A Problem solving technique

A problem solving technique is a systematic approach to overcoming obstacles or problems in the management process. 

The problem solving process is a sequence of events often called the problem solving cycle: 

•Identify the problem

•Generate solutions

•Select a solution

•Implement the solution

•Evaluate the solution

1. Identify the Problem

Problems as given can often be unclear in their original form. For example, what does the problem ‘need to improve health services’ actually mean? Breaking down the problem into its different meanings can help clarify a problem that is ambiguous or uncertain.

Write down a description of the problem with sentences like, ‘The following should be happening, but isn't ...’ or ‘The following is not happening and should be: ...’ Be as specific as possible. Ask yourself and others the following questions:

·         What can you see that makes you think there's a problem?

·         Where is it happening?

·         How is it happening?

·         When is it happening?

·         With whom is it happening?

2. Generate Possible Solutions

When you have discovered the real problem that you want to solve and fully understand its context, the next step is to generate a number of possible solutions.

First, list as many solutions as possible and do not pre-judge them. Consider the good and bad points and other things which are relevant to each solution. Writing down advantages may help some solutions to stand out.

Keep others involved in brainstorming for solutions (unless you're facing a personal and/or employee performance problem). Brainstorming is collecting as many ideas as possible and then screening them to find the best idea. When collecting the ideas, do not judge them right away. Just write them down as you hear them.

3.  Select the Best Solution(s)

Review the various influencing factors for each possible solution and decide which solutions to keep. Sometimes pure facts and figures will dictate which ideas will work. At other times, feelings and intuition may guide the decision.

·         Which approach is most likely to solve the problem for the long term?

·         Which approach is the most realistic to accomplish for now?

·         Do you have the resources? Are they affordable?

·          Do you have enough time to implement the approach?

·         What are the risks with each alternative?

Ranking the solutions may help create a shortlist of potential solutions. Deepen your analysis of each idea and vote again on your shortlist. If you end up with no viable solutions, perhaps the problem is not correctly defined.

4.  Implement the Solution

Now you need to decide how to make the chosen solution really happen. You must decide who will do what and when and how you will follow-up on the solution.

Develop a Plan of Action

Your action plan should include answers to the following questions:

·         What will the situation look like when the problem is solved?

·         What steps should be taken to implement the plan?

·         What systems or processes should be changed in the organization (e.g. new policy or procedure)? An employee’s promise ‘to try harder’ may not be enough.

·         How will you know if the plan is being followed? (the indicators of success).

·         What resources will you need in terms of people, money and facilities?

·         How much time will you need to implement the solution? Write a schedule with start and stop times and when you expect to see certain indicators of success.

·         Who will oversee implementation of the plan?

Communicate the plan to those involved in implementing it and, at least, to your supervisor.

Once you have chosen a solution, try it out. Don't worry if objections or problems remain. A solution may take a long time to work, so be patient before abandoning the choice. Remain flexible; many solutions need to be modified while in progress. Don't expect that your outcomes will be exactly as you had planned. 

5.  Evaluate the Solution

Always monitor the indicators of success:

·         Are you seeing what you expected?

·         Will the plan be done on schedule?

If the plan is not being followed as expected, consider if the plan was realistic. Maybe the plan needs to be adjusted.

One of the most frequent failures of problem solving is not evaluating the implemented solution. You must determine whether the solution(s) worked and to what extent.

• Did the solution resolve the problem?
• Do modifications need to be made?
• Do other solutions need to be selected and tried?

In many cases, an incomplete remedy is better than none at all. For example, a solution that reduces drug addiction by even 10% is a good one, even though it didn't work for the other 90% of cases. 

In your final evaluation, it is helpful to consider:

·         What changes should be made to avoid this type of problem in the future (e.g. policies and procedures, training, etc)?

·         What did you learn from this? Consider new knowledge, understanding and/or skills.

Write a brief memo that highlights the success of the problem solving effort and what you learned as a result. Share it with your supervisor, peers and subordinates.

  

KNOWING IS NOT ENOUGH

You see in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must do, that is to say take action-Tony Robbins

Age and its relationship with Venture creations

Most people would like to start their entrepreneurial venture after retiring.However the research findings shows that the businesses  that are likely to succeed are those that have been started by the young people.

For example Reynolds etal (2000) found that individuals aged 25-44 years are most active in entrepreneurial endeavour in western countries. This seems similar to what was found in developing world as well;For instance study from Tanzania by Kambi shows that the people who wanted to participate in entrepreneurship endeavours such as starting their own ventures are those from the age 21-30 ( 67%).

