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“SIX THINKING HATS:

Literature review and empirical study”

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY

Prof. Shailendra Singh

(Group 5, Sec-F)

Ankit Gupta (PGP29304) Ganesh Patil (PGP29318) Kriti Gautam (PGP29319) Nicole Pandit (PGP29348) Saumil Chogle (PGP29323) Stuti Garg (PGP29299) Suraj Mishra (PGP29322)

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INDEX

S.No. Particulars Page No.

1 Decision-making process 3-4

2 Six-Thinking Hats 5-8

3 Case study: Motorola 9

4 Empirical study 10-11

5 Advantages 12-13

6 Literature Review 14-20

7 Result and Observations 20

8 References 21

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DECISION MAKING

A decision is defined as a choice made between two or more alternatives. It is a reaction to a problem, which is any discrepancy between the desired and current state of affairs. A decision can be made based on the evaluation and interpretation of information by an individual. His or her perception will affect the decision made based on information gathered from various sources.

Influences on Decision Making

Individual decision making can be affected by a number of factors such as:

Personality: Based on research, a person’s’ traits can affect his or her decision making. Certain characteristics in an individual’s personality can make him more susceptible to committing errors in decision making. For example, people with high self-esteem are highly motivated to maintain it and tend to blame others for their failures while taking credit for successes. This is also known as self-serving bias and has obvious effects on the decision making capabilities of an individual.

Gender: Women are more inclined to ruminate, i.e. think about the same issues over and over again. From a decision making point of view, this leads to overthinking of problems. Women are more likely than men to over analyse a problem and rehash decisions that have already been made by them.

Mental Ability: People with higher mental ability are able to process information quickly and are less likely to fall prey to logical errors and incorrect interpretation of data. However, higher mental abilities are no guarantee against common decision making errors which arise due to an individual’s personality traits.

Organizational Constraints: As part of an organization, an individual’s decision making may be affected by a number of organizational constraints. Some of these constraints are :

Performance Evaluation: Managers often supress negative information in order to project better results in their work, which in turn can affect the decision making process at higher levels of the organization’s hierarchy.

Reward Systems: Decisions providing short term benefits may be favoured over ones that are better for the organization in the long term if an organization’s reward system’s influence an individual’s decisions.

Formal Regulations: Managers often have to work within a set framework of rules and

take decisions that fit those rules.

System-Imposed Time Constraints: Deadlines can make it very difficult for managers to gather all the information required for making correct decisions.

Historical Precedents: Organizational decisions are more often than not influenced by

previous decisions. A successful decision made in the past is much more likely to be repeated that one that was unsuccessful.

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Decision Making Processes

There are three ways in which decisions can be taken within an organization. Rational decision making can be considered the ideal method for making choices while bounded rationality is the less perfect but more common alternative. Intuition also plays a role in the way organizations make decisions.

Rational Decision Making: Consistent, value-maximizing decisions. Rational decision making is embodied in the following six steps:

o Define the problem. o Identify the decision criteria. o Allocate weights to the criteria. o Develop the alternatives. o Evaluate the alternatives. o Select the best alternative.

While rational decision making is the best way to go forward for taking a decision, it is seldom used in practice.

Bounded Rationality: Since the rational model is very difficult to follow, people tend to satisfice, i.e. they look for solutions that are satisfactory and sufficient. Bounded rationality refers to the process of creating simplified models to represent complex problems, which take into consideration most of the essential features of the original problem. This is a good method to use in real world problems where it might be difficult, if not impossible, to gather all the information required to apply the rational decision making model.

Intuition: Intuitive decision making is the least rational method of taking decisions. It is based on distilled experience and is often affectively charged, i.e. it is often based on emotions. Intuition is unquantifiable, and therefore reliable only to a very small extent. A mix of rational as well as intuitive thinking is advisable.

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WHAT IS “SIX THINKING HATS”?

The six thinking hats method is used to aid decision-making process and team formulation strategy. It was invented by Edward De Bono in 1980.

The six hats symbolically represent six different ways of thinking. Each of the team members are supposed to try the metaphorical hats in turn to provide different perspectives. It improves team productivity and communication and encourages parallel and full-spectrum thinking.

The colours used to represent the six different hats and styles of thinking are:

Green, Yellow, Blue, Black, Red and White.

WHITE HAT

The focus of White hat thinking is on the knowledge or information, facts and data that are already known or that are needed to progress further. White hat thinking clearly differentiates between known truths and guesses. When the white hat is on, the person looks for information pertinent to the current discussion. The value of the information will fall along a spectrum of relevance and accuracy.

Relevance can be “trivial” at one extreme and “critical” at another. Similarly, Accuracy can range from easily verifiable hard facts to wrong or incorrect information. At any point, Information that falls along these two spectrums can be offered in White Hat thinking so long as the person who offers it also indicates where it falls on each spectrum.

Areas of focus under white hat

Information that we have

Usually more information is available to us than what is obviously visible. With little introspection, we can mine that information. Each known fact can be examined for its significance.

For example: “The CV of this student shows that he has never achieved the 80% cut-off criteria in any examination in his life”.

