Assignment: Concept Engineering

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Assignment: Concept Engineering

Assignment: Concept Engineering

Assignment: Concept Engineering

Testers generally receive samples from Bean and from one competitor to use for three months. They may be asked to assess particular product attributes like the ease of putting up a tent or the comfort of a sweater. Users provide feedback when the product is first received (to record first impressions right out of the box); at the midpoint (to identify opportunities and prob- lems); and at the end of the trial (for a comprehensive review and evaluation). Company leaders use a number of creative strategies to structure the midpoint evaluations, including bringing groups of testers together for conversations while participating in outdoor activities. Suppliers and manufacturers are sometimes invited along. When revamping the Cresta Hiker boot, testers trekked near Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, sharing their notes and observations as they periodically switched pairs of shoes from Bean and competitors, waded through streams to test waterproofing, and wore mismatched pairs to test for comfort. Modifications were made and submitted to the testers. Sales of the revamped boot, which had been declining, jumped 85%.

L.L. Bean developed a process called “concept engineering” that is specifically tailored for radical redesigns and for creating entirely new products. The concept engineering process begins when a cross-functional team meets to determine its agenda (e.g., develop a new fly rod or outdoor “sleeping system”). The team then generates 5–6 broad questions to draw out as many details and impressions as possible from evaluators. A hunting boot team asked: “Describe what went through your mind when you purchased your last pair of boots. Describe the experi- ence.” “If you could build your own custom hunting boots, what would they look like?” Inter- viewees are chosen from the tester database along with a few noncustomers. Interviews take place at the homes or workplaces of the testers with one company official asking questions while another records the answers word for word. Major themes and images are developed and recorded on Post-it notes. When the team reconvenes, members spend three days combining and eliminating Post-it notes to come to a common understanding of customer concerns and to

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Hackman-Johnson 6E.book Page 249 Tuesday, March 12, 2013 12:54 PM

250 Chapter Eight

The leaders of learning organizations effectively manage the knowledge gained through intelligence, experience, and experimentation.26 They realize that information has little value unless it is shared or disseminated. In fact, failing to share knowledge can be expensive. A department at AT&T, for exam- ple, spent $79,449 to collect information that was already available to the pub- lic in a Bell Lab technical document priced at $13.27 To encourage knowledge sharing rather than knowledge hoarding, knowledge management experts Wil- liam Ives, Ben Torrey, and Cindy Gordon argue that you will need to address all of the following elements.28

• Business context. Link knowledge sharing to shared goals and the success of the organization. The greatest dissemination of knowledge occurs when employees are highly committed to the mission and values of the group, are informed of the organization’s strategy, and understand the challenges and opportunities posed by the organizational environment.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

  • The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

    Discussion Questions (DQ)

    • Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
    • Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
    • One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
    • I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

    Weekly Participation

    • Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
    • In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
    • Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
    • Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

    APA Format and Writing Quality

    • Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
    • Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
    • I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

    Use of Direct Quotes

    • I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
    • As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
    • It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

     

    LopesWrite Policy

    • For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
    • Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
    • Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
    • Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

    Late Policy

    • The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
    • Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
    • If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
    • I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
    • As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

    Communication

    • Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
      • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
      • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

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