This paper was
first presented and published in the conference proceedings of the
Transportation Research Board's 79th Annual Meeting held on January 9-13, 2000
in Washington D.C.
The decision style evaluation was described in The TRIZ Journal in October,
1998, in the article "(TRIZ)OE
= Improving TRIZ Results by Dynamically Matching Tools to Teams" by
Steve Ungvari.
Michelle
A. Skrupskis
New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department
Research Bureau
email: mskis@unm.edu
and
Steven
F. Ungvari
Strategic Product Innovations Inc.
7591 Brighton Rd.
email: Sufield@aol.com
ABSTRACT
The need for better
ways to solve complex problems facing public transportation entities led to a
collaborative research effort to assess the application of TRIZ, a Russian
acronym for
Teoriya Resheniya Izobreatatelskikh Zadatch, or
“The
Theory of Inventive Problem Solving,” concepts to management within a state
highway and transportation department. The effort was based on the
department’s emphasis on achieving quality results. This is the first
application of TRIZ to a public transportation entity.
The hypothesis tested
whether there exists a correlation between individuals’ educational
backgrounds, engineering and/or science orientations, and/or job experiences,
and their ability to apply the TRIZ technique to problem solving.
Further, an assessment was made of decision making styles to determine what
effect they might have on TRIZ.
The research evaluated
the deployment of TRIZ in a state transportation department to encourage
unconventional answers to problems. The scientific approach provides
a role in policy change directly related to quality orientation. Quality
orientation is based on the management tool referred to as Total Quality
Management (TQM). It provides organizations with an integrated,
results-oriented framework for implementing and assessing processes for managing
all operations. It was discovered that TRIZ can be applied to individuals
regardless of educational backgrounds or job experiences. The unique
TRIZ application within a public transportation entity lays the foundation for
longer term scientific innovation in transportation research as it applies
directly to work in the field where true innovation is born. The
experience further revealed that the provision of service by public
transportation entities is enhanced with the tool’s ability to encourage
inventive approaches to problem solving.
Key
Words: TRIZ, quality,
inherent contradiction, resources
INTRODUCTION
Why
Innovation in Transportation?
This collaborative research effort explored the perceived link
between the approach toward the provision of service by a public transportation
agency and the scientific approach to innovative, inventive thinking inherent in
TRIZ methodology. TRIZ is a Russian acronym for Teoriya
Resheniya Izobreatatelskikh Zadatch, or “The Theory of Inventive
Problem Solving.” The quality approach, or orientation is based on the
transportation department’s management system which supports the Total Quality
Management (TQM) tool for achieving excellence. This is based largely on
customer-driven defined satisfaction or quality, process management and business
results (1). Historically,
decisions made in many governmental organizations have not necessarily used
scientific, or rational means to achieve quality while also exercising fiscal
prudence and responsiveness to customers. Rather, decisions are made as a
function of time. This time function depends on political agendas and
available time of those in office, per their respective elected terms.
Decisions made often reflect compromised solutions.
In
recent years, public entities have looked for ways to better utilize existing
resources rather than seeking additional resources. One result has been a
move toward outsourcing to obtain better value for their limited funding.
The need to maintain costs and increase quality, demanded by the public, has
become a heightened dilemma within public transportation agency
operations. The push for outsourcing goods and services in an attempt to
address this has recently become predominant in public transportation agencies
nationwide (2).
In New Mexicothere is a need for seeking less conventional, more
inventive means of solving problems within a public transportation agency
environment without compromising quality. Transportation agencies are required
to provide the necessary highway and transportation infrastructure to facilitate
efficient access and mobility for system users. In an era of limited
resources and greater public scrutiny of expenditures, the TRIZ methodology
provides a means for resolving “inventive problems” utilizing
resources inherent within the system itself. Inventive problems are those with
at least one inherent contradiction. This concept proved extremely
appealing to the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department Cabinet
Secretary Pete K. Rahn. Rather than continuing to apply compromise
solutions, often resulting in “band-aid” type results, TRIZ provides tools
for removing the inherent contradiction within any inventive problem. The
Secretary saw the potential to avoid complicating the system with the more
conventional solutions applied to problems facing the department. Such
problems include stressing the system with the continued addition of more
resources, i.e. equipment, personnel, and funding. TRIZ provides the
conceptual solutions based on tested engineering practices, referred to as “breakthrough
engineering,” and looks within the system itself to solve the problem or
problems. Problems that have at least one inherent contradiction are
solved.
