brainstorming as a tool of communication.docx

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Brainstorming as a tool of communication

Introduction

Brainstorming is an activity where a group of people meet to produce new ideas

around a particular area of interest. According to Osborn (1963) brainstorming is thepractice of getting a group of people and asking them try to come up with thoughts

and ideas or solve issues with creative thinking. Usually this contains making lists of

ideas and thoughts contributed by all individuals in the group.

Alex Faickney Osborn, an advertising manager, popularized the method in 1953 in

his book, Applied Imagination. Ten years later, he proposed that teams could double

their creative output with brainstorming (Osborn, 1963).

Toubia (2011) says that good communication is one of the main pillars of any

organization. It is important for a company to share information within its employeesand get solution to various issues through meeting and discussion. Brainstorming is

the most widely used tool to inspire creative thinking. This encourages people to

communicate freely and express ideas and feelings. Paulus (2001) describes

Brainstorming is designed to help thinking patterns into new ways of looking at

things. In brainstorming process participants will sit in a semi-circle or other

configuration that allows everyone to focus on a central location where ideas will be

posted. Later the leader or organizer selects the best ideas or solutions.

Body

The communication problems cause a lot of issues and troubles to company. It makes

management feel frustrated due to effects caused by miscommunication. Creating

useful and efficient internal communication within an organization is very important.

In organization communication meetings are important for communicating rules &

regulations, discussing & solving problems and conveying a message to a large group

of people. Brainstorming can be used an effective tool in communication in an

organization or outside (Isaksen (1998)).

As per Penny Sansevieri (2011) most of the time employees consider meetings as

boring and time-wasters hence the communication gap is created. Brainstorming canbe used a tool of communication to arrange and attract employees for meeting and

sharing their idea.

Furnham (1995) argues that brainstorming is especially useful when someone want to

refresh the thoughts and processes, set up models and guides of thinking, so that one

can develop new menas of examining things. It also helps overcome many of the

issues that can make group problem-solving a fruitless and inefficient process.

Brown (2002) explains that there are two types of Brainstorming methods:

Traditional Brainstorming where a group of people sit in a room and shout outideas as they occur to them.


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Advanced Brainstorming in which specialized techniques, better processes and

better awareness, combined with new technologies.Santanen (2004) explains in his studies that to conduct a group brainstorming

meeting you need to follow some steps. First, find a well to do meeting

surrounding or venue for the session. Second, appoint a person to make note of

thoughts and ideas that come from the participants. These points must be recorded

in such a way that all can see, understand and refer to. You may use whiteboards,

flip charts or computers to record. Later mention the issue clearly you want to

solve or address, and explain any condition to be fulfilled. Encourage people to

develop creative thoughts and ideas, or to use other ideas to create new ones. He

should make sure you give opportunity to all to give their ideas. Very important to

ensure that no one criticizes on each other or on any said idea.

In next step when the brainstorming meeting is finished, the thoughts and ideas

shared by people can be evaluated and the best solutions can be discovered. The

head of the session should make sure that the brainstorming is to the topic andobjective.

Finally after discussing and evaluation, determine the best possible solution to the

given issue.

According to (Osborn, 1963) there are four fundamental rules in brainstorming

activity:

o No criticism: Laughing is to be supported not criticism. Criticism of ideas isnot allowed during the brainstorming session because it may hold back many

important thoughts. Criticism is set aside for the evaluation stage. This allows

the members to feel comfortable with the idea of generating unusual ideas.

o Accept unusual ideas: Strange or odd thoughts are appreciated as it is usuallysimple to "tame down" than to "tame up" as new methods of thinking and

looking at the world may provide better solutions.

o Quantity: More the number of ideas collected and produces, the better thepossibility of producing an valuable solution.

o Unite and improve ideas: It is not only required a verity of ideas but alsomeans and styles to merge ideas sp as to make them better.

In selecting a solution one can use voting method to shortlist thoughts and ideas.

Select 2 or 3 ideas of highest votes and further vote to select the best one. Forexample

Idea Low Cost Easy and

practical

Will ease

other actions

Total

Outsource it

to a vendor.

1 1 1 3

Hire a new

employee.

3 2 3 8

Share the

extra

workload

1 3 1 4


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Brainstorming is a useful way of communicating with employees and other where

thoughts and ideas are communicated and exchanged. Creating a surrounding where

all thoughts are greeted and

is extremely important to the success of any brainstorming communication session

(Olivier (1998)).

It's amazing that how much of a relation between brainstorming and communication

there is! No doubt it can be regarded as unbelievable way how you can communicate

better in the workplace.

Conclusion

To conclude we can say that exchanging information is the basic function of

communication and it is an important component of organizational activity. An

organization uses several tools for communication. Out of these brainstorming can be

considered as a vital tool in communication. Brainstorming is very important for to a

healthy work communication. It is helpful in the problem solving techniques that are

used in coming to conclusions to extract a common goal. It will be easy to find

alternative solution and the best possible solution to a problem through brainstorming

session. During the brainstorming process there is no criticism of ideas, and free lead

is given to people's creativity. I believe without brainstorming, there is a possibility

that one can get similar solution to any issue, however a better solution might come

from a brainstorming session. So I say use brainstorming as tool for communication

your company.

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Reference

Brown (2002). A simple dynamic model of social factors in groupbrainstorming. Sydney: MKT Press

Furnham, A., & Yazdanpanahi, T. (1995). Personality differences and groupversus individual brainstorming

Osborn, A.F. (1963) Applied imagination: Principles and procedures ofcreative problem solving (Third Revised Edition). New York, NY: Charles

Scribners Sons.

Olivier (1998). anagement Information Systems. San Francisco: Berret-Koehler, Inc

Penny Sansevieri (2011). RGS Business Solutions: An Introduction to aSimple Communication Plan. Lockport Union Sun and Journal

Santanen, (2004). Causal Relationships in Creative Problem Solving. London.McGraw-Hill

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