Point to be noted here is, we don’t jump to conclusions, we just write down the known fact.

What information we wish we had

It is different from information that we actually need. Here, we include everything that comes to mind. At this stage, we don’t care about the source of information or even its relevance and accuracy. We don’t even think about whether this piece of information can be obtained or not or how urgent the requirement is. Like before, we find that we are able to get access to most of the information that we otherwise would have thought unobtainable.

It’s a kind of brainstorming session where we jot down anything that might be useful.

Information that we need

Ideally it’s a subset of the information that we would like to have. We can choose from the above list, the information that is really required to reach the decision. We need to figure out what is the basic minimum requirement without which we cannot move further and what is the most important information that will help us in the process.

Information that is missing

Not all the information you require will always be available to you. We have to find out exactly which piece of information is missing and assign a relevance and obtainability to it. We may or may not be able to obtain this information and as such, our decision will be affected.

Where will we get the missing information from?

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The last step is to extract the missing information listed is the step above. We can start by listing the various sources from where we can obtain that information. We should always try to get all the information we need before we start the decision-making process.

RED HAT

The focus in Red Hat Thinking is on feelings, intuitions, hunches and gut instinct. It looks at a topic from the point of view of emotions without having to qualify or justify them.

Red hat thinking gives importance to feelings and intuition with no need of any explanation. Within a Six Thinking Hats thinking process, Red hat thinking might be used greater than one time to extract emotions, for example, after new White Hat Thinking is presented, and it is quite usual for Red Hat feelings to be different throughout the process.

After a decision is made, Red hat thinking can be used to quantify commitment or buy-in. We know that new ideas are generated during Green Hat thinking, Red Hat is a useful tool used to sort or prioritize these ideas.

Areas of focus under Red Hat

Signalling feelings

Emotions, instincts and feelings are important and they need to be expressed, which is what Red Hat Thinking provides. Feelings should not be suppressed. If there are emotions and feelings, it is helpful to know what these feelings are so that we know what we are dealing with.

For example: “I absolutely abhorred the idea of sending out that memo”.

(Point to be noted here is, no explanation is given. It is not at all important to give the reasons or any justification)

While making Decisions, feelings should be considered

Feelings play an important role in decision making. But Red Hat Thinking should not be the only process used. It is one of the six styles. We do concede that hunches, emotions, intuition, and feelings are all crucial components of the decision making process.

Recognizing a Range of Feelings

Red Hat Thinking has embedded in it a wide array of different feelings. An idea or a concept can be abhorrent to people or they can be overwhelmed with joy with it. Some feelings which are not really obvious can also be featured: peculiar feelings or being meekly interested, being ambiguous or unsure, finding a solution tedious, etc.

When feeling the normal atmosphere of a group (as opposed to opinions about a particular topic), many members may tell that they are feeling deranged, intimidated, charged, furious, decided, aggravated, affirmative, exhausted, or a number of other conditions that are internal to them. It is useful to have the knowledge what condition people are in before we start any work. We must take care that we don’t ask for any reasons or explanation.

BLACK HAT

Black Hat is for caution. People wearing black hat are cautious and careful. The focus on what cannot be done and not on what can be done. They are not optimistic.

Black Hat people do not do the work rather they keep on complaining. People are of various types and beong to different regions. Therefore, they have different attitudes towards their work. This affects the work culture and this in turn leads to negative thinking.

Black Hat people are cautious. People wearing black hat are cautious and careful. The focus on what cannot be done and not on what can be done. They are not optimistic.

This hat helps people working in different conditions.

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YELLOW HAT

Yellow Hat is opposite of black hat. Black hat represents negativity, whereas Red hat represents positivity. People with red hat deals with what can be done and do not look upon what cannot be done.

Yellow hat is for optimistic people. People are very strong hearted and have great skills of completing their work. Yellow hat focusses on optimism and not negativity unlike Black hat.

People working in offices and workplace face these characteristics of yellow hat which in turn motivates them to work better for the company.

Yellow and Black hat are opposites of each other. One focusses on negativity whether another on positivity.

This hat helps everyone and motivates them to succeed in their life and become successful.

GREEN HAT

The colour green represents growth, productivity and energy. The focus of green hat is on creating new ideas and new ways of looking at things. When the green hat is on, person tries to develop creative solutions to a problem. While working in a team a person with green hat always look for new solutions and there is little criticism of new opinions and alternatives.

Areas of focus under green hat

creative thinking

While finding a solution to any problem it is extremely important to think out of box. To think with a completely different frame of mind. The green hat allows a person to think creatively and add completely new perspective to the solution.

For example: When faced with a problem manager asks his employees to put their green hats on and come up with new ideas individually.

Additional alternatives

Along with adding a creativity to the existing solution, a person wearing green hat always tries to find out additional alternatives that can optimize the solution.

For example: “To solve the problem of non-performing employee, a manager wearing green hat will think of ways to improve his/her performance by either training or mentoring rather than directly removing him/her.”

Interesting new proposals

Green hat forces the manager to allow his/her employees to come up with new proposals. This results in generation of lots of innovative ideas that could be extremely useful for the organization.

