Managing Innovation Process

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Managing Innovation Process

Introduction

According to Anderson (2015, p.18), over the past decade, there has been significant shit

in business and how businesses operate. The changes have necessitated the need for the business

managers to understand how to manage changes and innovation process in the organizations.

Failure by business managers to understand how and the importance of managing change as well

as innovation process could lead to the failure of the organization. One of the changes that have

taken place is the shift of the economy from industrial to post-industrial economy that has

contributed to the need for the managers to ensure efficient change and innovation process

management in the organization. Post-industrial economy is the period in which the relevance of

the information, services and research growths while the importance of manufacturing

significantly reduces in an industrialized economy (Hirschhorn 2013, p. 21).

In the argument of Brunetta (2012, p. 37), post-industrial economy competition has

shifted from being price driven to innovation-driven competition in the economy. In the

industrial economy, competition is driven by prices where a company would set its products

price based on the prices of the competitors’ products. However, that is no longer the case

because, in the post-industrial economy, competition is largely driven by innovation. As such,

organizations are trying to outdo each other based on the innovation. Therefore, during this

period the most innovative organization will have a competitive advantage over its competitors.

Collins and Murphy (2010, p. 346-347) argue that the post-industrial economy is

characterized by managing employee’s ideas and knowledge to ensure employees contribution

and innovation is encouraged in the organization. As such, the tasks performed in the

organization are not mechanical, but rather employees are encouraged to innovate different ways

of completing the tasks. Thus, in the industrial economy employees are encouraged to have

different ideas and increase their level of knowledge. As such, the nature of tasks in the post-

industrial economy leans towards information services and research.

According to Hamfrey (2015, p. 96), the organization services are based on knowledge-

intensive tasks that increase the rate of innovation in the organization as well as scientific

advancement. As such, the services of the organization largely depend on the employees'

intellectual capabilities than the physical inputs. In the post-industrial economy, less importance

is attached to the industry mechanical because more importance is attached to the employees’

knowledge. Therefore, management of the employees, especially during the innovation process,

is critical to the organization success (Beckham 2011, p. 55).

Clark (2012, p. 121) claims that compliments play a crucial role in enhancing employee

engagement in an organization. Compliments refer to the positive feedback given to the

employees for the activities they perform. Compliments increase employees’ motivation as well

as productivity. As such, managers should regularly compliment employees as one of the ways

of enhancing employee engagement in the organization.

Additionally, globalization is another change agent in the organization. Globalization is

the integration of the global markets in the global economy resulting in the increased

interconnectedness of the national economies. Globalization has increased the level of

competition and thus, necessitating the importance of innovation in the organizations for their

continued growth and success (Brawley 2009, p 555). Also, due to increased competition,

business managers have become more concerned with business efficiency and effectiveness. It is

because of these reasons that there is increased interest in managing innovation process in the

organization.

The success of the organization, in this era of post-industrial economy and intensified

competition, largely depends on the ability of the management to manage these situations

effectively. One of the ways of managing these situations is by ensuring effective change,

creativity and innovation management process in organizations.

Discussion

According to Anderson (2015, p. 19), the market is constantly changing and therefore, it

is important for the businesses to acknowledge these changes and develop measures that will

ensure sustainable organization growth as well as organization competitiveness in the market. As

such, in the modern market innovation plays a crucial role in the success of the organization. If

effectively managed, innovation will create a strong brand for the organization thus, increasing

its competitiveness in the market. There are various advantages that an organization can derive

by ensuring effective innovation process management. Some of these advantages include

increased productivity, superior products and services and increased efficiency.

The organization management has the sole responsibility of managing innovation process

as well as ensuring the organization environment does support innovation (Weth 2012, p. 59).

