Meaning of Innovation and Leadership Innovation - Essay Example

Innovation Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Innovation Introduction Currently, every business is obsessed with innovation. However, in reality, the key instrument to achieve growth strategies to enter expanding markets, boost the firm`s market share, and which offers comparative benefit is innovativeness (Gunday, Ulusor, Kilic, & Alpka, 2012). Due to the increased competition in global markets and technological advancement, innovations have emerged to be key drivers of organisations wishing to remain competitive. Most firms operating in developing markets are looking for what will enhance their growth. Therefore, it is a responsibility of every manager to work and create an innovative culture in his or her industries. Creating innovative work environment means more than forming a mission statement or setting rules and regulation to follow. It is creating a culture within an enabling environment that will motivate employees to be more creative. An innovation is a process that is founded on action, and therefore, it is up to organisational leaders to strategize in order to realize an innovative work environment and work on the strategies to achieve the desired outcome. The discussion examines the deeper meaning of innovation and leadership innovation, methods managers can apply to motivate innovation among employees, types of innovation and challenges associated with and benefits derived from engaging stakeholders. What is Innovation? In its definition, the word innovation is part of creativity. According to Fuglsang (2008), innovation consists of two integral parts whose interaction is critical. The first part is new appropriate ideas, and the other part is invention created in a creative means. Therefore, innovation can be defined as the creation and implementation of new processes, products, and services and method of delivery, which give critical improvement in outcomes, efficiency, effectiveness or quality (Fugslang, 2008). This is why any business is experiencing hardships or volatility in the market believes that creativity can deliver a magic solution. Every organisation is working tirelessly to find the next big thing in their expectation before their rivals. Ernst & Young Company is a good example of companies obsessed with innovation. They spend hours working on ergonomics and psychology of innovation and creativity in order to turn ideas into facts (Jolly, 2003). Methods used to Encourage Employees to Innovate As business integrates further into global markets, leaders need to foretell their competitive outlook and quickly adapt innovative plans to be ahead of their competitors (Holbeche, 2005). In order for leaders to create an innovative work culture in their organizations, they have to employ innovative leadership strategies. Innovative leadership is a collection of practical evolution plans that a firm adopts to create a culture of innovation, enhance innovation leaders, increase efficiency, and develop on innovations. The philosophy of innovation leadership is that success in implementation of innovations is expanded when leaders cooperatively interact with their employee and develop high levels of teamwork that offer chances to share ideas (Watkins & Leigh, 2009). Different studies in innovation management have shown that the best sources of innovation are employee regardless of their department affiliations. The key driver of nurturing innovations in any organization is introducing a culture that motivates ideas to grow. Employees in every organization require availability of a flexible working process, efficient working team, open, reliable and democratic mangers, reduction of political behaviors, innovative career track, manageable workload, and capacity building and opportunities for developing their talents (Holbeche, 2005). Leaders must learn how to manage the innovative process and not creativity itself since innovations cannot be forced out of people, but it results in the mind of an individual from the interaction with the social context where it is codified, integrates, and interpreted to a new idea. Therefore, managers should work to create conditions that will facilitate the emergence of ideas. The following are some ways, which managers can use to motivate employees: a) Develop the Culture of Teamwork Organizational leaders should create environments that uphold open exchange of information or a team-first environment. This will encourage employees since they will feel part of the organization, and this will enhance collaboration instead of competition. Since innovation intelligence is not taught in school, it triggers analytical intelligence of a person, thereby opening the mind for new ideas. When employees work together as a team, they share openly and improve each other thus enabling them to solve their own problems (Watkins & Leigh, 2009). b. Encourage New Ideas, Reading and Improve on Technology Each employee should be encouraged to come up with a thought or an idea, which pertains every function of the organization, and obtain knowledge from all sources. Managers should install suggestion boxes or email accounts where employee can send their ideas. On the other hand, innovation leaders should emphasize that employee ideas should not be judged by anyone. They should maintain open and non-judgmental systems in the process of cultivating ideas because this is crucial to the innovative culture. c. Conduct Innovative Meetings Managers should pull away from conducting formal traditional meeting and form open discussion meetings since the latter are more successful in tapping innovations. They should opt for informal lunch outs and afternoon blowing in a bid to lay a platform for employees to air their views since they fear airing their views in a corporate setting. d. Giving Employees Time for Personal Interest Innovative employees who engage in their personal issues actively have the capacity to offer incredible and successful ideas outside the firm. Moreover, when employees are given personal time, they become more productive. e. Rewarding Creativity and Knowledge Creation Managers should encourage their employees to take risks and give them tangible and intangible incentives such as money, social entrepreneurship, and personal satisfaction for their creative ideas. This will encourage more ideas that will help improve business operations. f. Diversity Encouraging cultural diversity in the working environment calls for more innovation. Different research conducted reveals that a diverse labor force is more likely to generate innovative solutions than mono-cultural firms are. Types of Innovations Practically, organizations differ in the level of inventive capacities; nevertheless, the creativity process needs to be driven on different aspects concurrently, such as advanced technologies, services, products, structural, and marketing process, or organizational system (Gunday, et al., 2012). When implementing innovations, the initiators should be recognized since they are effective in supporting the organization to reserve and improve their performance level when adopting any type of innovations alone. According to Frenken (2006), innovation can be classified in four types: modular and architectural innovations and incremental and radical innovations. Although they are all different in practice, they work the same. Incremental innovation: - It refines and develops an existing system by improving the components. Nevertheless, it