Name: Ed Bernacki, Director of The Idea Factory
 
Short Bio:
Ed Bernacki has seen both sides of innovation work. As an employee who generated lots of original ideas, he has seen managers both support new ideas and block them. He went on to develop a full range of new tools, processes and techniques to help people bring a new understanding to creativity and innovation.

He authored I am an Idea Factory! He is the innovation columnist for several magazines and has spoken at 200 conferences in. His specialty is applying the concepts of innovation to the service sector. He brings an international perspective to this program. He is Canadian and has lived in New Zealand where he earned his MBA.

Email: ideafactory@hotmail.ca
Web: http://www.EdBernacki.com
http://www.WowGreatIdea.com

Phone: 040 1919 127

Opening intensive:
Monday 24th & Tuesday 25th March 2014
9am-5pm
Masonic Lodge B02 Seminar Room East

Closing intensive:
Monday 28th & Tuesday 29th April 2014
9am-5pm
Masonic Lodge B02 Seminar Room East

1	Understand the nature of creativity and innovation
2	Explore, develop and demonstrate their creativity
3	Identify ways of eliminating barriers to creativity
4	Identify ways to turn creativity into insights, ideas, opportunities and action
5	Understand how to bring creativity and innovation into an organisation
6	Understand how to manage creativity and innovation in an organisational context

The University’s preferred textbook supplier is Unibooks: http://www.unibooks.com.au/ 

Text book:
Goffin, Keith. Mitchell, Rick (2010). Innovation Management; Strategy and implementation using the pentathlon framework, 2nd Ed., Palgrave Macmillian

While this text focuses mostly on manufacturing product development and innovation, it provides a useful overview of all key issues.

The authors created on-line resources for students. I suggest you become familiar with this material and pursue topics that interest you. Also, notice the material that will be useful to you in the future. See link to http://www.palgrave.com/business/goffin/ 

Prior to the course, read these chapters of Innovation Management:

Pre reading	Chapter One – basic introduction to innovation (you can download this from the book’s on-line resources). It includes the numerous definitions of innovation.	Notice the Innovation Drivers (figure 1.1). Do you agree with this or is anything missing?
Pre reading	Chapter three – a discussion on innovation in services and manufacturing. Depending on your needs, I may add more elements of innovation in the service sectors.	Pay attention to the issue of services and R&D. I wonder if we are noticing the right issues to gauge innovation in services. Can services innovate without R&D – what do they do instead?
Pre reading	Chapter five – a basic introduction to creativity	This is a basic overview of creativity – it seems to ignore the need for creative ideas to innovate internal processes.
Assignment Two	Chapter Six – pay attention to concepts that you could use in the future as a manager.
Assignment Four	Review Chapter eight for its discussion on culture. Some of this focuses on very large organizations.	Page 275 talks of research by Polaroid Corp. I will share my experiences of working there at the time of this research.
Assignment Five	Review Chapter seven – models for managing innovation	This includes a discussion on StarGate and similar models for managing numerous projects
Final In-Class session	Review Chapter four on innovation strategy	Read this chapter from a perspective of shaping innovation strategy – what elements are important in the organization you work in or will work in?

Bernacki, Ed. I am an Idea Factory! The Leaders Guide

I will give you a copy of my book on the first day of the program. I wrote this book, much like a ‘how to’ guide, to focus on the tactics to create internal idea factories whenever and wherever new ideas are needed. It was based on my observations of how poorly many teams solved problems and created opportunities. I use your understanding of a factory to model the process of creating opportunities to innovate.
 
Articles that are required reading
Instruction for accessing the following articles will be available from the MyUni website:

