Spreading a Culture of Innovation - Literature review Example

Introduction

Competition in all industries has always been stiff but the level of competition in the 21st century has reached heights never seen before. This is a clear indication of continued growth and development of both human and other resources required to facilitate efficiency and effectiveness in business operations (Chandler et.al, 2000). As a result of the increased level of competitions and the need to gain a competitive advantage over other market players, most organizations have been prompted to cultivate and develop a culture of innovation. The main objective of fostering innovation within organizations is mainly to gain an edge in the market over the competitors. It is, however, important to note that different organizations define innovation different even though these varying definitions all point to improving the performance of these various companies.

Literature review

Across all industries, that is, technology, hospitality, fashion, retail and finance among others, there exists a company or companies that stand out owing to their exemplary performance. Some companies such as Apple, Google, McDonalds, Amazon, and subway are considered to be leaders in their various industries hence making them the benchmarks for other companies (Lok & Crawford, 2004). One thing, however, that is common among all the companies considered to be leaders in their relevant industries is the fact that they apply unique, creative and innovative strategies and techniques in their operations. To some organizations, innovation, and creativity entail developing new products and to others, innovation entails providing new experiences to the customers, creating new services and adjusting internal practices. In that case, it is safe to say that the definition of innovation depend on an industry that the company or organizations operate in. For a company like an apple, for instance, innovation entails creating new products. This is evidenced by the range of products that Apple has developed for its customers over the years from the Apple desktop, MacBook, iPad, iPhone, and iPod. These products, backed up by ingenuity in the development of the software that runs in these gadgets to enhance and better user experience makes Apple stand out in this industry (O'Cass and Viet, 2007). Amazon, on the other hand, is considered a leader in online retail business. For, a long time, the retail business has been operated through stores that are physically situated in various locations but the development of the internet made it possible to have online retail stores. According to Lok & Crawford, (2004), Amazon stands at the top in this industry owing to the creativity and efficiency involved in delivering products to customers. As time goes by, the tastes and preferences of the people continue to grow and change which means that unless a company propagates an innovative culture, it could end up closing down due to the inability to deal with the increasing competition.

According to Chenhall et.al, (2011), one thing that is common to all organizations, those successful in innovation and those that are not, is that each organization has its unique organization culture, values, beliefs, norms, and assumptions that impact its success. Moreover, O'Cass and Viet, (2007) state that most of the leaders in the corporate world conquer that the organization culture greatly determines the success of the organization. There are several measures that can be taken to facilitate the development of organization culture including training new employees to galvanize and sensitize them on the vision, mission and values of the organization and holding leadership programs to train potential managers into becoming effective leaders within the organization. In addition to that changing management initiatives and focusing such initiatives on new processes, structures and programs increase effectiveness within the organization. Just like organization culture, according to Dobni, (2008), innovation does contribute greatly to the success of an organization as well. As a matter of fact, there exists a very close relationship between the organizations culture and innovation. Unfortunately, most organizations are yet to determine and understand the link between the organization culture and innovation and how these two can be harmonized to facilitate the performance of the organization. Chandler et.al, (2000) suggest that innovation within the organization is like assembling several pieces of a puzzle, and these pieces come together differently for each organization. Developing an innovative culture within an organization must take a unique approach that sets apart the organization forms others but what is common is that it all starts with the right mindset.

Major perspectives

According to De Jong and Den, (2007), various technologies such as artificial intelligence, networks, and advanced manufacturing platforms among others continue to disrupt the business models of many organizations. Some of the innovations in the technological field especially could have sudden and widespread change while some other innovations may have small changes that become significant when combined. Shui & Xu, (2005) add that this fast evolution in advanced technologies has prompted many boards to shift their focus to innovation. At one point, innovation was viewed from the perspective of a risky undertaking that was better avoided than indulged in but with the recent pace of technological advancement, innovation has become a necessity (O'Cass and Viet, 2007). Many boards now know that their organizations must anticipate and utilize the opportunities created by innovation and technological changes for them to increase their market share as well as boost the value of their brand. To foster an innovative culture, organizations can view innovation from two perspectives. First, the organization can evaluate how implementing new technologies and or adopt new business processes would enable the company to do more. Secondly, the organization can evaluate the impact on its market share and products if it ignores innovation altogether. For a company to better understand the opportunities and risks associated with innovation, it must approach innovation from these two perspectives.

