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HUMAN ELEMENTS AT
WORK
(MGT-222)
SUBMITTED BY:
PRAVESH NIRMAN
ROLL NO.:A05
SEC.:A7802
REG. NO.:10805137
BTECH(H)BIOTECH
SUBMITTED TO:
MR.
HARMANDEEP SINGH
(MANA
GEMENT
LECTU
RER)
ENCOURAGING INOVATION AT WORK PLACE
DEFINITION:
Innovation comes from the Latin innovātus which means to renew. Innovation can therefore
be seen as the process that renews something that exists and not, as is commonly
assumed, the introduction of something new.
For the renewal to take place it is necessary for people to change the way they make
decisions, they must choose to do things differently, make choices outside of their norm.
Schumpeter c.s. (~1930) seems to have stated that innovation changes the values onto which
the system is based. So when people change their value (system) the old (economic) system
will tumble over to make room for the new one. When that happens innovation has occurred.
So innovation must be seen as something that does not something that is
INTRODUCTION IN TERMS OF
ORGANISATION:
In the organizational context, innovation may be linked to changes in efficiency, productivity,
quality, competitive positioning, market share, etc. can all be affected positively or negatively
by innovative forces. All organizations can innovate, including for example hospitals,
universities, and local governments. Some will flourish under its influence. Other will die.
2.The implementation phase is where suggested ideas are put into practice. The
manner in which suggestions are evaluated is a difficult one for an organisation to
manage. Not all ideas can be implemented, but if suggestions are not considered
seriously, or if implementation of even the most simple ideas takes forever and
requires multiple levels of approval, then employees are likely to make few
suggestions in the future.
Research has shown that both suggestions and implementations are important for
organisational performance and competition in a changing world.
1.Make innovation a top priority: Ford points out that “companies that generate 80%
of their revenue from new products typically double their market capitalization over a five-
year period.” In the global downturn, a common reaction is to hide in the basement and wait
for the storm to pass. A pro-active approach — for instance, asking, “what will be our new hit
products when the upturn begins and consumers resume spending?” — is far better.
2.Take risks and embrace failure: The global downturn has made everyone —
managers, investors, savers, ordinary people — far more risk averse. To innovate, it must be
recognized that failure is possible, or even likely. Celebrate failure, as a worthy attempt to
succeed, in the same way you celebrate success. Ford cites an expert: “You have to give
people the freedom to fail and to fail fast… that’s a real challenge in a risk-averse culture.”
3.Keep your people’s eyes on the future: Many organizations face a bleak future, as
revenues collapse and layoffs mount. An innovation focus can fight this doom-loop spiral.
Ford cites the following finding: “A study of internet banking in the United States looked at
chief executives’ letters to shareholders between 1991 and 1995. Those with the highest
percentage of sentences about the future introduced new technology the fastest.”
4.Foster creativity at all levels: Not all great ideas occur only to senior managers.
Often, those who work at the ‘coal face’ (directly serving, facing or selling to customers) are
best aware of changing market conditions and hence know how best to react to them.
Challenge everyone in the organization to think hard about what they do and how they do it,
and how it might be done better and differently.
5.Break the rules: Innovation is breaking the rules. Challenge your workers to first state
what the ‘rules of the game’ are, for your industry (nearly all of these are unwritten and
unspoken assumptions), and then, second, find ways to break them, to create value for
customers. This does not imply, of course, breaking laws or ethical principles. We have had
enough examples of that kind of behavior to last us several centuries.
6.Collaborate across boundaries: Innovation often involves cross-boundary thinking
— linking a variety of disciplines. Get your accountants, marketers, salesmen, secretaries,
everyone to talk to engineers, technicians — break company bou ndaries, in order to build
new ideas.
7.ThinkGlobal: Global geopolitics are rapidly changing in this time of crisis. Innovation
may involve rethinking the geographies of your business. Where can we do business,
profitably, that at present we do not?
8. Act fast and keep refining: “Launch things early then get feedback,” the head of
Google UK says. Or, as Guy Kawasaki has said, controversially, “ship, then test!”. You never
know if an innovation will work, until you try it on a customer. Find clients willing to suffer
a bit in order to try something really new.
10. Be ambitious: Even in a massive downturn, set high goals. “When this crisis ends, our
new ideas and new thinking will enable us to emerge as market leaders.” Innovation has
always sought not to gain a point or two of market share, but to make competitors and their
business models irrelevant, as Gary Hamel taught us. Use your innovative vision to scoop up
great people laid off by companies who can see no future and therefore will not have one.
WARNINGS:
1. Don't criticize. Criticism will likely cause employees to feel inferior, thereby
inhibiting creativity and innovation.
In general, companies in the United States that are more likely to be considered
innovative are those that score highly in comparison to other firms in the following
trait categories, in rough order of importance: freedom, risk taking, idea support,
time to generate ideas, freedom to debate and challenge, and trust. More specifically,
ten stimuli to creativity have been identified in the Handbook for Creative and
Innovative Managers.
(1) freedom and control to get a job done with minimal supervision;
(2) good project management, including the supervisor's ability to match individuals
to tasks and protect the group from destructive outside intervention;
(4) encouragement, or the support of upper management and peers to take risks; and
(5) a corporate climate that is generally amenable to making suggestions and trying
new things. Other important organizational attributes include recognition and
feedback, sufficient time to execute ideas, and a challenging environment.
2.Champions, the second role in the innovation process, sell the ideas to
others in the organization and secure resources to execute ideas.
Individuals who play this role sometimes are referred to as intrapreneurs. In contrast
to idea generators, champions are more apt to possess a wide range of interests, have
general knowledge about several areas of a company or industry, and like to work
with and influence other people. They are also more likely to be very energetic and to
take risks.