Article	Assignment number	Author(s)	Source
The Definition and Nature of Innovation Ensure you read this before class. Pay attention to the three ‘beliefs’ of innovation. Prepare to discuss on Day One.	Pre reading	AACSB	AACSB International Task Force on Business Schools and Innovation
Managing Personal Creativity “Today, very little attention is given to developing the creative thinking skills of individuals within organizations.”	Pre reading	Jeffrey H. Mauzy	Design Management Review Summer 2006 Vol 17, Issue 3 pp 64-72
Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation Theory: Managing Cognitive Styles in Times of Diversity and Change The purpose of this article is to explore the value of studying cognitive diversity for managing diverse cognitive styles in times of change.	Two – read for Day Two	Stum, Jake	Emerging Leadership Journeys, Vol. 2 Iss. 1, 2009, pp. 66-78.
Managing Risk and Opportunities This manual is extremely good for framing the issue of risk of solving problems and new initiatives. I would file this for future reference.	Three		To be supplied. Created by the Management Accountant Group in Canada.
Creativity and the Role of the Leader Focus on the ideas presented as a ‘manager’s guide to increasing innovation.’	Four	Teresa Amabile, Mukti Khaire	Harvard Business Review Oct 2008, Vol. 86 Issue 10, p100-109
Assessing the work environment for creativity The authors describe ‘KEYS’ as an instrument to assess perceived stimulants and obstacles to creativity in organizations. Pay attention to the factors – a summary is in your Idea Journal – factors that hinder or enhance creativity.	Four	Amabile, Contti, Coon, Lazenby, Herron.	Academy of Management Journal October 1, 1996 Vol. 39, No. 5. pp. 1154-1184
How to kill creativity “Creativity is undermined unintentionally every day in work environments that were established... to maximise business imperatives such coordination, productivity and control.”	Four	Teresa Amabile	Harvard Business Review Sep/Oct98, Vol. 76 Issue 5, p76-87
Perspective: The Stage-Gates Idea-to-Launch Process—Update. What’s New, and NexGen Systems The article reviews the use of the Stage Gate model for managing new product development in large business. Summarise the issues that you feel are useful for a model for SMEs or service organizations.	Five	Robert G. Cooper	Journal of Product Innovation Management 2008; 25: 213–232
Design Thinking: d.school bootcamp bootleg.	Six	Ed Bernacki	Bright magazine, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
Singapore Innovation Score Card This is a very interesting innovation audit.	Four		To be supplied www.spring.gov.sg
Creativity and the Role of the Leader Focus on the ideas presented as a ‘manager’s guide to increasing innovation.’	Five	Teresa Amabile, Mukti Khaire	Harvard Business Review Oct 2008, Vol. 86 Issue 10, p100-109
Assessing the work environment for creativity The authors describe ‘KEYS’ as an instrument to assess perceived stimulants and obstacles to creativity in organizations. Pay attention to the factors – a summary is in your Idea Journal – factors that hinder or enhance creativity.	Five	Amabile, Contti, Coon, Lazenby, Herron.	Academy of Management Journal October 1, 1996 Vol. 39, No. 5. pp. 1154-1184
How to kill creativity “Creativity is undermined unintentionally every day in work environments that were established... to maximise business imperatives such coordination, productivity and control.”	Five	Teresa Amabile	Harvard Business Review Sep/Oct98, Vol. 76 Issue 5, p76-87
Perspective: The Stage-Gates Idea-to-Launch Process—Update. What’s New, and NexGen Systems The article reviews the use of the Stage Gate model for managing new product development in large business. Summarise the issues that you feel are useful for a model for SMEs or service organizations.	Six	Robert G. Cooper	Journal of Product Innovation Management 2008; 25: 213–232
Design Thinking: d.school bootcamp bootleg.	Six	Stanford University Design School.	Review the whole document. Bring a digital version to class if possible.
Big ACME Toy Company This is an innovation simulation that will require you to use a creativity tool – idea boxes. Become familiar with the tool.	Preparation for final session on Day 4	Ed Bernacki	Tool for simulation – study these as you will use them in practice

Ed Bernacki has also published over 250 management articles as an innovation columnist and writer for numerous publications in various countries. He will provide a package of articles to supplement your reading. He has also created a series of unique idea journals. You will receive an Idea Factory training idea journal – this is designed as your note book for the course. It includes about 40 editorial pages that replace the typical handouts used in workshops and courses.

Other books that will be referred during this program:

De Bono, Edward (2009), Six Thinking Hats, Penguin.

De Bono developed this simple tool to prompt people to think in different ways. Six Thinking Hats is from a family of tools for parallel thinking, a term de Bono coined that focus on collaboration through creative thinking rather than critical thinking or argument.

Kirton, MJ (2003) Adaption-Innovation In the Context of Diversity and Change, Routledge, New York (reprinted 2006)

Managing people would be easy if everyone thought alike. We know that people do not think alike yet many of our management policies implicitly assume they do. Dr Kirton conceived the theory of adaption-innovation to help people collaborate by understanding the differences in the way we solve problems, make decisions and deal with change.

CREATIVITY

Grudin, Robert (1990) The Grace of Great Things; creativity and innovation, Houghton Mifflin
Company Boston.

This book is hard to find yet worth the effort. Grudin’s insights on creativity and innovation are valuable for understanding creativity in organisations. It is not like management text book; it is part philosophy and part personal journey for a more creative life inside an organisation.

Schnetzler, Nadja (2005), The Idea Machine. How ideas can be produced industrially, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim.

This is a very good book. The author runs a Switzerland based company called the BrainStore. This book focuses on the front end of creativity – how we can prompt new thinking to create original ideas.

Robinson, Alan. Schroder, Dean. (2006) Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution Is Liberating People and Transforming Organisations, Free Press USA

I spoke at a conference for Ideas American, an association of people involved with staff suggestion box programs (a more formal title is idea management systems). This book resulted from research on 300 organisations that have programs.

Edward de Bono has written about 70 books on creative thinking. Aside from Six Thinking Hats, you could also refer to these:

De Bono, Edward (1990) PO: Beyond Yes and No: Intl Center for Creative Thinking

This is one his most interesting book. De Bono conceived the term PO as a tool to prompt or provoke new thinking. It is can be a valuable tool for your tool kit of techniques to prompt your thinking in new directions.

De Bono, Edward (1970) Lateral Thinking, New York: Harper & Row, 1970

Vertical thinking is digging the same hole deeper; lateral thinking is digging someplace else. Junior is bothering his aunt who is knitting a sweater. He feels constricted by the playpen and howls. Solution: put the aunt in the playpen where she can knit undisturbed while junior romps outside. Several sets of exercises are included.
Michalko, Michael (2001) Cracking Creativity, Ten Speed Press

Michael Michalko has made a career from writing about the practical side of creativity. This book is of many techniques that you can use to generate new ideas. We will use at least one of the tools he outlines in this book. He has several excellent books of tools.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990) FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper & Row, 1990

FLOW is a state of intense absorption where the distinction between you and the work you are doing practically disappears. Time appears distorted with hours feeling like minutes. Peak performers achieve this state regularly and it has been extensively studied in champion athletes and sports figures as well as performers in the arts.

Design Thinking and Service Design

An interest source of information on design is Better By Design, a government consulting service that works with businesses in New Zealand which are deemed to have strong potential for export growth. See www.BetterbyDesign.org.nz There is also a group dedicated to service design on LinkedIn which leads to many resources.

Liedtka, Jeanne and Ogilvie, Tim. (2011) Designing For Growth, a design thinking tool kit for managers: Columbia Business School Publishing

There is much written lately about design thinking. Many of the new publications come from US authors. I think the US is catching up to the focus on design that is well established in Europe and some parts of Asia. This is a good book as it shows you how to apply the tools to design more innovative solutions.

Norman, Donald. (2005) Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things: Basic Books

The book’s promotional blurb asks, “Did you ever wonder why cheap wine tastes better in fancy glasses? Why sales of Macintosh computers soared when Apple introduced the colorful iMac? New research on emotion and cognition has shown that attractive things really do work better.” Norman suggests that humans react to design on three levels: visceral (first appearance), behavioral (how the item performs) and reflective (what they remember or tell others about the experience).

Library Resources

The University of Adelaide’s Barr Smith Library provides a range of learning resources including texts, journals, periodicals, magazines, and access to online databases and information services. It also offers a virtual library which is accessible via the University’s website. The University Library web page is: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/ 

From this link, you are able to access the Library's electronic resources.

MyUni is the University of Adelaide's online learning environment. It is used to support traditional face-to-face lectures, tutorials and workshops at the University. MyUni provides access to various features including announcements, course materials, discussion boards and assessments for each online course of study (see: https://myuni.adelaide.edu.au)

This course is offered in blended learning mode with the face-to-face component offered as intensives.

As a guide, a 3 unit course comprises a total of 156 hours work (this includes face-to-face contact, any online components, and self-directed study).

This is a draft schedule and session dates are a guide only. The timetable may be changed during the course delivery if necessary.

For detail of all readings prior to intensives and for assignments, please see list in section 3.1 above.

Intensive	Date	Content	Readings/Activities
		Pre reading before opening intensive	Readings: • The Definition and Nature of Innovation • Managing Personal Creativity, Mauzy
1	24/03/2014	Creativity	Introductions and Overview Definitions, clichés and jargon Introduction to Skills Tool Kit
2	25/03/2014	Creativity	Cognitive Diversity What makes innovative organisations innovative? (Part 1) Shaping a culture open to ideas
		Pre reading before closing intensive	Readings: Amabile, Khaire (2008) HBR Amabile (1996) Amabile (1998) HBR
3	28/04/2014	Innovation	Welcome back The Complex issues of innovation in organisations Tangible Innovation What makes innovative organisations innovative? (Part 2)
4	29/04/2014	Product development and Innovation	Innovation Management Innovation Strategy Taking Innovation into your organisation

 

Monday 18 & Tuesday 19 March: Opening Intensive
Topics include: course introduction, the nature of creativity, overcoming barriers to creativity, individual and group creativity, the creative environment, creative thinking process and creating a future. We will also start the discussion on innovation. The approach will include lectures, in-class discussions, and exercises.

Monday 24 & Tuesday 25 March: Opening Intensive

Topics include: course introduction, the nature of creativity, overcoming barriers to creativity, individual and group creativity, the creative environment, creative thinking process and creating a future. We will also start the discussion on innovation. The approach will include lectures, in-class discussions, and exercises. The text book is needed and useful. Bring this to class. We will use some of its case studies.

Required Reading

1. Innovation Management – Chapters One, Three and Five
2. The Definition and Nature of Innovation – prepare for in-class discussions

 

Week beginning 25 March: Brainstorm like an Idea Factory

Reading Requirements for all participaints

 

Read the Part One of I am an Idea Factory! I want you to understand the basic issues of brainstorming and collaborating to create new opportunties. It is also useful in your team meetings at university.