When managing innovation, managers should consider different work-related concepts to

develop managerial approaches that will motivate their employees to demonstrate suitable

behaviours and attitudes towards innovation process. Therefore, the organization management

should consider the following to motivate employees to demonstrate suitable behaviours and

attitudes towards innovation process;

Promote creative thinking

Fulford and Gengatharen (2016, p. 46-47) argue that managers should promote creative

thinking by permitting employees to be creative and to make mistakes. It is unlikely that

employees will embrace suitable attitude towards innovation if there are afraid of the

repercussions of their actions. As such, managers should let the employees know it is okay to be

creative and to make mistakes without being punished for it. Permitting employees to be creative

and to make mistakes is the first step in motivating employees to be innovative in the

organization. Research indicates that a majority of the employees are afraid of the consequences

of being creative in cases of failure and this limits innovation process in the organization (Roffe

2016, p. 34). Therefore, it is important for the managers to permit their employees to be

innovative and to make mistakes in the process as the first step of encouraging positive attitude

towards innovation.

Employees’ freedom

According to Von (2014, p. 48-49), one of the sure ways of negatively impacting on the

employees’ behaviour and attitude towards innovation is by limiting their freedom. To foster

positive attitude and behaviour towards innovation, employees should be given freedom to think,

be creative and express their ideas. Managers who impose a lot of rules on their employees tend

to kill their creativity because employees are reluctant to think outside the box. The success of

the innovation process is largely influenced by the ability of the employees to contribute freely to

an organization's creative process. Thus, managers should allow employees to express and act on

their novel ideas freely.

Adequate resources

Innovative processes are resource consuming and thus, expensive to convert ideas to

reality. As such, managers should ensure adequate resources are allocated to innovations. Lack

of adequate resources could discourage employees from being creative as they may consider it a

waste of time. It is important to note that even the best idea would crumble if adequate resources

are not allocated to make it a reality. Research indicates that the most innovative companies

allocate billion of shillings to support their innovation process (Hoegl & Gibbert 2013, p.

43).Therefore, it is crucial for the managers to ensure adequate resources are allocated to support

innovations in the organization as a way of motivating innovative behaviour and positive

attitude.

Being a leader

Von Stamm (2009, p. 14) argues that a leader is someone who shows the way and

therefore, to motivate employees to be innovative it is essential that managers should lead the

path to creativity. In an organization, employees do often follow the example set out by their

manager. Thus, if the manager is innovative, it is highly likely that he will motivate employees to

be innovative. As such, managers should not just preach about creativity and innovativeness, but

rather they should demonstrate different ways of finding creativity and implement innovation in

their work. Additionally, the behaviour and attitude of the managers towards innovation play a

crucial role in motivating employees to innovate. Thus, a manager should exhibit positive

attitude towards innovation as a way of motivating employees to innovate. Also, managers

should manage their expectations and therefore, should not expect much within a short time as it

could kill the employee's desire to innovate (Isaksen& Tidd 2016, p. 76).

Acknowledge employees contribution

To foster innovation in the organization managers need to learn to appreciate and

acknowledge the efforts and contributions of their employees. Thus, managers should not take

the credit for all the good work of their employees without acknowledging their contribution.

Employees do feel valued when their efforts are recognized especially in public. Additionally,

managers should develop an incentive policy to reward innovative employees. Developing such

a policy will make employees feel appreciated and their efforts valued (Saeed 2015, p. 85).

Therefore, recognizing the efforts of the employees is crucial to motivating employees to

develop suitable behaviour and attitude towards innovation.

Promote innovation culture

In the argument of Frans (2011, p. 4) innovation culture refers to the work environment

that is developed to promote creative thinking and its application in the organization. To promote

innovation, managers should create an organization culture that supports innovative activities.

Establishing an innovative culture encourage organization employees to take risks that lead to

innovation. Managers can create an innovative culture by building collaborations across different

departments, developing a policy that will guide measure and reward innovation activities,

allowing employees to fail and investing in employees ideas.

Encourage diversity

According to Friedel (2014, p. 65-66) managers should encourage diversity by putting

together a team that has different capabilities, passion and background. Establishing a team that

has diverse set skill helps employees to be more innovative as employees can brainstorm and

together develop new ideas. Additionally, the manager should celebrate each member of the

team for their efforts and contributions individually. Additionally, having a diverse team

encourages brainstorming thus making the team more effective and creative.

Employee participation

Tonnessen (2015, p. 197) argue that employee participation is critical to making them

feel like being a part of the organization. The failure to involve employees could have a negative

impact on their attitude towards innovation process in the organization. As such, a manager

should involve employees in critical decisions especially those likely to affect their work and

relationships. Involving employees makes them feel connected to the organization, and it is

likely to motivate them to embrace an attitude that will support innovation. Also, employees’

involvement reduces instances of resistance to change often witnessed when managers fail to

involve their employees. Thus, a manager should ensure that employees are aware of the

organization strategies and challenges, and should invite them to offer their suggestions and

input. Active participation of the employees will fuel their creativity and innovation. Also,

ensuring employee participation will help calm the naysayers who are likely to influence others

negatively. Therefore, it is important that managers engage their employees if they want to create

behaviour and attitude that will promote innovation in their organization.

Rethink competition

Kesting and Parm (2016, p. 68), claim that competition could hinder innovation in the

organization. For example, an employee could be reluctant to share their ideas with other staff

for fear of their ideas being stolen by others especially when aiming for a reward. Thus,

managers should be very careful how they promote competition to spur innovation in the

organization. As such, managers need to promote a culture of collaboration as a way of

motivating employees to be innovative. Also, managers should promote open communication as

well as encourage team-work.

Stress management mechanism

According to Burns & Stalker (2012, p. 76-77), if employees are overworked and stressed

up it is unlikely they will be creative and innovative. Minimizing employees stress ensures that

they are at their best and those employees’ are in a positive mood conducive for creative ideas

and innovation. Thus, managers need to establish a mechanism to relieve employees stress.

Therefore, managers should ensure that employees are not overworked and that they are given

adequate time to rest. Also, the work environment should be designed in a manner that will

promote a stress-free working environment. For example, employees should be provided with

snacks and time offs.

Feedback

According to Anderson (2015, p. 21), feedback plays a significant role in creating an

attitude and behavior to motivate innovation process. The failure to provide feedback on creative

ideas submitted to the management for consideration and approval could impact negatively on

the attitude of employees on innovation. For example, if an employee’s idea is rejected and no

feedback is given to the employee on the reasons why the idea was rejected, it is likely that the

employee will be discouraged in future. Also, the lack of feedback could result in employee

resistance, and employees could choose not to participate in future innovation activities. As such,

feedback is critical to the innovation process and therefore, establishing a feedback mechanism

especially on matters related to the innovation process could help shape behaviour and attitude

that motivate employees towards innovation process.

Adequate time

According to Henry (2016, p. 77), time is one of the barriers to creative thinking and

innovation. If in the organization employees are overloaded with work, it is likely that they will

be less motivated to innovate because they don't have adequate time. Managers should recognize

that innovation is an investment on time on the part of the employees and therefore, adequate

time needs to be given to the employees to be innovative. Also, work should be organized in a

way that reduces the workload and the time to perform the work with the aim of creating time for

innovation.

Conclusion

The shift from industrial to the post-industrial economy as well as intensification of

competition as a result of increased globalization has necessitated the need for the organization

to be innovative. The lack of innovation in the current market could fail the organization.

Therefore, innovation is no longer an option for companies that want to succeed, but rather it is a

must. However, not all organizations can be innovative. As such, it is important for the managers

of the organizations to understand the work-related concepts that would help motivate employees

to exhibit desirable attitudes and behaviours towards innovation process. Understanding these

concepts is crucial to ensuring effective management of the innovation process as well as

ensuring continued innovation in the organization. Additionally, understanding these concepts

increases the competitiveness of the organization in the market as competition has shifted from

price competition to innovation competition. Thus, the success of the organization and ensuring

its sustainable growth in the current market largely depends on employees’ motivation towards

the innovation process in the organization. Also, managers need to recognize the relationship

between employee satisfaction and motivation, and innovation process. As such, more attention

should be devoted to ensuring employees are motivated to ensure employee engagement as well

as their commitment to innovation process.

Finally, managers should pay attention to the concepts discussed in this paper as they will help

ensure employees exhibit the behaviours and attitude that will motivate them in the innovation

process. However, the most important work-related concept that the management should pay

special attention to is to ensure adequate resources are being devoted to innovation process as

well as creating a culture that will support innovations in the organization. The failure to allocate

adequate resources could limit the ability of the organization to be innovative especially because

innovation is expensive and resource consuming.

Reference List

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Mnchen, GRIN Verlag GmbH.

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