Brainstorming As A Tool of Communication

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 the practice 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 employees and 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 can be 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 out ideas as they occur to them.
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 and objective. 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:
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No criticism: Laughing is to be supported not criticism. Criticism of ideas is not 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. Accept unusual ideas: Strange or odd thoughts are appreciated as it is usually simple to "tame down" than to "tame up" as new methods of thinking and looking at the world may provide better solutions. Quantity: More the number of ideas collected and produces, the better the possibility of producing an valuable solution. Unite and improve ideas: It is not only required a verity of ideas but also means 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. For example Idea Outsource it 1 to a vendor. Hire a new 3 employee. Share the 1 extra workload Low Cost 1 2 3 Easy and practical Will ease other actions 1 3 1 Total 3 8 4
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 group brainstorming. Sydney: MKT Press Furnham, A., & Yazdanpanahi, T. (1995). Personality differences and group versus individual brainstorming Osborn, A.F. (1963) Applied imagination: Principles and procedures of creative problem solving (Third Revised Edition). New York, NY: Charles Scribners Sons. Olivier (1998). anagement Information Systems. San Francisco: BerretKoehler, Inc Penny Sansevieri (2011). RGS Business Solutions: An Introduction to a Simple Communication Plan. Lockport Union Sun and Journal Santanen, (2004). Causal Relationships in Creative Problem Solving. London. McGraw-Hill

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