 

Week beginning 31 March:  Do all people think alike?

Review the Yellow booklet you will receive. It is important to use your personal experiences in the first assessment. The objective is to understand Kirton Adaption Innovation theory and how it can be used in a practical way.

            Required Reading

1. Yellow KAI booklet – you will receive this in class
2. Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation Theory: Managing Cognitive Styles in Times of Diversity and Change Jake Stum, Regent University

 

Week beginning 7 April: focus on the assignments and required reading

 

Building your skills to judge ideas

Resources

1. Innovation Management: Chapter Six – pay attention to concepts that you could use in the future as a manager.
2. Skill three handouts – Judging your ideas. Pay attention to the three types of questions you must be able to answer when you judge ideas.

Understanding and debunking risk

Resources

1. Management Accountant Group: Managing Risk and Opportunities – I would keep this document for future reference.  
2. Ed Bernacki article on Looking into the Shadows. This is a management article that focused on one aspect of the paper mentioned above.
3.  

Creating the motive for ideas and innovation

Resources

1. Innovation Management: Chapter Eight
2. See the pages from your Idea Factory navigator journal on factors that hinder and enhance a culture of creativity.
3. Creativity and the Role of the Leader: Teresa Amabile and Mukti Khaire Harvard Business Review October 2008
4. Assessing the work environment for creativity: Teresa Amabile, Academy of Management Journal October 1, 1996
5. How to Kill Creativity: Teresa Amabile, Harvard Business Review Sept Oct 1998

 

Stage Gate – product development process

Resources

1. Innovation Management: review the chapters on product development that you feel are useful.
2. The Stage-Gates Idea-to-Launch Process—Update, What’s New, and NexGen Systems. Robert G. Cooper

Week beginning 25 March: Do all people think alike?
Reading Requirements for all participaints

1. Read the Part One of I am an Idea Factory! I deliberately wrote the book to be an easy read. I want you to understand the basic issues of innovation in the SME world and how you can set up idea factories on the job or any other organisation.

Week beginning 8 April: Building your skills to judge ideas
Read “Creativity is not enough” by Theodore Levitt.
2. This 1963 article was reprinted in 2002. I want to have an on line discussion about some of the assumptions and comments Levitt makes. When he you talks of the ‘creative types’ put his comments in context with the work on cognitive diversity. What do you find insightful, useful or just stupid about this piece. I also noticed that Levitt used the same terms I conceived, innovationalist.

Week beginning 15 April: Understanding and debunking risk
Other Reading
1. Ed Bernacki article: Cash Flows and Idea Flows – I use your knowledge of cash flow planning to create a model for idea flow planning.

Week beginning 22 April: Demonstrating value and shaping future strategy
Other reading
1. If do you not do this assignment, I still want you to review the Singapore Innovation Audit to understand the key issues that its reviews.

Week beginning 29 April: Creating the motive for ideas and innovation
I want everyone to read the articles related to assignment 5.

Resources
1. Innovation Management: Chapter Eight
2. See the pages from your Idea Factory navigator journal on factors that hinder and enhance a culture of creativity. These factors are part of an assessment called KEYS that Amabile helped to create. I have used this with a group in the USA to study these issues.

Articles – these articles cover a decade of thinking on the issue of climate:
1. Creativity and the Role of the Leader: Teresa Amabile and Mukti Khaire Harvard Business Review October 2008
2. Assessing the work environment for creativity: Teresa Amabile, Academy of Management Journal October 1, 1996
3. How to Kill Creativity: Teresa Amabile, Harvard Business Review Sept Oct 1998

Week beginning 13 May: Other reading to prepare for the second in-class sessions
1. I am an Idea Factory! Part Three – pay attention to the chapter on “Its not working well” and the development of a basic innovation strategy. I would like to get your comments on these ideas using on line blog.
2. Preparation for the Big ACME Toy Company – during this simulation you will use a tool to generate ideas for the exercise. This handout provides instruction for:

Idea box – this has been used to conceive many new ideas including a case study of a new design for clothes hamper. This was a highly profitable idea.

3. Adaption-innovation theory and knowledge use in organisations, Michael A. Chilton and James M. Bloodgood, Department of Management, College of Business Administration, Kansas State University (Decision Vol. 48 No. 8, 2010). As people do not think alike, how they select and use information and knowledge will differ. Become familiar with the concepts of tactic and explicit knowledge. Notice the type of knowledge you tend to prefer and use. Also pay attention to how we can bias our decisions when we do not notice how our style of thinking impacts our preference for knowledge.

Monday 27 & Tuesday 28 May: Closing Intensive
We meet again in person. Topics include the nature of innovation, why innovation is important, different kinds of innovation, innovation and the marketplace, and developing innovative capability.

We will also do the Big ACME Toy Company innovation simulation.

