I need help in Management Course

Dr. Cathy Peppers

Office: 523 BA

[email protected]

Welcome to MGT 3345

Critical Analysis and Creative Problem Solving

online Summer 2014

Required Texts

Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat

Articles on ISU library ereserve, password: pepp3450314

Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind

Course Objectives

This course is designed to help students:

Develop “business literacy,” the reading, writing and ways of thinking important to professional culture and lifelong learning

Apply relevant critical and creative thinking models for sustained inquiry into open-ended, ambiguous and complex problems / issues relevant to business culture; this semester, the central “problem” involves the effects of globalization on careers and business practices

Practice techniques / exercises to enhance their individual creative thinking and problem solving process, and to develop their understanding of how principles and concepts of creative thinking apply to business / professional practices

Practice writing as a vehicle for developing and demonstrating the process of critical / creative thinking / problem solving, and for locating their positions within complex, ambiguous problems / issues

About the Course

Think of this course as a place where you can build a bridge from your lower-division General Education course learning to your upper-division College of Business core and major courses. The term “business literacy” itself suggests the bridge this course is focused on building: between courses you’ve already taken which introduced you to reading, thinking and writing in other disciplines and the literacy required in business disciplines.

Though it risks mixing metaphors, you might also think of this course in terms of the metaphor of scaffolding. A scaffold is the exoskeleton builders create to allow them places to work from as they construct a building. In a similar vein, I’ve designed MGT 3345 as the place where you can build a learning scaffold on which to stand as you construct your knowledge of the subjects taught in your other College of Business courses.

In the first part of this course, you will practice a model problem solving process to develop your competency in “reflective judgment: the ‘habits of mind’ associated with making interpretive analyses and thoughtful, reasoned arguments” or decisions or solutions to problems (King & Kitchener). As the College of Business’ mission statement puts it, the BBA degree is designed “to develop in students inquiring minds and critical thinking so they can analyze problems, implement courses of action, and function within an organization.” This part of the mission statement reflects one of the core competencies employers in all business fields are looking for in the college graduates they hire.

The cognitive processes we will focus on in the first half of the semester are sometimes called “critical,” “convergent” or “left brain directed” thinking. These include identification of relevant information, logical analysis, evaluation, etc. In the second half of the semester, we will focus on the complementary cognitive processes that are also used in effective problem solving or decision making: “creative,” “divergent” or “right brain directed” thinking. These include intuitive thinking, design thinking, storytelling, metaphorical thinking, creative synthesis, etc. In this part of the course, our goal will be to discover ways that creative thinking provides effective approaches to problem solving in your learning and future careers.

In order to have a relevant problem to which to apply our problem solving process and techniques, we will conduct a semester-long inquiry into the effects of globalization on the world of work, your future careers. We won’t figure it all out in one semester – no one could. But this course is designed to increase your tolerance for and confidence in dealing with ambiguity by providing a process for wrestling with complex, open-ended problems / issues. This process will serve as a model for problem solving that will be applicable to many of your other College of Business course assignments as well as the kinds of problems you will or already do face in professional life.

One might reasonably wonder whether or not it is even possible to “teach” critical and creative thinking / problem solving. What I do know is that it is indeed possible to develop one’s abilities in these areas, as well as one’s written communication skills, through engagement with this course’s assignments. It happens every semester :-)

The Assignments*

(*all assignments must be completed to be eligible to earn a passing grade for the course; failure to submit any graded assignment will result in a failure of the course)

This course is designed to engage you in a semester-long process of inquiry into an important, large and complex issue (the effects of globalization on the world of work). Such a process requires a thinker to move past a rush to closure and a willingness to dwell within an issue or problem, reading and re-reading, thinking and re-thinking, writing and re-writing over time. And creative processes require a practitioner to try unfamiliar techniques and be open to receiving feedback on the results of his or her practice.

These processes mean that every assignment counts, and that every assignment will be what you make of it. Two things I urge you to think about regarding the assignments of this course:

1. Because critical and creative thinking / problem solving involve “habits of mind” more than nuggets of content, the only way to “learn” is through repeated acts of intentional practice and feedback on your practice. The assignments of this course take advantage of the artificiality of an academic environment to slow down the thinking process, break it into a series of ‘steps,‘ even make a distinction between critical and creative thinking, in order to make the process more literally self conscious, and thus available to re-thinking and improvement.

