The second dilemma that this problem presented to me was the fact that if there are no lockers available to store my belongings, and I was not aloud to take them on to the shop floor, then I was left with no other option than to leave my belongings in my coat on a hanger, which isn’t the safest of options as I was informed from some of my colleges that possessions had been misplaced on more than one occasion so this deterred me from the second option, and as a result I carried out my shift with my belongings in my pockets and hoped that wouldn’t get caught for doing so. A considerable amount of months had passed and I was beginning to get rather annoyed with the tedious task of making sure my pockets didn’t give away any sign of a wallet or a phone, I also began to get quite paranoid when supervisors would randomly stop me to ask questions hoping that they hadn’t spotted the bulges in my pockets.
Something had to be done!!
There were opportunities for me to secure a locker in the off the chance that one became available, however I was reluctant to follow the crowd and add to the problem and so I began to contemplate the problem and draw upon my lateral thinking to provide a solution that will best please all.
After much contemplation and thought on the matter, the best possible solution came to me after noticing a couple of customers leaving the store and setting the alarms off with there shopping bags. The alarms are normally triggered by the off chance that a check out assistant hadn’t removed the security tag attached to an item of clothing or bottle of alcohol etc.
The Solution!!
The idea that I had proposed to the store manager to solve this problem of employees taking home locker keys was adding to the key the exact same security tags attached to items of clothing, the security tags used by Tesco were no larger than an ordinary key rings so attaching them to the locker keys wouldn’t be a burden on the person carrying them. I proposed my ideas, along with all the dilemmas arising from the lack of lockers in the work place, and within 2 days I was commended for my creative efforts and received positive feedback.
In my proposal I included all the issues surrounding the lack of lockers in the staff changing rooms, I provided them with my idea and the benefits it would have to carry out this change. I also listed some of the possible ramifications that may be present with this drastic change, these included;
The locker keys would all need to be replaced in order to attach the security tags, this would be achieved by management giving all employees a certain deadline as to when keys needed to be returned. This is a task that management would have to enforce on their employees this may cause conflict with a few employees due to them being reluctant to change etc.
There would only be a small cost on Tesco’s behalf to provide the amount of security tags needed to fit every key, however this was only a small price to pay to ensure employees were not in a position to have to take possessions onto the shop floor. The only other option that Tesco could have taken was to bring in more lockers to meet the growing demand, however I mentioned this in my proposal and explained that not only couldn’t the staff changing rooms accommodate more lockers, the problem wouldn’t have been solved.
In the positive feedback given by my management at the time, they had expressed the fact that they had received several complaints from new members of staff having no space to store there personal belongings, and were in fact looking for possible solutions. The management at the time were extremely grateful for the actions that I had taken and promised to keep me informed with any changes that will occur in the near future.
A little over a month had passed and I was called into my section managers office and to my surprise, be informed that I had achieved the ‘Blue Flag of Excellence Award’ for my efforts with regards to the lack of lockers. This award was handed out to selected employees who had showed excellent initiative and hard work within the workplace. I was also informed that they had planned to carry out my idea with immediate effect.
On that same day notices were being placed around the staff changing rooms and cafeteria that all locker keys must be replaced within a week, and failure to do so would result in unopened lockers being opened by management with a master key and possessions inside being thrown away accordingly.
A week had passed and positive results were already being shown, the lockers had all been tagged and dozens were available for employees beginning their shifts. And there was little dispute from members of staff in light of the new changes.
Theoretical Analysis of my Creative Problem Solving
In this next part of the assignment I will be reflecting upon my actions, ‘stepping back’ from the scenario that I found myself in at Tesco, and analysing all the reasons for the actions that I took. I will be using theoretical frameworks provided by authors in this particular field to help explain the reasons that I suddenly needed to find a solution to the problem I was faced with. By doing this I will hope to find out why it is that creative thinking and innovative solutions are suddenly triggered off and provided when certain individuals are faced with dilemmas.
Before the keys to the lockers were tagged, and the problem was still present I was surprised to see so few employees approaching management with there problems, this problem didn’t just affect me, I heard through the grape vine that this problem had been present many years before I joined Tesco. This, I found very shocking, neither management nor employees could come to an agreement to resolve this problem, from this fact I draw upon the notion that the employees and management alike were in a state of ‘blindering’, this phrase was coined by Joseph T. Straub (2000) pp. 149, he stated that;
“Blindering happens when people put artificial boundaries on their thoughts or actions, imagining barriers where there are none or assuming that obstacles can’t be removed or manoeuvred in some way. People can be blinded not only by their own mindset but also by policies, procedures, traditions and customs. That’s what makes change, particularly in the workplace, so difficult.”
The idea of being ‘blinded’ is exactly the way in which some of my colleagues at Tesco responded to the escalating problem, instead of attempting to seek a solution they simply added to the problem. Most employees dealt with the problem as best as they can, and adapt to it, by carrying possessions onto the shop floor, or reserving a locker when one became available. Whilst the other employees at Tesco seemed to be blinded by the current system, the management, it seemed were thinking incrementally, they planned to make changes to the current system and make step-by-step improvements.