There is some time to address any specific questions or issues you may have. You can also use participants in the program to help solve a problem. If you have some ideas, please email these to ideafactory@hotmail.ca 

An overview of the course assessment appears in the following Table. Details appear in the following section:

Assessment No.	Form of Assessment/Collaborative Task	Length (in word count)	Weighting	Due Date	Outcomes being assessed
1	Assignment One	800 words	5%	Friday March 28	1, 4, 5
2	Assignment Two Do all People think alike?	800 words	15%	Monday April 7	1,4,5
3-6	Weekly Assignments (pick 2 of 4 remaining assignments to complete) One due each week. 3. Building your skills to judge ideas 4. Creating the motive for ideas and innovation 5. Stage Gate – product development process 6. Design Thinking: May 7	800 words	30%	One due each week: April 14 April 21 Only: #6 is due May 7	1, 4, 5
7	Big ACME Toy Company (Peer review).	In-class innovation simulation.	10%	Tuesday April 29	4, 5, 6
8	Final report Leading Innovation in an Organisation – where do we start?	3000-4000 words	40%	Friday May 30	3, 5, 6
9	Bonus marks: Organize an idea factory with a team to solve a challenge or create an opportunity	800 words	5%	Friday May 23	5
	Total		100%

Students must complete all course assessment requirements and must attend lectures to be eligible to pass the course.

Course results are subject to moderation by the ECIC Board of Examiners

 Overview for Assessment 2-6
The world of journalism is based on 800-word assignments as this is the length of a one page article. I have written well over 200 such articles. I want assignments to be short and insightful. I want you to show me that you understand the issues that are the nature of the assessment.

Strategies for maximizing your marks.

1. Please read the assignment carefully. Answer the assignment. If I ask your to comments on three questions, ensure your answer these questions. You can be as creative as your in doing do. When you finish your 800-word essay, review the assignment to ensure that you answer the issues involved with each assessment. If you do not answer the assignment, I will reduce your mark or return the paper.

2. Read the papers and references. I want to see evidence that you have read these papers. You can refer to your research once you have demonstrated that you have read the papers.

3. Review your grammar and spelling. This is a Master’s level course. Your writing must be clear and free of mistakes. If English is not your first language, work with someone who are help you correct any obvious mistakes.


When you draft your weekly assignments consider the level of analysis and insight:
· Level one – reading to summarize a document (i.e. the key points of this article are…..)
· Level two – reading to apply the insights (i.e. there are four points we can apply…)
· Level three – reading for more strategic and philosophical implications (i.e. with this strategy the implications for staff include….)

I am not interested in Level One style reports. Do not submit a report that summarizes an article. I am looking for Level two and Level three application and analysis.

Assignments tend to fall into one of two types of reports:

1. Summarize the main themes of the articles or documents – focus on making this practical and useful. Show how you can use the main ideas in the future. When possible, how can the main ideas be turned into a tool that can prompt new thinking / ideas about the concept on the job. This could be to summarize the core ideas or recommendations which you could then use to brain storm new solutions or solve a problem.

2. Case study – this is a summary of your observations or experience with the content. You can refer to: current situation or your observations, the change you see, proposed or used, the process, the results, and the lessons learned in the process.

Requirements for marks – requirements for your learning
You are required to do assignment one, two and select two other weekly assignments for grading. This does not mean you ignore the others. I fully expect you to do the readings and consider the issues. This course is far too short to cover the key themes on innovation and creativity.
You have one week to complete the assignments (with the exception of the first).

Assessment 1: Brainstorming like an Idea Factory
Exploring cognitive style and adaption-innovation theory in the real world
Weighting: 5%
Due Dates: Friday March 28
Submission Details: Online through MyUni

Task:
Brainstorming like an Idea Factory
A crucial element for personal and team creativity is the ability to collaborate to brain storm effective. This is a short assignment of about 250 words – one page.

Articles or resources
1. Idea Factory journal – you will receive this journal on Day One.
2. I am an idea Factory! – you will receive this book during Day One.

Your challenge for assignment one
You plan a brain storm or idea factory to work on a problem you are facing or an opportunity you want to create. Use your knowledge from Day One and Day Two to design this session. Use the idea factory three steps to describe the session.

1. Raw materials: A successful idea factory requires quality raw materials. The key ingredient is a well defined Challenge or Problem Statement. Step one is to pick a problem or challenge that you find interesting and write it out. Use the book for guidance.
2. Inside the factory: All factories have an effective process to manufacture something of value. How will you prompt people to engage with your problem? You may use a tool like Six Thinking Hats or something from Part 2 of I am an Idea Factor.
3. Shipping a result: Every factory must ship a result to deliver value. What type of ‘result’ should your idea factory create? It could be a strategy, service concepts, a list of product ideas, or an action plan. This must match the design of your Challenge Statement.

