MGT 463- Assignment 3

Assignment 3 - Managing Creativity and Innovation in the Workplace

For this assignment, please use research and analytical skills to address the questions below.  Instructions:

· Answer 5 questions (below) about encouraging and nurturing a creative workplace; one that will support emerging trends and innovation.   

· Please have an industry in mind and tell me in your first response (or on the title page) what type of industry it is (i.e., IT., retail, manufacturing, health care, etc) - as it will help me conceptualize your responses. It may be best to pick one where creativity is permitted - for example, choosing a fast food chain enterprise would make it difficult to supply thoughtful answers about creativity.

· Each question should be in a separate paragraph/section,  numbered 1 - 5 for ease of reading, should be double-spaced, written in a business-like tone without using filler sentences or the first-person tense ("I", "we" and so on, should not be used).         

· As per your research, analyze/explain each answer in a few paragraphs, being sure to cite your research sources at the end of any sentence, like this (Richards, 2017) and then include the full citation on the References page.

· Do not copy anything from another source - write in your own words.  

· Your submitted assignment should be 2-3 pages, double-spaced, plus title and references pages.   

· Use at least 5 outside sources (including your texts and lectures) and write following APA formatting guidelines. Note: no abstract, appendix, figures, etc, are required: just a title page, the answer pages with proper citation, and a references page.

Questions:

You are the top-level manager of an organization.

1. How could you encourage employees to feel safe to offer up creative ideas in your workplace, and in what ways can you have employees offer up their ideas? (Hint: I am looking for something more than a suggestion box or email to the manager).     

2. Should you encourage feedback from co-workers, open critique and functional conflict regarding creative suggestions? And in what setting or manner? How would you handle hurt feelings-?  Discuss.  

3. How could you re-arrange work space to make the environment more susceptible to creative interaction and to to promote and encourage creativity?  

4. Explain why a diverse work group aids in the creative process. Provide (brief) statistics.   

5. If you permit a work group to explore a creative idea, should you put a time limit on their efforts? Why or why not?  (Hint: research this).    

No summary/conclusion is needed.  Each of the above will require some research and we have discussed very creative and innovative companies this semester. They would be a good source for ideas.