This was highlighted by the fact that they were contemplating on fitting more lockers to match the demand, instead what they should have done and what I did, was to move towards transformational thinking, replacing established frameworks and providing a different way of thinking. With transformational thinking, comes higher risk, however the management in this situation could also monitor the risk factor, if the new system didn’t prove to be beneficial then they could simply remove it and go back to the original method.
Edward de Bono (1971), one of the key authors that dealt with creativity and innovative thinking, provided me with a huge amount of material on lateral thinking, this is the type of thinking that I had to call upon to solve the problem I was faced with at Tesco. Edward de Bono in his texts, spoke of two types of mindsets, the vertical thinker and the lateral thinker, vertical thinkers as described by de Bono, ‘take the most reasonable view of a situation and then proceed logically and carefully to work it out.’ pp.10. This was a distinct characteristic of the mindsets of management at Tesco at the time of the dilemma.
At first the management, were quite content on making reasonable and low risk changes to satisfy the complaints made by certain staff, such as introducing more lockers. The management at Tesco, needed to open there minds to other possible solutions that would be more efficient and less costly. It wasn’t until I offered my idea coming from my lateral thinking that they decided to go for a transformational approach to dealing with the idea. This was an achievement that I deeply proud of, not only had I confronted the management with the problem that was present at the time, I had also given them the perfect solution to overcome it, and for them to adapt and introduce my idea gave me a real sense of self actualisation, which in turn made my job at Tesco a lot more enjoyable.
De Bono was a firm believer that creative problem solving could assist in opening the minds of the parties who are effected by the current dilemma, he stated that it could; “help people modify or even change their paradigm” (1992) this was to prove critical if I was going to shift the management’s mindset away from their vertical thinking patterns and more towards my lateral way of solving the problem. How I achieved this was through my proposal, I had not only explained my transformational solution, I had also listed all the reasons why the new system would be a win/win scenario for all. If I hadn’t shifted my managers paradigm then they could of quite easily dismissed my idea and lean towards a more costly venture i.e. introducing more lockers.
Edward de Bono, believed that; “lateral thinkers tend to explore all the different ways of looking at something, rather than accepting the most promising and proceeding from that.” This form of thinking was required on my part to solve the problem in question, I had to step back and look at the situation and try resolve the problem so that all parties concerned came away with a win/win state of mind. A win/win solution as described by S.R Covey, where; ‘all parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the action plan’ pp.207. With the dilemma I faced, it proved quite difficult to try and attempt an outcome that would leave all employees coming away with a win/win attitude, due to the sheer amount of employees at this particular Tesco superstore, however it was important to please the majority, and those resisting to change would have to adapt to the companies new policy.
De Bono spoke in some of his text the idea of ‘creative pauses’, this is a term used to describe the deep contemplation that is sometimes needed to ‘dream up’ new ideas and solve problems. This is an activity that I can relate to whilst working at Tesco, as the idea that I proposed came to me whilst day dreaming on a particular shift. During my contemplation to seek solutions I kept an open and positive mind and kept the faith that there was a plausible solution here. Creative pauses, as explained by De Bono, enables people to break out of routine patterns of thinking and begin to think laterally.
Looking back at the way I solved the problem I was confronted with at Tesco, I don’t think there would have been much that I would have done differently if I could go back and change anything. If I had the knowledge back then that I have now, from taking part in the wider reading for this assignment, then there is a possibility that I could have resolved the situation with a win/win outcome for all members of staff. This could have been achieved by adapting the tools provided by the numerous authors in the field of creative problem solving to the dilemma I was faced with at Tesco. Im a firm believer of De Bono’s quote which states; “Using creativity is the cheapest way of making better use of the existing assets.” This quote captures the very essence of how a problematic and escalating dilemma that I faced in my work place could be solved simply by stepping back from the situation and thinking ‘out side’ of the box and providing creative solutions.
What I’ve learnt from reflecting upon this particular event that I chose to tackle was the very fact that I should always be open minded to new ideas, try not to solve problems by strictly thinking in a vertical and low risk fashion, always consider that there are new ideas out there just waiting to be dreamt up. Lateral and transformational ways of solving problems do bring high risks factors, however it is always best to have at least tried, and if your solution fails then you can learn from your mistakes and consider new ideas. In my situation I could of easily gone along with the crowd and contribute to the problem, instead I chose to do something about it, and in this incident it paid off and my creative thinking had awarded me with the knowledge that I contributed in improving the work environment at Tesco.
References
Covey, S.R., 1994. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Frome, UK.
De Bono, E., 1977. Lateral Thinking. Clays Ltd, England.
De Bono, F., 1977. Practical Thinking. Cox & Wyman Ltd. UK
De Bono, F., 1996. Serious Creativity Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New ideas. Omnia Books Ltd, Glasgow.
De Bono, F., 1967. The Use of Lateral Thinking. Aylesbury, Great Britain.
Robertson, S.I., 2001. Problem Solving. Psychology Press Ltd. Sussex, UK.
Rubinstein, F.M., 1986. Tools for Thinking and Problem Solving. Prentice Hall, US
Straub, T.J., 2000. The Rookie Manager. American Management Association, US
