Please note
that this description was taken from Spring 2012 and
is subject to change.
COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA 296-1
COURSE TITLE: Problem Finding, Problem Solving
UNITS OF CREDIT: 1 Unit
INSTRUCTOR: Sara Beckman
E-MAIL ADDRESS: beckman@haas.berkeley.edu
CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL): http://bsapce.berkeley.edu
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Monday through Friday, 1PM-4PM
PREREQUISITE(S): EWMBA Core Curriculum
CLASS FORMAT: There are five class sessions for this course, and all of them
will include active exercises with small groups and teams in the class. This is
a "learn by doing" course. There is a "note" for each class
session that provides some background for the approaches we'll use in those
sessions. You'll be asked to complete some short exercises outside class and
bring the results to class to be used in the in-class exercises. At the end of
each class session, you'll be asked to reflect on what you learned and how it
might apply to your work.
REQUIRED READINGS:
There are two sources of reading material for this cours:
• Series of notes on the Problem Finding, Problem Solving process located on
the class website
• A few web-based readings for which links are provided in the assignments
for each class We also recommend the book Business Model Generation by
Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
as related reading that will help you apply what you've learned in class to
your work.
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:
Your course grade will be determined as follows:
40% on homework assignments
30% on attendance and participation in class
30% on study group output
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
One of the goals that the Dean has set forth for all of you is that you will
have a chance to learn about and become innovative leaders. This short course
will introduce you to some of the basic skills associated with being innovative
– in whatever profession you choose to pursue. In
brief, the class will help you both to think about how you frame the problems
you are working on in the first place, and to become more generative in coming
up with a range of alternative solutions. Classtime
will be spent in hands-on exercises to introduce you to a set of tools and
techniques derived from the literature on critical thinking, design thinking
and systems thinking that will help you with problem framing and problem
solving. It is anticipated that the approaches you learn in class will set you
up to work on the various projects you will take on in your experiential
learning electives such as International Business Development, Social Sector
Solutions and CleanTech to Market.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Haas Faculty
Directory