Running Head: INDIVIDUAL COMMUNICATION PAPER
Four Major Conceptual Blocks
Jim Hamilton
Siena Heights University
INDIVIDUAL COMMUNICATION PAPER
Problem solving is an everyday occurrence for the human race, as we are faced with
many situations throughout each day that need answers. Most of our problems are simple and
call for rudimentary solutions. It is the complex questions or problems that we encounter that
require some creative problem solving skills. These creative problem solving skills are often
hindered by conceptual blocks. The very term sounds intimidating but when you really look at it
is not as stifling as it may sound. First we have to look at the word conceptual and what that
really means, Merriam-Webster dictionary states that conceptual is “based on or relating to an
idea or concept” and block is an “interruption or cessation especially of train of thought by
competing thoughts or psychological suppression”. When the two terms are joined it could be
thought of as an interruption of ideas. According to Whetten and Cameron (2004) there are four
main reasons for this phenomenon; constancy, commitment, compression and complacency.
Some researchers say we have approximately 50,000 thoughts per day although there are some
who say that almost 70-80% are negative (Dvorsky, 2007). The issue to these complex thoughts
or questions does not lie in that we do not have answers but rather in that we are blocked or
impeded from having innovative solutions. The solution then is to eliminate or at least neutralize
the block so that one can think freely and be creative in the solving of these complex issues that
we are faced with.
Constancy as a block “is the act of reusing a solution of a previous problem” (de Leos,
2010) and can lead to us thinking of solutions in a vertical plane (Whetten & Cameron 2004). In
other words we are only able to solve problems with things that are tried and true. Past
experiences lead us to a level of comfort, and comfort breeds content. If the past experience was
satisfactory, why change things and risk being not be so pleased with the outcome this next time?
The problem with vertical thinking is there is no real growth, everything stays the same and
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organizations that are in this train of thought do not grow or expand. Constancy can be a good
quality to have, “being constant, consistent, is a highly valued attribute for most of us” (Whetten
& Cameron 2004) in our everyday way of thinking. The problem comes when we are exposed to
a critical situation that needs a creative solution.
In one example of how an organization used a creative solution to a continual problem is
to look to the 1980 Olympic hockey team. In the world leading up to the 1980 Olympics the
political arena was very much in conflict between communist Russia and democratic United
States, both countries and ways of life thought they were superior. The one team sport where
these two super powers competed over the years was hockey and the Russians had dominated
even against the professional all-star teams they had played from the USA. According to the
Movie Miracle (O'Connor, 2004), Herb Brooks who the USOC chose to be the head coach went
against the consistent way of choosing the team to play in the 1980 Olympics. He chose his team
after one day of workouts by himself rather than a committee which was normal operating
procedure. In explaining himself he merely stated that he was going to put the best “team” rather
than individuals together and that was the only way to beat the Russians. All-star professional
teams had lost to the Russians and amateur teams had also lost to them. They were the reigning
world and Olympic champions dating back to the 1964 Olympics. The Team that Coach Brooks
put together lost to the Russians in an exhibition game three days before the Olympics games
were to open, so it did not look like the creative solution to the problem of defeating the Russians
was successful. When the Olympic Games started the American team started off slowly but
made the medal round with a rematch with Russia. In the game against the Russians the USA
won in one of the most emotional game in years. The story was made into a movie and has been
well documented as a huge political victory for democracy and that way of life. Herb Brooks was
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a great leader who solved a problem with a creative solution that resulted in more than just
winning a hockey game or an Olympic gold medal for the United States hockey team; it gave a
country a sense of pride and justification for their way of life.
Commitment is a second block to creative problem solving, according to Whetten and
Cameron (2004) it is broken down into two separate categories, stereotyping and ignoring
commonalities. Stereotyping is based on the past, “a major obstacle to innovation problem
solving is that individual’s tend to define present problems in terms of problems they have had in
the past” (Whetten & Cameron, 2004). Stereotyping puts all related problems in the same light
which limits the possibilities of creative problem solving solutions. “Problem solving is quite
habitual” (Adams, 2001) and if we are not careful “habits allow us to solve intellectual problems
much more rapidly than we could if we had to rely completely upon consciousness” (Adams,
2001). The reason this is a block, is not that it does not find a solution to the problem, but rather
it is not creative and we are stereotyping the problem. Organizations and individuals solve
problems everyday based on what they know and for most of these issues this is a functional and
efficient operational system. Thomas Jefferson once said, “If you want something you have
never had before, you must be willing to do something you have never done before” and by
saying that he was talking about, being able to solve problems without stereotyping them.