For example: Student council at IIM-L asks students to suggest ways to improve the life on campus.

BLUE HAT

Six thinking hats process always starts and ends with a blue hat. At the beginning blue hat defines the focus of the meeting, which hats will be used and who will wear which hat. Throughout the meeting the person wearing blue hat acts as a controller. He addresses the requests of the other hats and maintains the discipline. The blue hat directly looks into the process of thinking followed so far and how far it has taken us and what should be the process of thinking in future.

Areas of focus under blue hat

Setting the agenda

In this phase the person with blue hat describes the agenda of group meeting and lays out the plan for using hats during the course of meeting.

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For example: “I have called this meeting because we have failed to deliver as promised to our client and we need to figure out what went wrong?”

Maintaining Discipline

While working in a group many time it happens that the discussion go off the track or a deadlock occurs between two hats. In such scenario the blue hat steps in and tries to bring proceeding of meeting on track.

For example: “Folks, I think we are diverting from our aim.. Though what yellow and green hats are saying is correct, the need of hour is different”

Conclusions

It is a responsibility of a person wearing blue hat to summarize the decision made in the meeting. Even if the consensus is not achieved, blue hat should summarize the new ideas and possible solutions discussed.

For example: “So as per the consensus build in this board meeting, we should reappoint Mr. Narayan Murthy as a CEO of Infosys”

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CASE STUDY – MOTOROLA

Background:

Motorola, Inc. is a multinational telecommunication company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. Motorola designed and sold wireless network infrastructure equipment. In 2002 it wanted to create a high-tech, hand-held device. However the challenge was that the Company wanted to price this product not more that USD 880. Motorola called this – ‘Product for the Future’ and it targeted consumers who wanted high end technology but didn’t want to spend more. To focus on the development of the product it planned a three-day event for its product managers. It used the ‘Six Thinking Hats’ approach at the event.

Day - 1:

On the first day the product managers were given details regarding the target market. They were explained the consumer profiles in details as regards their age, income, educational background, cultural beliefs and daily habits. At the end of Day – 1 the managers had a clear picture of which type of consumers the company wanted to target.

Day - 2:

The second day was divided into two parts – In first part the mangers were informed about the existing technology and its capacities and limitations. In the second part of Day - 2, the model of Six Thinking Hats was introduced. The product managers were asked to wear the ‘Green Hat’ The Green Hat represents creativity. The managers used the technique of provocation and investigation to challenge the limits of the existing technology. The Green Hat session was introduced so that the mangers generate ideas for the new product that the company wanted to develop.

Day - 3:

After all the ideas were offered through the Green Hat sessions, they were evaluated using the Yellow Hat and the Black Hat thinking. The Yellow Hat represents logic applied to identify benefits where else the Black Hat represents the logic applied to identify reasons to be cautious and conservative. Finally the Red Hat thinking was taken up to prioritize the best ideas. The Red Hat represents emotional feeling.

Final Result:

The complete three day event helped the company to come up with ‘Accompli’. This was a technology advanced product with wireless network connection. At this stage the company introduced the White Hat thinking which represents information. This Hat was used to understand how an Accompli owner will use the product. This information helped the company to add some additional features to make it convenient for the customer. This technology advanced product was introduced in North America, Europe and Asia. Thus with the use of concept generation, concept extraction, reverse provocation, random object and six thinking hats Motorola was able to come up with Accompli.

Like Motorola many other companies have started using the Six Thinking Hats model. Fortune 500 companies that use Six Thinking Hats report that their teams are more productive and now invest 50% less time in meetings.

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EMPIRICAL STUDY

In order to study the effectiveness of ‘Six Thinking Hats’ methodology, we asked a certain questions to 72 employees working in various firms like TCS, Infosys, Wockhardt, NTPC Ltd., IOCL, TAS, Zee Network, CISCO etc. These employees are working as team-leaders, Heads of Departments, PR consultants etc. and thus, are involved in taking important decisions for their respective organisations. Following are some important findings from the survey:

1) When they were asked if they were aware of the concept of six thinking hats, 67% responded affirmatively. 24% heard about it and had only a slight idea about the concept. Hence, it is evident that people in important decision-making roles are well aware of the framework.

FIGURE: 1

2) Despite the awareness about the concept, its application is not rampant. Only 24% of the

people use this methodology while making decisions. Various reasons for it are time-constraint, lack of awareness about it among co-workers and deep analysis needed for using it. Hence, people tend to use short-cuts and make decisions based on heuristics.

FIGURE: 2

3) One major finding was that ‘Six Thinking Hats’ framework hasn’t still gained recognition in most

of the Indian organisations. Only 3 of the organisations under our study followed this framework officially. When verified with data available on internet, our finding proved to be true. While most US-based MNCs are using this framework during all their board-meetings, Indian companies still rely on judgments of a few top-management employees. Hence, decision-making is yet to become a structured process in these firms.

67%24%

9%0%

Yes Somewhat No

24%

37%

39% Yes

Partially

No

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FIGURE: 3

4) When the people using ‘Six Hats’ methodology were enquired about its effectiveness, 67% said

that it is an extremely useful tool. It helps them take more rational decisions. It also avoids conflicts at work-place as the decision-making process becomes more objective and doesn’t depend on the opinions of a few people. They said it also reduces uncertainty-risk.

