Question

Introduction to Management

Hi please answer the question based on TOPIC 9: CREATIVITY, INNOVATION & DESIGN Lecture + Robbins Ch. 7, 13

“Innovation is change that adds potential value”. Discuss this statement drawing on the ‘Dimensions’ component of the Innovation Management (IM) Framework. In your answer discuss the aspects of innovative leadership that a manager would draw on when managing innovation in fast-changing environments. Also discuss the innovation climate and culture that an organisation would need to adopt in a fast-changing environment. Use examples to illustrate your answer.

Answer 1

Although, the Topic 9 has not been provided as part of the question for reference, I have answered your question in general topic of innovation.

Innovation has traditionally swung into and out of fashion: popular in good times and tossed back into the closet in downturns. But as globalization teers down the geographic boundaries and market barriers that once kept businesses from achieving their potential, a company's ability to innovate-to tap the fresh value-creating ideas of its employees and those of its partners, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders beyond its own boundaries-is anything but faddish. In fact, innovation has become a core driver of growth, performance, and valuation.

Innovation is the embodiment, combination, or syntesis of knowledge in orginal, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services. Innovation is typically understood as the introduction of something new and useful. All innovation begins with creative new ideas. Innovation is defined as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. Therefore, creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is necessary but not sufficient condition for the second. Innovation is the lifeblood of any organization. Without it, not only is there no growth, but, the organization is bound to have a slow death. Innovation, like many business functions, is a management process that requires specific tools, rules, and discipline.

There are no best-practice solutions to seed and cultivate innovation. The strutures and processes that many leaders reflexively use to encourage it are important, we find, but not sufficient. On the contrary, about 94% of senior executives are of the opinion that people and corporate culture are the most important drivers of innovation. A disciplined focus on three people management fundamentals may produce the building blocks of an innovative organization. The first step is to formally integrate innovation into the strategic management agenda of senior leaders to an extent that few companies have done so far. In this way, innovation can not only be encouraged but also managed, tracked, and measured as a core element in a company's growth aspirations. Secondly, executives can make better use of existing and often untapped talent for innovation, without implementing disruptive change programs, by creating the condistions that allow dynamic innovation networks to emerge and flourish. Finally, they can take explicit steps to foster an innonvation culture based on trust among employees. In such a culture, people understand that their idears are valued, trust that it is safe to express those ideas, and oversee risk collectively, together with their managers. Such an environment can be more effective than monetary incentives in sustaining innovation.