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The Nature of Problems - Part 8

Another important consideration, although creative minds may buck and fight it, is the amount of time or money available to accomplish a new problem solution. Generally, limited time or limited money may indicate that only an analytical approach is possible. Through analysis you confine your thinking to correct­ing an immediate wrong or making a minor change for improve­ment. With more time and more money you can begin to embark on a creative search for a completely new approach or concept to solving the problem. However, lack of either time or money should never keep you from being as imaginative as you can in making the changes you have opportunity to make. And fre­quently, a simple "change" idea can be a breakthrough to pave the way for a more creative approach at a later time.

Another fundamental of problems that should be understood is their commonness. Consider these:

An advertising layout artist is attempting to design an ad that will have one large photo and two smaller ones, all with explana­tory captions; a separate block of text copy; the company logo­type and trademark and a coupon. He must fit all these elements into a space 7 inches wide by 10 inches deep. His final arrangement must be dramatic and attention-getting, and all the elements must appear importantly ...

A textile production engineer is redesigning his production line for a new type of fabric made up of both synthetic and natural fibers. He has seven looms, of three different capacities, and, for greatest economy, wants to establish a continuous-production line that will be practically unlimited in the patterns and colors that can be handled ...

An office manager is moving into new space in his company's administration building. He has twenty-four desks and chairs, forty-two filing cabinets, and fourteen general storage units, as well as three duplicating machines, which have to be accommo­dated. He must arrange all these in the space so that they will be neat and attractive and, at the same time, enable the personnel to carry on their work with maximum efficiency ...

On the surface, these problems may not seem to have much in common. In fact, if you were to question any of the individuals involved, you would undoubtedly find that each of them con­sidered his particular problem unique to his job and business. But basically, they are all the same problem: fitting a given number of units of specified sizes into a given amount of space. All three men are working with what is essentially the same problem, and all three will follow almost identical patterns of analysis in defining the problem. Whether they will all exercise the same degree of creativeness in their solutions is something else again. But they all have the same opportunity to do so.

Related terms include effective small business management and business quality.