Creative Thinking Skills and Project Management: Reflective Essay

This reflective essay examines the critical role of creative thinking skills in project management, focusing on a project manager's responsibilities at Blue Lab Company in India. The essay explores how creative thinking is essential for achieving unique project goals, balancing constraints, and mitigating risks. It delves into the importance of these skills for both the parent company and stakeholders, including planning, stakeholder management, human resource management, and conflict resolution. The analysis covers technical, planning, social, and leadership skills, highlighting the importance of adapting to project challenges. The conclusion categorizes skills as those that can be mastered theoretically and those requiring practice, emphasizing the value of creative thinking for future project managers. The essay underscores the importance of continuous learning and application of these skills to ensure project success.

Running head: Reflective essay 1
REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS AS UNORTHODOX
SOLUTIONS TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Submitted by
College supervisor
Date of submission

Running head: Reflective essay 2
1.0. Introduction
The first sentence describes what the paragraph is going to discuss which will be on creative
thinking skills of a project manager at Blue Lab Company in India. The project manager is
required to design and install low smoke stoves and economically viable toilets. Project manager
becomes one of the important decisions for the project success (Burke, 2013). The writer further
explains the last sentence that creative thinking skills in project management is that of applying
distinctive knowledge, tools and techniques in project activities to achieve unique results. The
project manager is expected to be technical and administrative credible (Hedman, 2013).
Creative thinking skills represent the ability to use equipment’s and tools, relate with project
team members and produce innovative products, while competency of project manager defines
ability to put many pieces of task together innovatively to make valuable decisions. The last
sentence is a concluding sentence that summarises the paragraph. A skilful and competent
project manager who is a creative thinker should be knowledgeable in a several areas and
functions (Gido & Clements, 2014).
2.0. Literature review
Project manager allocated creative thinking skills is important for today management and
ensuring company success. The project manager in Blue Lab Company is expected to utilize
skills from project beginning to closure. The project management creative thinking skills and
responsibilities are classified into broad areas to parent organization, and project stakeholders
(clients, project team members).
2.1. Skills importance to Blue Lab Company
The creative thinking skills of a project manager can be important for the parent company (Blue
Lab) in ensuring unique project goals is achieved. To support the first sentence there are several
responsibilities that a project manager needs to carry out during the project life cycle (Kendrick,
2013). The tasks of a project manager are to use planning skills to formulate a project
management plan that covers several components. The writer supports the argument by
mentioning the components to be planned to include: procurement, quality, communication, risk,

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schedule, and resources. Through creative thinking several tools and techniques can be used by
project managers for this planning process for example: risk registers, work breakdown
structures, critical path methods, and stakeholder registers. There are other special demands for
project managers which include: acquiring adequate resources, motivating project personnel,
dealing with obstacles, setting project goals and reporting roles (Bourne, 2015). Ideally, there
should be another sentence that links to the next paragraph. The several demands are unique with
management and the success of projects, and project managers need to use creative thinking
when dealing with them.
The role of a project manager through planning and organization skills is to balance the three
constraints (scope, budget, time) (Lock, 2014). Resources need to be obtained from the right
source and use them optimally; time and budget need to be conceptually generated to ensure
operations of the project run smoothly. The next sentences explain the last sentence in which the
writer was discussing. Project manager creative thinking skills are to ensure balancing of the
three constraints to avoid one overriding or affecting the other. Due to uniqueness of projects
several risks and crisis face it. Project managers need to identify, assess and mitigate these risks.
Projects can fail if the scope requirements are not well defined. The project creative thinking
skill is to use relevant software’s to breakdown project activities into smaller tasks, work
packages and establish relationship and responsibilities over them (Kloppenborg, 2014). It makes
easy to allocate resources and time if the activities are structured well. The project manager is
required to have negotiation skills during acquisition of resources and contract making process.
The writer further explains other additional roles and responsibilities. Projects require means of
verifying and maintaining performance. Project managers are required to have controlling skills
that is manifested by them setting standards and ensuring the standards are maintained
(Kendrick, 2013). One role of the project manager in Blue Lab Company is to creatively set
standards and specifications for work performance and ensure that they are followed.
Measurement and follow ups of standards can be achieved in projects by having monitoring and
evaluating units. The work of such unit is to ensure project performance is measured as per the
set standards and requirements, and corrective measures are taken in consideration.
2.2. Skills importance to Blue Lab Company stakeholders