The assignment is designed to be short. The objective is to show me that you can design a brain storm or idea factory session.
1. Raw Materials – included your Problem Statement in 3 or 4 sentences. You can add some extra points if useful. You can comment on cognitive diversity – what type of thinking styles would help you solve this challenge?
2. Inside the Idea Factory – this can be couple of sentences about the process you will follow.
3. The result – this can be a sentence that describes the type of result your idea factory should create.

Scope:
This assignment will assess your understanding of how to design a basic brain storm session. This can be useful for your student projects and once your enter organisational life. The intent of this paper is not to summarize the content but to show your understanding, use or insight to apply the academic and management research.

Length and Presentation:
250 words, spaced 1.5 lines to clarity

Criteria by which your assessment will be marked:
· Delivered on time.
· Clarity of the writing.
· Understanding of the topic.
· Insight that is demonstrated in using the content to shape ideas, strategies or tactics.

Learning objectives with this assessment (refer to section 2.1): 1, 4, 5


Assessment 2: Do all people think alike?
Exploring cognitive style and adaption-innovation theory in the real world
Weighting: 15%
Due Dates: Monday March 31
Submission Details: Online through MyUni

Task:
Do all people think alike?
Exploring cognitive style and adaption-innovation theory in the real world

NOTE All students will be given access to an on line assessment that must be complete prior to the course.

Articles or resources
3. KAI Yellow booklet provided with your assessment
1. Stum, Jake (2009) Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation Theory: Managing Cognitive Styles in Times of Diversity and Change, Emerging Leadership Journeys, Vol. 2 Issue. 1, 2009, pp. 66-78.

Other resources that you could use:
· Kirton, MJ (2003) Adaption-Innovation In the Context of Diversity and Change, Routledge, New York (reprinted 2006)
· I have published various management articles. www.EdBernacki.com Link to “Do people think alike?”

Your challenge for assignment one
Use some of the adaption – innovation theory to make your case.

Do People Think Alike?
Working with and managing people would seem easy if all people did think alike. Yet we know people do not think alike. What was most insightful to you about your KAI Assessment and the concept of cognitive thinking style differences. Discuss:
1. How can your understanding of your assessment and adaption-innovation theory change your approach to your ideas, how you manage your contribution at work, how you work with other people and manage other people?
2. Did your assessment seem about right or was the assessment a surprise to you?
3. Do you have an example or case study of where the cognitive diversity was badly managed. This could reflect something that happened to you or it could reflect something you did to someone else.

Scope:
This assignment will assess your understanding and application of the course topic. The intent of this paper is not to summarize the content but to show your understanding, use or insight to apply the academic and management research.

Length and Presentation:
800 words, spaced 1.5 lines to clarity

Criteria by which your assessment will be marked:
· Delivered on time.
· Clarity of the writing.
· Understanding of the topic.
· Insight that is demonstrated in using the content to shape ideas, strategies or tactics.

Learning objectives with this assessment (refer to section 2.1): 1, 4, 5
 
 

Assessment 3: Building your skills to judge ideas
Weighting: 15%
Due Dates: April 14, 2013 or April 21, 2013
Submission Details: Online through MyUni

Task:
Judging Ideas: Developing personal skills for innovation
Books are full of technical tools to evaluate ROI on new ideas yet this ignores the many judgements that will be made before the idea is formally presented.

Resources
· Innovation Management: Chapter Six – pay attention to concepts that you could use in the future as a manager.
· Skill three handouts – Judging your ideas. Pay attention to the three types of questions you must be able to answer when you judge ideas.
· Ed Bernacki articles on The Theory of It. Ed Bernacki created this tool based on wider pool of eight attributes of IT. Feel free to use other attributes if you find them attributes useful.

Your challenge for assignment two:
It is a good idea or a great idea?
Being able to judge ideas is a key skill for innovation. Use this assignment to create a personal model that you can use to judge your ideas. Create a model (or models with different criteria) that you feel will be useful. It can be as structured or non structured as you feel useful. You can use the handouts and the textbooks to develop your model.
It should be able to help you make these judgements. Provide a brief overview of a model or way to judge ideas in these situations. It can be one model or three:
1. How to judge an idea to decide if it is acceptable or not – is the idea worth moving into action? Yes or No.
2. How to judge an idea to find its weaknesses (and make it stronger) – what is weak about this idea?
3. How to judge between ideas – you must pick one idea from a series of ideas yet which one?

Scope:
This assignment will assess your understanding and application of Skill Three: Judging ideas. The intent of this paper is not to summarize the content but to show your understanding, use or insight to apply the academic and management research.

Length and Presentation:
800 words, spaced 1.5 lines to clarity

Criteria by which your assessment will be marked:
· Delivered on time.
· Clarity of the writing.
· Understanding of the topic.
· Insight that is demonstrated in using the content to shape ideas, strategies or tactics.

Learning objectives with this assessment (refer to section 2.1): 1, 4, 5
 
 
 
 
Assessment 4: Creating the motive for ideas and innovation
Weighting: 15%
Due Dates: April 14, 2013 or April 21, 2013
Submission Details: Online through MyUni

Task:
Organisational culture:
There is much talk about the need for a culture for innovation. The key reason is create the motive for people to want to be innovative.

