Creative Intelligence †Mental Models Essay

Introduction Creative Intelligence is the ability of mind to devise innovative and smart solutions to the problems faced in routine life. It is a very essential component of successful intelligence as it determines the potential to go ahead of the given situations in order to produce creative and interesting ideas. Such a situation appears when an individual moves in a direction opposite to that of general opinion with a motive to develop efficient means to accomplish the task (Burt, 1931). The four styles of Creative Intelligence are: Intuitive, Innovative, Imaginative and Inspirational. The comparison of these styles and their influence on organizational decision making is as follows- Intuitive: According to the intuitive style, the basic concepts and insights of mind are responsible for developing innovative ideas and determining the decision to be taken. In such a style, facts and figures hold less importance and complexity of the situation is not annoying. In intuitive style, constant changes in the internal as well as the external environments of the organization are presumed, beforehand. This style has a major influence on the organization as decisions are largely taken on the basis of the basic understanding of the employees. Innovative: As per the innovative style of creative intelligence, the creative ability of the mind to develop remarkable solutions to the problems gains high prominence. Such style is usually characterized by out-of box thinking and unconventional point of views. Similar to the intuitive style, it does not focus a great deal on the data and statistics. As every organization desires novel and innovative ideas for its problems, thus, the innovative style plays a pivotal role in the decision-making process. Imaginative: In this style of creative intelligence, an individual devises  new and creative ideas entirely on the basis of his imagination capabilities. Such a style requires the situation to be perceived from a variety of perspectives and solved entirely on the basis of shear creative potential of the mind. It does not require many details related to the given circumstances. Such a style does influence the decision-making process of an organization by recommending inventive measures to resolve the problem. Inspirational: The inspirational style is a very unique form of creative intelligence. According to this style, novel ideas and solutions are developed by drawing inspiration from the actions taken in situations of similar nature. Such kind of motivation can also be derived from the figures acknowledged by the individual. In contrast to other styles, it realizes the importance of the details related to the situation. Also, the inspirational style, simplifies the process of decision-making in a positive manner by recommending tested and proven measures. Influence of Five forces on Mental Models- A mental model accounts for an individual’s thought process about how things work in the real world. As these models refer to a symbol or representation of outside facts, they are assumed to play a crucial role in decision-making (Sternberg, 1982). The five forces affect the mental models existing in an organization in a significant manner. As a result of these forces, the mental models adapt themselves to the changes in the internal and external environments (Mental Models, Metaphor and Design, 2008). How Mental Models might limit the decision-making process- As the mental models form preconceived responses to a given situation or a problem, they prevent the introduction of any new solutions to tackle the current issues (Robles-De-La-Torre G. & Sekuler, 2004). For illustration, the poor performance of an employee owing to certain inevitable measures would lead the HR Manager to take an incorrect decision about his future due to his set mental model. Similarly, an organization’s defensive mindset would prevent it from engaging in a risky yet profitable project (Increasing Intelligence, 2008). Commonly used Mental Models and their influence on the decision-making process at the workplace- At the workplace, a number of mental models are used by the individuals to take decisions in the given situation (Mental Models, 2008). On similar lines, my decision-making process at the workplace is guided by the structural and functional mental models. In order to take a decision in the given situation, I firstly employ the functional model as it helps to know the actual task to be performed in the given circumstances. Generally, this mental model serves as the fundamental basis for taking any kind of decision for the problem. However, in order to understand the factors leading to the problem, the structural model is used. This model assists in understanding the various components of the problems at the workplace and their relationships with each other. In fact, both the models influence my decision-making process to a great deal as they assume varying significance depending on the situation encountered at the workplace. At the same time, they help in the process of taking appropriate decisions as per the requirement of the given situation. References Burt, C. 1931. _The Differentiation Of Intellectual Ability_. The British Journal of Educational Psychology. Robles-De-La-Torre G. & Sekuler R.. 2004. _Numerically Estimating Internal Models of Dynamic Virtual Objects_. ACM Transactions on Applied Perception. Sternberg, R.J. 1982. _Handbook of human intelligence_. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Increasing Intelligence. (2008). Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/reingold/courses/intelligence/cache/sternberg_intelligence.html Mental Models. (2008). Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http://www.cs.umu.se/kurser/TDBC12/HT99/Laird.html Mental Models, Metaphor and Design. (2008). Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http://www.syntagm.co.uk/design/articles/mmmad.pdf