A second category of the conceptual block of commitment is ignoring commonalities
according to Whetten and Cameron (2007), “failure to identify similarities among seemingly
disparate pieces of data” (p. 171). To be able find similarities in problems that are seemingly
dissimilar is a creative problem solving technique that was demonstrated in the story of the
Oakland A’s told in Moneyball:The art of winning in an unfair game. According to Lewis (2004)
Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s used statistical formulas that paralleled with those used on
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Wall Street. Beane and his colleagues used trader policies to solve his problem of how to invest
in players to get a maximum return on his investment. They realized that if they tried to buy
players like the big market teams like the Yankees did, he would get beat because he did not
have the capital that they had, but if he used this new method he could have a chance to compete.
This method of creative problem solving broke through the conceptual barrier of commitment to
the old system of paying big money to buy a winning baseball franchise.
The third conceptual block is that of compression or “looking too narrowly at a problem”
(Whetten & Cameron, 2004) and “making assumptions that inhibit problem solutions” (Whetten
& Cameron, 2004). To simplify a problem and make it smaller that it truly is without critically
analyzing it can inhibit a creative solution according to Spradlin (2012). Organizations and
leaders that look at the bigger picture ironically may end up saving time and money and increase
their odds of success. An example of creatively solving a problem and not having the conceptual
block of making assumptions is told by Giesler (2011) in the following story. A young man in
Texas who played high school football and had committed to attend the University of Texas on a
football scholarship learned such a lesson. During a game his senior year in high school his heart
went into ventricular fibrillation, but thanks to a group of people who acted quickly he was
saved. Here is where the problem arose as he told Mack Brown the head football coach at Texas
that he would not be able to play for him. Coach Brown then informed the young man that the
University of Texas would honor their commitment to him. He could be part of the team in other
ways and would receive his scholarship. Coach Brown saw an opportunity to help a young man
out that had committed to the longhorns and demonstrate his commitment to his players as
students first. The young man now is advancing the cause of advocating for medical devices that
may help others in the future. By honoring his scholarship Mack Brown may impact more than
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just one young man resulting in a win for everyone. As of this spring the average years of service
of head coach in the NCAA division I college football ranks is 3 years according to a report by
Barnett for football Scopes (2014). When coaches are not staying at school long enough for their
players to get degrees, it was very creative to see a coach honor a commitment of a studentathlete that will not help the coach win games-the very criteria in which they are judged on.
Coach Brown is a true leader seeing that he is not coaching football but rather coaching studentathletes to be successful.
The fourth and final block according to Whetten and Cameron (2004) is complacency.
Complacency is a block “due to fear, insecurity, or just plain mental laziness” (Whetten &
Cameron, 2004). When an organization has a certain way of doing things and their lines of
communication are transparent everyone can feel free to offer suggestions about problem
solving, on the other hand if employees do not feel secure in offering suggestions fear and
insecurity can impede creative problem solving as Llopis (2013) points out. Stated differently,
“Complacency is a feeling of self-satisfaction. Content with the status quo, organizations and
individuals that are complacent do not look for new opportunities …” (Kotter, 2012). Both of
these definitions lead to blocks in creative problem solving, no matter which one is chosen.
Complacency is a feeling of familiarity and this is comforting to the individual but does not lead
to growth.
In the world of sports there are very few dynasties anymore, the word complacent comes
up in quite a few instances when a champion is dethroned. To become a champion one must have
talent, work hard and overcome a few obstacles that get in the way. To stay a champion requires
one to keep talent, work harder and overcome an even bigger obstacle, complacency. There is a
saying in sports, “It’s hard to get to the top, but even harder to stay there”. The University of
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Alabama, since Nick Saban was hired in 2007, has risen to unmatched levels of success in major
college football. They have won three national championships in that seven year stretch and
except for his first year have been invited to a major bowl for their success during each year.
