Ideo-Culture and Creativity - Essay Example

Ideo- Culture and Creativity Table of Contents Part Overview of Firm, Design/Development Process Part 2: Management, Culture, and Structure Part 3: Integration with Theory References Part 1: Overview of Firm, Design/Development Process Discussing Ideo in the context of seemingly already having a system of innovation within, already working, is about analyzing the structures within the firm that allow for the successful flourishing of innovative work. This analysis takes off from examining the pillars that enable such innovation to succeed in Ideo: management, development process, culture, and structure. This presentation discusses each of these pillars of innovation, contextualizes them in theory and the ideas presented in class, and links them all together to come up with a comprehensive picture of creativity and innovation as it is successfully undertaken at Ideo (Keiles 2015; Keiles 2015b). Going through the three videos, one can see that the core of Ideo’s innovation system can be summarized by what Ideo calls “focused chaos”. In the three videos, first the group convenes and is given a timeline for the completion of the design work. In the case of the shopping cart, they are given a week. As they state, their expertise is in the design process rather than in any technology or product. In the first video, the team breaks into groups, and focuses on dissecting the shopping cart and coming up with ideas for the design. The process is evident in the way they are able to design 90 different products at any given year, ranging from toothbrushes to sunglasses to computer monitors. This is evidence of the success of the innovation process. The first video also notes that the team is eclectic in its composition, with members coming from diverse educational and work backgrounds: marketing, biology, psychology, linguistics, engineering. There is a kind of egalitarian culture at work, counter-corporate, and the emphasis is on personalization of workplaces, the personal control of members over those workspaces and ideas, and respect for the ideas of others (Ruocco 2010; Ruocco 2010b; Bastias 2009). Going into the process, the first part of the process is the breakout into groups to dissect the current product and to come up with ideas for later sharing. In the second part of the process, known as the “Deep Dive”, the emphasis is on sharing ideas, similar to a brainstorming session. The issues are identified, and the team again breaks up into groups in order to design mockups that deal with particular issues. In the case of the shopping cart, the issues are shopping, safety, the issues at the checkout, and locating items. The different mock up ideas are then integrated into a final product. The take is that as Ideo puts it, the process expertise can be distilled into excellence in undertaking the process, hard work, teamwork, inputting long hours, and the so-called “constructive chaos” where people respect each other’s ideas. The mantra of the group also can be construed as a distillation of the design process at which the group excels, and centers on building on the ideas of each other, and failing rapidly through iterations, through trial and error, in order to succeed at the shortest possible time. As the group states: “enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius”, emphasizing the iterative and collaborative nature of the process (Ruocco 2010; Ruocco 2010b; Bastias 2009). Part 2: Management, Culture, and Structure The emphasis in management is in collaboration and in giving people and their ideas space and respect. There is also an emphasis on egalitarianism, on members challenging the leader, on the team leader being not the most senior but the most competent in group dynamics, without taking away from the abilities and inputs of others. Management in this way is designed to foster risk-taking in ideas, in cultivating individuality and original thinking, while at the same time also emphasizing the importance of the process as iterative, and as reliant on the inputs of the group members working tightly. This discussion of management spills over into culture, which is egalitarian, which has respect for ideas, which fosters space and independent thinking, and which values the inputs of others. In terms of structure, it is decentralized and unconventional, shunning a chain of command and layered management in favor of flat groups, personal workspaces, and the expression of individuality. On another level this kind of structure also lends itself to supporting the design process, which is at the core of what Ideo stands out when it comes to institutionalizing innovation at the firm (Ruocco 2010; Ruocco 2010b; Bastias 2009). Part 3: Integration with Theory The success of Ideo and the prototyping of its successful design process through the shopping cart example shows us how innovation can work at the corporate level, as a benchmark and a gauge for showing how to avoid the pitfalls that the theory and the class discussions pointed out. First the Ideo videos do shatter the myth of creativity as something unstructured and hard to come by, because as Ideo demonstrates creativity and innovation is a process, is repeatable, and involves not just one genius but the concerted effort of a group rapidly undertaking trial and error iterations of designs and prototypes in order to come up with viable solutions to problems. In the Ideo example too, it is clear that it is not just one idea that makes the innovation successful, but rather a concert of ideas that build on each other, and that work towards creatively solving difficult problems. The varied backgrounds of the group members, who are in highly conventional disciplines such as psychology and engineering, also belie the myths regarding innovators and creative people as eccentrics (Keiles 2015; Keiles 2015b). Second, the theory tells us that there are psychological and group dynamics in organizations that can hinder creativity and innovation, and in the Ideo example, the culture itself works because innovation is something encouraged, and because of the way both autonomy of individuals and teamwork are equally emphasized. This is a blueprint for other organizations to follow, but may not always be easy to implement because not all organizations are structured and culturally built to be innovative from the ground up. Issues such as “epistemic freezing”, of members becoming incapable psychologically of doing innovative work, of organizations mouthing off innovation but having internal psychological and structural barriers that inhibit those, simply do not appear in Ideo, but may crop up in even the most earnest organizations. That said, the theory tells us that the innovative and creative organization can be had, and the literature has several prescriptions, including building culture and structures that foster those. Ideo shows us the way, through the different pillars analyzed in this presentation (Keiles 2015; Keiles 2015b; Ruocco 2010). 1 References Bastias, D. (2009). Ideo- Shopping Cart- parte 3. YouTube. [online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwd-yk6VHXU [accessed 3/15/2015]. Keiles, J. (2015). Session 9: Culture & Creativity. MSIN1002: Communication & Behaviour in Organisations. Keiles, J. (2015b). Session 9: Culture & Creativity Notes//Lecture Text. MSIN1002: Communication & Behaviour in Organisations. Ruocco, A. (2010). Ideo- First part.avi. YouTube. [online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcODLI5X1d8 [accessed 3/15/2015]. Ruocco, A. (2010). Ideo- Second part.avi. YouTube. [online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KciHV8R8AIQ [accessed 3/15/2015]. Read More