the ideas into
themes.

From the chaos of the randomly generated ideas comes an insight into the common
threads that link groups of them together. From there the solution or best idea often
emerges quite naturally. This is why affinity diagrams are so powerful and why the
Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers consider them one of the "seven
management tools."

Affinity diagrams are not the domain of brainstorming alone though. They can be
used in any situation where:

 The solution is not readily apparent.

 You want to reach a consensus or decision and have a lot of variables to
consider, concepts to discuss, ideas to connect, or opinions to incorporate.
 There is a large volume of information to sort through.

Here is a step-by-step guide to using affinity diagrams along with a simple example
to show how the process works.

How to Use the Tool

 Describe the problem or issue:

 Generate ideas by brainstorming. Write each idea on a separate sticky
note and put these on a wall or flip chart. Remember to:
 Emphasize volume.
 Suspend judgment.
 Piggyback on other ideas.

 Sort ideas into natural themes by asking:

 What ideas are similar?
 Is this idea connected to any of the others?

If you're working in a team:

 Separate into smaller groups of 3 to 4 people.

 Sort the ideas IN SILENCE so that no one is influenced by anyone
else's comments.
 Keep moving the cards around until consensus is reached.
 Create total group consensus:
 Discuss the shared meaning of each of the sorted groups.
 Continue until consensus is reached.
 If some ideas do not fit into any theme, separate them as "stand-
alone" ideas.
 If some ideas fit into more than one theme, create a duplicate card
and put it in the proper group.
 Try to limit the total number of themes to between five and nine.

 Create theme cards (also called affinity cards or header cards):

 Create a short 3-5 word description for the relationship.
 If you're working in a group, do this together, out loud.
 Write this theme/header on a blank card and place at the top of
the group it describes.
 Create a "super-headers" where necessary to group themes.
 Use a "sub-header" card where necessary as well.
  Continue to group the themes/headers until you have reached the
broadest, but still meaningful, categories possible:
 Draw lines connecting the super-headers, themes/headers, and
sub-headers.
 You'll end up with a hierarchical structure that shows, at a glance,
where the relationships are.

e. SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis is a powerful technique for understanding your Strengths and

Weaknesses, and for looking at the Opportunities and Threats you face.

Used in a business context, it helps you carve a sustainable niche in your market.
Used in a personal context, it helps you develop your career in a way that takes best
advantage of your talents, abilities and opportunities.

Business SWOT Analysis

What makes SWOT particularly powerful is that, with a little thought, it can help you
uncover opportunities that you are well placed to exploit. And by understanding the
weaknesses of your business, you can manage and eliminate threats that would
otherwise catch you unawares.
More than this, by looking at yourself and your competitors using the SWOT
framework, you can start to craft a strategy that helps you distinguish yourself from
your competitors, so that you can compete successfully in your market.

How to Use the Tool

To carry out a SWOT Analysis, answer the following questions:

Strengths:

 What advantages does your company have?

 What do you do better than anyone else?

 What unique or lowest-cost resources do you have access to?

 What do people in your market see as your strengths?

 What factors mean that you "get the sale"?

Consider this from an internal perspective, and from the point of view of your
customers and people in your market. Be realistic: It's far too easy to fall prey to "not
invented here syndrome". (If you are having any difficulty with this, try writing down
a list of your characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths!)

In looking at your strengths, think about them in relation to your competitors - for
example, if all your competitors provide high quality products, then a high quality
production process is not strength in the market, it is a necessity.

Weaknesses:

 What could you improve?

 What should you avoid?

 What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?

 What factors lose you sales?

Again, consider this from an internal and external basis: Do other people seem to
perceive weaknesses that you do not see? Are your competitors doing any better
than you? It is best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as
possible.

Opportunities:
  Where are the good opportunities facing you?

 What are the interesting trends you are aware of?

Useful opportunities can come from such things as:

 Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale.

 Changes in government policy related to your field.

 Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes.

 Local events.

A useful approach for looking at opportunities is to look at your strengths and ask
yourself whether these open up any opportunities.

Alternatively, look at your weaknesses and ask yourself whether you could create
opportunities by eliminating them.

Threats:

 What obstacles do you face?

 What is your competition doing that you should be worried about?

 Are the required specifications for your job, products or services changing?

 Is changing technology threatening your position?

 Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?

 Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

Carrying out this analysis will often be illuminating – both in terms of pointing out
what needs to be done, and in putting problems into perspective.

Strengths and weaknesses are often internal to your organization. Opportunities

and threats often relate to external factors. For this reason the SWOT Analysis is
sometimes called Internal-External Analysis and the SWOT Matrix is sometimes
called an IE Matrix Analysis Tool.