Resources
· Innovation Management: Chapter Eight
· See the pages from your Idea Factory navigator journal on factors that hinder and enhance a culture of creativity.

Articles – these articles cover a decade of thinking on the issue of climate:
· Creativity and the Role of the Leader: Teresa Amabile and Mukti Khaire Harvard Business Review October 2008
· How To Kill Creativity: Teresa Amabile, Harvard Business Review Septemberr 1998

Your challenge for assignment five:
The culture of an organisation that is open to ideas and innovation is a key to success. How people interpret a culture is highly personal. Keeping in mind the work of cognitive diversity; what are your recommendations for making an organisation more innovative?
1. What should the leaders do and say?
2. What should managers do and say?
3. Any recommendations for departments like HR?
This can apply directly to your organisation or think like a consultant to make recommendations to an executive team. What strategies would you use?
What are some of the tactics or action that will be needed to achieve each strategy.

Scope:
This assignment will assess your understanding and application of the course topic. The intent of this paper is not to summarize the content but to show your understanding, use or insight to apply the academic and management research.

Length and Presentation:
800 words, spaced 1.5 lines to clarity

Criteria by which your assessment will be marked:
· Delivered on time.
· Clarity of the writing.
· Understanding of the topic.
· Insight that is demonstrated in using the content to shape ideas, strategies or tactics.

Learning objectives with this assessment (refer to section 2.1): 1, 4, 5
 
  

Assessment 5: Stage Gate – product development process
Weighting: 15%
Due Dates: April 14, 2013 or April 21, 2013
Submission Details: Online through MyUni

Task:
New product development
Robert Cooper conceived the model of Stage Gate which is now practically the industry standard. I recommend this assignment for those interested in product and technology development.

Resources
· Innovation Management: review the chapters on product development that you feel are useful.
· The Stage-Gates Idea-to-Launch Process—Update, What’s New, and NexGen Systems. Robert G. Cooper
· You can also review Robert Cooper’s book, Winning at New Products: Creating Value Through Innovation. There is much written on Stage Gate on the web.

Your Challenge for this assignment six:
Consulting Recommendations for a CEO: Managing the Innovation Process
Summarize how you could use a Stage Gate approach as a model for new product or service development as if you are making recommendations to a company that you are consulting to or to the Executive Team within your own organisation.
1. Assume the organisation needs to luanch a range of new projects over the next few years.
2. How can you model the Stagegate approach to create a strategy for your organisation?
3. What are some of the key factors that must be well managed?
(You can include an extra page for a chart or flow chart if you feel it would be useful).

Scope:
This assignment will assess your understanding and application of the course topic. The intent of this paper is not to summarize the content but to show your understanding, use or insight to apply the academic and management research.

Length and Presentation:
800 words, spaced 1.5 lines to clarity

Criteria by which your assessment will be marked:
· Delivered on time.
· Clarity of the writing.
· Understanding of the topic.
· Insight that is demonstrated in using the content to shape ideas, strategies or tactics.

Learning objectives with this assessment (refer to section 2.1): 1, 4, 5
 
 

Assessment 6: Design Thinking
Weighting: 15%
Due Dates: May 7 2014
Submission Details: Online through MyUni

Task:
Building your toolkit for Design Thinking:
There are many ways to solve the challenges we face.
Design thinking is a problem solving approach that focuses on people.

Resources
· The Design Thinking document from Stanford University Design School. “d.school bootcamp bootleg.
· Business design thinking – www.BetterByDesign.org.nz

Your challenge for assignment seven:
Innovations often start with solutions to difficult challenges.
As a human-centered designer you need to understand the people for whom you are designing. As an advisor to the university, you are asked to solve a difficult problem using design thinking.
The problem – some university students feel unsafe being on campus for various reasons. How can the university use Design Thinking to look for solutions to solve this problem?
This assignment has three elements
1. Summarize the steps in the design thinking process that you feel are relevant to solving this problem.
2. Use the document to suggest a ‘method’ or tool, process or approach at each step as appropriate.
3. Suggest who would want to involve or engage of solving this problem?
This assignment is a plan for design thinking ‘idea factory’ you could faciliatate with a group of people. You do not have to solve the problem. This is about the process you would use to explore and solve the problem.

Scope:
This assignment will assess your understanding and application of the course topic. The intent of this paper is not to summarize the content but to show your understanding, use or insight to apply the academic and management research.

Length and Presentation:
800 words, spaced 1.5 lines to clarity

Criteria by which your assessment will be marked:
· Delivered on time.
· Clarity of the writing.
· Understanding of the topic.
· Insight that is demonstrated in using the content to shape ideas, strategies or tactics.