is vital to note that it only improves and does not change the design; the components are not thoroughly altered. Radical innovations: - innovations that change an existing design. It differs from incremental in that it yields more than improvement. These innovation changes the design totally using new components configured into the design in a new way. Modular innovation:- These innovation are placed in the top right quadrant in the framework of Henderson and Clark. They use the architectural and configuration linked to the existing design of an already existing product; however, it employs new design with different system concepts. Architectural innovations: - with these innovations, all designs and associated system concepts remain radically unaltered, but incase new linkages are instituted, the configuration of the system changes (Frenken, 2006). Problems of Innovations When employing any type of innovation, managers can choose the one that will be successful according to their services or products. When adopting any type of innovation some challenges may arise to hinder its nurturing and flourishing; for instance, hostility, indifference, and isolation (Berger, 2008). On the other hand, when employees are given s platform for open discussion, the issues of pay rise, worker unions, capacity building, and health insurance emerge. Benefits of Stakeholder Involvement The engagement of s in every organization is increasingly becoming part of the mainstream business policy and key to policies, decision-making, and delivery. The right decision-making at every level organization can speed up innovations. Moreover, a firm can benefit through improved communication that assist in collecting useful and innovative ideas that will enhance the growth of the firm and provide sustainable decision-making. Without involving stakeholders, there can be no enduring agreement ownership or support for a particular product or innovations. A firm is more likely to succeed in the long-run if it considers the atmosphere, which it operates and endeavors to meet the needs of all the stakeholders it affects. For every innovation or piece of idea to succeed, managers need to know the stakeholders, their issues, and the manner to motivate them. For instance, a firm that wants to encourage and enable new ideas put more effort and time in creating more ways of involving employee in the growth of its product and process. Communication flows upwards in the organization through employees’ attitude, survey, and suggestion schemes. Through a well-built staff, the adopted suggestions scheme within an enabling environment will enhance communication and benefit all people. The cooperative Bank is a good example of how managers are pursuing innovation and improving their organization through stakeholders. In 1995, the Bank established a suggestion scheme with the aim of fulfilling its objectives and tapping new ideas of stakeholders. The bank worked on an earlier concept and established the Star Scheme, which became part of a wider program with an aim of improving the flow of information, internal process management, and delivery of service to customers in the company. The first step that was introduced was to separate the ideas into two: those that were helpful to the departments and whole company. Those with positive effect on the bank were put in the Star Scheme. An individual who initiate an ideas is involved in the implementation process to the completion, owning the idea fully regardless the position he or she holds. The bank encourages written ideas, which are debated with the line manager, who consider them and make comments after taking time. If the idea is not considered worthwhile, people are given the logic straightaway. On the other hand, if the suggestion is viable, it is approved, the person who came up with the idea is given support from divisional administration, and a recognized person in the field that he or she has drawn the idea is contacted to assist in implementation. The initiator takes the role of a quasi – project manager with control over the implementation of the idea. Then, they work as a team, adopt the idea, and assess its outcomes. The person who comes up with an idea is given five percent of the proven saving of the first year from the idea or a maximum of twenty five dollars as an award. There have been successful ideas, which included money- saving systems in the department that were fraud and replacing notepapers with cards that are wipe-offs to reduce waste paper. Since then, in every year, many ideas have passed through the Scheme and dozen others are successfully adopted department wise (Holbeche, 2005). Conclusion In every organization, innovation is the key instrument in achieving growth strategies to enter global markets, boost the firm`s market share, and provide a firm with comparative benefits. The main aim of innovation is to help organizations remain at the competitive edge. For a firm to achieve the goal of innovativeness, leaders have to employ the philosophy of innovation leadership, which reveals that success in implementation is expanded when leaders cooperatively interact with their employee and develop high level of teamwork that offers chances to share ideas. Therefore, leaders should not bulldoze innovation rather, they should create innovate culture in their organizations. They can use several methods such as encouraging teamwork, rewarding creativity, stimulating ideas through encouragement, and diversifying. After creating an innovative atmosphere, leaders can choose the type of innovation to employ from modular, architectural, incremental, and radical, which will work well for the firm. When employing these innovations, leaders encounter some challenges such as hostility, indifference, and isolation. Finally, the main gain from collaborating with stakeholders is improved communication that assists in collecting useful data and innovative ideas that enhance growth of the firm and provide sustainable decision-making as evident in the example where Co-operative Bank has employed incremental innovation in its services. References Berger, I. W. (2008). The challenges of innovation - Businessweek. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-08-22/the-challenges-of-innovationbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice Creating a Culture for Innovation | Incremental Innovation. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.incrementalinnovation.com/innovation-management-development/culture-innovation Eliot, G., Womack, K., & Baker, W. (2000).Felix Holt, the radical. Peterborough: Broadview Press. Frenken, K. (2006). Innovation, evolution and complexity theory. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Pub. Fuglsang, L. (2008). Innovation and the creative process: Towards innovation with care. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Gunday, G., Ulusoy, G., Kilic, K., & Alpka, L. (2012). Effects of innovation types on firm performance. Sabanci University, Faculty of Engineering and Nat ural Sciences. Holbeche, L. (2005). The high performance organization: Creating dynamic stability and sustainable success. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Jolly, A., & Design Council. (2003). Innovation: Harnessing creativity for business growth. London: Kogan Page. Watkins, R., & Leigh, D. (2009).Handbook of Improving Performance in the Workplace, The Handbook of Selecting and Implementing Performance Interventions. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Read More