Innovation is the act of introducing something new or doing something in a different way.

Innovation in business differs from creativity in that the latter is generally associated with the generation of new ideas. In contrast, innovation refers to taking those new ideas and actually implementing them in the marketplace. Thus, creativity is simply one element of the innovation process through which new ideas lead to new products, procedures, or services. Business scholars often attribute company success to innovation. Because of growing international competition, innovation became even more vital for companies in the beginning of the 21st century. Innovation usually results from trial-and-error experimentation and sometimes occurs incidentally where researchers produce something other than what they intended. Nevertheless, because of the growth of and accessibility to knowledge and information through the technology and information revolutions, researchers could move from ideas to innovations much more quickly than their predecessors. A confluence of factors contributes to innovation in the business setting, including the research environment, market need, company strategy, and company resources. Motivation, openness to ideas, and original problem solving are the top three employee characteristics and behaviours for innovative working. An organisations ability to innovate is highly dependent on the quality of its employees. Motivation for innovation, openness to ideas and original approaches to problem solving are key contributing factors to promote innovative working. The article First, Lets Fire All the Managers by Gary Hamel talks about many aspects of management such as organizational structures, span of control, and innovation. But at the same time, it totally goes against the whole idea of management (as we can tell from its title). The author argues that "management is the least efficient activity in an organization". Morning Star, a leading food processor in California, USA, is the company that makes tomato products and is a good example of a successful self-managed company. Essentially, everyone is held accountable for they actions and no one has a boss. To people who look for freedom and flexibility in their work, this may be their dream come true. But for those who need directions and guidance from a supervisor, the lack of structure might hinder their performance. In the article, there are four main points/ problems that cause inefficiencies in management. 1. Management is expensive (a hierarchy of managers exacts a hefty tax on any organization) 2. Increased risk of making bad decisions 3. More approval layers causes slow response in decision making and overall company progress as well

4. It disenfranchises employees and as a result there is no incentive for lower level employees to dream, imagine and contribute. These four points seem to have valid arguments in supporting the concept of "no managers". The second point relates to the power and status differences among the ranks of employees. There are a selected number of people who hold the power to make decisions and when decision making gets tough, leaders are prone to make self serving decisions. They disregard the concerns of others and how the decision might affect them. In addition, lower level employees might not challenge their leader's decisions because they fear losing their jobs or feel that they don't have the power to make a difference. It is clear that market mechanisms alone cant provide the degree of coordination and control that many companies require and if there is any way to get the flexibility of a market system and the discipline of a tightly knit hierarchy without a management superstructure, then Morning Star, the global market leader in tomato processing, proves that there is. Morning Star has no managers, no bosses, no titles, no promotions. Its employees essentially manage themselves. Workers negotiate responsibilities with their peers, anyone can issue a purchase order, and each individual is responsible for acquiring the tools needed to do his or her work. Compensation decisions are handled by local committees elected by the employees, and pay reflects the contributions that people makenot their status. And if staffers find themselves overloaded or spot a new role that needs filling, they simply go ahead and initiate the hiring process. Morning Stars self-management model has two cornerstones: the personal mission statement, and the Colleague Letter of Understanding, or CLOU. In a personal mission statement, each employee outlines how he or she will help the company achieve its goals. The CLOU, which must be hammered out every year with colleagues, is an operating plan for fulfilling it. A CLOU covers as many as 30 activity areas and spells out relevant performance metrics. The system isnt without its challenges, and it isnt for everyone. But it has produced a dedicated workforce with exceptional initiative and expertise. Here are the key points of the Morning Star innovative idea of self-management:

Employees are driven by the company mission and self-created commitments. Employees jointly forge cooperative agreements to help each other achieve their goals. Employees are not limited by arbitrary titles or job descriptions. Moving up and making more money is based solely on contributions and abilities. Employees are provided with the numbers they need to self-evaluate the effectiveness of what they are doing.

Employees are provided with the tools they need as long as they are able to justify the return on investment (ROI). A strong culture based on key beliefs is essential to making this model work and not everyone fits.

In reality, everyone has the responsibility to manage every day. But no one is a manager. People work together for a greater good that is aligned with their own goals. And the money saved from not paying managers is used to increase salaries and capital investments. I believe that this is the way to the future which will help fix many of the broken businesses, and will eventually mend the worlds broken economy. I think that this new system could be very effective.