Self-Understanding for Opportunity Creation

MANAGEMENT 5333

Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship

Spring 2019 Monday – Friday, 1pm – 4pm

Professor: M. Ann McFadyen Room: University Hall 121

Office: COBA 227

e-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: By Appointment

I. Course Description

Waves of innovations are disrupting nearly every sphere of modern life. This course helps you understand and experience just how creative entrepreneurs in either start-up or corporate environments do it. Working with others, using cutting-edge case studies, experiential exercises, and field research, you will consider how innovations across a broad range of emerging technologies meet the market, financial, and environmental demands of a diverse set of current and future stakeholders. You will have an opportunity to put learning into practice.

Five major approaches will be used in this course:

1. Readings, group work, discussion and lecture

2. Experiential Exercises and Videos

3. Individual Project

II. Materials

· Entrepreneurship: The Practice and Mindset, by Heidi M. Neck, Christopher P. Neck, and Emma L. Murray. SAGE Publishing, 2017. ISBN: 9781483383521

III. Course Objectives

In this course, you may re-evaluate your own views of entrepreneurship within the framework of entrepreneurial thinking, and putting this mindset into action.

As a student in this course, you will practice ET&A by accomplishing the following objectives:

· Assess your personal entrepreneurial capacity.

· Differentiate between entrepreneurial and managerial thinking.

· Play with idea generation techniques to help you better create and shape ideas into bold opportunities.

· Evaluate opportunities using a rigorous feasibility and experimentation processes.

· Develop, define, and clearly communicate a business concept to determine its feasibility.

· Gain confidence to use entrepreneurial thinking and action with future opportunities.

Throughout this course, you will develop a mindset that will enable you to build a toolkit to create and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities, marshal resources, and form teams driven by creativity, leadership, and smart action. In sum, this course is a journey through the fuzzy front-end of early stage entrepreneurial activity. This course is not intended to be a complete overview of entrepreneurship; it is an immersion experience for finding and creating opportunities.

IV. Grading

Grades for the course will be computed as follows:

Assignment or Event	Points
Individual Project	250
Group Exercises	75
Participation	75
Exams I, II	600
Total Points Possible	1,000

Letter grades will be assigned in the following manner:

A’s: 1000 to 967 points = A+ 966 to 933 = A 932 - 900 = A-

B’s: 899 to 867 points = B+ 866 to 833 = B 832 - 800 = B-

C’s: 799 to 767 points = C+ 766 to 733 = C 732 - 700 = C-

D’s: 699 to 667 points = D+ 666 to 633 = D 632 - 600 = D-

F's: Below 600 points

V. Electronic Free Zone

This classroom is an electronic device free zone. In order to participate in class, you must be fully present. No recording please. Constantly checking text and email messages, trading stock, updating Facebook and Linked-In accounts, working on homework or work place assignments, etc. impedes your ability to be fully present. We have a very limited time together, please take this opportunity to disengage from all else except our classroom assignments. Please turn off all electronic devices throughout all class discussions. Electronic device use is strictly prohibited during class discussions.

VI. Description of Assignments and Events

A. Class Participation (75 points)

Your participation grade is a critical element of this class. You owe yourself and your fellow students your presence in the classroom, your preparation of the required material, and your participation in a timely manner. It is your responsibility to have read in advance the materials that will be covered during lecture. Preparation and participation is expected and monitored. Do not be afraid to ask questions in class, but do not waste class time by not being prepared. Additionally, anyone having a problem with speaking in front of the class should notify me immediately.

Class participation is an important component of the evaluation process. It is important to read, understand, and prepare for each class in order to obtain the most from this course. Preparing for class involves a substantial investment in time and effort. Critical assessment of course material is essential to learning. Therefore, your active participation in class is essential. If you are not in class, participation cannot take place. Thus, absence can negatively affect your participation grade.

B. Final Individual Project (250 points)

This project provides the opportunity for you to write a paper that examines key skills you have learned in class and your competencies which can be applied to innovation management and or entrepreneurial startups. This serves as your final exam. Please see the Appendix A in the syllabus for more detailed information. The individual project is due May 2nd by 4pm.

C. Group Exercises (75 points)

Please form 10 teams, each team should have 6 students. We have 4 in-class group exercises.

D. Examinations (600 points)

Two multiple choice in-class exams covering lecture material.

