Project Success of the Company - Case Study Example

Topic: Case Study of an Innovative Project Lecturer: Presentation: Project Overview The project was founded on thecontext of increased customer confidence in the motor vehicle repair services at X&Y Company leading to long queues as customers waited for their vehicles to be serviced. Studies established that customers did not mind waiting but certainly not at the garage. They were ready to wait but many would appreciate bringing their vehicles at a time when there was no queue. The management had opened several other garage outlets where the same services could be offered but many customers were not aware of this. There was also the challenge of developing customer confidence with regards to the services of the other outlets. The quest to decentralize the garage services prompted the Information Technology (IT) department to establish an innovative project to enhance customer service while maintaining the company’s profitability. This entailed developing a mobile phone application that allowed customers to book in advance for the garage supervisor to assign them a technician and a specific time when they should bring their vehicles as well as the specific outlet where the service would be offered. The customers also had an option of choosing the preferred outlet and technician. No other garage had implemented such a project and it was important to ensure that it succeeded or else it could negatively affect business. Tidd and Bessant Model The project was managed through the stages of innovation as put forward by Tidd et al. (2005), which entails four stages of “searching, selecting, implementing and capturing innovative concepts”. Searching was an important stage in which the management explored ways of finding innovation opportunities. It began with establishing the blind spots whereby the firm lacked information leading it to waste opportunities in the market. These spots also made the organization fail in its efforts to provide the best customer service possible while on the other hand increasing operational costs. The management launched an information inventory focused on the identification of the areas where critical awareness is lacking, necessitating innovation. Situations that led to missed opportunities were identified such as customers giving up as a result of the long queues. This was one area that needed to be addressed as it was also affecting employee morale. The management also highlighted the company’s big failures especially the inability to market its other new outlets meant to ease congestion. As part of information inventory, Preece & Dawson (2000) observes that it is necessary to identify the principal threats, which in this case were competitors attracting the customers that could not wait for the never-ending queues at the garage. The management identified valuable talent being wasted in customer service whereby technicians wasted a lot of time attending to customer complaints and enquiries rather than fixing the problems in their vehicles. It is important to break routines so as to allow innovations to take place. Selecting is the second stage identified by Tidd et al. (2005), which is focused on evaluating what is going to be done and why. An innovative organization must be ready and willing to have the necessary elements in place. One of the elements is to have strategies for ensuring an open mind. It is also important to uphold an element of curiosity that prompts inquiries. It is necessary to be in a position to develop areas where trust can materialize as well as where risks can be undertaken. Innovation requires risk taking even though many organizations invest a lot of resources in mitigating risks. X&Y company had to take risks of investing significant capital for a mobile application that was expected to help expand the market and to serve customers better. The risk was amplified by the fact that competitors were always on the lookout for any innovations that the company made for them to replicate. The application had to be used for six months before its cost to be recovered. Employees developing it were the custodians of the innovation and the management had an important role to play in ensuring that they were motivated to remain in the organization and also to maintain confidentiality or else it could easily be imitated by competitors. Implementing is the third stage of the Tidd and Bessant model that involves developing strategies to make the innovation happen. It is important for executives to manage the power of organizational bureaucracy and power tussles that may hinder the innovation process. The manager at X&Y got personally committed by establishing a team to oversee the innovation, which he personally was the team leader. He played a significant role in eliminating the barriers for successful innovation. Expanding the prospect for the innovation process can be accomplished through the innovation team developing a learning program, which needs to be supported through relevant literature for the innovation subject. The team at X&Y spent two hours per week reading and sharing information obtained from magazine articles on IT innovations. This helped to develop a learning culture that led to more experimentation. The innovation overview was maintained through regular meetings that also involved company executives. Physical and virtual networking spearheaded by the executive enhanced information sharing as well as team building, which was necessary for better results. Even though the employees with the best track record were chosen to guide the innovation process, others were also involved to allow various perspectives that are needed in innovation. It is important to develop innovation process metrics that help to check regularly whether the team is on track. Activity timelines were set to help monitor progress (Tidd et al. 2005). Capturing innovation entails determining the benefits that the organization intends to derive from it. Virtually all innovations are focused on increasing the profit margins. This is mainly accomplished through decreasing the operational costs while increasing output (Kogut & Zander, 2009). The mobile application would increase profitability as the company would be able to serve more customers thereby benefiting from economies of scale. It would also increase customer satisfaction as customers could book services at the comfort of their offices and homes and bring their vehicles at the most convenient time for them. It would also make customer follow up easier with the intentions of rewarding customers who seek services often. The app would also help to increase the company’s market share as more customers could be served through the