3.Project leaders perform the third role in the process. They coordinate
activities such as leading teams, planning and organizing projects, and
balancing project goals with available resources and organizational
needs. Effective project leaders are good at working with other people and fostering
group cooperation. They are also adept at company politics and have a broad
knowledge of company functions, such as finance, production, and marketing.
SOURCES OF INNOVATION:
Innovation is occasionally the result of a stroke of genius. More often, though,
it occurs in response to a problem or opportunity that arises either inside
or outside of an organization. Management guru Peter Drucker (1909-)
has identified four internal and three external impetuses for innovation.
Internal prompts include unexpected occurrences, incongruities, process
needs, and industry or market changes.
INTERNAL IMPETUSES:
Industry and market changes, the fourth internal impetus to innovate, often result in
the rise (and decline) of successful innovators. For example, innovation and business
savvy allowed International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) to effectively dominate
the computer industry during the 1970s and early 1980s. It failed, however, to
respond to a market switch during the 1980s from mainframes to smaller computer
systems, particularly workstations and personal computer networks. As a result,
IBM's share of the computer market plummeted and profits plunged as more
innovative newcomers emerged.
EXTERNAL IMPETUSES:
Changes in perception also open the door to innovation. For example, despite the
fact that health care in the United States has continually gotten better and more
accessible, people have become increasingly concerned about their health and the
need for better and more accessible care. This change in perception has generated a
huge market for health magazines, vitamin supplements, and exercise equipment.
Finally, one of the strongest external impetuses for innovation is new knowledge, or
technology. When a new technology emerges, innovative companies can profit by
exploiting it in new applications and markets. For example, the invention of Kevlar, a
synthetic material, has spawned thousands of new product innovations, ranging from
improved canoes and bulletproof vests to better tires and luggage.
INNOVATION STRATEGIES :
Two types of strategies for innovation in business are internal and market-based
approaches. Internal strategies include programs and initiatives
implemented by companies to foster a creative and innovative
environment, whereas market-based strategies—such as the leader,
quick follow, and slow follow strategies—refer to different approaches to
delivering innovations to the market.
Internal strategies usually seek to develop and nurture the attributes of innovative
corporations, such as prioritizing and encouraging innovation. Specific approaches to
encouraging innovation differ by company and industry. For example, an
integral aspect of Dow Corning Inc.'s strategy is to form "research
partnerships" with its customers that solicit creative input from
consumers and help the company benefit from new market
opportunities. Other companies that employ customer-partnering
programs include Black & Decker Corp. and General Electric.
One of the most innovative firms in the United States, 3M Company, sustains its
creative environment by following a set of simple rules. By keeping its divisions
small, division managers know the first names of all their subordinates, and,
moreover, the company splits up divisions before their sales surpass $250 million to
$300 million. It tolerates failure by promoting risk taking and experimentation. In
fact, divisions must derive at least 25 percent of their profits from products
developed during the past five years. 3M also ties salaries and bonuses to the success
of new ideas and allows people who generate viable ideas to recruit an action team to
develop them. In addition, 3M seeks customer input, shares technology throughout
its different divisions, and never "kills" a project in which an employee has faith.
One of the best illustrations of the benefits of 3M's innovation program is Post-it
notepads. 3M researcher Spencer Silver (1941-) developed an adhesive that the
company was unable to find an application for, for five years. Company support
slipped and Silver's project was eventually abandoned. 3M allowed Silver, however,
to continue to spend 15 percent of his time looking for a way to use his creation.
Finally, the adhesive was used to create one of 3M's most successful consumer
innovations, Post-it pads.
MARKET-BASED STRATEGIES:
The leadership strategy, however, also may provide a variety of different benefits. For
instance, companies often introduce an innovation to an existing product or service,
calling it "new" or "improved," to breathe new life into it. Or they may bring out an
improved product to discourage the competition from trying to steal market share, or
to "leapfrog" their competitors. In the case of completely new products or ideas, a
company may introduce the innovation in an effort to establish market dominance
and attain leadership status.
The quick-follow strategy is often used by established competitors that already lead
an industry or market niche. Rather than assume the risk inherent to the leadership
strategy, the company will simply wait for one of its competitors to introduce an
innovation. Shortly thereafter, the company will follow the leader with a substitute or
improvement of the innovation. Quick followers are usually relatively sure of their
ability to crush the competition with their established reputation and marketing and
distribution channels.
The risk of the quick-follow tactic is that the follower will be unseated by a hugely
successful introduction, or that it will lose its reputation as an innovator over time.
Quick followers often include smaller competitors that are simply trying to keep up
with the competition. They may try to target select market niches. For example, a
company may follow with a cheaper version of a new innovation in an effort to lure
buyers who can't afford the leader's product or service.
BENEFITS OF INOVATION TO AN
ORGANISATION :
The Innovation program will allow organisation to:
1.Create new opportunities to grow the business and increase profit margins
2.Create significant differential and market space between you and your
competitorsLead your company; to think to the future, to motivate, to inspire and to
drive innovation within the organisation
CONCLUSION:
The fast-paced technological advancement of the late 20th century and the opening
of markets around the world through various trade agreements motivated companies
to launch a profusion of new products and services, in many cases exploiting the
advancing technology. As a consequence, innovation became a crucial part
of corporate strategy during this period as companies tried to remain
competitive and not lose market shares to more innovative companies.
To attain this level of competitiveness, companies require not only the technology,
but also the management skills and corporate vision to implement the technology
successfully, according to Blackwell and Eilon. For example, Andrall E. Pearson
(1925-), business analyst and former CEO of PepsiCo, argued in the
Harvard Business Review that consistent innovation and constant
changes to meet customers' needs distinguish the most successful
companies from the rest.