Last update: 4/4/2000
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Topics for Essay C

Essay C is only for those taking the three-credit version of the course. Those taking the four-credit version will write a term paper instead.

Pick one of the topics below for your Essay C. If you want to use a different topic, email it to me for approval before you start work. A topic of your own should deal in some way with Corporate Creativity, as do the topics below. Essay C should cover your reading for the three main texts for this course, but concentrating on Corporate Creativity, up to the end of the course. The form and grading for Essay C are the same as for Essays A and B. In the header for the essay, be sure to list the topic of the essay.

Reminder: your essay should be written for the general reader. Review the standards for essays in the assignment schedule and syllabus.

1. After the readings for this course, what advice would you give to a supervisor or manager who wanted to encourage the development of new and improved products within her/his unit?
2. For encouraging corporate creativity, what methods do not work?
3. Why is managing for creativity difficult for supervisors and managers?
4. If creativity is basically the same inside and outside of corporations - a motivated individual trying something new to solve a problem - how does it typically work out differently in the corporate setting?
5. Some researchers say that creativity involves putting separate ideas together. What methods of managing for creativity would encourage employees to do this?
6. Some people on the conference for this course have said that corporate creativity is primarily "small c" creatviity. What examples can you give from Corporate Creativity to support or question this claim?