Professor Schroeder
MGT 353
March 3rd, 2015
Myth of Innovation Assignment for MGT 353
Answer these questions in 300 words or less. 11 point font, double-spaced.
Chapter Six: Are Good Ideas Hard to Find?
Good ideas are not exactly hard to find, the problem is that most of us do not put enough time and energy do find them. The main technique to find good ideas are brainstorming but unfortunately the technique have been abused and not apply correctly. In fact, the true essence of brainstorming according to Applied Imagination states that anyone has three things: facts, ideas, and solutions. However, if one does not spend enough quality time with each individually the ideas wont develop. For example, on our group projects in class we always spend quality time on each step and I believe that is the main reason that we have been creating good ideas. The author claims that the difference between creative and other is more attitude and experience than nature. In fact, we the main reason that we as humans are alive is because of our ability to be adapt, adopt, and make use of what we have. Therefore, all these are highly related to being creative. Our unique advantage is the creative capacity of our minds. Also, the world that we live is set to be so practical that many companies sell prepackaged meals, clothes, holidays and many different affordable products that do not help one to be creative. In fact, this is a true statement because nowadays we are all so busy that anything that we make us to save time would be greatly appreciated. Therefore, people rather to purchase something ready to go than create them. Also, the bigger the challenge, the more time one will need to create ideas to solve the problem, but unfortunately most business believe that ideas can fit on budgets, plans and schedules.
Chapter Seven: How does Management/Managers Help or Hurt Innovation? Managers can hurt innovation because they are in position of power; therefore, they can make decisions that other people cant. But that does not mean they have the experience or the knowledge to do so. People often overlook others lack of talent by misplacing faith in their power. This is a true statement since I believe many of us assume that managers have a better perspective weather an idea is feasible or not, and easily takes managers opinion over the initial one. Managers might have a reason to act since the fathers of professional management set the standards that manager’s goals should be minimize chance, optimize performance, and take away from individuals. As a management major, I believe this has ben changing since we are highly instructed to not be in simple position of power, instead as an effective leader we should incentive our subordinates to take responsibilities and actions to solve problems without relying all the time on the manager. Also, is crucial to any manager to make a safe environment for people to be creative. In other words, no one should be afraid to express his or her opinion. Ideas are everywhere and managers should create an environment where the employees feel safe and motivate to collaborate and work as team.
Chapter Eight: Do the Best Ideas Win? The best ideas don't always win but that should not be the reason for one stop brainstorming ideas. In fact, often very similar ideas came up but only one succeeds. For instance, Google created a very high tech watch and yet it is not been successful; on the other hand, Apple created a very similar product and even tough its not been released, the forecast is already humongous. The truth it is, people have beliefs about what the world is or should be, and well-established opinion on that they expect. The author also claims that there are many secondary factors of innovation that play a huge influence on the impact of innovation adoption. Such as culture, dominant design, inheritance and tradition, politics and economics. All these factors play a crucial role weather