Fundamentals of Management, 11/e

Management Skill Builder

Being a Creative Decision Maker

Many decisions that managers make are routine, so they can fall back on experience and “what’s worked in the past.” But other decisions—especially those made by upper-level managers—are unique and haven’t been confronted before. The uniqueness and variety of problems that managers face demand creativity—the ability to produce novel and useful ideas. If managers are to successfully progress upward in an organization, they’ll find an increasing need to develop creative decisions. Creativity is partly a frame of mind. You need to expand your mind’s capabilities—that is, open yourself up to new ideas. Every individual has the ability to improve his or her creativity, but many people simply ...