Problem-solving approach

This report provides a reflective report on the problem-solving approach using design thinking. It discusses the different phases and learning from them, highlighting the benefits of design thinking in personal and professional life. The report also includes an action plan for personal development.

Running Head: Problem-solving approach 0
Design thinking is a new approach for
problem solving.
Problem-solving approach
Report
System04096

Problem-solving approach 1
Executive summary
This report will provide a refractive report based on the blogs of the whole module, which has
been created by me to understand different modules and learnt about the reflective practices. It is the
best way to understand learning and reflective cycle’s uses in real life practices.
This report is reflective and it will explain about the different phases and learning from those
phases. It is necessary to manage different works and learn from reflective writing. Reflective writing is
useful for personal and professional life.

Problem-solving approach 2
Contents
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................................1
My Reflective Report...................................................................................................................................3
Knowledge development (Personal refection)............................................................................................3
Mindset towards problem.......................................................................................................................3
Self-awareness........................................................................................................................................4
Patience in work......................................................................................................................................4
Learning skills..........................................................................................................................................4
Personal development (Personal Reflection)..............................................................................................5
Business oriented skills............................................................................................................................5
Reflective skills........................................................................................................................................7
Empathy..................................................................................................................................................7
Action Plan..................................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10

Problem-solving approach 3
My Reflective Report
Design thinking is useful for my personal and professional career to solve different critical issues,
such as the management of business processes. I learnt that it will provide help me to resolve different
issues in the future. It can be my new skill to solve the issues.
Reflection is the best way to learn from over experiences from different activities. Reflective
writing is the best practice to learn. This report is based on my module in which I learnt many things. I
will explain about different weeks learning and it was my best experience ever. I had a good experience
in that module and it was a good source of learning. In addition, design thinking is a method to increase
different skill in a person using many activities ( Rosenø, 2018). There are many things to learn during
that workshop. In the whole module, I had completed my blogs writing. I wrote blogs after each week in
my online portal. Now, I will share my learning from that workshop, which is based on design thinking
and innovations. According to (Brown & Wyatt, 2010), design thinking is beneficial for social innovations,
such as traffic light control, bus reservation system, and many others.
In week two, I learnt about the role of design thinking in innovation and designing process. I
learnt about observation and problem finding from that week. On 27 March 2019, I wrote my first blog
entry and I was so happy to write that blog post about my learning from that design-thinking module. I
learnt that to solve any problem, observation is necessary. In addition, design thinking is helpful for
innovations and it provides a much better way to solve problems using innovations (Brooks, 2013).
Knowledge development (Personal refection)
On 3 April 2019, I wrote my second blog about learning and my experiences and different
activities. I had played an activity, which was based on the self-reflection. I learnt about self-
improvement in us in a nice activity. Self-reflections can use to improve our skills because any time I
cannot identify my skills and weaknesses. Moreover, disruptive innovations are helping to change the
market using new technologies ( Christensen, McDonald, & Raynor, 2015).
Mindset towards problem
I learnt about the mindset, which is very important for finding the solution to a problem. Design
thinking process has provided new thoughts to understand real issues in the problem and how can I
solve the problem. Mindset is necessary to clear about the problem and after that follow the right way

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to solve the problem in less time. According to (Brown & Ulijn, 2004), innovation and culture provide a
different level of the thinking process. Problem-solving skill is necessary to solve many issues using
design-thinking process. In addition, many business problems are creating opportunities to expand the
business and sometimes they are a barrier to the growth and success of the company (Chesbrough,
2010).
Self-awareness
I learnt about the self-awareness and its impact on personal and professional life. Self-reflection
is like check our skills ourselves and creates new skills in him. I learnt that self-awareness is necessary to
develop new skills, which are used in social, personal, and professional works. When I carried out self-
reflection activity (see photo in blog entry 3, 3 April 2019), I felled that I have few weakness, which
requires improvement.
Patience in work
After that workshop, I found my skills, such as patience. Patience is highly required in business
and personal life to reduce different types of losses. I learnt about the positive and negative sides of me
from that activity. I learnt that everyone should do that activity to know about our skills. Beside it, I have
to improve and develop different skills in myself. In addition, innovation has required a high patience
level because it takes a lot of time. Entrepreneurs take time to understand the problem than finding out
the different solution to that problem and manage it with proper and effective innovation (Drucker,
2014).
Learning skills
I learnt about observation and visualization. I had developed many skills from that workshop in
myself, such as brainstorming, and visualization. I understood about the understanding of problem form
that week. There are different types of observation of the same thing from different people. I leant
observation of problems and I learnt that using visualization, I can better understand a problem and
easily find out the solution to that problem. When I carried out visualization (see photo in blog entry 3, 4
April 2019), I felled my visualizing strength.
On 4 April 2019, I wrote my blog in which I had described the different view for a problem. In
that week, I learnt about the brainstorming and different issues in the identification of a problem. In that
week, I learnt about the understanding of the problem, think beyond the box, and take help to find a
solution to a problem. According to ( Dubey, 2018), design thinking is helpful to enhance leadership skills