Background
on the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department
New
Mexico’s geography and population strongly influence its transportation
systems. The nation’s fifth largest state, New Mexico covers more than
121,000 square miles, yet has a population of only about 1.5 million people
clustered mostly in a few urban areas (3).
Highways are therefore the dominant transport mode. As part of its “business”
the highway and transportation department is quite concerned with the social,
cultural, economic and environmental issues inherent in its projects.
People care about what research is and what we do – community and
environmental issues are critical to our quality of life. To engage in
such areas is simply good business. When done properly, environmental and
community-based research results in big cost savings, provides jobs in the
private sector, and encourages economic development. New Mexico’s
reliance on highways is a result of the large area the state covers, its sparse
population and the concentration of business and government activities in a few
cities.
These
diverse, more politically complex concerns demand greater public involvement and
therefore produce greater scrutiny of actions taken. The Department cares about
its image, its efficiency, and its communication, as well as its costs.
The Department cares, for example, about construction projects being completed
within budget, synchronicity between land use, development and the
transportation highway infrastructure, mitigating congestion and pollution, and
the corresponding preservation of our natural resources. In essence, a “new”
public transportation entity has been created based on new, more expansive
Transportation Equity Act (TEA-21) directives. TEA-21 establishes national
policies responsive to demands of the general public which incorporate, “Sustainable
Communities,” “Access to Jobs,” and “Alternative Transportation
Systems.” TRIZ enables transportation agencies to identify solutions to
the obstacles faced in achieving these concepts.
What is TRIZ ?
TRIZ
is a Russian language acronym for Teoriya Resheniya Izobreatatelskikh Zadatch.
Translated
into English it means “The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving.” TRIZ is the
product of an exhaustive analysis of the world's most creative technological
innovations as described in worldwide patent literature. This analysis has been
conducted over a fifty-year period with the total number of patents analyzed now
totaling approximately three million.
The
objective of TRIZ is to discover how inventors invent. Trying to
understand the inventive process was aimed specifically at inventions that
solved difficult engineering problems in novel ways. The problems
considered were difficult because they contained one or several contradictory
requirements, e.g., speed vs precision and a situation where compromise was no
longer an acceptable solution.
For
a solution to be labeled "novel" or "inventive," it
had to comply with five requirements:
1.
The solution fully resolved the contradictory requirements, e.g.,
speed with precision
2.
The solution preserved all of the advantages of the previous system
3.
The solution eliminated the disadvantages of the previous system
4.
The solution did not introduce any new disadvantages
5.
The solution did not make the system more complex
The
fifty-year study of inventions has uncovered a comprehensive set of analytical
and knowledge based tools that previously existed implicitly in the minds of the
world's most creative inventors. TRIZ has codified the implicit process of
invention, and by making it explicit, made invention available to anyone with a
reasonable amount of intelligence. The result of this combined with
the TRIZ Levels of Inventiveness distinguishes it from other problem solving
management systems and includes a theory of invention with the following
criteria:
·
Be systematic and provide a
step-by-step process
·
Guide the process of invention
through a broad solution space to direct the process to the most ideal solution
·
The process needed to be
reliable and repeatable across a wide spectrum of problems
·
The process should not be
dependent on psychological aids such as brainstorming
·
The process should take
advantage and access the body of inventive knowledge
·
The process must add to the
body of inventive knowledge
The
Link of TRIZ to Quality and the Scientific Approach
The
field of creative thinking is littered with many different approaches and
techniques. The range of techniques spans the spectrum from
psychologically based approaches such as brainstorming and synetics to knowledge
based approaches such as Value Engineering and Morphological Analysis.
Psychological
methods such as brainstorming are aimed at tapping into the "creative"
sub-conscious mind to stimulate the process of idea generation. The rules
for these types of approaches emphasize quantity over quality and the separation
of idea generation from idea evaluation. The three critical assumptions in
psychologically based techniques such as brainstorming are:
·
The best solution to a problem is lurking in the mind of the individuals
involved in the exercise.
·
In the freeform "creative" atmosphere of the storm, the idea
will be articulated.
·
The idea will be recognized as the "best idea" and chosen from
the myriad of others that had been proposed.