FIGURE: 4

Thus, as per our empirical study, six thinking hats is a useful tool for making better decisions as it evaluates each alternative objectively. It also lends a structure to the underlying thought-process. However, its use in Indian organisations is very limited. Therefore, more and more people need to be made aware of its advantages.

14%

26%60%Yes

Restricted to theory

No

67%17%

16%Yes

Attimes

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ADVANTAGES Conventional thinking derives from the analytical, critical and logical perspectives. Rarely is the problem approached from emotional, intuitive or creative viewpoints. Lack of these aspects leads to an unimaginative thinking, failure to predict change and to draw contingency plans. Lateral thinking is reasoning that offers new ways of looking at problems to foster change, creativity, and innovation. One tool of lateral thinking, the Six Thinking Hats technique, devised by de Bono in 1985 to foster thinking from different perspectives and to help a group to approach a problem constructively guided by a framework. The Six Thinking Hats method aims to encourage parallel thinking, and to separate ego from performance. It ensures each person’s thinking and approach to the problem is included which ensures a stronger solution is implemented. This helps improve performance of the group and helps build individual confidence and encourages contribution towards the group. As the problem is approached through compartmentalised thinking processes each addressing a viewpoint and a perception separately, the group performs in a more collaborative manner than when each individual approaches it separately with a more individualised view point. This ensures the entire group approaches the problem from each of the perspectives and arrives at a more inclusive solution Use of Six Thinking Hats Technique provides many advantages such as: • Save time by providing a framework: It focuses on participative discussion and leads to productive meetings by minimizing personality conflicts. The framework keeps facts and figures separate from emotions and leads to a structured approach to a solution. It ensures inclusive thinking where all view- points are considered and respected leading to a faster consensus. • Increases creative and innovative thinking: The structured approach and dissociative approach where the ego is isolated helps generate powerful new ideas, expands the range of solutions. It ensures most innovative ideas are promoted to management and clients with more confidence. Using this technique people learn to go beyond the obvious, spot opportunities, keep egos apart and create dynamic results. It encourages to suspend judgment and maintain an openness about a project or problem for as long as possible, thus increasing the creative potential. At the same time, this approach is inclusive, in that it encourages and values everyone’s contribution. Thus, thinking begins to flow from the acted parts (hats) rather than from the individual or the self. The individual draws on specific modes of thinking at any one time. Whatever feedback is given is accepted and worthy of being heard and considered. All remains open, not judged, and the feedback is de-personalized. PARALLEL THINKING AT WORK In traditional adversarial thinking, there exists a lot of conflict. Each side seeks to criticize the other point of view. The Six Hats method allows Parallel Thinking. It encourages collaborative thinking to explore all sides to an issue. Adversarial confrontation is replaced by a cooperative exploration of the problem. UNBUNDLED THINKING The conventional thinking process is highly unorganized, in which one attempts to do too many things at once. There is intermingling of different activities like assimilating information and facts, interpreting and formulating ideas while evaluating and judging other ideas all simultaneously. It helps segregate the different aspects of thinking. This facilitates focused approach to each aspect of the problem. We separate the modes of thinking and then apply each mode to the same subject in order to end up with a holistic solution to the problem. SEPARATING EGO AND PERFORMANCE The Six thinking hats approach helps dis-associate ego from the solution by forcing the mind to remain open to all perspectives. The method forces the subject to evaluate and think in each of the six

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perspectives before rejecting a solution, which would not be possible in the normal approach where a person attaches the ego to a solution. The framework challenges the thinker, who will not want to appear unable to perform this way. Thinking from different perspectives opens up options and hence the thinker will be evaluate every option more objectively resulting in improved performance. This technique also ensure collaborative and constructive thinking in a group rather than an argumentative approach. INCREASED AWARENESS The method labels different modes of thinking in a simple and practical way, it helps one identify an approach and classify each solution into colored hats. This improves the thinker’s awareness and ensures he/she explores other perspectives rather than being stuck in one mode. It makes the group discussion a more two way reciprocation process with active feedbacks. The Six Hats method allows an increased awareness of what thinking is actually being used on any occasion. This approach helps categorize the solutions into clearly demarcated heads and helps arrive at a more innovative solution.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH PAPERS 1) Six Thinking Hats: Argumentativeness and Response to Thinking Model by Walter John Carl

III This paper is based on a study that analyses whether argumentativeness is a predictor of the way a person would reach a conclusion based on the Six Thinking Hats framework of decision making. The six thinking hats is a perceptual model for decision making which allows a person to differentiate various types of thinking, i.e. objective, subjective, critical, and creative thinking, within a comprehensive framework that allows the thinker to direct attention to the desired thinking mode. Argumentativeness is the trait by which a person establishes and maintains a view on a certain issue, while trying to convince others of the accuracy of his or her own claim. This study was carried out on thirty one university students who were taught how to use the six thinking hats model for decision making. Afterwards, they were asked to complete surveys and it was observed that argumentativeness was not a factor that influenced the way the students used the model in order to reach decisions nor did it affect the way an individual processed information. 2) “A life changing experience”: Second Life as a Transformative Learning Space by Yvonne

Masters and Sue Gregory This paper focuses on the use of six thinking hats for group discussions that are carried out by students in a virtual ‘Second Life’. Students of distance learning programs are supposed to study in a second life which is separate from regular classroom teaching. A study was carried out with these students as subjects and it was found that the six thinking hats methodology was accepted as beneficial by most students. The students claimed that the six thinking hats model helped them understand the problem being discussed better and also helped in reaching a decision effectively.