You can also apply SWOT Analysis to your competitors. As you do this, you'll start to
see how and where you should compete against them.
 Except the different techniques cited above, the following techniques can
also help for problem solving:

 Abstraction: solving the problem in a model of the system before applying it

to the real system.
 Analogy: using a solution that solved an analogous problem.
 Brainstorming: (especially among groups of people) suggesting a large
number of solutions or ideas and combining and developing them until an
optimum is found.
 Divide and conquer: breaking down a large, complex problem into smaller,
solvable problems.
 Hypothesis testing: assuming a possible explanation to the problem and
trying to prove (or, in some contexts, disprove) the assumption.
 Lateral thinking: approaching solutions indirectly and creatively.
 Means-ends analysis: choosing an action at each step to move closer to the
goal.
 Method of focal objects: synthesizing seemingly non-matching characteristics
of different objects into something new.
 Morphological analysis: assessing the output and interactions of an entire
system.
 Reduction: transforming the problem into another problem for which
solutions exist.
 Research: employing existing ideas or adapting existing solutions to similar
problems.
 Root cause analysis: eliminating the cause of the problem.
 Trial-and-error: testing possible solutions until the right one is found.

B. Importance of problem solving

Why is it important to learn problem-solving skills? Because we all have to make

decisions. Whether you're a student, a parent, a businessperson, or the president of
the United States, you face problems every day that need solving. In managerial
functions decision making is a repetitive process which managers have to deal with.
And in order to be able to make efficient decision, it’s important to master problem
solving techniques and tools. Problem solving

Whether the issue is big or small, we all set goals for ourselves, face challenges, and
strive to overcome them. It's important to realize that being a problem solver isn't
just an ability; it's a whole mind-set, one that drives people to bring out the best in
themselves and to shape the world in a positive way. Rather than accepting the
status quo, true problem solvers are constantly trying to proactively shape their
environment.

C. Three different outcome in negotiation (or the tree

negotiation styles)
In every negotiation, no matter if you buy or sell, solve conflicts or negotiate your
salary there is always something lying behind the negotiation, something that
motivates people to sit down at the same table to negotiate. In business and
everyday life, each of us has something that drives us towards our desires, goals and
aspirations. This drive makes us behave in a particular way, adapt particular poses
and use different negotiation styles. What we want, why and how badly we want it
creates and shapes our attitude towards negotiation. There are three main
approaches:

 Win – lose negotiation: A win-lose attitude means a competitive approach to

the negotiation/purchasing process. An example is when a buyer wants the
lowest possible price even when a seller will lose money and conversely a seller
wants to drive the price up because he is looking to maximize his profit.
Competitive driven people believe that knowledge is power – which has some
truth – and they try to get as much information about you as possible whilst not
revealing a lot about themselves. This approach will be supported with some
manipulative and quite possibly dirty tactics. For people using this kind of
orientation, relationship doesn’t matter. A substantive outcome is what counts.

 Win – win negotiation: In this case, the other side will be willing to cooperate in
order to gain some of his/her goals but also to let us achieve some of ours. There
are always some issues in terms of price, quantity, delivery dates or guarantee
but there is also a way to match and solve them through reasonable concessions
and decisions. Of course, both parties must be willing to do this. If this spirit of
mutual satisfaction is not in evidence, it will turn the negotiation into a lose-win
or lose-lose competition. If we negotiate with a spirit of cooperation, we may
even have a chance to create a value added solution that will benefit both
parties more than was considered before the negotiation began.

 Lose – lose negotiation: means that all parties end up being worse off. An
example of this would be a budget-cutting negotiation in which all parties lose
money. In some lose-lose situations, all parties understand that losses are
unavoidable and that they will be evenly distributed. In such situations, lose-lose
outcomes can be preferable to win-lose outcomes because the distribution is at
least considered to be fair.

In other situations, though, lose-lose outcomes occur when win-win outcomes

might have been possible. The classic example of this is called the prisoner's
dilemma in which two prisoners must decide whether to confess to a crime.
Neither prisoner knows what the other will do. The best outcome for prisoner A
occurs if he/she confesses, while prisoner B keeps quiet. In this case, the prisoner
who confesses and implicates the other is rewarded by being set free, and the
other (who stayed quiet) receives the maximum sentence, as s/he didn't
cooperate with the police, yet they have enough evidence to convict. (This is a
win-lose outcome.) The same goes for prisoner B. But if both prisoners confess
(trying to take advantage of their partner), they each serve the maximum
sentence (a lose-lose outcome). If neither confesses, they both serve a reduced
sentence (a win-win outcome, although the win is not as big as the one they
would have received in the win-lose scenario).

This situation occurs fairly often, as win-win outcomes can only be identified
through cooperative (or integrative) bargaining, and are likely to be overlooked
if negotiations take a competitive distributive) stance.

The key thing to remember is that any negotiation may be reframed (placed in a
new context) so that expectations are lowered. In the prisoner's dilemma, for
example, if both prisoners are able to perceive the reduced sentence as a win
rather than a loss, then the outcome is a win-win situation. Thus, with lowered
expectations, it may be possible for negotiators to craft win-win solutions out of
a potentially lose-lose situation. However, this requires that the parties sacrifice
their original demands for lesser ones.