There
is no doubt that brainstorming can be an effective tool for generating
ideas. It does not, however, follow the scientific method. The
results of brainstorming are highly dependent on the quality of the experts
involved in the activity. Since its inception in the early 1940s,
brainstorming has been useful in providing a tool for solving non-scientific
problems such as those found in advertising and marketing. Brainstorming
has not been effective at all in dealing with complex technological problems
such as those encountered in transportation.
A
more scientific approach to problem solving can be found in knowledge based
techniques such as Value Engineering as invented by L. Miles of General
Electric. These methods proved very useful in taking knowledge of existing
products, materials, and components and utilizing them in new ways to reduce
cost and enhance the "value proposition" of the product being
improved. In essence, these approaches restructure current knowledge
and apply it in a creative way.
The
shortcoming of both types of approaches is that the creative thinking process is
initiated from articulating the problem at hand; the "as is"
condition. This is analogous to building a road from a known location but
without identifying the road's termination point. While the
road will end somewhere, the question is - is it where we wanted it to be?
No doubt too, the road will be built along the path of least resistance.
In the TRIZ lexicon, this phenomenon is called Psychological Inertia (PI).
Psychological inertia acts as a guide leading one to a solution space that
comports to the problem solver’s technological paradigm. For example, a
chemical engineer will attempt to solve a problem through chemistry and not
mechanics or electronics. The solution space is limited to the
individual's knowledge, experience and comfort zone even though the ideal
solution may be a mechanical one.
TRIZ
was developed by Genrich Altshuller, a Soviet Navy Patents expert and is very
different because one of the first steps in the TRIZ process is an articulation
of the "Ideal Final Result (IFR)." In other words, the ideal end
state is defined first and working backwards from there, and a list of reasons
and impediments blocking its clear achievement is made manifest. This list
of problems is then prioritized and a strategy to overcome them in order to
achieve the ideal final result is devised. This strategy is exactly the
same as Habit 2 - Start With the End in Mind
in Steven R. Covey's best seller The 7 Habits
of Highly Effective People.
A
Scientific Approach to Innovation Utilizing TRIZ
TRIZ was and is still
being developed through an empirical approach to answering the question “how
does invention happen?” Additionally, Altshuller's analysis of thousands
of inventions led to two early significant discoveries.
1.
Inventions are vastly
different in their degree of “inventiveness.” To differentiate how
inventive a solution was, Altshuller devised a 1-5 scale for categorizing the
level of inventiveness (4).
Levels
of Inventiveness
·
Level 1: Parametric Solution
·
A solution utilizing well
known within an engineering field of specialty
·
Level 2: Significant
Improvement
·
A significant improvement in
the system utilizing known methods possible from several engineering disciplines
·
Level 3: Invention
Within the paradigm
·
Elimination of conflicting
demands within the system utilizing technologies within the current
technological paradigm
·
Level 4: Invention
Outside the paradigm
·
Creation of a new generation
of a system with a solution derived not in technology but in science
·
Level 5: True Discovery
·
A discovery beyond the
boundaries of contemporary science
Given the fact that
Altshuller was searching for, and discovered, a systematic process for
inventing, TRIZ should be used for level 3 and 4 problems. Level 1 and 2
problems can be solved utilizing known methods and technologies. Also,
these problems are not deemed to be so critical that an engineering compromise
is out-of-the-question. The five levels of inventiveness are extremely
useful for understanding the scope of the challenge when faced with a difficult
problem. Achieving a level three or level four solution, if that is what
is demanded by the problem, is considerably more difficult to achieve and
implement as opposed to a conventional solution.
2.
The second profound discovery made by
Altshuller is that technological systems evolve according to “regularities”
or consistent repeatable patterns. The patterns of evolution are
articulated in the form of eight Laws of Development of Technological Systems (5).
Laws
of Development of Technological Systems
1.
Law of System Completeness
2.
Law of Uneven Development of
System Elements
3.
Law of Increasing Dynamism
4.
Law of Harmonization of
Rhythms
5.
Law of Increasing Efficiency
in Energy Conductivity
6.
Law of Transition to a
Supersystem
7.
Law of Transition from Macro
to Micro Level
8.