3) Use of six thinking hats for full colour thinking

This journal is about how the technique of Six Hat Thinking has helped multiple organizations in using full potential of thinking capabilities of their employees.

Lynda Curtin who is a opportunity thinker and a creativity consultant from California has taken the training of Six Hat Thinking technique from Edward de Bono. She now teaches people how to use the full potential of their thinking power. Companies such as Seattle-based Boeing, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Motorola Inc. in Schaumburg, IL, have asked for Curtin's help and now use the Six Hats technique.

Craig Elkins, manager at Boeing Seattle, teaches this technique to the employees of Boeing and help them to make correct and rational decision. Elkins has also taught this technique to his 6 year old daughter who uses it to decide on the problems like whether to eat candy or not. While training, Elkins gives most importance to the training of facilitator. He recommends one day training for employees while 2 day training for facilitator.

As per another executive at Acutek Adhesive Specialties, Inglewood, CA, because of the use of six hat thinking technique the meeting timings were reduced by 20 min to 1.5 hours.

The executives at ABB Corp. Research, Finland believes that the use of Six Hat Thinking technique is very useful in international projects where there are people from different cultures.

Thus whether you're communicating with various cultures, teaming up with coworkers, or solving a complex problem, Six Hats can reduce traffic caused by chain of thoughts. It provides the missing link to creativity-logic.

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4) J..WalterThompson hits the mark with creative campaign

This case is a real time experience of executives at JWT as per whom the use of Six hat thinking has helped them by streamlining the meeting of one of the world’s best creative thinkers.

For one of their campaign the team of JWT executives was grappling with the challenge of reaching out to their target customers of the 18-25 year old demographics. The team consisted of some of the agency’s top creative thinkers.

During the meeting there were a lot of strong and diverse opinions and not a lot of consensus. Realising that they are not getting anywhere the team was divided into the smaller groups. The problem with this approach was that it killed the creativity and again no solution was found.

Next day team decided to use Six Hat Thinking technique and developed the campaign within three hours – third of the time they generally take to develop such ideas. As per JWT manager Paul Hallas, Six Hat Thinking technique provided a framework for exploring issues and ideas by separating thinking into six different modes. By focusing one mode at a time, the group was able to think more effectively with maximized creative input. The campaign was a huge hit. As per a survey more than 75% of respondents were influenced by it.

This shows the effectiveness of Six Hat Thinking technique and how it leads to more effective and productive meetings.

5) Six Thinking Hats Applied in the Course of Clinical Case Study and Practicum III By Ya-Lie

Ku, Assistant Professor Nursing Dept, The University of Fooyin

Abstract:

This paper is to apply the six thinking hats teaching method with role playing of nursing students in the course of Clinical Case Study. In this study, one group of nursing students used role playing with six thinking hats in a simulation representing the unique nursing activities for an AIDS patient on the infection control unit. Creativity of nursing students is expected to be promoted through the diversity of creative teaching strategies.

Introduction:

For a long time, nursing education has been more focused on critical thinking; however, there is lack of focus on creative thinking. Six thinking hats have been applied by having nursing students play different roles for reflection of their creative thinking process. Using six thing hats strategy in teaching is highly effective and has many advantages like it improves innovative skills, possibilities are explored, new ideas are generated, group behaviour encouraged, no egoism, and it leads to efficient meetings.

Methodology:

Role-play in the Infection Control Unit with an AIDS patient:

Red Hat The Patient Black Hat Patient’s Sister White Hat Doctor, Chief Nurse, Head Nurse Green Hat Case Manager Blue Hat Observer Yellow Hat Supervise Nurse

Results:

90.2% of nursing students were of the opinion that the option of using six thinking hats aided them in thinking from dissimilar angles or points-of-view; 80%+ expressed that the course helped them share diverse view-points and thoughts with others, using empathy and a all-bases-covered way of thinking about patients; and finally 75.5% of them indicated that the course helped them produce creative ideas.

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Conclusion:

Six thinking hats has most often been used in nursing teaching to reflect the nursing course by playing dissimilar roles. However, indication is not equal to inspiration. Therefore, it is optional that nursing teachers can fit in more artistic teaching tactics such as getting together and discussing, six thinking hats, and the skills of mind's eye, union, substitution, alteration, and others, into nursing courses to develop the imagination of treatment students in the prospect.

6) Six Hats in Second Life: Enhancing Preservice Teacher Learning in a Virtual World

Abstract:

Investigation analysed the appointment and accepting of first year preservice teachers being taught the hypothesis and exercise of this tactic through both on-campus and workshops that belong to second life and are virtual. In the two workshops, the six thinking hats were used to arbitrate student answers to the use of this style in their education. This research provides knowledge into the use of virtual worlds for education and knowledge.

