| A vehicle for effective thinking
The KEPNERandFOURIE thinking model is based on the
building blocks of thinking…”first you have to
gather information and then you need to evaluate the information
for an answer”. In this quotation lies a number of thinking
problems, such as:
- How to gather relevant information. We all know how to
gather information, but do not always have the means for
gathering relevant information.
- Not having a method or technique of how to analyze/evaluate
information. Only about 5% of problem solvers have a definite
and effective method for evaluating and analyzing information.
- Most problem solvers start at step 3 of problem solving.
In the case of finding causes they start at identifying
possible causes without having done a proper analysis of
the problem situation first. In the case of decision making
problem solvers start with the evaluation of alternatives
without having done the requirements for the decision first.
The KEPNERandFOURIE technology is all about approaching a
problem correctly. The following would be a typical and general
approach for solving any problem:
- State the problem and agree on what the problem or issue
is. In many cases problem solvers are solving the wrong
problem.
- Gather information. Problem solvers normally do this
by means of asking questions and the KEPNERandFOURIE technology
would provide the appropriate questions to extract the relevant
information for a problem situation.
- Organize and analyze the information. Again KEPNERandFOURIE
provides the structure, questions and formats to help direct
you in with the evaluation of information.
- Make a conclusion. This is now more probable, because
the problem solver is only dealing with relevant information
and which is properly organized. It is now possible for
the problem solver to use appropriate techniques to arrive
at a conclusion.
The graphic below illustrates the process:
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