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in a person to resolve different issues. When I carried out design thinking approach (see photo in blog
entry 1, 27th March 2019), I felled that I am good thinker than previously thought.”
On 19 April 2019, I wrote my blog in which I wrote about empathy mapping, which is highly used
to change the way of thinking. I learnt about to create a persona of another person and reflect about
them. It was a great activity in which I learnt about empathy mapping and I learnt that always think
about a problem from a different point of view to understand it more deeply.
Personal development (Personal Reflection)
Personal development is necessary to get job and stable in an organization. Reflective writing is
having many advantages for a person in their personal, social, and professional life. In addition, different
types of business have required different skills. Therefore, it is necessary to learn about different things,
which can be used in the business processes of an organization. An employee should have some skills,
which makes him different from others and provide many benefits to the company from their skills, such
as leadership, teamwork, honesty, self-awareness, and many others.
Business oriented skills
I learnt about the value chain analysis, which is an internal environment analysis. I learnt that
most of the companies do value chain analysis to know about profit and losses of that products and
services before launching in the market to reduce cost and time. I learnt that satisfied customers are
providing huge business to a company. In addition, design thinking makes huge impacts on the
personality of a persona and it increases different skills in a person, such as empathy, brainstorming, and
many others (Liedtka J. , 2018). It is important for my career and professional life. In addition, reflective
writing is the best way to learn from our experiences (Steh & Saric, 2017).
On 15 May 2019, I wrote my blog in which I mentioned about how to interview, which I learnt
from the design thinking process. I learnt about the role of ethics in an interview and ethical manners. I
had an activity in which we were given a situation to different persons and we need to ask questions
based on the given situation in our group. According to (Taylor, 2017), critical reflection provides
thinking power to solve any problem in an easy way without taking a decision in a hurry.
That activity was fruitful for me and I learnt many ethical manners from that activity, which I
used in my interviews. I learnt that questions should be ethical and no restriction to giving the answer.
Hence, I learnt about interview processes and how can I handle it in a way that is more appropriate. In

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addition, the interview is the best practice to increase confidence and remove language barriers (Dunne
& Martin, 2006).
I learnt about the rapid-prototype model. It is the best model to solve different issues and
business problems of an organization as well as personal life. There are many issues in companies, which
can be solved using assumption-testing stage. Managers can create an assumption to understand
customer’s requirements and implement different solutions for those requirements. I have developed a
customer relationship application, which can be used to understand the requirement of customers and
provide them with their products easily. Moreover, the design-thinking process is necessary to solve
problems in an easy way and provide appropriate solutions ( Fanguy, 2018). No one is an expert in our
group in IT application development. Therefore, I have used a cardboard model as an application. I
learnt about the cardboard model design as well. I faced many challenges in designing that application
using cardboard. It was so difficult to express features of the application.
At the end of the workshop, I did it very well using teamwork and hard work. It was a type of
virtual application. There are many issues faced by our team in designing that model (Brown & Wyatt,
2010). On 22 May 2019, I wrote my blog on my online portal and I learnt that a rapid prototype model
could be helpful to solve many other business problems in an easy way. I also learnt that an IT
background is necessary to solve many business problems. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the
different types of certification and accreditations. It will provide benefits in my future. In addition,
reflective writing is necessary to understand many things from our experience, which can be used in
future (Fook, 2010)
Reflective skills
On 26 May 2019, I wrote my blog based on week nine in which I had created creative and good
presentation after a lot of research. According to (Gray, 2007), many reflective tools are available in the
market, which can provide better results in the learning process, such as online blogs, reflective video
blogs and many others.
I had some stage fear, as I have in starting because of language and presentation. I did that first
time to have less confidence. I learnt about different tools to create a presentation and it was helpful in
my professional work. According to (Hobcraft, 2017), an innovation manager should have presentation
skills and confidence to manage different works at the workplace.

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I also learnt that stage fear make me less effective and I should need to work on my confidence
and stage fear to enhance my presentation skills. There are many weaknesses in myself, which was I
found after that presentation activity, such as stage fear, communication issues, and many others. In
addition, design thinking is good for professional growth and increase problem-solving skills, which is
highly required in most of the businesses (Liedtka & Ogilvie, 2011).
I learnt about personal development and struggle, which I faced in the design-thinking
workshop. I learnt about my strengths and weakness and I should work on them to use my strengths in
my professional life and remove my weaknesses from creating new skills in myself, such as IT application
development, presentation, rapid prototype, problem solving, and many others. According to (Martin,
2009), business requires different skills to manage their operations properly, such as leadership,
teamwork, confidence. These strengths can be used in the implementation and management of the
business.
Empathy
Empathy makes a huge difference in my life and I understand each situation critically then
provide any view. I started thinking from others point of view for a problem rather than putting myself
first. In addition, design thinking is necessary to enhance and develop new skills in a persona from
different activities and programs (Razzouk & Shute, 2012). When I carried out empathy (see photo in
blog entry 4, 19 April 2019), I felled that I can think about a problem from different person’s point of
view. In addition, blogs are the best way to reflect on our learning and it provides many good things in a
good manner (Yang, 2009).
Action Plan
In the next six month, I will be a supervisor in a good company using my leadership skills and in
next 2 year, I will be an assistant manager in a marketing company. I will use different skills to achieve
those goals with my skills, such as patience, focus on work, effective communication, and brainstorming.
Objective Activities Timeframe Rationale
Improving leadership
skill
Identify different
business problems and
find out their different
solutions in a team and
4-5 months It will provide help to
create my profile strong
for a good position in a
good organization.