Introduction

Virtual worlds are computer software applications that try to reproduce definite particulars of the real or dream world, which turn out to be a small price space that can be a replacement for many real world actions. The pilot study described here was organized at NSW University, Australia, in order to examine whether conventional education could be simulated, or enhanced, by using an implicit world such as Second Life as a instruction aid for students.

Preservice learning students are brought to de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats as an essential constituent of their work on coaching and education in their first year of study. Through this course, the teachers are able to gauge in their students an ability to think creatively and it promotes team building.

Methodology

A virtual room for teaching was shaped in Second Life based on actual life classrooms. Forty images were fashioned for student use and separated into four divisions. in the virtual world, students were positioned into groups of at most six students so that they could pretence de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. Student avatars were only part of one group which made possible group discussions without troubling other groups in midst of their interactions. During the two workshops based on real and secondary life, when students put on a hat of particular colour, they assumed these roles: educational (white hat), productive (yellow hat), artistic (green hat), alert (black hat), perceptive (red hat) or meditative (blue hat).

Results

Overall, students found that the real life workshops were pleasant and that they understood a lot many things about Six Thinking Hats. Students in the Secondary or virtual Life workshops were involved in the virtual world by making their debut and initially found the knowledge strange and hard. The results reflected that students gave a comparable reply to the questions that were put forth during both sessions. Conclusion As the virtual classroom proved to be a winning education setting, tactics will be made to elaborate the research to expert familiarity students by using the classroom as a lessons room so as to expand their teaching range. investigation of the results provide a optimistic sign on Second Life as a teaching aid, predominantly for beginner users of Second Life, both educational and students, and differentiates how it might be used as an substitute teaching support in a diversity of environments. 7) Review of Aricle in Volume 2 Issue 2, 2012 of the Asian Journal of Management Research

(ISSN 2229 – 3795) by MitezSheth, Group Head of Treasury at Bank of America

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The article mentions the use of the concept of ‘Six Thinking Hats’ in the individual meetings and group meetings. It also mentions that this concept need not be necessarily used at workplace but can also be used by students to decide the stream to opt as specialisation, the project to go for in their summers or the job offer they should take after completing their MBA. It offers ‘Six Thinking Hats’ as a solution to meetings that are concluded without any decisions and only with deciding the date of the next meeting. The use of this technique will reduce the time required to reach at conclusions in meetings.

The article addresses the problem that one might find it difficult to switch from one thinking mode to another within seconds. However, once this technique is adopted in life the transition is so smooth that the participants are amazed on how the brain reacts and moves on from one mode of thinking to another so easily.

8) Review of Article in Volume 2 Issue 2, 2008 of the Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (ISSN 1934 – 7227)

The article discusses the issue of problem – solving technique in group supervision with counsellor interns. Part one of the article focuses on an introduction to the technique including a theoretical rationale and supporting research. Part two is a detailed description of the process of using the model as a supervision technique with a group of counsellor interns. Part three features a case study of a scenario encountered by a group of counsellor interns. Finally, a brief review of the technique and its advantages in individual and group supervision conclude the article. 9) Journal by McAleer, F. F. , published in Pennsylvania Educational Leadership (a publication

of the Pennsylvania Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, PASCD). Fall, 2006.

Summary: Six Hats is a tool that promotes quality thinking and communication. Its effects were studied on various high-school students, teachers, and educational administrators. All the thinking hats users found the hats extremely useful and started using them on a regular basis. Benefits for students: Students became dynamic, sophisticated thinkers as the hats helped them integrate content taught across various subjects. Teachers attach great importance to metacognition in improving reading comprehension of students of all the disciplines, particularly literature and psychology. A reader's awareness of the thought processes used while reading is metacognition. The blue hat ensures that the reader is making sense of the text. All the other hats continuously interact with each other in the reader’s mind to make him/her derive sense out of it. With the use of hats, literature students were able to appreciate literary works better. Their review writing became structured. Psychology students started understanding the mind-play better. Students organized their ideas and realized what they were thinking before writing. Students saw what was missing and corrected their omissions independently with less intervention of teachers. The writing process became more focused, specific and less confrontational. Benefits for teachers: In courses with high degree of subjectivity, grading has always been a tough task for teachers. With the use of six hats, grading became more objective for them. Writing process discussions and workshops became consistent. The divergence from the core topic mitigated by leaps and bounds. It helped them plan their lectures better. The doubt-clarification became easier. The teacher found it convenient to explain his/her thought-process to students by using six hats strategy. Benefits for education administrators: Educational administrators found the six hats valuable in two ways: (1) Helps in smooth meeting conduction: The mental wearing and switching of hats separated

thinking into six modes for analyzing matters objectively and comprehensively. When thinkers separated emotions from facts, benefits from possible problems and critical thinking from creative thinking, the results included shorter meetings, thorough assessment of alternatives before making decisions, better communication and easier problem resolution. Hidden agendas were uncovered and objectives were achieved without many arguments. All sides of an issue were addressed. People worked together to think clearly, objectively, systematically and creatively.

