brainstorming
BRAINSTORMING
Brainstorming is a technique to help groups generate proposals for alternative courses of action. It was not intended as a method for carrying out the entire decision-making process. Osborn (1957) proposed the idea of brainstorming. He believed it was a way to help people make more creative proposals than they otherwise could have.
As you recall, we distinguished in Chapter 2 between theorists who are wholists and those who are reductionists. Wholists believe that people perform tasks better when they are members of a group than when they are alone. In contrast, reductionists believe that people perform tasks better when they work alone than when they are in groups. Osborn was a firm believer in wholism. He believed that people working in groups have the potential to generate more ideas and more creative ideas than when they work alone.
Osborn also believed, however, that people often do not realize this potential because individuals working in groups are often afraid that other group members will evaluate their ideas negatively. People are particularly afraid that the group will dislike their "craziest" notions. Therefore, group members often are afraid to express their ideas in public. This is a significant drawback because "crazy" ideas are sometimes the most creative and best solutions to problems. Hence, Osborn wanted to provide a technique for generating ideas in groups that would make people comfortable enough to express even their most "off-the-wall" ideas. To do this, he created the brainstorming method.
Brainstorming is easy. The first step is to choose a person to write down all the proposals that the group generates. Next, the members call out their ideas. They do so under unique conditions:
1. Under no circumstances can members evaluate any proposal. Encouragement is fine, but the group does no evaluating until a later stage. Osborn believed that people are apprehensive about suggesting their ideas because they are afraid that
Brainstorming is a technique to help groups generate proposals for alternative courses of action. It was not intended as a method for carrying out the entire decision-making process. Osborn (1957) proposed the idea of brainstorming. He believed it was a way to help people make more creative proposals than they otherwise could have.
As you recall, we distinguished in Chapter 2 between theorists who are wholists and those who are reductionists. Wholists believe that people perform tasks better when they are members of a group than when they are alone. In contrast, reductionists believe that people perform tasks better when they work alone than when they are in groups. Osborn was a firm believer in wholism. He believed that people working in groups have the potential to generate more ideas and more creative ideas than when they work alone.
Osborn also believed, however, that people often do not realize this potential because individuals working in groups are often afraid that other group members will evaluate their ideas negatively. People are particularly afraid that the group will dislike their "craziest" notions. Therefore, group members often are afraid to express their ideas in public. This is a significant drawback because "crazy" ideas are sometimes the most creative and best solutions to problems. Hence, Osborn wanted to provide a technique for generating ideas in groups that would make people comfortable enough to express even their most "off-the-wall" ideas. To do this, he created the brainstorming method.
Brainstorming is easy. The first step is to choose a person to write down all the proposals that the group generates. Next, the members call out their ideas. They do so under unique conditions:
1. Under no circumstances can members evaluate any proposal. Encouragement is fine, but the group does no evaluating until a later stage. Osborn believed that people are apprehensive about suggesting their ideas because they are afraid that