Problem Solving and Related Skills
29th October, 2024
PG Department of Food Science Technology in collaboration with IIC, Khalsa College Amritsar organized a lecture on Problem Solving and Related Skills on October 29th, 2024 in the Skill Development Centre of the college. Dr. M S Batra, Director Skill Development Centre was the resource person and the lecture was attended by fifty students and faculty members from different departments.
Introducing the topic, Dr. Batra emphasized that the topic of Problem solving skills is a part of syllabus for many competitions such as IAS. PCS etc. It is an important skill from the Personality Development perspective, it helps people overcome challenges, achieve goals, and grow personally and professionally. It is also very import to handle day to day challenges and to understand changes and improvements needed to compete and survive in a continually changing environment.
The lecture began with the introduction to what are problems, different kinds of problems such as open ended and close ended problems with examples from day to day life, work place to make the audience understand the importance of problem solving.
The speaker then nicely elaborated various steps involved in the problem solving process such as – how to identify the problem. Analyse it by collecting relevant data, Explore alternatives and consider their consequences, choose the most desirable alternative, Implement the decision and evaluate the results.
Thinking skills play a crucial role in the problem solving process. The speaker highlighted the importance of core thinking skills such as focusing, gathering, organizing, analysing, connecting and generating. The role of Convergent vs divergent thinking; critical and creative thinking skills in problem solving process in day to day life and work place was well explained by citing examples from different fields.
At the back of problem solving brain storming and team work play an important role. Brain storming encourages people to think creatively and without boundaries, which can lead to innovative solutions. The process generates a wide range of ideas that can be discussed, merged, and refined. Some cases where brain storing and tram work played a crucial role in finding most appropriate solutions were discussed.