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(2) Helps in proper assessment of teachers: The periodic assessment of teachers and their pedagogy by educational administrators became well-defined. Discussions between the teachers and assessors became clearer, objective, and systematic with the focus on developing in depth critical and creative thinking. The administrators analyzed which thinking processes the teachers used during the lessons and offered constructive suggestions and plans for increasing use of those which were not used during the lessons.

Conclusion: In education sector, Six Thinking Hats are beneficial for learners, teachers as well as administrators. Their roles become more well-defined. Hence, they are able think more coherently and integrate their thoughts and decisions better.

10) Journal by Darrell Mann, Consultant and Oxford Creativity Industrial Fellow, Department

of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, 2012

Summary: This journal talks about TRIZ, a problem-solving, analysis and forecasting tool, which has recently started using six thinking hats framework to arrive at a conclusion. It studies how six thinking hats methodology has made TRIZ predictions and results more accurate and probable. Its predictions missed to include the humane angle to it. Thus, it incorporated the mathematical model of six thinking hats in its problem-solving module and as a result, acceptance of its simulations has increased by 57%. The journal describes how the Hats concept is integrated into a TRIZ problem solving scheme. Following are the ways by which integration has been done: a) The White Hat is generally used in TRIZ tool kit when data analysis is important i.e. during initial

problem assessment and definition phase. b) The Red Hat is wore when we think emotionally. Thus, it is incorporated in TRIZ to add the

humane angle to it. It is used to think emotionally when problem solving tools don’t produce any viable solutions.

c) The Black Hat is used to logically analyze the negative aspects of a given situation. It is used by TRIZ during initial problem definition phase, where constraints of the problem have to be identified. It is used to compare weaknesses of the solutions under consideration.

d) The Yellow Hat is used by TRIZ for examining the feasibility and benefits of a potential solution. Thus, it is used to compare advantages of all possible solutions.

e) The Green Hat is used to look for creative alternatives. Thus, it incorporates additional features into existing solutions to choose the most optimal one.

f) The Blue Hat is the hat that is wore while judging when and where to put on the other Hats. It is the overall process-organizing Hat. Thus, it is wore by TRIZ throughout the problem-solving process.

Conclusion: Edward DeBono's Six Thinking Hats are the six main modes of operation of human brain. Thus, TRIZ integrated all these modes in its software and uses appropriate hats during appropriate points in the overall problem-solving process. This has increased its popularity and accuracy. 11) Using the ‘six thinking hats’ model of learning in a surgical nursing class: sharing the

experience and student opinions

This study was conducted during the 2006‑2007 academic year at Gaziosmanpaşa University. The research population was comprised of 41 students who were registered for the surgical nursing class in the Department of Nursing at Tokat School for Health Sciences. The ‘six thinking hats’ model was used in theoretical lessons about breast cancer and others in a surgical treatment class. At the end of the class, the students’ opinions were taken about the ‘six thinking hats’ model of learning. Data were analysed and different conclusions were made.

The majority of the students stated that the method facilitated their understanding with the patient considering the patient holistically; taking creative ideas; looking at an event from positive and negative

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aspects; and developing their system of thinking. They suggested that this class be taught using this method.

This study is important because it used a creative teaching method that is useful for the development of treatment students’ critical analysing skills. The study is also useful because there are less number of references in the literature about ‘six thinking hats’ model in university education, and only one in nursing instruction, and taking this type of study in the nursing verse adds to the improvement and enrichment of nursing education.

12) Hewlett—Packard used Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking to

Help organize a strategic planning meeting

Hewlett-Packard is an important international provider of industrial solutions to customers, businesses and institutions. On May 3, 2003, Hewlett-Packard complex with Compaq Computer Corporation. This was the largest technology fusion in history. Following the merger, Hewlett Packard’s 142,000 employees lead business in 40 currencies across 160 countries. The concern wanted to complete the merger without behind focus on clienteles. Various teams within the company were asked to create strategic plans in line with Hewlett-Packard’s corporate goals. In these planned planning meetings, each team affiliate would present his or her business plan. However, deprived group subtleties, partly due to the merger, prevented the groups from moving forward. Control struggles were nosy with team cohesion. The team for Process and Quality Management Network Storage Solutions was having an especially difficult time occupied together to draft a plan. Crew member Jon Albregts was given the task of organizing the strategic development meeting. Jon had previously attended a de Bono workshop led by Chief Coach Mike Sproul, so he called Mike for advice. Composed Jon and Mike mapped out a solid plan for the seminar. The team would first be sent pre-meeting work via email. This email would framework the overall goals of the group and ask the team members to present only White Hat information on their commercial plan. The pre-meeting work was useful, and everybody arrived at the meeting ready to present the White Hat info.

Following the concerts, the group used the Yellow and Black Hats to analyze each initiative. Next, they engaged in a Head-to-head Rational session to find other answers and ideas. Then they used the Red Hat to express gut feelings about the inventiveness. Finally, the Blue Hat helped them identify the next steps for implementing the plan.