VII. Other Information

Students with Disabilities: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact Disability Services for Students at 817-272-3364 or visit the website: http://www.uta.edu/disability/links.php. No accommodations will be provided to students unless they are registered with the Disability Services for Students.

Non-Discrimination Policy: The University of Texas at Arlington does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, genetic information, and/or veteran status in its educational programs or activities it operates. For more information, visit uta.edu/eos.

Title IX Policy: The University of Texas at Arlington (“University”) is committed to maintaining a learning and working environment that is free from discrimination based on sex in accordance with Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs or activities; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which prohibits sex discrimination in employment; and the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (SaVE Act). Sexual misconduct is a form of sex discrimination and will not be tolerated. For information regarding Title IX, visit www.uta.edu/titleIX or contact Ms. Jean Hood, Vice President and Title IX Coordinator at (817) 272-7091 or [email protected].

Academic Integrity: Students enrolled all UT Arlington courses are expected to adhere to the UT Arlington Honor Code:

I pledge, on my honor, to uphold UT Arlington’s tradition of academic integrity, a tradition that values hard work and honest effort in the pursuit of academic excellence.

I promise that I will submit only work that I personally create or contribute to group collaborations, and I will appropriately reference any work from other sources. I will follow the highest standards of integrity and uphold the spirit of the Honor Code.

UT Arlington faculty members may employ the Honor Code in their courses by having students acknowledge the honor code as part of an examination or requiring students to incorporate the honor code into any work submitted. Per UT System Regents’ Rule 50101, §2.2, suspected violations of university’s standards for academic integrity (including the Honor Code) will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. Violators will be disciplined in accordance with University policy, which may result in the student’s suspension or expulsion from the University. Additional information is available at https://www.uta.edu/conduct/academic-integrity/index.php

Electronic Communication: UT Arlington has adopted MavMail as its official means to communicate with students about important deadlines and events, as well as to transact university-related business regarding financial aid, tuition, grades, graduation, etc.  All students are assigned a MavMail account and are responsible for checking the inbox regularly.  There is no additional charge to students for using this account, which remains active even after graduation.  Information about activating and using MavMail is available at http://www.uta.edu/oit/cs/email/mavmail.php.

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Emergency Exit Procedures: Should we experience an emergency event that requires us to vacate the building, students should exit the room and move toward the nearest exit, which is located across the hall.  When exiting the building during an emergency, one should never take an elevator but should use the stairwells.  Faculty members and instructional staff will assist students in selecting the safest route for evacuation and will make arrangements to assist individuals with disabilities.

Evacuation plans may be found at http://www.uta.edu/campus-ops/ehs/fire/Evac_Maps_Buildings.php. (http://www.uta.edu/police/Evacuation Procedures.pdf)

Students should also be encouraged to subscribe to the MavAlert system that will send information in case of an emergency to their cell phones or email accounts. Anyone can subscribe at https://mavalert.uta.edu/ or https://mavalert.uta.edu/register.php

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The IDEAS Center (2nd Floor of Central Library) offers free tutoring to all students with a focus on transfer students, sophomores, veterans and others undergoing a transition to UT Arlington.  To schedule an appointment with a peer tutor or mentor email [email protected] or call (817) 272-6593.

The English Writing Center (411LIBR): The Writing Center Offers free tutoring in 20-, 40-, or 60-minute face-to-face and online sessions to all UTA students on any phase of their UTA coursework. Our hours are 9 am to 8 pm Mon.-Thurs., 9 am-3 pm Fri. and Noon-6 pm Sat. and Sun. Register and make appointments online at http://uta.mywconline.com. Classroom Visits, workshops, and specialized services for graduate students are also available. Please see www.uta.edu/owl for detailed information on all our programs and services.

