uop OI/361 week 4 assignment

Week Four: Tools and Techniques for Innovation and Creativity

Details

Due

Points

Objectives

1

1.1 Explain the tools and techniques used in new product development processes.

1.2 Identify the four basic phases of the Phased Project Planning process.

1.3 Explain how to evaluate the results of a creative/innovative process for continuous improvement.

11/7

Reading

Read Ch. 3 of Managing Innovation, Design and Creativity.

11/7

Reading

Read Ch. 25 of Managing Innovation, Design and Creativity.

11/7

Participation

Participate in class discussion.

11/7

3

Individual

Mental Model/Mindsets Paper

Assume you work in Human Resources as a part of the management team for AAA Transportation in Waukegan, WI, which has recently been acquired. AAA Transportation is an interstate trucking company that specializes in transporting wholesale produce in refrigerated trailers throughout the Midwest. The new owners want to make some sweeping changes in the services offered. One of the things that they would like to do is add delivery of nonperishable products,such as canned foods, to their delivery routes, allowing AAA to expand the area they cover and to provide expanded service to their existing customers. Theythinkthat, because many of the routes donot require a full load on the trucks, there is room to add the nonperishable goods and provide delivery at a lower rate than the customers are now paying.

Two of your coworkers, Vernon and Bud, are resistant to the changes proposed by the new owners. Vernon supervises the company’s drivers and Bud works in the corporate offices. Vernon doesnot think that it is a good idea to expand out of their core business, while Bud thinks that AAA isnot strong enough to compete with existing companies that service the nonperishable foods market (several of whom AAA has had a long history of mutually respecting each others’ customers and routes); they risk alienating long-term customers; and transporting nonperishable goods in refrigerated trailers is inefficient. Both employees have been with the company for more than 20 years and havemuch influence among the rest of the employees. Management does not want to terminate such long-term and influential employees but need for Vernon and Bud to join the effort to make the company successful.

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper in which you define and discuss mental model/mindsets and their impact on you and your two coworkers.

Identify the four steps to changing mental models/mind sets and how you could use them to bring Vernon and Bud onto the team.

Identify the five forces that influence those mental model/mindsets of your coworkers and discuss how those forces might affect your coworkers’ mindsets.

Include examples of what mental models/mindsets are possibly affecting Vernon and Bud’s decision-making processes and affecting their relationship with the company.

Analyze your most commonly used mental models/mindsets that guide your decision making in the workplace. How do these models influence your decision making?

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

11/7

20

Learning Team Assignment

Creative Intelligence and Leadership

Use the sameVirtualOrganization your team selected in the previous weeks’ assignments.

Assume the role of the management team for thatVirtualOrganization.

Write, individually, a 350- to 700-word response to the following question:

· Based on your individual Creative Intelligence Profiles, how might each member affect innovation within the organization?

Compare your responses with those of your team members and describe whether or not you agree with their responses. Explain whyor why not.

Format your response consistent with APA guidelines.

11/7

10