Learning objectives with this assessment (refer to section 2.1): 1, 4, 5




Assessment 7: Big ACME Toy Company simulation
Weighting: 10%
Due Dates: In class – April 29
Submission Details: Presentation in class

Task: BIG ACME Toy Company is in trouble. For seventy years BIG ACME licensed some of the most popular toys from designers around the world. It manufactured these for sale locally.

Executives have decided to shift strategies: from copying toy designs to creating its own. ‘Design locally – Make locally – Sell Globally’ is now the strategy. It has formed CreataToy Design Teams to conceptualise new toy ideas based on insights and starter ideas from the Board. You will be part of a team to use the Big ACME Toy Company simulation.

Scope:
The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate your use of the tools and perspectives learned during the program. This simulation is very common in the real world of new product and service conceptualization. It is a format that you will be able to use in the future.

Length and Presentation:
Five to eight minute presentation – you can create mock ups, posters, or use PowerPoint to help with your presentation. Other participants will have 2-3 minutes to ask questions.

Criteria by which your assessment will be marked:
Your group will present your toy concept and marketing strategy to others in the class who represent the Board of Directors. They will assess your concept and strategy for its business potential. Their assessments will be combined into a mark. You will be given instruction to use the learning from the program to help with the assessments.

Learning objectives with this assessment (refer to section 2.1): 4, 5, 6

Assessment 8: Leading Innovation in an Organisation – where do we start?
Weighting: 40%
Due Dates: Monday June 2, 2014
Submission Details: Online through MyUni

Task:
You have been hired to help an organisation become more innovative.
You are given several weeks to draft an overall innovation strategy for the organisation.
You can use your organisation, create an imaginary organisation or pick a company you know well. (I suggest you do not use a global business like 3M or Apple. Use a Medium sized business that could realistically use your recommendations.)

Your report should include these sections (use page requirements as guidelines):
1. Create a one page briefing for executives – what they need to know to better understand how to harness the creativity of staff to foster more innovative solutions and innovations.
2. Create a one page overview of your overall objectives, philosophy or approach – include;
· how you will focus on new product / service innovation, and
· how you will shape a culture open to new ideas.
3. Create a two page plan of the key strategies and tactics you would recommend and summarize the key measures and financial or cost elements of the program. Write this section like an executive summary (recognizing that the final plan would be longer). Link your tactics to the strategies you recommend. You can base some of your recommendations on your previous assignments. I strongly suggest you use some of your assignments for your strategy.
4. Conclusion: Create one page on your rationale: why you selected a particular philosophy, the approaches and objectives, and how you arrived at these outputs. You should show the connection and application of the theory and techniques learned through the course.

Scope:
This assignment will assess your understanding of the course topics presented over the four days of teaching and required reading and your ability to distil the concepts to shape recommendations and strategies.

Length and Presentation:
3000-4000 words

Criteria by which your assessment will be marked:
· Delivered on time.
· Clarity of the writing.
· Understanding of the topic.
· Delivering the required topics / themes as outlined in this document. · Insight that is demonstrated in using the content to shape ideas, strategies or tactices.

Learning objectives with this assessment (refer to section 2.1): 3, 5, 6




Assessment 9: Opportunity for bonus mark – 5 marks
Weighting: 5%
Due Dates: May 27, 2013
Submission Details: Online through MyUni

Task:
I am an Idea Factory
Organise an idea factory ‘brain storm’ to achieve a result.

This bonus assignment is a practical demonstration of your skills in action.
Do not submit a paper unless you actually host an idea factory brainstorm session of at least 90 minutes. If you organise a session, the mark will likely be 5.

Design an ‘idea factory’ brain storm session for your organisation (or a team) to solve a problem or create a new initiative. Pay attention to the challenge that you draft to focus the thinking during this session. Use the ideas from my book to do this. This can be a session that you designed for Assignment One.

Provide a case study of the process and the results. Include the Challenge Statement and a summary of the participants you involved (I do not want names of people, rather why you asked these people to participate). Include some recommendations on what you improve or change for your next idea factory.
You can address two types of problems we have whenever we engage others:
§ The ‘A’ problem – the specific challenge you need to solve.
§ The ‘B’ problem – how you engage others in the process to maximize their contribution toward solving the ‘A’ problem (and minimizing the conflict or tensions that often arise when collaborating).

Reading
1. Review Part One of I am an Idea Factory! Chapters 2 – 5.
2. Review the Idea Factory idea journal section on the idea factory model.

Scope:
This exercise is about practicing the skills of innovative thinking, process design and collaboration. Here is an opportunity for you to practice these skills.

Length and Presentation:
800 words, spaced 1.5 lines to clarity

Criteria by which your assessment will be marked:
The report should summarize your idea factory in context with the theory and models we discussed during the course. Also, the report must follow these criteria:
· Delivered on time.
· Clarity of the writing.
· Understanding of the topic.
· Insight that is demonstrated in using the content to shape ideas, strategies or tactics.

Learning objectives with this assessment (refer to section 2.1): 5