The Library’s 2nd floor Academic Plaza offers students a central hub of support services, including IDEAS Center, University Advising Services, Transfer UTA and various college/school advising hours. Services are available during the library’s hours of operation. http://library.uta.edu/academic-plaza

Librarian to Contact:  Andy Herzog – [email protected]  817-272-7517 http://www.uta.edu/library/help/subject-librarians.php 

Tentative Syllabus

	Required Readings	Video	Group Exercise
Day 1	1. Entrepreneurship: A Global Social Movement	https://www.ted.com/talks/yasheng_huang 18
Day 2	2. Practicing Entrepreneurship	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoqohmccTSc 18	Finding Your Passion
Day 3	3. Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzqJSsCPSTk 26	Richard Branson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa3zOc_fjiI 20
Day 4	4. Supporting Social Entrepreneurship	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlXKcpgPP6M 15
Day 5	Exam I
Day 6	5. Generating New Ideas	https://www.ted.com/talks/luc_de_brabandere_reinventing_creative_thinking 15 https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_grant_the_surprising_habits_of_original_thinkers?referrer=playlist-simple_ways_to_spark_your_creativity 15	Draw toast
Day 7	6. Using Design Thinking	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAkg299V3Us 28	The paper clip method https://www.sessionlab.com/library/idea_generation
Day 8	7. Testing and Experimenting in Markets	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjEdXILeW0E 31	Jeff Bezos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfAhTtBlb2Q
Day 9	8. Building Business Models	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlrb_X6fYZ0 48
Day 10	Exam II
Day 11	9. Planning for Entrepreneurs	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QexL6F-W4Ss 50	Business Model Canvas Game
Day 12	10. Creating Revenue Models	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtQq9JCKiwo 21	Bill Gates https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A04oCqcvqxA
Day 13	11. Learning From Failure	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc 15	Marshmallow Design Challenge
Day 14	Final Individual Project
Day 15	Field Trip TECH Fort Worth

Appendix A: Self-Understanding for Opportunity Creation

Authors: Andrew Corbett and Candida Brush

Description

A strong understanding of self is critical for entrepreneurs. Being able to not only recognize but also synthesize one’s interests, desires, skills, and network is a critical building block for entrepreneurial activity (Fiet, 2002; Nixon et al., 2006). This exercise offers you an opportunity for introspection and allows you to reflect on both what makes you who they are and what you can be as an entrepreneur.

This assignment should be between 4 – 6 pages in length.

Learning Objectives

Reflect on your accomplishments, things you are proud of, and think about what knowledge, skills, and capabilities were gained from these accomplishments.

Discuss the process of determining these accomplishments (awards are NOT accomplishments).

Connect your knowledge, abilities, and desires as a foundation for venture ideas.

Assignment

A. Using the worksheet below, discuss your personal accomplishments and knowledge, skills, and abilities.

1. Accomplishments: Please list at least five of your most significant personal accomplishments. Since we are using these accomplishments as the basis for entrepreneurial idea generation and potentially a future business, all accomplishments should be based upon something that you (1) are proud to have accomplished, (2) enjoyed accomplishing, and (3) think that you did very well.

The accomplishments should not only be work related (developing a new product or rolling out a large software transition or upgrade) but also include hobbies and other related interests (e.g., teaching young children how to read, running a marathon, cooking dinner). They can be recent or from back in your childhood, but they must satisfy the three criteria in the above paragraph.

After listing your accomplishments, rank the accomplishments based on significance to yourself (not what others think). The most significant accomplishment will be ranked number one, then two, and so on.

2. KSAs: Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) are classic concepts deconstructed and used throughout management education and training. For this project, break down the KSAs that led to the listed accomplishments. Please remember, personality traits or characteristics are not knowledge, skills, or abilities

Reflect on your accomplishments and KSAs that underlie them by discussing the KSAs that you believe had the most influence on your success.

B. Next answer the following questions:

Are there indicators of categories where you think you possess unique experience?

Do you have special understanding of a specific activity or set of activities or a specific category of knowledge that has been a recurring theme throughout your accomplishments?”

Now make a list of three or four different themes. For example, a list might include: (1) social media expertise, (2) creative writing, (3) working well under tight time lines, and (4) team leader.

What ideas for new businesses or initiatives can you think of that build on your expertise, knowledge, or skills?

Discuss the top two ideas you like the best.

Why did you think this was a good business idea?

Why do you think you could make this idea work?

Charting Your Personal Accomplishments with Skills and Abilities

Accomplishment 1	Knowledge/Skills/Abilities that contributed to the success of this accomplishment
Accomplishment 2	Knowledge/Skills/Abilities that contributed to the success of this accomplishment
Accomplishment 3	Knowledge/Skills/Abilities that contributed to the success of this accomplishment
Accomplishment 4	Knowledge/Skills/Abilities that contributed to the success of this accomplishment
Accomplishment 5	Knowledge/Skills/Abilities that contributed to the success of this accomplishment