Sample Questions
Question 1
1. Define innovation and explain the difference with invention
2. Give one example of each of the following types of innovation:
(i) product, (ii) process and (iii) service
3. Give one example each of a radical innovation and an incremental innovation
4. Chris Anderson of Wired magazine explains ‘technology trends’. Discuss.
Question 2
1. List some of the main reasons why organizations invest in innovation
2. In his change management methodology Michael Kotter talks about creating a
‘sense of urgency’ – explain
3. Why is innovation relevant to a health service or social service?
4. What are main issues to address in achieving better impact from innovation?
Question 3
1. Explain the process of the s-curve as used to explain the life cycle of an innovation
2. What are the key stages in the innovation process?
3. Explain the innovation funnel.
4. Explain the role of knowledge management in the innovation process.
Question 4
1. Outline in the process of defining goals for an organization.
2. Explain the difference between rational and incremental goal definition
3. How do strategic objectives differ from performance indicators
4. Steven Johnson explains ‘where ideas come from’. Discuss.
Question 5
1. Define a stakeholder in a particular organization.
2. Explain the terms transactional and contextual requirements.
3. Define strategic thrust.
4. Barry Schwartz discusses ‘Practical Wisdom’. Why is it relevant for innovation?
Question 6
1. What is the difference between financial and non-financial indicators?
2. Explain the Balanced Scorecard technique.
3. Detail a simple form for capturing critical data for an indicator.
4. Indicate the key data points in a performance chart.
Question 7
1. What is Creativity?
2. Where do ideas come from and explain the importance of lead users in generating
new ideas
3. How are failure modes scored in the Failure Mode Effects Analysis technique
4. Explain the key lessons from the IDEO video called the ‘Deep Dive’
Question 8
1. Outline the key stages of a project lifecycle with reference to the stage gate
process
2. Explain the following expression: Risk = ƒ (event, probability, impact)
3. What are the six stages of the buyer experience life cycle?
4. ‘Being Wrong’ can be positive. Why does Kathryn Schulz believe this?
Question 9
1. What are the four key overlapping strategies used in portfolio management and
name one tool that can be used for each of the four strategies
2. In a bubble diagram of risk versus reward what are each of the four quadrants
commonly called?
3. Explain the ‘portfolio dominates’ approach to balancing a portfolio of projects.
4. Explain how organisations can end up with a large number of low benefit and high
risk projects (i.e. white elephants)
Question 10
1. Why is transformation leadership more desirable for effective innovation?
2. List six key factors for fostering an innovation culture in any organisation.
3. Explain in your own words a problem solving technique used for conflict
management.
4. Identify one world recognized leader. What are his/her leadership competencies.
Question 11
1. What is a team and how does it differ from the term organisation and community?
2. What things can organisations do to create a successful team environment?
3. Name the four different types of teams that can be used for managing projects of
varying strategic importance.
4. Dan Pink explains ‘employee motivation’. Are rewards important in his opinion?
Question 12
1. Why do you feel its important to have few status signals
2. Why do you feel it may be important for all activities to have the same or similar
data structures for capturing results
3. Explain the concept of connections between different sets of data and list ten
possible matrix diagrams
4. How are connections between data similar to connections in the human brain.
Question 13
1. Define a system?
2. What are the key traits of any social system
3. Explain the term ‘entropy’ and how organizations can avoid its effects
4. Systems have hierarchy. Describe a technique that can be used to model this trait
Question 14
1. Explain clearly how IDEFo distinguishes between various types of input.
2. What is the purpose of the A-1 or context diagram in an IDEFo model?
3. Draw one multi-box IDEFo diagram for describing the inputs and outputs involved in
a single taxi cab.
4. List all the possible inputs and outputs and also list possible titles of ‘child’
activities for a University system titled as ‘Provide New Knowledge’