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2014/2015  KAN-CINTO1012U  Work, Technology, and Management in Creative Business

English Title
Work, Technology, and Management in Creative Business

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Course period Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc/MSc in Business Administration and Information Systems, MSc
Course coordinator
  • Robert Austin - DIGI
Main academic disciplines
  • Information Systems
  • Innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Management
Last updated on 16-07-2014
Learning objectives
After taking this course, students should be able to:
  • Demonstrate an ability to analyze decisions about managing innovative capabilities with firms, taking into account strategy, competitive situation, and operational risk, capabilities, and limitations.
  • Persuasively explain and defend a position on issues relevant to managing creative capabilities that are as yet unsettled by research, specifically those issues that we discuss in the course.
  • Describe a framework for innovative capability management, and for use of technology to support innovative capabilities, derived from course materials, including points at which the student disagrees or prefers an alternative approach.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical approaches introduced in the course and an ability to apply them to answer management questions relevant to course scope, content, and issues.
Examination
Work, Technology and Management in Creative Business:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Oral exam based on written product

In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance.
Individual or group exam Individual
Size of written product Max. 5 pages
Assignment type Synopsis
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
20 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and external examiner
Exam period Spring Term
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Course content and structure
The course examines the nature of work that consistently produces valuable innovative outcomes, how that work should be managed, and role information technology (IT) often plays in such work. Though often used in the past primarily to improve efficiencies and reduce costs, IT is now increasingly used to enhance the innovative capabilities many firms. By analyzing cases across industries and organizations, we discover a core of common practices in creative work, creative work management, and use of technology to support creative work. The course's integrative approach encourages students to derive management principles, processes, and practices, and to decide how they would apply them as managers.
 
The course contains three modules:
 
  1. The Evolving Nature of Innovative Firms
  2. The Nature of Innovative Work and the Role of Technology
  3. Managing for Innovative Capabilities
 
The first module addresses questions of how we might define innovative firms and how they are different from other firms. The second module examines the processes, principles, and practices of expert innovators from a range of fields, including design, entertainment, information technology, and life sciences, with an emphasis on the evolving role of technology in support of this work. The third module focuses on the management implications of the territory we have explored in the earlier two modules.
Teaching methods
The course will be taught using the “case method” in the Harvard style, which involves high-energy discussion, debate, and interaction. Students will be encouraged to bring their own views into discussion, to share learning with fellow students. Class attendance, preparation by reading before coming to class, and participation in class discussion will improve your chances of doing well in the course; theoretical materials will be developed and critiqued during class sessions, not just in readings.
Student workload
In class experience 36 hours
Preparation for class 150 hours
Exam preparation 20 hours
Expected literature
The course is based on a mix of cases and other materials. The following list is indicative. See the syllabus for a more comprehensive list:
 
Austin, Robert D., and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "Vipp A/S." Harvard Business School Case 607-052, 2006.

Austin, Robert D. Shannon O'Donnell, and Silje Kamille Friis, "e-Types A/S." Harvard Business case 606-118, 2006. 
 
Austin, Robert D., and Debra Elana Schifrin. "Ascent Media Group (A)." Harvard Business School Case 607-064, 2007.
 
Austin, Robert D., and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "Bang & Olufsen: Design Driven Innovation." Harvard Business School Case 607-016, 2006.
 
Austin, Robert D., and Richard L. Nolan. “Bridging the Gap Between Stewards and Creators,” MIT Sloan Management Review, 48, no. 2 (winter 2007): 29-36.
 
Austin, Robert D., Lee Devin, Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work, New Saddle River NJ: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2003.

Lee Devin, and Robert D. Austin, The Soul of Design, Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2012.
 
Austin, Robert D., Richard L. Nolan, and Shannon O'Donnell. "The Boeing Company: Moonshine Shop." Harvard Business School Case 607-130, 2007.
Last updated on 16-07-2014