new outlets, which also enhanced the firm’s market strategic position as a leading motor vehicle service provider. It also helped in the development of personalized services whereby customers could directly communicate with their preferred technicians to inquire about minor issues regarding their vehicles instead of coming over to the garage. This also could open up new business opportunities as such enquiries could be charged a small fee. The new system would increase the firm’s competitive advantage as it was a unique locally developed mobile application that was unknown to competitors (Tidd et al. 2005). Challenges and Strategies Intellectual Property Strategy Every business thrives by managing innovation in a better way than competitors and hence the need to address challenges that hold back successful innovation processes. Facilitating market accomplishment of innovation engages several players who are focused on obtaining satisfactory returns for their role in the process. Intellectual Property (IP) rights are important in ensuring that the players are not exposed to the risks of imitation by competitors in the marketplace. In X&Y Company, employees developing the application were the internal players with a minimal risk for the organization. However, they could only participate to a certain level in the innovation process and hand over to external players who were charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the innovation successfully reached the market in the intended manner. These included the mobile telecommunication companies that provided a platform for the application to be used by the target customers as well as outsourced marketers. IP rights helped the company to mitigate third parties from taking advantage of the application by colluding with the mobile telephone companies (Hanusch & Pyka, 2007). Strategy for Diffusing/Commercialising the Innovation Many innovative projects have failed in the process of diffusion because of weaknesses in the diffusion strategy, great rivalry from competing innovations as well as insufficient awareness. Significant interconnections between existing networks may increase inflexibility that hinders brought about by innovation. Lack of employee involvement in the process can also lead to failure of innovations. The company ensured that the barriers to effective diffusion were dealt with, beginning with a consistent breakage of the networks existing between employees and clients. These networks could hinder acceptance of the new system by customers who insisted directly dealing with particular employees. The employees were sensitized regarding the new system and its importance and the need to refer customers to it rather than maintaining the old relationships. However, they new system had developed a new way of maintaining client employee relationships by offering customers a choice of technician as they booked services through their mobile phones (Hanusch & Pyka, 2007). Funding Issues Funding is always a central issue in any innovation and is usually blamed for the failure of many innovations. The budgeting process needs to be undertaken exhaustively before embarking on any activity in the innovation process. The budget in this case was comprehensive and was developed to ensure activities run smoothly from inception to the time the innovation reached the consumer. Appropriate planning helped to overcome budgetary challenges Dosi, 2011). Organisation Culture The company’s organizational culture encourages innovativeness among employees through personality and leadership development. Employees were encouraged to contribute beyond their specialty obligations through an effective performance management strategy that rewarded innovations on the workplace. Innovation competitions were held annually and employee teams were rewarded depending on the competitiveness of their innovations. The management has been successful in maintaining progressive innovation by encouraging behavioural change among employees so as to minimize resistance to change. The goals of innovation are shared by all in the organization including those that are indirectly involved in the process (Dany, 2013). Finding Project Champions Identifying project champions is one of the challenges faced by innovative organizations. The enthusiasm to pursue excellence is entrenched among leaders who are confident and contented while working in workplaces that are not structured where they are expected to apply creativity to increase productivity. The process of finding project champions usually begins from within the organization. At X&Y, the people who championed the innovation are those had the vision to operate further afield beyond the company’s conventional business structure. They are able to establish partnerships in informal environments and were motivated by the urgency to bring about results by any means necessary. Even though they were not specialists in this particular innovation, they were able to mobilize other employees to support the invention for the sake of the broader organizational goal. The main project champion was a marketing expert who made everything seemingly easy as the innovation process kicked off. He helped to eliminate doubt and negative pressures as some employees in the beginning feared that customers would not accept the new system (Nina, 2013). Competition Competition presents a major challenge for innovative companies as laggard challengers wait until the main competitor to innovate for them to follow suit. Greater competition comes from similarly innovative companies that have already perfected their customer relationship management strategies. Nevertheless, X&Y’s competitive position in the motor vehicle service industry minimized the competition risk. The company enjoyed significant brand loyalty making every effort to maintain the large customer base (Harrisson & Laberge, 2002). Technology Changes Changes in technology can enhance innovation or make it obsolete. Continuous innovation is therefore necessary to ensure that a company remains updated with regards to emerging business strategies. The mobile application was a high-tech strategy that can be improved when need arises as a result of future technological changes. Moreover, mobile phone technology continues to advance creating a possibility for future innovations (Hanusch & Pyka, 2007). Project Success The success of this project was founded on the entrenched values of innovation within the organization. The project management strategies involved establishing the project scope before it was launched. The project objectives were clearly set while the stakeholders and the components that were considered to be significant for project success were