MAN-40090 - Creativity, Innovation and Quality

Coordinator: Paul Dewick

Lecture Time: See Timetable...

Level: Level 7

Credits: 15

Study Hours: 150

School Office: 01782 733094

Programme/Approved Electives for 2020/21

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2020/21

The purpose of this module is to stimulate creative thinking and reflective analytical skills among participants to enable innovative new ways of working within the organisation and beyond, to customers, clients, and partners. In so doing, core theories and contemporary practice in Operations, Innovation, Process Design and Quality Improvement are presented to provide joined-up thinking on value creation, optimisation and maintenance in the delivery of services and products. The module will enable you to think about customer/client/service user requirements and identify process and efficiency based improvements whilst not compromising quality and perceived customer value. It develops approaches to creative problem solving implicit in product, service and process improvement.

Aims

To evaluate the impact of the management of innovation on the performance of organisations.
To develop creative thinking skills to encourage new ways of working.
To facilitate the identification of operations and efficiency improvements whilst ensuring quality.
To consider the importance of understanding client/customer requirements when instigating change.
To manage change and transformation across organisational boundaries.
To know and understand competitive strategies and entrepreneurialism.
To demonstrate clarity of thinking and understanding of the implications of innovation.

Intended Learning Outcomes

analyse how innovation and creativity maintains strategic fit and ensures competitive advantage and improvements in effectiveness in organisations.: 1
apply innovative and creative thinking approaches for sustainable business growth and development.: 1
use creative thinking to address a range of organisational and operational problems and challenges.: 1
reflect on their learning in creative thinking and identify areas for further personal and professional development.: 1,2
deliver improvement plans to both internal and external clients using newly acquired consulting skills.: 1

Study hours

20% off the job learning to include:
2-day workshops (on campus)
6-hour online tutor-led activity
40 hours guided activity
24 hours assessment preparation
Additional self-study requirements:
40 hours self-study
26 hours assessment preparation

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Practice Based Assessment weighted 80%
Case study/problem solving challenge
The assessment will provide the opportunity to apply innovation theory and creative thinking learned on the module to a case study. Working in small consulting teams, participants will demonstrate their creativity and problem-solving skills to analyse a particular organisational problem and situation. The case will normally be a live case based locally to Keele, where teams are introduced to the problem and visit the 'client' organisation during the on-campus teaching period, analyse the issues within their group, and subsequently recommend a course of action/solution to the client's problem by presentation (either face-to-face, by video-conference or by a prerecorded video presentation depending on student and client circumstances and availability). Alternatively there is provision for the case to be of a more traditional written type, or for the project to be live, but at a distance using virtual communication and video-conferencing with the client. There are substantial group elements in the assignment, but the final output will be an individual assignment report critically reflecting on the exercise from a personal perspective.

2: Reflective Diary weighted 20%
Reflective Diary (1500 words)
A reflective diary of around 1500 words which allows the participant to reflect on the personal impact of their studies.

MAN-40090 - Module Specification Keele Business School Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

MAN-40090 - Module Specification
Keele Business School
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences