CREATIVITY FOR MANAGEMENT - 2

"Creativity for Management" is part of the master's degree program "Innovation and Management for Culture and Creativity" as a space dedicated to developing creative skills applied to organizational contexts. Connected with the "Corporate Theater" course, the "Creative Writing" course aims to introduce and explore the characteristics of narrative thinking: it is therefore not simply a writing exercise, but a genuine method of organizing, or rather reorganizing, knowledge to investigate or generate new meanings. By proposing a cultural business case study, the goal of the course is not to offer a celebratory narrative of corporate identity and functioning, but rather to seek out and highlight those thematic cores that can connect the narrated reality to the experience of the recipient, who in this case is a reader.
In other words, the art of storytelling isn't about well-crafted sentences and words chosen to embellish what's being said. Storytelling is instead a true form of thought, a way of thinking that the human brain naturally moves with. It's a way of reasoning through emotions, a way in which humanity has searched for meaning over the millennia. This is precisely why it's so effective when used to explain events and phenomena: because it responds to a natural human need.

Using two guiding principles, represented by the analysis of seven major themes and seven main narrative structures, the course will explore the construction of stories related to a cultural and entrepreneurial reality in the Venetian area. Rather than describing the activity itself, characters and actions will be used to engage the potential audience, thus leading to an understanding of the fundamental difference between argumentative and narrative language.
The 30-hour course will be divided between theoretical lectures and practical workshops. The former will analyze both the mechanisms of narrative and the characteristics of entrepreneurial activity, which are useful for constructing an effective story; the latter will put what they learned in the theoretical phase to practical writing.
Students will therefore be guided in creating stories that, by playing with major literary themes and familiar narrative structures, are capable of metaphorizing one or more reasons for the existence of a business, rather than simply describing its most superficial aspects.

No previous experience in the creative or compositional field is required: the wealth of narratives that constitute the narrative baggage of every person who grew up immersed in our world should provide a sufficient basis on which to work: children's fairy tales, school readings, feature films and television series will offer each participant what they need to get started. However, open-mindedness, the ability to listen, combined with curiosity and willingness to share one's emotions and help classmates are certainly desirable. The module requires active participation in laboratory activities, and is therefore not a context in which to limit oneself to listening or taking notes.

The narrative approach to the contents aims on the one hand to investigate the emotional and emotional nuclei that define the identity and reason for being of cultural enterprises, and on the other to push the reader into an empathetic relationship with the same identity. It is therefore not a question of developing corporate storytelling techniques, but rather of identifying the major themes that make stories universal, capable of speaking to people distant in time and space, or far from interest in the case being narrated.
To finalize the work and make it clearer, already in the first phase of the course, constant reference will be made to a well-known cultural reality of the Venetian territory, which will then become the subject of the narratives developed subsequently.
The main part of the course is organized as a laboratory and pushes students to abandon argumentative and scholastic writing in favor of narrative thinking, through progressive practical exercises. The work initially consists of identifying one or more subjects and developing them in the form of a story. The path therefore initially includes moments of brainstorming, development of ideas, comparison, definition of themes and characters, and then continues through writing tests, revisions and rewriting.
• definition of text in general and narrative text in particular;
• the role of the reader in the construction of meanings and the authors' solutions for his involvement;
• analysis of seven standard narrative structures used in different literary genres;
• the seven great themes of literature: overcoming the prescriptive approach in favor of a descriptive approach, in search of themes used by great authors;
• analysis of the functions of the characters identified in the context of structuralism, and their overcoming;
• the organization of the text: diachronic and causal characteristics;
• analysis of some tools useful for composing texts and pursuing objectives of smoothness and naturalness of the text and involvement of the reader;
• form and content, when the formal aspect contributes to the communication of meaning: examples of layout and organization of the text on the page;
• most of the time in the classroom will then be dedicated to the composition of the texts, as well as to their analysis and correction.

There are no mandatory reference texts.
A significant part of the course can find a source of development and insight in Booker, Christopher. The Seven Basic Plots. Why We Tell Stories. London: Bloomsbury, 2004.
During the course of the module, further readings will certainly be suggested for those who wish to cultivate the practice of writing even beyond the time limits of the course.

The course involves the creation of a written paper that responds to the characteristics proposed during the theoretical lessons and in-depth and exemplified in the laboratory phase.
The creation of this paper constitutes 75% of the overall evaluation. Within this component, 40% is attributed to active participation in creative work during lesson hours, with reference to the presence, personal reworking and interpretation of the course contents, and the willingness to collaborate with other students to contribute to the development of the work. The remaining 35% is attributed on the basis of the success of the text, assessed by the teachers in relation to the coherence between idea, development and realization, as well as the ability to consciously use the basic elements of narrative language. The remaining 25% of the evaluation is based on an individual written test relating to the managerial aspects covered in the module, with particular reference to the use of storytelling in organizational contexts, to narrative metaphor as a tool to explore the reasons for being and the contents communicated by cultural enterprises, and to lead the reader to empathize with the enterprise itself.

written

The instructor is responsible for ensuring the authenticity and originality of all examinations and coursework. In cases of suspected academic misconduct, an additional on-site assessment may be required during the exams, which may differ from the standard format.

Grades are assigned according to the Italian scale out of thirty, as follows:
- (18–21): Basic understanding; limited analysis
- (22–25): Fair understanding with attempts at synthesis; uncertain composition
- (26–28): Good critical level; consistent application of concepts
- (29–30): Excellent analytical ability and well-developed theoretical reflection
- (30 cum laude): Excellent originality, conceptual depth and philosophical rigor

The module combines a frontal introduction to managerial aspects and some rudiments of narratology, with a prevalent laboratory activity. In the initial part, the basic coordinates of narrative thinking are provided, combining theoretical contents with practical examples: these examples will consist both of the students' experiences and knowledge and of short stories, read or summarized by the teacher. From the first lessons, the first simple writing exercises will be proposed to experience the contents addressed firsthand, to quickly produce the first narrative nuclei relating to the case study.
The approach is oriented towards learning through doing, with the direct involvement of students, who are called to make proposals and go beyond the boundaries of the most obvious and obvious narratives.

For both the theoretical and laboratory parts, the exam will be carried out in written form: for the first, a questionnaire will be administered aimed at verifying understanding of the contents covered in class; for the second the evaluation will take place on the story developed during the course.
The teacher has the duty to ensure that the rules of authenticity and originality of the exam tests are respected. Consequently, in cases where there is suspicion of irregular behavior, the exam may include further in-depth analysis, contextual to the exam, which may also be carried out in a different way than the methods reported above.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development