This past season, the tide lost in their last regular season game costing them a chance to play in
the national championship game, which could have been their third in a row. After they lost a
bowl game to finish the year at 11-2 some of the public claimed that the Crimson Tide were not
hungry and therefore complacent in the last two games. Saban has looked at his situation and his
desire to be back on top, second is not good enough for a college football coach, or fan base, at
the University of Alabama. Saban, in a speech given in January to the AFCA, to a group of his
peers stated, "the difference between this team and past teams is our staff didn’t spend enough
time off field getting to know players" (Saban, 2014). Not that they did not play well enough or
they missed a block or a tackle it is that the coaching staff was not doing the little things that they
need to get done, they got complacent. Coach Saban since that time has changed some his
coaching staff, moving two coaches laterally and two were changed entirely to refocus on the
success of the football team. Alabama was 11-2 and better than most schools in the NCAA
division I football ranks, but in order to stay on top Coach Saban is creatively solving problems
before they can cause more deterioration to his team. Coaching is not so much about coaching
the sport as it is about coaching the men who play it. Nick Saban understands that which leads
him to the creative problem solving techniques and not being complacent.
In overcoming these conceptual blocks Glenn Lliopis has identified the 4 most effective
ways leaders solve problems (2013). These four strategies will help solve those problems faced
by organizations because of conceptual blocks. The first effective strategy is for the organization
to become transparent, “where everyone’s concerns and points of view are freely expressed”
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(Lliopis, 2013). The second strategy would be to break down silos as Lliopis puts it to help
create “boundary-less organizations whose culture is focused on the betterment of a healthier
whole” (Lliopis, 2013). In his third strategy Lliopis states that the organization needs openminded people. “In the end, problem solving is about people working together to make the
organization and the people it serves better” (Lliopis, 2013). In his final strategy Lliop points to a
solid foundational strategy, “Effective leaders connect the dots and map-out a realistic plan of
action in advance” (Lliopis, 2013).
The conceptual blocks for organizations are what hold them back from achieving success.
Each of the four blocks pointed out by Whetten and Cameron, compliancy, commitment,
compression and complacency can impede creative problem solving and therefore limit
organization growth. Organizations can overcome these blocks by developing strategies based on
open communication and solid foundation as pointed out by Llopis.
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References
Adams, J. (2001). Conceptual blockbusting: A guide to better ideas. (4th ed., pp. 7-8).
Cambridge, Mass: Basic Books. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=bnZ5aUa0CkC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0
Barnett, Z. (2014, March). Ranking the length of current fbs coaching tenures from 1 to
128. Retrieved from http://footballscoop.com/news/12860-ranking-the-length-of-current-fbscoaching-tenures-from-1-to-128
Block. In Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/block
Conceptual. In Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceptual
de Leos, K. (2010, July 20). Conceptual blocks. Retrieved from
http://orgchangewiki.blogspot.com/2010/07/conceptual-blocks.html
Dvorsky, G. (2007, March 19). Managing your 50,000 daily thoughts. Retrieved from
http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2007/03/managing-your-50000-daily-thoughts.html
Geisler, E. (2011, May). A new direction: A football career ended, he turns to helping
others. Retrieved from http://www.utexas.edu/features/2011/05/16/commencement11/
Kotter, J. (2012). Complacency. Retrieved from http://www.kotterinternational.com/ourprinciples/urgency/complacency
Lewis, M. (2004). Moneyball: The art of winning an unfair game. New York, NY: WW
Norton & Company, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Moneyball-Art-WinningUnfair-Game/dp/0393324818
Llopis, G. (2013, October 4). The 4 most effective ways leaders solve problems. Retrieved
from : http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2013/11/04/the-4-most-effective-ways-leaderssolve-problems/
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O'Connor, G. (Director) (2004). Miracle [DVD].
Saban, N. (2014, January). Coches address. Speech at afca convention, Indianapolis, IN.
Spradlin, D. (2012, September). Are you solving the right problem?. Retrieved from
http://hbr.org/2012/09/are-you-solving-the-right-problem/ar/1
Whetten, D., & Cameron, K. (2004). Developing management skills. (pp. 153-205).
Prentice Hall. Retrieved from
http://vizedhtmlcontent.next.ecollege.com/CurrentCourse/Whetten_CH03.pdf
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