Structured Thinking & Problem Solving

I believe that organizational performance can be improved dramatically if people are trained on logical structured thinking and problem solving ability. I feel that I have done considerable amount of study to understand why are people generally lacking this skill and hesitate learning and practicing it. I have done few experiments and tried to find out how can it be taught and how can it be practiced in the organization. If any one has also tried and experimented would like to know and learn. I am now exploring to try it out in different organizations. If any one is interested to try it out in their organization would like to know about it.

It is known as A3 Thinking which is much more than just commonly known A3 report. It is a process of using your common sense and thinking in a systemic way to understand the phenomenon as a whole or the issues around the problem by going in depth, see things physically, talk to relevant people who are directly experiencing the issue and develop common understanding of the causes behind the issues. It is more of restraining from jumping to solutions till the roots causing the issues are traced out. It looks easy but very uncommonly practiced. Do you agree?

Hi

That is an interesting sharing. You have raised some valid issues regarding structured thinking in general and A3 thinking in particular.

In my opinion, some possible reasons why structured thinking is not formally introduced or adopted extensively in India is because

• Most businesses are personality driven i.e either by owners or in many professional companies by veterans of the company who have grown with the company. These personalities are more focused on short term goals than long term strategic intent,
  
• Structured thinking is often viewed as being best suited to making improvements, increasing yield, enhancing efficiency and refining quality. Our mind set in business is less inclined to these aspects and more clued into 'making profits'.
  
• We are naturally inclined to creative thinking with the primary intent of working around patents, copy rights and where ever possible making better duplicates than the original.
  

However despite these mindset issues, entrepreneurs with vision and a long term strategy would definitely find excellent value in implementing structured thinking.

Regards

Dear Anup
I agree with you that structured thinking as aginst snap judgments will be very critical to understand any issue be it business related or administration related or corporate governanace related. It is interesting share from you.
B.Saikumar
Mumbai

Hi everybody,
This , indeed is an interesting topic. In my opinion, we Indians are more emotional and reacts to problems instantaneously. I am also reacting to the topic likewise. :-) In many cases, without a proper understanding of the problem, be it in business or politics or personal life. Even the media behaviour also is reflecting this aspect of Indianness.
NANDAKUMAR. A
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd
Chennai

1)it is very old say,change is the only constant thing.as per my experiences,people are afraid of adopting change.as they are not aware of end result.so they try to remain standstill.2)lack of exposure.as of employers don\'t want wise employees.2)employers are afraid of transparency.anyway,
I know one respected Industrialist near Belgavi,he displays his quarterly balance-sheets on notice boards.his industry has no security guards.even at night shift.he so courageous.such type of employers may change the whole culture of nation.