Managing By Design MGMT-GB Spring 2016

Transcription

1 Managing By Design MGMT-GB Spring 2016 Professor: Elizabeth Boyle Office: KMEC Office Hours: Most afternoons & by appointment Teaching Fellow: Luba Pogorelova, Design is a mindset supported by capabilities and skill that can be taught and learned. Although I would like to title this course, The Anti-Core, tools such as Black-Scholes, DCF, NPV, BCG Matrix, Porter s Five Forces, remain useful. However at the heart of these approaches is the limiting assumption that managers choose among known alternatives. More and more firms are beginning to recognize that design and problem-solving skills are the backbone of consistently high performance. This course is designed for students with a passion for problem solving, especially those who are looking for methods beyond those that form the foundation of most business education today. Design thinking rests on the assumption that all alternatives are not known. In this paradigm problem solving begins with questioning (i.e. are we asking the right question?). Design thinking also involves analogical reasoning, experimentation, empathy and the curation of the ideas. By the end of this class you will be able to ask better questions, make better use of analogical reasoning, create small experiments and curate the ideas of others when tackling problems of any size across business functions. CASES & READINGS 1. Managing By Design Course Syllabus. You are responsible for the information contained in this syllabus. 2. Managing By Design Course Pack. You can purchase and download the course materials via the following link: tbd. ASSIGNMENTS In-Class Contribution 15% Try Something New 10% Individual Mini-Cases 45% Design Thinking Application 30% Group or Individual Total 100% Managing By Design Spring 2016 page 1 of 6

2 In-Class Contribution (15%) All class sessions involve active discussion based on the readings and cases. You should be prepared to share your ideas and critically interpret the perspectives presented by others. Quantity of participation, if lacking in quality will not be rewarded. Quality participation has one or more of the following characteristics: Comprehension: Listening to the comments of your classmates and building on them; waiting for your turn to speak is not the starting point of good participation. Courtesy: Respecting and observing the rules of the game and the rights and dignity of your classmates; limiting participation to a fair share. Coherence: Providing a careful analysis and turning vague ideas into precise statements; integrating experiences and learning material with class-room discussion. Cleverness: Quick and deep thinking; ability to abstract and infer; contributing ideas beyond the assigned readings. Courage: Willingness to take risks by espousing unpopular ideas, challenging authority, asking good questions. I assign the grade for this component, like any other component. But I will also ask for your feedback on the contribution of your classmates towards your learning. TRY SOMETHING NEW (10%) To fulfill this requirement you must practice what we preach in class in your real life. I will highlight opportunities to give a new approach a try and am also open to your ideas about what you would like to do differently. The deliverable for this exercise is to report back to communicate to the class what you learned.. 3 MINI-CASES (45%) This assignment facilitates the integration of design thinking with business related problems. For three class sessions you will answer one case question (provided toward the end of this syllabus). Your responses will include your top two reasons for your answer and will be no longer than 500 words maximum. Appendices, tables and/or figures do not count toward the word limit. An additional page can be used for a bibliography. For each mini-case you can choose from the options identified in the Course Map (provided at the end of this syllabus). The first, second and third mini-case contribute 10%, 15% and 20% to your final grade. My expectation is that you will apply the relevant theories/models/frameworks we cover in the course including those assigned for the session in which the case is discussed. These assignments are graded on a check (meets expectations), check-plus (exceeds expectations) and check-minus (falls short of expectations) system. Check-plus grades are rare and are assigned to work that is truly exceptional. Managing By Design Spring 2016 page 2 of 6

3 You will receive feedback on your case analyses within 1 week. If you want to receive feedback on your first mini-case before writing your next mini-case please keep this turnaround time in mind. Please submit your individual mini-cases via NYU Classes. Mini-cases are due by 10pm the day before the case is scheduled for discussion. DESIGN THINKING APPLICATION (Group or Individual) (30%) Essentially this assignment is white space. You craft your own project. The only criterion is that you apply design thinking generally or one of the skills/capabilities developed in the course specifically to a problem you are interested in. Like the Try Something New assignment the deliverable for this project is sharing your approach and what you learned with your classmates. An option for this assignment is to 1) identify a situation/problem you are currently involved in at work along with solutions already tried or considered and 2) take a design thinking approach to develop new insights and alternative solutions/interventions. A second option is to run an exercise for the class. Please let me know how you would like to practice with the design thinking approach by 3/5. All of your work must be original. To avoid any confusion over the originality of your work, you and/or your team should work alone, and should not utilize any analysis found on the web, or analyses performed for any other purpose. You should clearly cite any data and sources you utilize. Team Participation Evaluation If you work in a group you will be asked to evaluate your own and your peers contributions to the group project. This evaluation may be used to scale your grade on the project. If all of your teammates agree that one member was a poor performer (e.g. contributed less than the others or was disruptive in some way to the team process) I will reduce that student s grade accordingly. STERN GRADING POLICY The process of assigning of grades is intended to be one of unbiased evaluation. This means that students are encouraged to respect the integrity and authority of the professor s grading system and discouraged from pursuing arbitrary challenges to it. If a student feels that an inadvertent error has been made in the grading of an individual assignment or in assessing an overall course grade, a request to have that grade re-evaluated may be submitted. Students should submit such requests in writing to the professor within 7 days of receiving the grade, including a brief written statement of why he or she believes that an error in grading has been made. Managing By Design Spring 2016 page 3 of 6

