Mental Process Paper, Essay Example

Creative Intelligence

Creative intelligence is the ease with which someone is able to come up with many possible novel solutions to a particular problem. Creative intelligence presents itself as a loose association between the conditions of a problem that are known and the knowledge that a person has. One can use fantasy in order to come up with creatively intelligent solutions to problems.

There are four types of creative intelligence. These include verbal, numeric, spatial and epistemic intelligence. The power of verbal intelligence is hinged on a very simple premise: all of us are latent geniuses and we can make use of our verbal skills in order to become better communicators. By improving our verbal intelligence, we can become better organizational decisional makers since we can be in a better position to influence the decisions of other people.

People who score high on numerical intelligence are in a better position to reason, solve problems and plan in an abstract manner, something that makes them comprehend ideas, languages and generally, be better learners. Numerical intelligence is very important for people who want to be good decision makers at the organizational level since it enables remain calm in the face of many obstacles that at “first sight” may seem insurmountable.

Spatial intelligence entails use of visual information in order to transform mental images in a creative manner. Designers and engineers are heavily dependent on spatial intelligence. Whenever these professionals are in management position, they need spatial intelligence even the more in order to juggle between the technicalities of their professionals and tasks of managing people.

Epistemic intelligence underlies the ability by human beings to seek and validate different forms of knowledge. Logical-mathematical intelligence is considered a prototypical subset of epistemic intelligence. Some of the skills used in epistemic intelligence include selective consideration, selective consideration, selective deduction, recognition of a problem, task commitment, problem definition, selective comparison and critical solution evaluation.

People who have to make management decisions at the organizational level need to epistemic intelligence over and above all other forms of creative intelligence. This is because epistemic intelligence enables managers to make many decisions relating to logistics, psychology; evaluation and monitoring. It also enables managers to compare different phenomena in a highly selective manner so that priority is given to areas that show the highest chances of success.

How the Five Forces That Influence Mental Models

The five forces that influence mental models and mindsets are new entrants, buyers, substitutes, suppliers and industry competitors. New entrants influence mental modes and mindsets by being perceived as a threat to an industry. They may pose a threat through economies of scale, brand identity, expected retaliation or government policy.

The power of buyers to influence mindsets and mental modes lies first and foremost in their bargaining power. This may power may manifest itself through price sensitivity in the entire industry or through bargaining leverage. The threat of substitutes is often perceived through relative price performance, the propensity among buyers to substitute as well as switch costs. For example, a rival soap-making company may shift attention from maintaining quality of one soap brand to creating many different brands in order to provide buyers with substitutes and thaw the threat posed by new suppliers.

Suppliers also have a bargaining power that influences the mindsets and mental models in any given organization or industry. When presented by a threat of entry of new suppliers, existing market players may introduce new channels of distribution even when it is not necessary to do so. Lastly, industry competitors can change mindsets in many ways, chief among them being an increase in the intensity of rivalry.