IDEO support structure - Essay Example

IDEO Support Structure Organization Culture, Management Style and Innovation The most perceptible aspect of the organization is its management conviction in new ideas irrespective of how strange they may sound or seem. IDEO has focussed its employees towards exploring new ideas, which sets the organization aside from other entities, which just employ the ideas that have already been tested (McShane & Glinow, 2009). As much as innovation is one of IDEO’s strengths, it is also one of its weaknesses.

The organization designed a shopping cart that was deemed way ahead of time. The organization has adopted an informal organization culture. Organization culture primarily refers the manner in which the employees are supposed to behave with regard to organizational values, objectives and the managerial hierarchy (Middleton, 2002). IDEO has disregarded the managerial hierarchy that characterize most organizations. By doing so, the low-level employees can address the corporate heads directly when undertaking projects.

In the above case, the project leader is not afraid of criticism from team members as he appreciates the wealth of ideas such a group will bring forth in such as project. As such, the project manager capitalizes on the wealth and disparity of ideas and picks out the best in the development of a new shopping cart. The informal organizational culture lowers tension and anxiety among employees enabling them to speak out freely. Such an organization culture is imperative for an organization whose success depends on the creative abilities of its employees and the ability of various teams to pick out the best ideas in the designing of the products (Hiriyappa, 2009).

The organization also values teamwork as the video reveals that design task are undertaken in a team set-up. In the video, the team represents a conglomeration of diverse ideas and skills. For instance, the team has a biologist, an engineer, a psychologist and business leaders. The above professionals bring with them wealth of knowledge and skills that enable the team to generate multidiscipline ideas in the quest to complete the project. Was the Shopping Cart a Successful Invention? With regard to innovation, it was successful, but with reference to its up-take by supermarkets, it was not.

The development of the shopping cart integrated ideas on recycling, practicality, economy and safety for relatively the same cost. There is no doubt that the shopping cart was a shrewd invention, which however required minimal tweaking to make it more practical. Was it ahead of its time? The shipping cart was undeniably ahead of time. The supermarkets were looking for shopping carts that were simple. IDEO’s shopping cart contained a system, which would enable the customers to contact the management on the details of the available products.

For a large supermarket, such as system was not sustainable by then as it would have required the installation of state of the art communication and IT systems. Evidently, the supermarkets had no capacity to sustain such a shopping cart despite the innovative ideas that had been integrated in the course of its development. Overall, the cart was ahead of its time. Confidence in IDEO IDEO has a professional, but nonetheless an open-minded approach towards designing products physical outlook. Consequently, I would have a lot of confidence in their work.

The shopping cart failed not because it was a wrong idea, but it was ahead of time. They have designed products for Apple, which is an entity that has thrived upon integrating innovation to convey additional value that other similar products in the market cannot convey to their customers. The company goes the extra mile by integrating varying knowledge and skills into the development of designs. The only failure is the lack of follow-up. IDEO should have altered the shopping cart as per the suggestions of some of the people present when the cart was unveiled in a supermarket.

Spending money on something ahead of time Given the financial constraints that entities face it would be irrational to expend money on such as project since it has not generated any returns presently or in the future. Businesses integrate innovation in product creation as a tool to create a competitive edge that will enable the entity increase its turnover or improve internal efficiency. The shopping cart does none of the above, which means it is futile spending business resources on such a project.

Result from IDEO’s project Initially, it is impossible to state with certainty the financial returns of a project. However, the success of the project will primarily depend on how innovative it is, marketing after launch and the follow-up by the designers. The two entities involved in the project must work to ensure that the project’s or products weaknesses are corrected after listening to customers or other relevant stakeholders. References Hiriyappa, B. (2009). Organizational behavior.

New Delhi: New Age International. McShane, S. & Glinow, M. (2009). Organizational behaviour. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education. Middleton, J. (2002). Organizational behavior. Oxford, U.K: Capstone Pub.