identified. At this point, the date of project completion was set accompanied by an accurate budget. According to Dany (2013), it is necessary to ensure that the best performing employees are engaged in the innovation team. The management at X&Y established a project team with members assigned tasks depending on their area of specialization and competence. The human resource department was significant in identifying the weaknesses of team members and establishing compensatory strategies. A reverse timeline was developed by the team based on the project completion date, highlighting the critical stages of the project and when each needs to be completed. Hanusch & Pyka (2007) emphasized the need for a reverse timeline as it begins from the completion working backwards, which helps to maintain the project finishing point fixed. The project team executed many functions concurrently apart from the stages that required to be accomplished in a sequence. For example, the application was developed in parts by the IT experts while establishment of the infrastructure for implementation of the innovation was done simultaneously by different team members. This was essential to ensure that the limited time for the project was utilised to the maximum. Budget constraints are to blame for numerous project failures. The team in this project worked in line with the budget provisions avoiding unnecessary spending or meetings that could delay the mainstream tasks in the project. The accounting experts kept a close eye on each spending that the team engaged in to help members avoid over expenditure. They also helped to re-assign resources where some activities needed more or less than they were budgeted for. Trust was significant in ensuring that the team members worked with minimum supervision and did not engage in unethical behaviour. Trust is entrenched in the organizational culture of X&Y and every employee endeavours to maintain it. Regular meetings were held to exchange information and assess progress reports from different sections. The meetings provided an important avenue for team members to discuss solutions to emerging issues. The team focused on what mattered most, leaving the non-essentials to be addressed later (Nina, 2013). The company comprises people who are resolutely focused on the opportunities ahead rather than the problems they face today. This was accomplished through concerted efforts by the management to transform staff for them to think differently. There was a strategic shift from daily monotonous task oriented duties to participation in essential organizational activities that require them to apply specialised skills in a manner that helps the company to innovate, grow and become competitive. The management views failure as an opportunity to learn rather than a reason to punish employees.Leadership is critical to the success of innovation in an organization. According to Preece & Dawson (2000), leaders need to trust themselves and also trust their subordinates. They need to develop patience and become good listeners as well as more appreciative of the different experiences and connections being developed in the workplace. The capability to co-exist with others is necessary in the development of a successful workplace culture. Employees at X&Y have learnt to work together with their leaders and co-workers, which contributes to the ownership of organizational goals by all. Employees have developed a culture of working together and collectively participating in innovative projects. Collaboration played a central role for the project to succeed. Open communication is necessary to ensure that all employees understand where the organization is heading to. The executive ensured that all employees understood the progress and the goals of the project. They were encouraged to learn from each other through constant communication, which continues to shape the future of innovation in the organization. If people are not allowed full access to information, doubts, suspicion and indifference are likely to develop leading to failure in the innovation process. The leader needs to act as a brave change agent, constantly challenging team members to reason more critically and visualize issues in a manner that promotes continuous improvement. The executive in this project had the attitude of a brave supporter who took control and embraced the duties of a change agent to promote positive transformation aimed at improving operations and organizational performance. He oversaw implementation of the project and did not shy from correcting team members who would stray from the course (Harrisson & Laberge, 2002). Contextual factors also contributed to the project’s success, especially with regards to mobile telephone industry. Virtually all target customers had a mobile phone, which provided a platform to run the application. The company though dealing with motor vehicle servicing also had an IT department staffed with experienced professionals in marketing and software development. Mobile telephone service providers were readily available to host the application and each was also competing to attract customers to their niche market. According to Harrisson & Laberge (2002), strategic partnerships are significant for the success of innovation. An organization needs to identify potential partners who are likely to add value to a project as it may not be successful to work in isolation. The organization also had a special fund for innovative projects, which facilitated the innovation process. Many innovations are delayed as a result of lack of funds especially where managers consider innovation to be coincidental rather than a lifelong process. References Dany, J. 2013, The Cultural Side of Innovation: Adding Values, Routledge Dosi, G. 2011, “Sources, Procedures, and Microeconomic Effects of Innovation”, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 26 pp. 1120-71 Hanusch, H. & Pyka, A. 2007, Technological Paradigms and Trajectories, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Harrisson, D. &Laberge, M. 2002, “Innovation, identities and resistance: the social construction of an innovation network”, Journal of Management Studies, 39, 4 pp.497-521 Nina, T. 2013, Innovation in General Purpose Technologies : How Knowledge Gains when It Is, KIT Scientific Publishing. Preece, D. & Dawson, P. 2000, Technology, Organizations and Innovation: Towards real virtuality?. Taylor & Francis Kogut, B. & Zander, U. 2009, Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and The Replication of Technology”, Organization Science, Vol. 3(3), pp. 383-397 Tidd, J., Bessant, J. and Pavitt, K. 2005, Managing Innovation: Integrating technological, market and organizational change, Wiley Read More