Six Thinking Hats provided the insight the team needed to move initiatives forward. Team members were astonished that the usual, tired effects and discussions didn’t pop up in this specific meeting. Not ever before had the team accomplished so much so rapidly to everyone’s satisfaction

Six Thinking Hats have been used as part of the Hewlett-Packard quality inventiveness for several years now, and the achievement of the de Bono tools has spread to other divisions of the Hewlett-Packard/Compaq corporation.

13) All in the Same Direction, All at the Same Time, an Approach to Enhancing Creativity By Annie Grove-White, Cardiff School of Art & Design, Wales, UK

This paper addresses the issue of handling complex problems through structured and through explicit modes of thinking. The Six Thinking Hats proposed by DeBono has been experimented in this paper. The paper explores the use of this technique in group dynamics and student activities. The project enumerates the advantages of this empowered suspended judgment technique in decision making and problem solving. Through This approach students gained in confidence and trust resulting in increased speak up more and participate fully, contributing to their peers as well as developing their own ability for self-reflection.

The research centres on experimental feedback of second year BA graphic communication students of Cardiff School of Art & Design in wales. The students were asked to make critic groups while some of the other faculty and student members were asked to interject intermittently. The students were asked to implement the six thinking hats strategy and provide feedbacks of the entire process.

Results:

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Students reported back positively on their experience of using the Six Thinking Hats. For those whose work was the subject of the critique group, they appreciated it as an opportunity to gain clear, detailed, and relevant feedback, and also to get other points of view they had not considered.

14) Six Thinking Hats for Group Supervision with Counselor Interns, Journal of Humanities and Social Science Volume 2, Issue 2, 2008

The paper deals with the benefits of the Six Thinking Hats methodology for Counsellor Interns. It evaluates the various options the Interns have while dealing with challenging clients. This paper enumerates how the focused thinking techniques help the counsellor interns to handle the anxiety when faced with challenging clients which is an important component for managing their anxiety. Group supervision allows interns a safe environment in which to explore alternatives and reciprocate feedback Along with an opportunity to explore new strategies. The paper enumerates few shortcomings of the method along with the solutions to avoid them, for example it points out that in a group discussion where the six thinking hats approach is followed a particular participant can avoid contributing and which would in turn affect the group’s enthusiasm and might result in that person’s opinion being overshadowed. This problem can be resolved by the supervisor by setting concrete action plans and goals at the start of the discussion like complete participation and conflict avoidance. It was observed that the counsellor interns collaborated more effectively through these supervision activities, contributions from the interns increased on each of the brain-storming session that is during the various hat modes. It helped minimize polarization and fastened the groups approach towards a consensus through a systematic approach.

RESULT AND OBSERVATIONS With increased focus on creative and innovative solutions and with working in groups being imperative, parallel thinking becomes essential. Various techniques have been developed and practiced. The Six Thinking Hats developed by De Bono is one of the most successful and widely used techniques. It has been used effectively as a teaching technique to foster creativity among school children, nursing students etc. It has been implemented effectively in many organizations to generate innovative solutions to their problems. The Six Thinking Hats technique provides a framework for interaction between diverse members of a group and is also effective as a tool for cross cultural interaction. It promotes collaborative thinking, reduces conflict, enhances creativity, promotes innovation and improves confidence of individuals. It is used by various corporates as a technique to innovate and synergise to provide creative solutions to the new world problems. The method has been found effective as a teaching tool to improve creativity among students at an early stage, it helps sharpens focus, facilitates communication, fosters creativity and innovation. In meetings and discussions it helps save time and boosts productivity by providing a structured framework for the discussions. The Six Thinking Hats technique today has become a widely used technique across organisations and schools and with its advantages it has been able to provide valuable insights into the decision making process.

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REFERENCES

1. Olivier Serrat, Asian Development Bank for Cornell University ILR School

2. Training material in creativity and innovation for European R&D Organisations SMEs

3. Six Thinking Hats, Edward DeBrono

4. Six Thinking Hats Applied in the Course of

5. Clinical Case Study and Practicum III, Ya-Lie Ku, Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing,

Fooyin University

6. Six Hats in Second Life: Enhancing Pre-service Teacher, Learning in a Virtual World, Sue

Gregory and Yvonne Masters (University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia)

7. Six Thinking Hats: Mitez Sheth© Group Head - Treasury Operations, Bond Trading, &

Depository Services within Global Markets at Bank of America, Mumbai

8. Six Thinking Hats for Group Supervision with Counselor Interns: Chi-Sing Li, Assistant

Professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling, Sam Houston State

University, chisingli@shsu.edu, Daniel G. Eckstein, Associate Professor, Department of

Educational Leadership and Counseling, Sam Houston State University,

d.eckstein@yahoo.com, Sheryl Serres, Clinical Professor, Department of Educational

Leadership and Counseling, Sam Houston State University, sas008@shsu.edu, Yu-Fen Lin,

Doctoral Fellow, Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling, Sam Houston State

University, iokhunlim@yahoo.com.tw

9. All in the Same Direction, All at the Same Time: An Approach to Enhancing Creativity, Annie

Grove-White,Cardiff School of Art & Design, Wales, UK