According to Martins and Terblanche, (2003), the aim of fostering innovation in an organization is to build the value of the organization's brand hence innovation must be derived from the core objective and purpose of the organization for it to be effective and efficient. For instance, empathy based innovation commences by focusing on the organization's customers, and its main aim is devising new means and techniques of reaching the customers effectively. Some other innovations are inspired by social issues in society but first the organization must determine and understand the problem that the intended innovation will solve or how it will improve the performance of the company (Sarros et.al, 2008). For an organization to be able to make short-term decisions concerning capital, innovation, and talent, it must first define and have a clear understanding of its objectives and long-term vision. Some industries such as the automotive and tech industries have for the longest time than most invested in R&D and innovation, but that is a direction that all other industries should take. Additionally, in the past, innovation and creativity have been considered to a responsibility of the R&D department but the pace of technological evolution in the 21st century demands that innovation becomes a part of the organization's culture. This means that each stakeholder within the organization must be innovative and creative in their line of work.

Major themes in innovative culture

A theme can be defined as something that characterizes something or makes it unique. Innovation is not easy especially considering that it entails venturing into uncharted grounds for the individuals and the organization as well. However, there are certain themes and key constructs that form a core part of innovation and which can make it easier to develop an innovative culture within the organization. According to Sarros et.al, (2008), one of these themes is the company infrastructure and in particular, the resources availed to the research and development team. Additionally, company infrastructure also envisages the management style developed by the development team. This theme focusses on the external factors within the organization that influences the performance of the research and development team, yet the development team has no influence over such factors (Sarros et.al, 2008). Another theme is that of external confidence which revolves around self-trust and belief in unlimited possibilities. Innovation involves vast uncertainties and a considerable amount of risk which mean that besides having the technical knowledge, one must have the profound self-confidence to avoid making small, and fear stimulated mistakes in the process. Another theme in innovation is having clear objectives and focusing attention on those objectives throughout the innovation process. This should be defined before the commencement of the development process to avoid making frequent changes while the development begins (Terblanche, 2003). Furthermore, this objective should be determined through collaborative efforts of the management and the development team.

Another theme pertinent in innovation within the organization is team constitution. This refers to the composition of the development team as a whole and the individual that make up the team. Considering that innovation should be incorporated into the organization's culture, every employee can be considered a member of the development team. It, therefore, means that all the employees must be sensitized on the innovative process and ensure that they contribute to the success of the development process. Besides the themes within the organization and within the development team itself, another theme that affects innovation is the external factors or influences. This theme focuses on the interaction between the development team and the external environment. The external environment, in this case, includes the information required to facilitate the innovation and the relevant technologies. Another key theme is a freedom which relates to the taking autonomous action freely. According to Lemon & Sahota, (2004), if an organization is to incorporate innovation effectively in its organization culture, the development team must be allowed to experiment freely and make certain decisions without having to follow the entire chain of command.

Methodologies used in previous research

Some of the research conducted in the past incorporated interviews in the research methodology as it is considered to be a good approach to gathering information on the radical innovation process experienced by the development teams in various projects. Some of the projects the participants were interviewed about were considered to be radical innovations owing to their magnitude and complexity such as moving a company into a new industry altogether. Most of the interviews conducted were semi-structured and to capture the views of each participant, mapping techniques were applied (Terblanche, 2003). Furthermore, the responses of each participant were recorded for the purpose of future reference. In addition to that aspect of the organization culture found to have the biggest influence on radical product and service innovation were drawn out on cognitive maps. After interviewing all the participants and making cognitive maps for all individual participants, a single cognitive map was drawn to represent all the cognitions in one map (Sarros et.al, 2008). Further analysis was conducted on the collective cognitions, and the results showed that certain specific themes influenced radical innovation in the organization. The themes found to have had the most influences on radical innovation included company infrastructure, self-confidence, and clarity on the set objectives, team constitution, external inputs, freedom and attitude to risk. Some of these themes have been discussed in details in the preceding parts of this paper. Interviews are a powerful approach in research methodology since it enables the researcher to access firsthand information and data. Additionally recording the responses provided by the participants during the interviews serves as good source of references for future studies and references.

Conclusion

As technological developments continue to break new grounds, the business process continues to be influenced and disrupted by these developments. This means that whether the company wants to embrace change or not, the change will happen and the competitiveness of the companies will be determined by how they have positioned themselves to embrace the opportunities presented by the change. It is for this reason that most organizations are investing a lot of resources in research and development and take measures to incorporate innovation in their organization culture (Terblanche, 2003). For organizations to be able to cope with the radical technological advancements, they must embrace and stir up innovation within the organizations. To do these organizations have to change certain basic assumptions and values and make behavioral changes within the organization (Sarros et.al, 2008). These would consequently facilitate and enhance the advancement of the anticipated innovative culture within the organization. Innovation is not an easy undertaking but in the face of the advancements being witnessed today, innovation has become something of necessity. To better understand innovation directors and other members of management should access exponential learning opportunities to ensure they are well equipped to spearhead an innovative culture within the organization.