Making The Intangible Tangible: Imagination Workshop

There is an increasing need in business schools to augment the often heavily rational curriculum with the development of more intuitive and reflective qualities. This is particularly important when addressing “wicked” problems, or when creativity is needed for a wide variety of purposes. This paper reports on a collaboration between an art/design school and a business school, to evolve an “Imagination Workshop”, which does not involve specialised tools or any special skills by the faculty. It uses an almost primitive method – folding and cutting paper to create what are known as “zines”, which then become a personalised place to reflect and imagine. This method has been successfully deployed across executive and degree management education levels; the specific example highlighted here is for undergraduate business students, in a wholly online context.