Creativity and Innovation in Business

FC003: Harnessing Creativity and Innovation Overview For this Performance Task Assessment, you will take on the role of a consultant who has been brought in to develop and evaluate creative solutions for a business facing the effects of a global crisis. You will employ creativity and design thinking principles to address business needs and help the company assess its readiness for innovation and change. Assessment Submission Length: Approximately 810 pages, not including title page and References page Instructions To complete this Assessment, do the following: Be sure to adhere to the indicated assignment length. In the FC003_Assessment_Template file, complete your work on the Assessment, using your Pre-Assessment submission as a starting point and incorporating any feedback as appropriate. Before submitting your Assessment, carefully review the rubric. This is the same rubric the assessor will use to evaluate your submission, and it provides detailed criteria describing how to achieve or master the Competency. Many students find that understanding the requirements of the Assessment and the rubric criteria help them direct their focus and use their time most productively. Important Information on Interpreting the Assessment Rubric (click to expand) Achievement vs. Mastery of the Competency Mastery of this Competency means that 80% or more of the rows have been assessed as Exceeds Expectations and no rows have been assessed as Does Not Meet Expectations. Achievement of this Competency means that all rows are assessed at Meets Expectations or above (but lower than the 80% threshold required for Mastery). Assessment of Individual Rubric Rows In order to achieve Meets Expectations for a particular row of the rubric, you must have adequately completed all criteria in that row. This means that you have addressed all required elements to the required level of quantity and/or quality. In order to achieve Exceeds Expectations for a particular row of the rubric, you must have adequately completed all criteria in the row, and in addition, your response must reflect a depth and breadth of knowledge and expertise. Examples of this includebut are not limited tothe following: You provide additional, specific, and/or particularly relevant examples to illustrate points made. You seamlessly incorporate your original thoughts and diverse, credible, and relevant academic sources, when applicable, to express your viewpoint or develop a persuasive argument. You demonstrate a deeper understanding of the subject that draws from discipline-specific knowledge and theory and incorporates the viewpoints of a diverse set of business and management thought leaders. You draw additional connections between multiple, complex topics to support your explanations. You are able to apply your knowledge in unique, creative, and/or innovative ways. You thoroughly break down concepts into simpler parts and use your understanding of business to make connections. Your analysis is insightful and original. You design processes, products, and/or solutions that are creative, high-quality, and innovative. You consider diverse perspectives and relevant social, ethical, and business-related issues when proposing new ideas or formulating judgments. All submissions must follow the conventions of scholarly writing. Properly formatted APA citations and references must be provided, where appropriate. Submissions that do not meet these expectations will be returned without scoring. This Assessment requires submission of one 8- to 10-page business solutions design document, excluding title page and references. Save this file as FC003_firstinitial_lastname (for example, FC003_J_Smith). You may submit a draft of your assignment to the Turnitin Draft Check area to check for authenticity. When you are ready to upload your completed Assessment, use the Assessment tab on the top navigation menu. Harnessing Creativity and Innovation to Meet Business Needs The world of business often changes at a fast pace, including innovations in technology, changing customer needs, and other market fluctuations. In some cases, howeversuch as during a local or global crisisthe need for change is more immediate and companies may face the reality of responding by quickly innovating or facing financial or other hardships. For this Assessment, you will take on the role of a consultant who has been brought in to develop and evaluate creative solutions for a business facing the effects of a global crisis. You have been asked to develop some potential solutions to propose to company leaders that could help the business shift its focus or innovate in the face of change. You will employ creativity and design thinking principles to address business needs and help the company assess its readiness for innovation and change. For the purposes of this exercise, here are some guidelines: You will choose the company (or type of company) and create a narrative for the specific problem the business is facing. This could be a company where you have worked or with which you are familiar, or you can locate an example of a company and use it as the basis for your narrative. For example, you might select a larger company that needs to figure out a way to reach more customers since most of its local business has been temporarily halted, or perhaps you will choose a small business that operates locally and offers a product or service that is currently not relevant to the markets needs. Note: If you select a company with which you do not have personal experience, some of the questions related to the employees and other similar details may be more challenging to answer; however, you should feel free to use your creativity to respond to the questions as if you had already interviewed the companys staff and leaders. Provide information that will help you craft your narrative. The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate your ability to think through and develop creative solutions to business problems, not to have all the right answers. You will engage in aspects of the design thinking process to complete this activity but will not be able to complete all parts of the process (including interviewing stakeholders and prototyping the solutions). You may want to review any resources you have already read on design thinking and consider how you would conduct this process if you were an actual consultant for this chosen company. With those thoughts in mind, construct your business solutions design with the following sections, being sure to incorporate appropriate examples, where applicable, as well as citations for relevant academic resources from the classroom, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate scholarly sources to support your work. Click each of the items below for more information on this Assessment. Part 1: Laying the Foundation for Innovation (approximately 2 pages) In Part 1 of your design document: Synthesize the business problem. Specifically: Describe the company in question, including how many people work there, the industry the company is part of, and what types of products and/or services the business offers. Explain the business problem, including what impacts the global crisis is having on how the business operates and its ability to meet customer needs and deliver its product(s)/service(s). Identify the companys present internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats that the current crisis is presenting to the company. Appraise the companys readiness to innovate, including how well the organization is set up to tolerate risk. Part 2: Considering Stakeholder Needs (34 pages) In Part 2 of the design document: Identify the stakeholders whose needs you will have to consider when designing potential solutions. Create a prioritized list of stakeholder needs (based on your knowledge of the company or your imagining of the stakeholders you identified) you will have to take into consideration when developing potential solutions. Based on the identified business problem, what are the greatest points of need? What might be the leaders and employees most pressing concerns? What are other needs to consider that are a lower priority but still significant enough to note? Assess what, if any, considerations will need to be made to promote stakeholder buy-in. Are company leaders open or resistant to change? What is your prediction for any challenges you may encounter in the face of changes? What recommendations do you have for how to gain buy-in and minimize risk? Part 3: Bringing It Together (34 pages) In Part 3 of the design document: Based on the identified needs and the details provided about the companys problem, brainstorm at least six to eight possible solutions to the problem. Remember that the point of brainstorming is to generate new and creative ideas. Do not spend your time evaluating the ideas or determining their feasibility in terms of costs, resources, time constraints, etc. You will do that next. Simply record the results of your brainstorming session as a section of your design document. After generating your list of ideas, identify the two you feel are most appropriate for the company given its current situation. For each of the potential solutions, do the following: Justify your selection of the solution and include specific details that demonstrate how you believe this solution will help the company change its business to address the problem. Identify the components of the solution, including innovations in process, technology, structure, or any other aspects of the business that will be part of the implementation. Summarize what steps the company can take to increase the chances of smooth execution of the proposed change, including any considerations that need to be made around resources (time, money, personnel, acquisition of materials, technologies, etc.) and the implications for the different stakeholders (i.e., consider multiple perspectives).