4 Course Norms & Policies Attendance and punctuality at each class session is expected. You are permitted to miss one class without a reduction in your participation grade. Class will start on time. Students are expected to arrive to class on time and stay to the end of the class period. Arriving late or leaving class early will have an impact on your grade for this course. Tablets can be used but cell phones, & other electronic devices may not be used in class. Academic Honesty Cheating, plagiarism, and/or doing work for another person which will receive academic credit are all impermissible. This includes the use of unauthorized books, notebooks, or other sources in order to secure or give help for an assignment or the presentation of unacknowledged material as if it were the student s own work. Students with Disabilities If you are having trouble in class, I want to know about it as soon as possible. I will do my best to help students who, despite a sincere and solid effort, are experiencing difficulty. If you have a qualified disability and will require academic accommodation during this course, please contact the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD, ) and provide me with a letter outlining recommended accommodations. Assignment Format and Submission Follow These Instructions Carefully MS Word or PowerPoint must be used. All mini-cases should be double-spaced, have 1 margins, and use Times New Roman 12 font. Please be sure to put your name at the top of any work submitted. When uploading work to NYU Classes please use the following file naming format: First Name.Last Name.Case Name. For example, Elizabeth.Boyle.Apple. Late Submissions Will Not Be Accepted Under Any Circumstances Managing By Design Spring 2016 page 4 of 6

5 One Page Course Map Class: Date Topic 1: Feb 13 DESIGN THINKING INTRODUCTION 2: Feb 20 ANALOGICAL REASONING 3: Feb 27 ASSUMPTION IDENTIFICATION & TESTING 4: Mar 5 PROTOTYPING & EXPERIMENTATION 5: Mar 12 CURATION 6: Mar 26 EMPATHY 7: Apr 2 INTERACTION EFFECTS 8: Apr 9 SCALABILITY 9: APR 16 COMPETITION & CO-CREATION 10: Apr 23 ECOSYSTEMS 11: Apr 30 FREESPACE 12: MAY 7 Case (Background Readings) Design Thinking ( Artistry for the Strategist ; How Strategists Really Think ) Evolution of the Circus Industry ( Value Innovation--The Strategic Logic of High Growth ; Re-Framing Opportunities ) HP: Flight of the Kittyhawk Option for Mini-Case #1 ( Innovation Killers ; Stop the Innovation Wars ; Are You Solving the Right Problem? ) Rise & Fall of Iridium Option for Mini-Case #1 ( Prototyping: A Quick Introduction ; Solving the Problem Quants ) Le Petit Chef Option for Mini-Case #2 ( Managing Your Innovation Portfolio ; Which Innovations Will Pay?; Designing in Hostile Territory ) Corporate New Ventures at P&G Option for Mini-Case #2 ( How Thinking Like a Designer Can Create a Sustainable Competitive Advantage ; The Benefits of Combining Data with Empathy ) Innocentive Option for Mini-Case #2 or 3 ( Flexons: Problem-Solving Lenses for a Problem-Filled World ; Managing Insight Velocity ) Quirky Option for Mini-Case #2 or 3 ( Mind the Gaps: The Challenges of Using Design to Scale Wicked Problems ; Thriving in Ambiguity ) Local Motors Option for Mini-Case #3 ( Building the Co-Creative Enterprise ; Community Powered Problem Solving ) Ecosystem Advantage ( Match Your Innovation Strategy to Your Innovation Ecosystem ) We will decide as a class what we would like to do in this session. PROJECT PRESENTATIONS Managing By Design Spring 2016 page 5 of 6

6 Case Questions (Cases are Listed in Alpha Order) Corporate New Ventures at P&G Will the new venture group be successful? Why or Why Not? Evolution of the Circus Industry Would you recommend entry into the circus industry in the early 1980 s? o How attractive is the industry? o What factors did firms in the industry compete on? HP Flight of the Kittyhawk What do you think are the root causes of the failure of the Kittyhawk program? Is there any way HP could have avoided its fate by addressing those root causes? o What would you rate as the strengths and weaknesses of the way Hewlett-Packard structured and supported the Kittyhawk development team? o What do you think of the way the team set out to find a market for the Kittyhawk? What correct turns, and what wrong turns did they make? Le Petit Chef What should Gagne do? Specifically, which projects should Gagne fund and why? o What factors explain Le Petit Chef s poor performance? What actions would you recommend to remedy the situation?local Motors Given the state of the automotive industry in late 2008-early 2009, is this a great time or a terrible time to launch an innovative car company? Quirky o What do each of Local Motor s constituencies ( designers, on-line community car enthusiasts, actual customers) want? Is Quirky s business model scaleable? Rise and Fall of Iridium At what point could you have known Iridium would fail? o What is your evaluation of Iridium s system design? What impact did the choices that were made have on the subsequent evolution of the venture? o What is your evaluation of Iridium s organizational design? What changes would you have made to increase the probability of a successful outcome? Managing By Design Spring 2016 page 6 of 6