Law of Increased Levels of
Automation
The
Laws provide a significant and repeatable pattern of evolution that is useful
for predicting future systems evolution and just as predictably, future systems
problems. Many of these Laws are already visible in today's transportation
systems. For example, the mismatches between vehicle capabilities and
transportation infrastructure reflect the discontinuities reflected in Law
2. Movable barriers on bridges reflect the need for flexibility and
dynamism explained by Law 3. Metered on-ramp traffic control reflects the
need for overall system harmony stated in Law 4. Smart highways reflect
movement toward Law 8 - Increased Levels of
Automation.
At a 1998 meeting,
Department leaders were briefed on TRIZ principles and its applicability to
transportation systems. The Department then designed and implemented a
TRIZ training program for Department managers beginning in April 1999.
This group known as the Trailblazers consists of personnel from all sections
within the Department and provides a wide range of diverse backgrounds,
education, and job experiences. It was believed that the concepts would
provide an additional management tool for solving problems. The Trailblazer
training in TRIZ was part of the Department’s move toward quality
improvement. The Secretary required TRIZ training for all persons
reporting directly to him in an advisory capacity, and also strongly encouraged
all mid-level managers to attend. Explicit in this approach was the
collaboration between a key outside expert and the Principal Investigator (PI),
who designed the training workshops accordingly. It is important to note that
all of the funding expended for this initiative was from State Planning and
Research funds.
The Department
personnel exposed to TRIZ prior to the Trailblazer training perceived that it
provides a structured process for maneuvering outside the box; something that
could be utilized immediately. Other comments from prior Trailblazer
training included “we know what we want, but don’t know how to get
there; the tools provided with TRIZ facilitate this.” Further, “it
prevents compromised solutions, which historically is what we do.”
Subsequent to the training provided to these individuals, it was
decided to provide a similar, but somewhat condensed, version of the TRIZ
training to a larger cross section of department managers.
Once
the training of the Trailblazers took place, many mangers commented that TRIZ
provided them with the tools to get beyond common problems. Common
references among the managers were similar to a “leap of logic” once the
TRIZ methodologies were understood. This, regarding year long problems,
related not only to management and engineering oriented problems, but to
environmental ones as well. An example of TRIZ in action, was a retention
pond issue within the state. The issue in conflict had to do with the pond
depth necessary to create a rapid evaporation rate versus the square footage and
hence cost to obtain enough of a right-of-way. From a TRIZ standpoint this is a
classical problem. As we improve feature A, feature B is deteriorated and
vice-versa. For example, shallow ponds covering a large area produced
rapid evaporation (good) but made right-of-way costs high (bad). As cutting-edge
methodology applied to a public transportation entity, it established the
foundation for institutional change and for a long-range role for research in
applying inventive applications toward problem solving.
The
ideal solution to this problem is to increase the rate of runoff elimination
while not increasing right-of-way costs by having to buy large tracts of
land. Using TRIZ language, one pair of conflicting parameters are
"Speed" versus "Waste of Substance," and "Speed"
versus "Harmful side Effects." While many other combinations
were examined, the knowledge base suggested the following Inventive Principles:
“Taking Out,” i.e. a) Extract (remove or separate) a “disturbing”
part or property, from an object or b) Extract the only necessary part or
property of the object required to solve the problem, “The Other Way Around,”
i.e. a) Instead of an action dictated by the specifications of the problem,
implement an opposite action, or b) Make a moving part of the object or the
outside environment immovable and the non-moving part moveable, i.e. “Preliminary
Action,” i.e. a) Perform, either fully or partially, before it is
needed, the required change(s) of an object or b) Arrange objects so they can
perform their required functions without loss of time waiting for some other
action, and “Parameter Changes, ” i.e. a) Change an object’s
physical state, b) Change the concentration or consistency of an object, or c)
Change the degree of flexibility of an object, or d) Change the temperature of
the object. The suggested solution was to "turn the retention pond on
its side." In other words, the concept is to create the ability to
retain water vertically. This solution satisfies the need for detention while
not increasing the cost of obtaining right-of-way. Of course, this is a
conceptual solution to the conflict. It is obvious that many details need
to be investigated before the idea is deemed to be feasible.
Overall, it was believed there is true success in its application.
In addition to linking TRIZ to quality improvement within the Department, the
intent was to test the understanding and applicability of TRIZ to
non-technically oriented persons. The TRIZ Consultant believed that anyone
with average intelligence, not just engineers, or scientifically trained
individuals would benefit.