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Blue lab clients represent several stakeholders directly or indirectly affected by the project. Blue
lab company stakeholders include: customers, employees, suppliers, and other relevant bodies.
The project manager role to the clients is to ensure integrity of the project is maintained in spite
of other conflicting demands from other parties with legitimate interests through integrative and
interpersonal skills (Armstrong, 2010). Blue Lab Company through its project manager needs to
creatively have a clear policy that will integrate and manage its clients’ interests. By carrying out
stakeholder analysis the company will identify the needs and interests of each client and provide
suitable methodologies to manage them. In project sustainability is important and that can be
achieved by project manager having a democratic leadership skills of allowing all clients
participate in project activities (Grindle, 2014).
The project managers through human resource skills need to negotiate with other functional
managers to acquire desired personnel and convince them to take project roles (Armstrong,
2010). Human resource skills entail identification, development and maintaining of the right
personnel for project needs. Project team members need to apply creative thinking in projects
through suitable methodologies and policies. The author expands his point, but is still relevant to
the first sentence, and uses a reference to support this. Project manager need to take a leading
role in creating a comfortable work environment for employees to focus on what they can
achieve (Heagney, 2016). The project manager general task is to creatively have skills of how to
acquire adequate resources, motivate employees, deal with obstacles, handling conflicts and
failures, and maintaining communication. The last sentence is a concluding sentence that
summarises the paragraph. The project manager need to have a clear definition of how success
and failure can be determined that makes it easy to keep track and monitor various activities
(Hedman, 2013).
3.0. Critical analysis of literature review
Project management creative thinking skills are important for a project manager to function
effectively in a project (Ferigotti , Cunha & Fernandes , 2016). To support the first sentence the
writer mentions project management creative thinking skills discussed in the literature to covers
areas like: technical, planning and conceptual, social and interpersonal, negotiation, human
resource management, and conflict management skills. The writer critically analyses each of the
mentioned project management skills where creative thinking is required. Technical skills

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involve using tools and techniques found in project management to support decisions and
activities in projects for example risk registers, work breakdown structures (Hurwitz & Hurwitz,
2013). Project managers can creatively use technical skills to develop tools and techniques that
simplify project activities and employing them to increase efficiency and effectiveness. The
writer then adds some examples to support what his point of view by proving practical examples
and illustrations. Planning and conceptual skills are critical in coming up with guidelines and
budgets for achievement of project activities for example project management plans of quality,
procurement. To support the importance of creative thinking skill project managers can use
planning and conceptual skills to ensure procedures and systems are formulated to execute
project activities.
There are other skills which are useful in project management. Social and interpersonal skills are
important in management of stakeholders in projects. This is explained further by the writer that
project managers use social and interpersonal skills for creative communication plan (Gido &
Clements, 2014). The next sentences just explain the first sentence in that human resource
management creative skill is important for a project manager in managing, maintaining and
motivating the right project staff in unique competitive way. That entails identifying through a
selection process, training and remunerating them to perform well in organization. Creative
thinking in conflict management skill is coming up with suitable methodologies for a project
manager to mitigate conflicts arising from project team members in the project. Leadership skills
are important in creatively directing and inspiring project team members towards project
activities. The writer explains further that the project manager is expected to take a leadership
and operative role in integrating all aspects and elements of the project, ensure that proper
knowledge, skills and resources are available, and ensure the project results are timely and cost
effective.
4.0. Conclusion
The writer’s conclusion categorizes the creative thinking skills in project management as those
that can be mastered and those that cannot be mastered. For those skills mastered theoretically
include: negotiation, controls, human resource management, planning, leadership and conceptual
skills one can uniquely apply creative thinking. For those project management skills not
mastered and require practice after learning include: technical, interpersonal and conflict

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management skills where creative thinking can be a challenge. Both skills are helpful to
accomplish unique outcomes with limited resources under critical time constraints for those who
are aspiring to be future project managers. To support the last sentence further creative thinking
in project management provides aspiring managers with tools that improve their ability to plan
implement and control project activities by utilizing resources distinctively. The creative
thinking skills in project management can be improved by further learning and confidently
applying them in projects.

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References
Armstrong, M. (2010). Human resource management. London, England: Mc Graw Hill.
Bourne, L. (2015). Making projects work:effective stakeholder and communication management.
New Delhi: CRC press.
Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control tecniques. New Jersey: Wiley
publishers.
Ferigotti C., Cunha S & Fernandes B. (2016). Managerial competencies for requirements of
sustainable innovation: the case of Electrolux of Brazil. International Journal of
Innovation and Sustainable Development,, 160-176.
Gido & Clements. (2014). Successful project management. Chicago: Nelson Education.
Grindle. (2014). Administrative Team Management: Four Essential Components. The Clearing
House,, 56(1), 29-33.
Heagney, J. (2016). The project manager leader. In fundamentals of project Management. New
York: Adventure works press.
Hedman, K. (2013). Project management professional exam study guide. Indianapolis: Wiley.
Hurwitz, M., & Hurwitz, S. (2013). Personal, Team, and Organizational Development. In
Leadership is Half the Story: A Fresh Look at Followership, Leadership, and
Collaboration . University of Toronto Press, 10(4), 23-78.
Kendrick, T. (2013). The project management tool kit: 100 tips and techniques for getting the job
done right. . AMACOM Div: American management Assn.
Kloppenborg, T. (2014). Contemporary project management. London: Nelson Education.
Lock, M. (2014). The essentials of project management. New York: Ashgate publishing Ltd.

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