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provide a feasible
solution to the manager
Improve motivation Attend different
seminars to increase
motivation
3-4 weeks It will increase my
patience level
Identify weaknesses Participate in self-
reflective activities
2-3 months It will overcome my
weaknesses, such as
focus on issues,
patience, leadership
and many others
Conclusion
In conclusion, this report has explained about the role of design thinking approach in problem
solving. I learnt about many things during that workshop, such as mind-mapping, brainstorming,
prototype designing, presentation, and many others.
This report has concluded all my learning from that workshop and it has described my personal
refection from two points of view, which are knowledge development, and personal development. I
improved my different skills after that workshop in next two months, such as leadership,
communication, teamwork, patience, brainstorming, and many others.
Finally, it is concluded that reflective practice is necessary to learn from our experiences, such as
self-refection, and many other. It will provide help in my career development.

Problem-solving approach 9
References
Christensen, C. M., McDonald, R., & Raynor, M. E. (2015). What Is Disruptive Innovation? Retrieved
March 1, 2019, from https://hbr.org/2015/12/what-is-disruptive-innovation
Dubey, A. (2018, February 18). 10 Amazing Leadership Lessons From Design Thinking. Retrieved
November 21, 2018, from addicted2success.com: https://addicted2success.com/success-
advice/10-amazing-leadership-lessons-from-design-thinking/
Fanguy, W. (2018, jun 1). Why the world needs more design thinking. Retrieved from
www.invisionapp.com: https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/world-needs-more-design-
thinking
Geiger, W. (2018). 4 Frameworks for Corporate Innovation. Retrieved February 15, 2019, from
https://medium.com/touchdownvc/4-frameworks-for-corporate-innovation-c7b0fe5a7d2d
Lopez, J. (2015). Types of Innovation. Retrieved January 3, 2019, from
https://techblog.constantcontact.com/software-development/types-of-innovation/
Naiman, L. (2017, April 21). Why Your HR Department Should Embrace Design Thinking. Retrieved from
www.inc.com: https://www.inc.com/linda-naiman/6-ways-hr-applies-design-thinking-to-deliver-
engaging-employee-experiences.html
Rosenø, A. (2018, February 12). Design Thinking - More Than Just a Method. Retrieved from Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/design-thinking-more-than-just-method-axel-rosen%C3%B8/
Schweiger, C. (2019). (Corporate) Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Retrieved February 15, 2019, from
https://en.fh-wien.ac.at/research/research-areas/corporate-entrepreneurship-and-innovation/
Brooks, C. (2013). Entrepreneurs Answer the Question: 'Why Is Innovation Important'. Retrieved
December 10, 2018, from Business News Daily: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5167-
innovation.html
Brown, T., & Ulijn, J. (2004). Innovation, entrepreneurship and culture: the interaction between
technology, progress and economic growth. (3rd ed.). London: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Brown, T., & Wyatt, J. (2010). Design thinking for social innovation. Development Outreach, 12(1), 29-43.

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Chesbrough, H. (2010). Business model innovation: opportunities and barriers. Long range planning,
42(2-3), 354-363.
Drucker, P. (2014). Innovation and entrepreneurship (1 ed.). London: Routledge.
Dunne, D., & Martin, R. (2006). Design thinking and how it will change management education: An
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Fook, J. (2010). Beyond reflective practice: reworking the “critical” in critical reflection. Beyond reflective
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Gray, D. E. (2007). Facilitating management learning: Developing critical reflection through reflective
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Hobcraft, P. (2017, August 17). An introduction to Design Thinking for Innovation Managers. Retrieved
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thinking-for-innovation-managers
Liedtka, J. (2018). Why Design Thinking works: it addresses the biases and behaviors that hamper
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Liedtka, J., & Ogilvie, T. (2011). Designing for growth: A design thinking tool kit for managers. New York:
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Martin, R. L. (2009). The design of business: Why design thinking is the next competitive advantage. (1
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Razzouk, R., & Shute, V. (2012). What is design thinking and why is it important? Review of Educational
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Steh, B., & Saric, M. (2017). Critical reflection in the professional development of teachers: Challenges
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Teece, D. J. (2010). Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long range planning, 42(2-3),
172-194. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.003

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Yang, S.-H. (2009). Using blogs to enhance critical reflection and community of practice. Educational
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