To
conduct the assessment, researchers utilized the 2 day TRIZ training
workshops. Workshop attendees initially received a brief explanation
of TRIZ and how it differs from traditional problem solving techniques.
The attendees were also asked to select an "inventive" problem to be
solved in the class. A guideline outlining the criterion of what
constitutes an inventive problem was provided to assist in problem
selection. In addition, individuals were asked to complete the “I-Opt”™
Organizational Engineering (OE) Strategic Decision Making Instrument
(6) to assist in efforts to fully understand the applicability of
TRIZ in a public transportation agency. This other tool, Organizational
Engineering was incorporated into the research. Organizational Engineering (OE)
is a sociological instrument that measures individual, team or any group's
preferred strategy for making decisions. The instrument categorizes
decision making along two axes — mode and method. The mode
dimension classifies decision making as either action oriented or thought
oriented. The method dimension describes the process of decision making as
either logical or relational. Each of the characteristics are described
briefly below.
Mode:
·
Action Orientation.(Reactive
Stimulator - RS) The action oriented RS has a tendency to react
immediately to a situation seeking quick results. Details are sacrificed
in favor of results now!
·
Thought Orientation
(Hypothetical Analyzer - HA) The HA enjoys complexity and will carefully
consider every alternative before making a decision.
Method:
·
Logical Thinking (Logical
Processor - LP) The LP is logical, methodical, paced and not easily
deterred from an objective. They enjoy details and clear precise
directions.
·
Relational Thinking (Relational
Innovator - RI) The RI is the idea generator. They have the ability
to forge relationships between divergent ideas and integrate them into coherent
theories.
The
validity of the OE instrument is not in question as it has been used in the
public and private sector on over 10,000 individuals and more than 1,000
teams. Given the size of the database, several patterns have emerged as to
preferential decision making styles that dominate technical and non-technical
individuals. These styles are shown in Figure 3. This
information provided the test data to ascertain the applicability of TRIZ to
non-technically oriented persons.
Hypothesis,
Results & Implications
The hypothesis is that
the basic understanding and application of fundamental TRIZ concepts by persons
with varied educational backgrounds and job experiences would prove positive and
therefore valuable to a wide range of job situations within the diverse and
often complex areas within a public transportation agency. This proved
true.
In essence,
individuals across the board, regardless of educational background or job
experience, readily adapted to TRIZ techniques. In their view, TRIZ
provided another problem solving tool which could assist their efforts in their
daily work assignments.
The
evaluation results bore this out. The functional relationship between the
strength of TRIZ and the corresponding processing of it as collected from the
Trailblazer group was correlated with the individual Organizational Engineering
Surveys (OES) profiles reflecting the distinctions among the various
individuals. The OES tool focuses on work-related behavioral
attributes. It reveals how an individual makes decisions, solves problems
and sets priorities in the work environment. The final outcome was
positive and proved its universal application regardless of either educational
or job backgrounds.
In
the analysis of the independent variables, individuals fell within one of the
four quadrants of the OES profiles. These are “Logical Processor”
(LP), “Hypothetical Analyzer” (HA), “Relational Innovator” (RI) or “Reactive
Stimulator” (RS). This was cross-referenced to questions related to
whether they were satisfied overall with the course, and whether it would be
useful in their respective jobs. There were no distinctions. TRIZ
was both understood and accepted as applicable to their jobs. Therefore,
it was evaluated as useful across job categories.
With this experience
documented, policy may be forged for public transportation entities. More
importantly, the public benefit may be realized with the application of TRIZ and
the corresponding use of existing resources. Transportation research has
an obligation to the people affected by our efforts. Our fundamental role
as researchers is to understand need, design functional responses, demonstrate
solutions and recommend action. This practice is the conduct of
research. In this collaborative research project, we focused not only on
other public transportation agencies, but on the nation’s transportation
system from a more global view.
For
public transportation agencies this research lays the foundation for the long
term role of scientific innovation in transportation research. The
application of TRIZ within a public entity is powerful in that the general
public demand personalized services from their respective governments without
providing for more resources. This is an inventive contradiction in
and of itself. The “How” to resolve this dilemma or
contradiction lies in the understanding and application of TRIZ methodologies.