2. In order to increase your tolerance for and confidence in resolving ambiguous open-ended issues / problems, the course assignments themselves will grow increasingly open-ended or ambiguous. Our working definition of ambiguity will be: open-ended problems for which there is no one correct answer. Thus you will find that, increasingly, there is no one correct answer to the assignments. There are, however, better or worse responses to the assignments based on the criteria you will find on the evaluation rubrics and other guidance and feedback provided in the course.

Your homework for this course will consist of reading and analyzing / interpreting what you read, and practicing creative ways of thinking / applying creative techniques, in addition to (and in preparation for) the assignments you turn in for credit. I strongly encourage you to write your own analyses of readings even when not assigned to do so for credit; doing this before asking questions or discussing in a forum will help you develop your thinking and writing (literally, compose your thoughts), as well as help ensure more productive discussions. Given its pace and medium, this online summer course will provide you with ample opportunity to demonstrate your willingness to take responsibility for your own education, your “self regulation,” a quality highly valued in ISU’s College of Business, as well as in most professional environments.

For these reasons also, papers/assignments are due on the dates scheduled. I will not accept late assignments. A truism: “professionals produce results; amateurs produce excuses.”

Reading Analysis Paper

You will submit one 3-4 page, double-spaced, analysis of “Where Have All the Criminals Gone?” (Chapter 4 from Freakonomics) This paper will be your first application and demonstration of your ability to apply the “Steps for Better Thinking” model to analyze the “thinking process” the authors used to arrive at their conclusions. As your first of the course, this writing assignment will also serve as a model for critically reflecting on the other material you’ll read during the semester.

Team Reading Analysis

The class will be divided into teams of two or three people, with each team responsible for reading one of the readings listed under Week 3 below. Team members will collaborate to prepare a reading analysis of the selected reading and submit it both for a grade and for the rest of the class to read in a Moodle forum. This reading analysis will also apply Wolcott’s “Steps for Better Thinking” model, and provide some idea of what the reading contributes to our understanding of “the problem” with globalization.

Issue Analysis

You will write a (4-page, double-spaced + Works Cited) paper analyzing the “problem(s)” globalization presents to your future career. This paper will reflect your process of inquiry by demonstrating your ability to apply Wolcott’s “Steps for Better Thinking” model for critically thinking about a complex, ambiguous “problem.”

Creativity Exercise Reports

You will practice three exercises, described in the Moodle assignment documents, derived from Pink’s A Whole New Mind “Portfolio” sections on Design, Story, and Symphony, to expand your creative thinking skills and experiment with applying these approaches to solving business / professional / or business course-relevant problems. Then you’ll follow a Demonstrate, Analyze, Evaluate, Learn format to write reports on your exercises. You’ll submit these reports both for individual grades and to a forum where you can share with and get feedback from a student group and me.

Final Project

You will design a project that will allow you to demonstrate your improved mastery of the course’s learning objectives (as listed on page one of this syllabus): your ‘whole-minded’ (critical and creative thinking) skills at identifying and solving an open-ended problem currently facing you as a professional soon to enter your chosen profession, and/or the profession you are soon to enter, and communicating your results effectively in written/visual communication.

Academic/Professional Integrity

The assignments of this course require you to develop and represent your thinking in intellectual conversation with the published thoughts of others. Little is to be gained if this work is not handled with responsibility and integrity. And much could be lost: if I catch an act, such as plagiarism, that violates the standards of academic or professional integrity, I will fail the perpetrator. If you have a question about the responsible use of sources for an assignment, please ask.

Grades

Reading Analysis of Freakonomics 20 points

Team Reading Analysis 10

Issue Analysis 20

Creativity Exercise Reports (3 @ 10) 30

Final Project 20

Scale (straight points)

A: 93-100 B: 84-86 C: 75-77 D: 66-68

A-: 90-92 B-:81-83 C-: 72-74 D-: 63-65

B+: 87-89 C+: 78-80 D+: 69-71

Schedule

TWIF = Friedman’s The World is Flat

WNM = Pink’s A Whole New Mind

Week 1 (19-23 May)

Read this syllabus.

Submit responses to the introductory “who we are” forum and “first thoughts” survey.

Read the pdf. of Wolcott’s “Steps for Better Thinking” model for solving ambiguous, open-ended problems, issues.

