OBC 598C – Managing Creativity in Knowledge Intensive Organizations
Fall 2004 – Monday. 6-8:50p.m – WB 323
Professor – Steve Taylor
Office Hours: By appointment or before/after class
Office: Washburn 213 – Worcester campus
Phone: 508-831-5557 Fax: 508-831-5720
Email: sst@wpi.edu
Overview
Our approach to this topic will be threefold, which will be reflected in the
assignments and structure of the class.
1) We will be looking at and actively developing our own creative processes.
2) We will be trying to build a conceptual understanding of creating, creativity,
and knowledge.
3) We will consider organizational examples of creativity and critically apply our
conceptual knowledge in support of practical action.
Department Mission
The Department of Management at WPI is committed to providing education,
research, and outreach that focus on: Leading and managing technology-based
organizations; Integrating technology into the workplace; and Creating new
processes, products, services, and organizations based on technology.
Consistent with that mission, in this course we will examine the wellspring of
technological innovation – creativity.
Objectives
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More fully realize our own creative potential.
Develop a theoretical understanding of managing creativity in knowledge
intensive organizations.
Be able to critically assess organizational practices around managing
creativity based upon our theoretical understanding.
Texts
Creative Action in Organizations: Ivory Tower Visions and Real World
Voices, edited by Cameron M. Ford & Dennis A. Gioia, , Sage, 1995,
ISBN: 0-8039-5349-6
The Artist’s Way at Work: Riding the Dragon, by Mark Bryan & Julia
Cameron & Catherine Allen, Quill, 1998, ISBN: 0-688-15788-2
Creativity 2004 / Taylor pg. 1
And one of the following:
A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative, by Roger
van Oech, Warner Books, 1998, ISBN: 0-446-67455-9
Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud,
Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi, by Howard
Gardner, Basic Books, 1994, ISBN: 0465014542
The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life, by Twyla Tharp. Simon and
Schuster, 2003, ISBN: 0743235266
Creativity in Context, by Teresa M. Amabile, Westview Press, 1996, ISBN: 08133-2827-6
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, by Mihaly
Cscikszentmihalyi, Harper Collins, 1996, ISBN: 0-06-017133-2
Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with
Grace, by Gordon MacKenzie, Viking, 1998, ISBN: 0-670-87983-5
Course Schedule:
13 Sep, Week 1 – Introduction
20 Sep, Week 2 – Knowledge (Reading: Handout from Tacit Knowledge in
Organizations; CAO 19, 47; AWW – introduction, week 1)
27 Sep, Week 3 – Issues and definitions in/for Creativity (what constitutes
creativity given what we know about knowledge) (Reading: CAO – 1,2;
AWW – week 2)
4 Oct, Week 4 – Approaches to Creativity (Reading: CAO 5, 8, 10, 11, 24, 26; 31,
32, 37, 39; AWW – week 3)
11 Oct, Week 5 – Forms and Rules: Constraining to Create (Reading: CAO 18,
20, 34; AWW – week 4)
18 Oct, Week 6 – Individual Barriers to Creativity (Reading: CAO 7, 16, 17, 21;
AWW – week 5)
25 Oct, Week 7 – Enhancing Individual Creativity (Reading: CAO 3, 9, 22; 23, 38;
AWW – week 6)
1 Nov, Week 8 – Organizational Barriers to Creativity (Reading: CAO 12, 27, 30,
33, 41, 42, 45; AWW – week 7)
8 Nov, Week 9 – Organizational Contexts for Creativity (Reading: CAO 4, 6, 13,
14, 15, 25,; AWW – week 8)
Creativity 2004 / Taylor pg. 2
15 Nov, Week 10 – Organizational Contexts for Creativity Continued (Reading:
CAO 28, 35, 36, 40, 43, 44, 46, 48; AWW – week 9)
22 Nov, Week 11 – Student Teaching (Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity
Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot,
Graham, and Gandhi and The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life)
(Reading: AWW – week 10)
29 Nov, Week 12 – Student Teaching (Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of
Discovery and Invention and Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate
Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace) (Reading: AWW – week 11)
Analytic Paper Due
6 Dec, Week 13 – Student Teaching (A Whack on the Side of the Head: How
You Can Be More Creative and Creativity in Context) (Reading: AWW –
week 12)
13 Dec, Week 14 – Reflections and Conclusions (Reading: CAO 49, 50, 51)
Personal Creativity Paper Due
Creativity 2004 / Taylor pg. 3
Grading
Personal Creativity Project 30%
Teaching
30%
Analytic Paper
30%
Class Participation
10%
Personal Creativity Project (30%)
This is an account of your own journey in unleashing and fully realizing your own
creative process. The form of the account should be appropriate for the journey
and should convey the essence of the journey in terms of the learning, the
difficulties, the triumphs, and the feel of the experience.
The grading will be based on the following criteria:
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Depth of Engagement
Creativity
Appropriateness of form
Quality of writing/work – the writing (or work if it is not writing it should
have similar characteristics) should be clear, even elegant, well structured,
and free of grammatical, spelling and typographical errors.
Teaching (30%)
Students (individually or in groups) will select one of the optional texts and teach
a 45 minute class on the text. The form of the teaching should be creative and
convey:
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the main ideas of the text
some experience of the text
critical assessment of the ideas in the text
You are encouraged to meet with the professor at least one week prior to
teaching. Each teacher(s) shall turn in a copy of their teaching plan and all
material presented to the class.
The grading shall be based on the following criteria:
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Content – Accurate presentation of the book
Practice – usefulness for our practice
Presentation:
o Engaging
o Enjoyable
o Clarity
o Creativity
Creativity 2004 / Taylor pg. 4
Analytic Paper (30%)
In this paper, you will look at an organization of your own choosing (it could even
be one that you are part of) and assess how they manage creativity. The form
of the essay should be creative, but at a minimum it should include:
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Your conceptual understanding of knowledge and how that relates to the
literature
Your conceptual understanding of creativity and how that relates to the
literature
How these understandings relate to the organization’s practices
A critical assessment of the organization’s practices
The grading will be based on the following criteria:
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Analytic Rigor – Is there a well-reasoned argument being made?
Use of Theory
Depth of Insight
Quality of writing – the writing should be clear, even elegant, well
structured, and free of grammatical, spelling and typographical errors.
Creativity
Classroom Participation (10%):
Classroom participation will be based on the following criteria:
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How prepared you are in our discussions of reading assignments
Quality of your participation, that is:
 Thoughtfulness
 Critical Insight
 Creativity
Attendance – because of students’ travel schedules, you are allowed to miss
2 classes without penalty. If you anticipate missing more than 2 classes
during the semester, please speak to me about this early in the term.
Meaningful class discussions occur when everyone attends and fully participates
– both as speakers who have read and reflected on the assigned readings and
as respectful listeners. Dominating discussion with off-the-cuff opinions does not
generally indicate good participation. And while some students like to participate
silently, it is essential that they also speak up – at least on occasion. At any point
during the term, I would be glad to give you feedback on where I think that you
stand with regard to your participation grade.
Creativity 2004 / Taylor pg. 5