Technical
Vs. Non-Technical OE Styles
Given
the divergence in decision making styles coupled with the scientific rigor of
TRIZ the initial assumption was that the methodology would find favor and
applicability in the technical community (HA - LP) more so than in the
non-technical (RI - RS) one.
The results of
multiple regression against satisfaction of the methodology scored an "R
Squared" value of 7%. That means that only 7% of the variation in the can
be explained by strategic decision making style. In other words,
acceptance of TRIZ is essentially unrelated to strategic decision making
style. Thus TRIZ is roughly acceptable to all styles.
The
regression data on Applicability to their job showed an "R Squared" of
9%. Again, little correlation. The conclusion that can be drawn is that
TRIZ is applicable to both the technical as well as the non-technical
community.
Additionally,
the 65 course evaluations rated their satisfaction with TRIZ at 4.1 (Likert) and
6.1 (1-10) on applicability to their job.
TRIZ
Applicability Assessment/Method
Because
TRIZ is a fundamentally new way of approaching problem solving, the conduct of
research required careful planning and a robust deployment strategy. This,
in turn, necessitated close coordination and communication between the Principle
Investigator (PI) and the Subject Matter Expert (SME), or TRIZ Consultant.
The
core issue that was of concern to both the PI and the SME was whether or
not TRIZ was an applicable methodology to attack the problems posed in modern
transportation systems. The secondary issues surrounding the central core
concern was whether or not the mix of technical and non-technical individuals
working in transportation would understand and be able to utilize TRIZ in the
context of a team based approach to problem solving.
In
order to answer those questions, a methodology that included several crucial
components was devised. First the question as to the applicability of TRIZ
to a public transportation agency necessitated clarification and secondly
whether or not technical or non technical personnel viewed TRIZ as applicable in
the context of their day-to-day jobs. Both of these issues were
specifically probed in a post workshop evaluation questionnaire. The first
question as to the overall satisfaction with the training structure was scored
on a Likert scale and the second issue, the day-to-day applicability of TRIZ to
their jobs on a 1-10 scale. The actual question on the evaluation was as
follows: Rate the applicability of the information taught to your job. (1-10)
________ 1= none, 3 = limited, 5 = moderate, 7 = good, 10 = highly applicable
At
the workshops, the instructor explained the various TRIZ techniques via lecture
and then asked attendees to apply the techniques and share any insights that
were relevant to their specific environment. Subsequently, the
students were asked to utilize a specific TRIZ technique on their selected
transportation problem. Teams of three to six class members analyzed a problem
and presented their findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
The
most successful teams in terms of generating truly novel ideas and solutions
were teams that contained a broad cross section of the various transportation
functions. The most enlightening aspect of the cross disciplined teams was
that they abandoned traditional adversarial roles in favor of cooperative
efforts to find "ideal”' solutions by which all parties could live.
Another surprise was the applicability of TRIZ for solving non-engineering
problems. Concerns posed before the training that the methodology might be
beyond the grasp of non-technical personnel and as such not usable were
unfounded. The design of the workshops in essence provided the methodology by
which the application of TRIZ techniques into a public transportation
agency could be assessed.
Interestingly, as
excellent problem solving ideas emerged from both ends of the technical
spectrum, in the areas of engineering, administration, management, financial,
environmental, information and communication systems, it became apparent that
this success should be viewed as an investment product. As such it merits
consideration for further TRIZ deployment within the Department.
Specifically, it should target those individuals working in the field, where
innovation is frequently born. It is believed that work in the
field is where the anticipated returns on the investment will be both great and
swift.
Class
Example(s) of TRIZ Applied to a Transportation Problem
The
TRIZ problem solving process is initiated by completing the Inventive Situation
Questionnaire (ISQ). The purpose of filling out the ISQ is to organize the
team's knowledge about the problem. The ISQ also starts the team on
thinking from a TRIZ perspective, by clearly defining the parameters of the
problem, the resources available to solve the problem, any historical data on
previous attempts to solve the problem, and the ideal solution.
After
completing the ISQ, the teams proceeded to define their respective
problems in terms of the inherent conflicts associated with any ideas they have
or any known conventional solutions. After defining the conflict(s), the
team searched the knowledge base for similar problems in order to find a list of
Inventive Principles that have resolved that type of problem. The students
then applied the analogy to their situation and evolved the solution to create a
model of their solution.
The
retention detention pond issue was one of the class examples. The team that
thought of this idea completed the exercise in one hour. In fact all of
the 16 problem solving teams managed to come up with a novel or new idea as TRIZ
logic was applied to their technical, as well as non-technical problems.
Policy
Implications for Research
Our approach to the
Trailblazer TRIZ training stemmed from the fact that TRIZ concepts meet the
required technical rigor for research. Further, the data collected are
technically strong, and clear. The collaborative research effort began
with the hypothesis that any individual of average intelligence could both
comprehend and apply the TRIZ concepts to any inventive problem. The
hypothesis was tested via the Trailblazer training, and the corresponding
result, or proof of principle, reflect that TRIZ can be universally employed by
a wide range of persons.
The overall
average rating of the workshop was 4.1 (scale from 1 to 5 – with 1-not
satisfied to 5-very satisfied). More importantly, the overall average
score for applicability to job was 6.1 (scale from 1 to 10 with 1-none, or no
applicability to 10-highly applicability).
CONCLUSIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The authors believe that the need for inventive thinking techniques as provided
by TRIZ is clear, particularly in view of new demands placed on public entities
to ensure quality without compromising the judicious use of resources.
Applying TRIZ on a more global scale should be viewed as an investment product
where the return over a period will prove swift and substantial. Further,
the authors believe that this result may be more likely with deployment
concentrated on Project Managers and other field personnel.
This research affirmed and documented that the formulation of TRIZ “Gurus”,
or “Users Group” would provide the necessary motivation to begin to
solve problems using existing resources, thus avoiding further complicating or
stressing the current highway and transportation system. Ultimately, it is
our belief that this would prove more efficacious and prudent in long range
planning within public entities. The current and predicted future demands
on entities will increasingly require transportation planning and project
implementation to consider less conventional means of solving problems related
to basic infrastructure and land use issues covering a wide range of diverse and
complex areas which impact our standard of living. Below are specific
recommendations for public agencies to begin to provide the means for “thinking
outside the conventional box” and become more responsive to solving inherent
contradictions within requests made from government.
1.
To the extent possible, provide TRIZ training to a blend of individuals
from both the technical and non-technical areas of a transportation
agency, concentrating on those personnel working in the field;
2.
Create TRIZ “Gurus”/”Users Group”
3.
Ensure representatives include research staff and any university
affiliates within the department to serve as the core group; these individuals
would be in charge of system degradation prevention with the incorporation of
TRIZ software currently available. In this sense, any TRIZ deployment must
provide for system integrity and the necessary safeguards must be implemented to
prevent any degradation;
4.
Individuals selected should be directed by the research section within
the transportation agency and should incorporate persons also from within the
various districts, or field offices, and Materials Labs.
5.
Individuals should be selected based on individual interest, on a
voluntary basis, rather than as criterion of job selection; the number should be
limited.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank Cabinet Secretary Pete K. Rahn of the New Mexico
State Highway and Transportation Department for his support in this
collaborative research effort, and his interest in facilitating the first ever
application of TRIZ to a public transportation agency. Also, the authors
thank the late Genrikh Altshuller and his family for providing the brilliance in
TRIZ. Additionally, the authors thank both Gary Salton Ph. D.,
President Professional Communications, Inc. and the developer of Organizational
Engineering and Mr. Zion Bar-El, President & CEO Ideation International Inc.
for the permission to use the Inventive Situation Questionnaire.
Skrupskis &
Ungvari
REFERENCES
-
Chandra,
Mahesh “Total Quality Management in
Management Development” Journal of Management Development 1993:
vol. 12.
-
New
Mexico Highway and Transportation Department. Outsourcing
– Cost/Benefit Analysis. January 1998.
-
New
Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department.
Facts and Figures, Where We
Are, Where We Want to Be. January 1996.
-
Altshuller, G.S., Creativity
as an Exact Science, Gordon & Breach, New York.
-
Ungvari, S.F., TRIZ
Two Day Workshop, SPI, In., Brighton, MI, 1998.
-
Salton,
G.J., Organizational Engineering,
Professional Communications Inc., Ann Arbor, MI, 1996.
List of Figures
Figure
1
Technical Vs. Non-Technical OE Styles
