If you have been on the Rotman website or read anything Rotman-related you have probably seen it plastered all over the place and you are probably wondering what it is. Most of us had no idea when we started school. This qtr we are taking a class called “Integrative Thinking Practicum” (ITP for short) in which we are supposed to take the concept of integrative thinking and practice it in case studies.
Apparently there were a lot of complaints with how ITP was being taught last year so to figure out how to fix it, who better to teach the class then integrative thinking’s inventor (and the Dean of our school), Roger Martin! So Roger Martin is teaching us a class. Despite his stature in the business world, he is actually a super down-to-earth guy and of course speaks very well. Also, thus far, I really like how the class is being structured. First we did a few cases that happened in the past, so we could see how to use integrative thinking to come up with solutions. Then, we are given a bunch of cases of situations happening right now in the real world and asked to solve them. It’s cool knowing we can use what we learn in class to make an actual real world impact.
But now to answer the question in the title of this blog entry. According to Rotman’s website, integrative thinking is: “instead of choosing one (model of how to run your business) at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new model that contains elements of the both models, but is superior to each.” I dare define it in a much simpler form: creative problem solving. That’s it. Basically instead of thinking in terms of very strict set of alternatives that are common in your industry, come up with some wacky new one that suits your needs.
Because I am naturally a pretty creative guy, this is not really news to me. I think like this every day. However, for people with backgrounds working/studying in fields that are very “black and white” I can definitely see the value in teaching how to be more creative problem solvers. So, people with creative backgrounds, this stuff should be easy for you. Engineers, accountants, etc, have fun expanding your problem-solving horizons!
Mike,
ReplyDeleteIntegrative Thinking is a field in Applied Mind Science which was originated by Graham Douglas in 1986. He describes Integrative Thinking as the process of integrating intuition, reason and imagination in a human mind with a view to developing a holistic continuum of strategy, tactics, action, review and evaluation for addressing a problem in any field. A problem may be defined as the difference between what one has and what one wants. Integrative Thinking as described may be learned by applying the SOARA (Satisfying, Optimum, Achievable Results Ahead) Process of Integrative Thinking devised by Graham Douglas to any problem with which the learner is dealing.The SOARA Process of Integrative Thinking employs a comprehensive and easily remembered set of triggers of internal and external knowledge. This facilitates the making of connections between what may have been regarded as unrelated parts of a problem. Further background about Integrative Thinking and its application to organisations, governance and achieving sustainable development through Integrative Improvement is available at http://www.integrative-thinking.com