Reference no: EM133675242

Report - Entrepreneurial Thinking in Practice

Assessment: Entrepreneurial Thinking in Practice

Objective

This assessment is designed to evaluate your understanding of the following course learning outcomes:
- Understand and appreciate the broader applicability of entrepreneurship.
- Examine the role of entrepreneurial mindset in delivering desirable outcomes.

General description

Although entrepreneurial mindset is usually associated with entrepreneurial contexts and engagements, research shows it plays a pivotal role in different settings. Individuals need to embrace an entrepreneurial mindset to deal with complex life challenges effectively and succeed in different endeavours. Above and beyond this, it is not uncommon to see individuals applying different innovative entrepreneurial strategies and techniques even to deal with daily life challenges ranging from using techniques such as improvisation to make a delicious lunch or snack to building something big from waste and discarded items. Although the mainstream media would not call these people entrepreneurs, they are entrepreneurs in their own right and domain. Think of someone you know (for example, your family member, your colleague, your supervisor, etc.) whom you admire the most by how they deal with life challenges, examine and explain why you call them entrepreneurial.

Your task

The task requires you to identify, examine, and write a report on one person who you believe embraces an entrepreneurial mindset. When working on the assignment, make sure that the following points are carefully considered.

1. This person must be your family or someone close to you. You cannot select a public figure unless you have a direct family tie.

2. It is not a necessary condition for them to start or have a business. The primary selection criterion is their entrepreneurialism and use of entrepreneurial strategies and techniques to deal with daily challenges.

3. You should be able to demonstrate how they have been innovative, proactive, and persistent using real-life examples.

4. You are required to get their consent before submission.

It is of paramount importance to first ensure that the critical requirements of the assessments are met. As stated in the assessment description, the interviewee (the person to be interviewed) must be a family member, colleague or someone who has close ties with you.
• Pre-interview preparation: Interviewing a family member or someone you know very well isn't as easy as many think. Because you know them, you would probably believe you know the answers to the interview questions. However, that is not the case in most cases. You may hear unexpected answers. Hence, you must be psychologically and mentally ready to ask follow-up questions and avoid tendencies that would introduce biases to the data collection process.
• During the interview: Create a welcoming and professional atmosphere. Start the interview by thanking your interviewee for their willingness to participate and share their knowledge and experience. Tell them the purpose of the interview. Be well-organised. Arrange and place things you need for the interview in an orderly manner.

Try not to be overwhelmed by the interviewee's answers. If the responses are unclear or need further information to analyse them adequately, ask follow-up questions and clarifications. Use different modalities to record the interview. You are strongly encouraged to record the interview electronically, for example, using your phone.

When you cover all your interview questions, ask the interviewee if they have something that hasn't been covered but is essential in discussing how entrepreneurial they are. Appreciate and thank them again for their time and for supporting you on your project.
• After the interview: Send a thank you message after the interview on the same day or the following day. This could be either an email or a text message.

Designing interview questions

You are free to cover as many areas and topics as you would like in the interview. Because of the uniqueness of each interviewee's journey, you have the freedom to choose what to focus on. Ensure you have covered at least the interviewee's background, the problem/opportunity context, the entrepreneurial mindset, and lessons from engaging in the chosen problem/opportunity context.

You need an adequate number of questions about your interviewee's general and entrepreneurial background. The answer to these questions helps you give a nice picture of the main character (the agent) in the context. In addition, questions about the problem/opportunity you are interested in are crucial to argue about the significance of your chosen context successfully. Give your interviewee a chance to give you a broader and deeper understanding of the problem/opportunity. Moreover, you need questions that would help you talk about the entrepreneurial mindset of the person. You can ask them about how they dealt with setbacks, the creative and innovative things they have done to solve the problem or seize the opportunity, or many other aspects of the entrepreneurial mindset covered in the course. Finally, don't forget to ask some concluding questions, such as "What advice would you give to someone with entrepreneurial aspirations?".

Evaluation

You will be evaluated on how well you address the following priorities.
- The application of the entrepreneurial mindset concept in analysing the person.
- Convincing evidence about the innovativeness, proactiveness and persistent nature of the person you choose to interview.
- The fulfilment of primary requirements of the assignment, i.e., the person is either a family member or has a strong personal affinity, or is someone you have worked / collaborated with.