Reference

Kambi B (2012) The entrepreneurial intentions of University students in Tanzania,Lambert Publishing Company.German

Reynolds,P.D,Hay,M,Bygrave,W.D,Camp,S,M and Aution E.(2000),Global entrepreneurship Monitor 2000,Executive Report; A Report from Babson College, Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurship Leadership and London Business School.

Difference between men and women with regard to business performance

There seem to be a difference between men and women with regard to business performance.

Though Mazzarol etal(1999) found that females were generally less likely to be the founders of new businesses than males.

Some empirical studies have shown the size of businesses owned by women is significant smaller than those owned by their counterparts. Also some studies have shown that women-owned businesses grow less quickly than those owned by men (Cooper et al., 1994: Fischer et al., 1993; Singh et al., 2001; Mead and Liedholm, 1998).

In relation to growth aspirations, Kolvereid (1992) analyzed growth aspirations of entrepreneurs in Norway; he found that male entrepreneurs were more likely to state positive growth intentions than female entrepreneurs, but the difference was not statistically significant. Kolvereid said that the statistical significance of the results may be country specific, since Norway is an egalitarian country where the male-female differences are not particularly strong.

Cliff (1998) examined growth aspirations between male and female entrepreneurs. The author found that male and female entrepreneurs seem equally likely to desire business growth. The qualitative findings suggest that female entrepreneurs are more likely to establish maximum business size thresholds beyond which they would prefer not to expand, and that these thresholds are smaller than those set by their male counterpart.

WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS

There has been an increase in women-owned businesses across the world. In the USA, in 1997 there were 5.4 million women-owned firms, employing more than 7.12 million people.

In 2006, this had increased to 7.7 million women-owned firms, employing more than 7.16 million people Between 1991 and 2001, the rate of self-employment amongst Canadian women grew by 43 percent .

 In 2005, approximately 866,000 Canadian women were self-employed, accounting for about one third of self-employed persons. Similarly, there has been a growth in the number of self-employed women in the UK, from 899,000 in 1992 to 1,013,000 in 2006, an increase of 10%

Despite the increase in the number of women-owned enterprises and their increasing impact on the economy, most women-owned businesses have been concentrated in micro and small enterprises. This is especially true in developing countries.

GEM South African Report (2006) found that for a period of five years (2002-2006), most of the women who engaged in entrepreneurial activities were not graduating to higher levels of entrepreneurship. 

In Tanzania, although there are no comprehensive data on the number of women in SMEs, the University of Dar es salaam Entrepreneurship Centre (UDEC) has reported that most of the women-owned businesses are predominantly found in the informal and micro sectors (2002).

In order to improve the contribution of these small businesses in the development process, a larger proportion of these informal and micro enterprises need to grow.

There are several advantages associated with growing firms: 

First, as group, growing businesses generate most of the new jobs in an economy, and increase productivity (Storey, 1994).

Second, growing firms are more likely to innovate, since they may have access to greater financial and technological resources (Rothwell, 1989).

Third, as firms grow, they become more formalized and therefore bound by tax and labour laws.  This broadens the economy’s viable tax base (Storey, 1994).

Source: Dr Hawa Petro (2011)

Business Growth

Growth is a natural and desirable outcome for entrepreneurial ventures. In fact, it is part of definition of entrepreneurship. As one can define entrepreneurship as the process whereby an individual or group of individuals uses organized efforts and means to pursue opportunities to create value and growth by fulfilling wants and needs through innovation and uniqueness, no matter what resources are currently held.

Entrepreneurship ventures pursue growth. An organization that is not growing but instead is staying the same isn’t entrepreneurial.

Nevertheless growing successfully doesn’t necessary occur randomly or by luck. Successfully pursuing growth typically requires an entrepreneur to manage all the challenges associated with growing.

Most small firms don’t grow to any size. They are life style that provide owner manager with an acceptable income but more important a comfortable life style. However even these often grow to a certain size and then fatter or stagnate. Breakpoints frequently occur at around five employees. Going beyond 20 employees often means the way business is organized has to change.

The problem starts when the business threatens to become a separate entity in its own right.

At this point the owners start to feel that the business is out of their control.

Typically they can no longer do everything with one or two key support staff, communication is failing and mistakes are happening too frequently for comfort. The demands on the owner’s time are unbearable and so the next stage is to formalize a management team and delegate responsibility and authority.

The owner is the only person who can decide whether to go for growth and all that it entails or to establish comfortable limits. For the majority of the business owners decision is about how to keep success at maximum while maintaining the size of the company for their own comfort.

The entrepreneurial owner will need a plan for dealing with situation and growth to be rapid. If the owner did not go into business with the express purpose of growing a successful company, but the success of business is encouraging he may also be considering growth as an inevitable part of success.

The growing of a business requires the efforts and desire of individual entrepreneur.