Read the Introduction and Chapter 4, “Where Have All the Criminals Gone” from Freakonomics on ereserve.

Participate in the Freakonomics forum to discuss your reading and the assignment.

Th 22 May (1:00 pm): Reading Analysis due: analyze the authors’ “thinking process” for arriving at the article’s conclusions, applying the “Steps for Better Thinking” model. Include examples to support your analysis.

Week 2 (26-30 May)

Begin Issue Analysis: What’s “the problem” with globalization? Based on your reading analyses and experience (as a student, as a worker), how do you think the forces of globalization will affect your future career?

(Contact your teammates for Team Reading Analyses due next week).

Watch scenes from the movie Desk Set (link to YouTube on Moodle). Think about how the movie frames a problem, presents two perspectives, and stages a (happy ending) solution to the problem. Think about this as you read The World Is Flat.

Read (at least) the following sections from The World Is Flat (TWIF):

“While I Was Sleeping”

“Multiple Identity Disorder” and “Death of the Salesmen” (under “Great Sorting Out”)

“The Untouchables”

“The Right Stuff”

How does Friedman frame “the problem” of globalization? What “solutions” does he recommend? Focusing on one of Friedman’s examples most relevant to your major / area of professional experience, how does this reading suggest the forces of globalization will impact your future career?

Participate in the The World Is Flat discussion forum.

Week 3 (2-6 June)

Exploring multiple perspectives on “the problem with globalization”:

Rifkin, “Introduction” to The End of Work (ereserve)

Sennett, “Failure” (ereserve Corrosion of Character, second part of document)

Fraser, “… Corporate Spin on …” (ereserve White Collar Sweatshop)

Friedman, “America and Free Trade” (TWIF)

Krugman, “Can Europe Be Saved?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/magazine/16Europe-t.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Florida, “Closing of America?” & “New Competitors” (ereserve)

Tapscott, “Prosumers” & chapters from Macrowikinomics (ereserve)

Friedman, “Gobalization of the Local” & “Dell Theory of ...” (TWIF)

How do these new perspectives change our understanding of “the problem” of globalization?

Tues 3 June: Team Reading Analyses due (submit for grade and into forum) by midnight (11:55 pm)

Week 4 (9-13 June)

Tues 10 June: Issue Analysis due by 8:00 pm

Begin Why Creativity Matters

Answer the questions in the Why Creativity Matters survey

Watch Sir Ken Robinson’s “Are Schools Killing Creativity?” TED talk

Read Chapters 1-3 in A Whole New Mind (WNM)

Participate in the Creativity -- Why It Matters discussion forum

Begin Thinking About Your Final Projects

Watch Daniel Pink’s “Science of Motivation” TED talk and/or the RSA animate version

Begin Design

Read WNM Ch. 4 on Design.

Explore the selection of entries from my Design Notebook on Moodle

Collect your own Design Notebook examples of “brilliant” and “terrible” design (also described in WNM pp 89-90).

Select a terrible or annoying example to redesign to improve not only its “utility,” but more important its “significance” for your first Creative Exercise Report on Design.

Week 5 (16-20 June)

T 17 June (by 1:00 pm): submit Creativity Exercise Report #1 on Design both for grading and to the forum for sharing and discussion.

Begin Story

Read WNM Ch. 5 on Story

Collect your own “business-relevant story portfolio” (described in WNM pp 107-109 and Part I of Story Assignment document on Moodle).

Part II of Story Assignment document: find a ‘business-relevant problem’ and (try to) solve it using ‘story.’

Week 6 (23-27 June)

T 24 June (by 1:00 pm): submit Creativity Exercise Report #2 on Story both for grading and to the forum for sharing and discussion.

Begin Symphony

Read WNM Ch. 6 on Symphony

Collect entries for your Metaphor Log and/or Negative Space (described in WNM pp 148 & 150); try some of the exercises in Part I of the Symphony Assignment document on Moodle.

Part II of Symphony Assignment document: find a ‘business-relevant problem’ and (try to) solve it using the Morphological Forced Connections and/or Metaphorical techniques described in the document.

Week 7 (30 June-4 July)

T 1 July (by 1:00 pm): submit Creativity Exercise Report #3 on Symphony both for grading and to the forum for sharing and discussion.

Week 8 (7-11 July)

Final Projects due by 8:00 pm Wednesday 9 July.