This text provides an essential introduction to the ideas and skills of creative problem solving. It shows how and why people are blocked in their thinking, how this impairs the creative problem solving process, and how creative problem solving techniques can help overcome these difficulties. Theories of creative thinking are critically examined and used to justify the variety of techniques which can be used to find insights into difficult management problems. Contents include: * paradigm shift and the need for creative thinking in management * blocks to creativity and how to overcome them * defining and redefining problems * Extensive explanations and illustrations of the methods and techniques of the creative problem solving process - Lateral Thinking, Morphological Analysis and Synectics * evaluating ideas - qualitative and quantitative approaches * implementing and managing ideas. Using case-studies and case histories, together with extensive diagrams, examples and thought-provoking questions, this textbook provides the most up-to-date and extensive approach to this important topic.