Creativity
The state or quality of being
creative, the ability to transcend
traditional ideas, rules, patterns,
relationships, or the like and
to create meaningful new ideas,
forms, methods, interpretations, etc.;
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new (a product, a solution, a work of art etc.) that has some kind of value. What counts as “new” may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs. What counts as “valuable” is similarly defined in a variety of ways.
Scholarly interest in creativity ranges widely: Topics to which it is relevant include the relationship between creativity and general intelligence; the mental and neurological processes associated with creative activity; the relationship between personality type and creative ability; the relationship between creativity and mental health; the potential for fostering creativity through education and traning, especially as augmented by technology; and the application of an individual’s existing creative resources to improve the effectiveness of learning processes and of the teaching processes tailored to them.
Creativity and creative acts are therefore studied across several disciplines - psychology, cognitive science, education,philosophy (particularly philosophy of science), technology, theology, sociology, linguistics, business studies, andeconomics. As a result, there are a multitude of definitions and approaches.
Originality
Originality is the aspect of created or invented works by as being new or novel, and thus can be distinguished from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or derivative works.
An original work is one not received from others nor one copied based on the work of others. The term “originality” is often applied as a compliment to the creativity of artists, writers, and thinkers.
Technology
Is the creation, usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization
as means in order to solve a problem or serve some purpose or end.
The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include construction technology, medical technology, andinformation technology.
Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species’ ability to control and adapt to their natural environments. The human species’ use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of thewheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including theprinting press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development ofweapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.
Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today’s global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.
Productivity
Productivity is a measure of output from a production process, per unit of input. For example, labor productivity is typically measured as a ratio of output per labor-hour, an input. Productivity may be conceived of as a metric of the technical or engineering efficiency of production. As such, the emphasis is on quantitative metrics of input, and sometimes output. Productivity is distinct from metrics of allocative efficiency, which take into account both the monetary value (price) of what is produced and the cost of inputs used, and also distinct from metrics of profitability, which address the difference between the revenues obtained from output and the expense associated with consumption of inputs.
Effectiveness
Effectiveness means the capability of producing an effect, and is most frequently used in connection with the degree to which something is capable of producing a specific, desired effect.
In mathematics, effective is sometimes used as a synonym of algorithmically computable.
In physics, an effective theory is, similar to a phenomenological theory, a framework intended to explain certain (observed) effects without the claim that the theory correctly models the underlying (unobserved) processes. An example is an effective field theory that “pretends” that certain effects are caused by a field even if it is known that this is not actually the case. In a way, any theory of Physics is fundamentally an effective theory, since there is no meaningful distinction of observables and reality within the scope of Physics (see also FAPP, cogito ergo sum, Phenomenalism, Pragmatism).
In heat transfer, effectiveness is a measure of the performance of a heat exchanger when using the NTU method.
In medicine, effectiveness relates to how well a treatment works in practice, as opposed to efficacy, which measures how well it works in clinical trials or laboratory studies.
In management, effectiveness relates to getting the right things done. Peter Drucker reminds us that effectiveness is an important discipline which “can be learned and must be earned.”
In human–computer interaction, effectiveness is defined as “the accuracy and completeness of users’ tasks while using a system”
Quality
Quality in business, engineering and manufacturing has a pragmatic interpretation as the non-inferiority or superiority of something. Quality is a perceptual, conditional and somewhat subjective attribute and may be understood differently by different people. Consumers may focus on the specification quality of a product/service, or how it compares to competitors in the marketplace. Producers might measure the conformance quality, or degree to which the product/service was produced correctly.
Numerous definitions and methodologies have been created to assist in managing the quality-affecting aspects of business operations. Many different techniques and concepts have evolved to improve product or service quality. There are two common quality-related functions within a business. One is quality assurance which is the prevention of defects, such as by the deployment of a quality management system and preventative activities like failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). The other is quality control which is the detection of defects, most commonly associated with testing which takes place within a quality management system typically referred to as verification and validation.
Definitions
The common element of the business definitions is that the quality of a product or service refers to the perception of the degree to which the product or service meets the customer’s expectations. Quality has no specific meaning unless related to a specific function and/or object. Quality is a perceptual, conditional and somewhat subjective attribute.
The business meanings of quality have developed over time. Various interpretations are given below:
- ISO 9000: “Degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.” The standard defines requirement as need or expectation.
- Six Sigma: “Number of defects per million opportunities.“
- Subir Chowdhury: “Quality combines people power and process power.”
- Philip B. Crosby: “Conformance to requirements.” The requirements may not fully represent customer expectations; Crosby treats this as a separate problem.
- Joseph M. Juran: “Fitness for use.” Fitness is defined by the customer.
- Noriaki Kano and others, present a two-dimensional model of quality: “must-be quality” and “attractive quality.” The former is near to “fitness for use” and the latter is what the customer would love, but has not yet thought about. Supporters characterize this model more succinctly as: “Products and services that meet or exceed customers’ expectations.”
- Robert Pirsig: “The result of care.”
- Genichi Taguchi, with two definitions:
- a. “Uniformity around a target value.” The idea is to lower the standard deviation in outcomes, and to keep the range of outcomes to a certain number of standard deviations, with rare exceptions.
- b. “The loss a product imposes on society after it is shipped.” This definition of quality is based on a more comprehensive view of the production system.
- American Society for Quality: “A subjective term for which each person has his or her own definition. In technical usage, quality can have two meanings:
- a. The characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs;
- b. A product or service free of deficiencies.”
- Peter Drucker: “Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for.”
- W. Edwards Deming: concentrating on “the efficient production of the quality that the market expects,” and he linked quality and management: “Costs go down and productivity goes up as improvement of quality is accomplished by better management of design, engineering, testing and by improvement of processes.”
- Gerald M. Weinberg: “Value to some person”.
