BUSM4550: A Reflective Essay on Creativity, Innovation & Design

This essay presents a personal reflection on a course focused on creativity, innovation, and design. It begins by outlining initial expectations regarding the course, which primarily centered on gaining theoretical knowledge about creative thinking. The reflection then discusses how these expectations evolved as the course progressed, particularly with the realization of the broader significance of creative processes and innovation, especially within team environments. Key learning outcomes are highlighted, including the importance of both divergent and convergent thinking, the enhancement of creativity through teamwork, and the ability to transform destructive conflicts into constructive problem-solving opportunities. The essay also emphasizes the ethical considerations involved in creative design thinking and how the course learnings can be applied in future career endeavors to advocate for creative thinking and innovation-friendly work environments. Finally, a personal anecdote illustrates the application of divergent-convergent thinking to creatively solve a real-life problem.

REFLECTION ON THE COURSE CREATIVITY, INNOVATION
AND DESIGN
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
My expectations...............................................................................................................................2
Changes in expectations..................................................................................................................2
Learning outcomes...........................................................................................................................2
Use of the learning in career............................................................................................................3
Example from life............................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
Reference list...................................................................................................................................5
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Introduction
The study has focused on my personal reflection on the course namely creativity, innovation and
design. For that reason, my previous expectations regarding the course, learning outcomes and
the probable usability of my learning in my future career have been included in this study.
Moreover, one example from my life experience has been illuminated further in the study where
I have used my creative thinking skills and received positive results.
My expectations
Before starting the course, I expected that this course will enhance theoretical knowledge
regarding creative thinking. However, I was not aware of the real life importance of team work,
creative environment and concepts like ideation process in the beginning. My main expectation
was that I will be able to understand whether I am a creative person or not. This is because I had
no idea that each person has the ability to solve problems creatively regardless of what
organizational field they belong to.
Changes in expectations
During the course, I realized that creative process and innovation have broader significance. So,
gradually my expectations increased as I started following the course discussions. As almost all
of the lectures involved group activities and individual activities, I started expecting that I will
get better after performing in each activity and will become more creative and innovative at the
end of the course. Another changed expectation was that I started expecting that my team had a
role to play in my learning. So, I was waiting to see how social environment, communication and
collaboration help in building individual creativity level.
Learning outcomes
The first thing that I have learned during the course is the relevance of creativity and innovation
in the workplace. Unlike my previous assumptions, I have realized that creativity is an essential
part of business growth especially in this age where each and every organization has been trying
to be in a better position than others in the market. In the context of creative process, I have
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learned that both divergent and convergent thinking are needed for being creative while solving
any problem (Dhir, 2016). This is because divergent thinking helps in assimilating all the
possible solutions to a problem while convergent thinking helps in narrowing down the most
appropriate solutions at the end. I have also learned that creative thinking is enhanced when
people work in teams (Pelegrini and Burns, 2014). This is because each and every person has
their own way of thinking and thus their diversity contributes to the ultimate idea generation
process (Toubia and Netzer, 2016).
On the other hand, I have learned that it is not always necessary that situations will always be in
favour of creative thinking. Conflicts may occur especially when a team works together. But the
ability of turning any destructive conflict into a constructive one is what creative problem
solving is about (Reinartz and Saffert, 2013). The course helped me understand that
environment, experiment and innovation are the key elements of forming a creative problem
solving and an idea generation atmosphere in any organization. In addition, assimilation of ideas
or creative solutions is not enough unless the ideas get pitched in front of the people who are able
to implement the pitched ideas. This shows that various people or designated personas of a
particular organization collaboratively transform the culture of the organization into a creative
one.
Apart from that, I have learned that there has to be some ethical considerations while being
involved into creative design thinking. The reason behind this is that it is important to evaluate
all the related areas before implementing any creative idea on the basis of whether there is a
chance that the ideas may generate unsustainable results or not.
Use of the learning in career
I think that my learning of the course will be very helpful for my future. Regardless of what
organization I choose to work in, I believe that I will be among those who will advocate for
creative thinking at every aspect of working. For example, creativity cannot be expected only
from the employees but also from the managers or directors as well. Thus, I think this mindset
will help me in whichever position I get promoted to in my future. On the other hand, the
importance of creative environment will help me in suggesting the concerned persons to change
the working areas into a more innovation friendly zone so that everyone will feel free to share
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individual ideas with one another. I, as an employee, will be prepared for any kind of destructive
conflicts arising from working with teams (Spangenberg, 2013). Due to the course, this will be
easier for me to handle the chaos in a more productive way. In addition, this course will help me
connect the growth in creativity and innovation with organizational sustainable growth and this
mindset will always motivate me to think innovatively.
Example from life
Few days ago, I invited some of my friends for a little get together party but somehow I forgot to
tell them to bring food that I usually do every time we arrange any party. I realized this when
they started coming at the party. I became nervous and panicked and then I thought of
implementing the divergent-convergent thinking process, learnt in the course, to solve the
problem. One by one, I mind mapped all the possible solutions that came to my mind and then I
started comparing the ideas on the basis of their practicability. Finally, I came up with one
solution that is to tell them to collaboratively cook and that is how I solved my problem and
satisfied all my guests and myself at the end.
Conclusion
This study has revolved around my reflection on the course namely creativity, innovation and
design. This activity based course has been discussed as per my understanding and
improvements during and after the completion of the course. Moreover, future implications of
the course learning have also been included in the study along with one of my chosen experience
where I have used my divergent thinking to solve a real life problem creatively.
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Reference list
Dhir, S., 2016. Practice-oriented insights on creative problem solving. Journal of Management
and Public Policy, 7(2), p.5.
Pelegrini Morita, P. and Marie Burns, C., 2014. Trust tokens in team development. Team
Performance Management, 20(1/2), pp.39-64.
Reinartz, W. and Saffert, P., 2013. Creativity in advertising: When it works and when it
doesn’t. Harvard business review, 91(6), pp.106-112.
Spangenberg, J.H., 2013. Design for sustainability (DfS): Interface of sustainable production and
consumption. Handbook of sustainable engineering, 12(1), pp.575-595.
Toubia, O. and Netzer, O., 2016. Idea generation, creativity, and prototypicality. Marketing
science, 36(1), pp.1-20.
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