Question

Learning Activity #1 Nails R US is a mid-sized manufacturer of nails. The company has an extensive product line but they essentially produce several different types and size nails. The management of the company announced that they were seeking innovative ideas on ways to save or make money. The announcement was made to the division managers who were asked pass along the information to individual employees. The same process and material used to make 2x1 inch iron nails has been utilized for more than 75 years. Jack Paar, a line worker in the plant, aware of the new initiative, wondered one day what would happen if they sped up the process by combining two steps. With his plant supervisor’s permission, he tried the change and it worked great. It cut 8 seconds off the production time. When the idea was presented to the plant manager, it was quickly shot down. Jack was told that the company was looking for real changes like creating a new nail product. Is Jack’s manager correct about his assessment of Jack’s discovery? Learning Activity #2 Suggest ways that the management of Nails R Us could have presented its quest for new ideas differently so that the company would more likely to yield success? How can Nails R Us make its company innovative-friendly? Support your ideas and reasoning.

Answer 1

Answer:

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Assuming that the management's objective is to focus on the 'big shot' innovations only, the communication and organization of the activities should be controlled in an effective manner. First, the company should have clearly mentioned the objective of the innovation seeking drive to the employees. This could have sensitized the employees to focus only on those aspects of innovation which had a bigger impact on the bottom line. Second, a hierarchy of change management should have been followed. It is true that all levels of innovations are not worthy to be reviewed and approved by the management. The example stated in the case should have been reviewed and implemented by the supervisor alone not letting the employee demotivated. Third, it is generally not possible to restrict people innovate within a frame of reference. Innovation is a spontaneous process and it does not call for employees to look whether the impact of innovation is high or low. The company should have approached a drive where instead of finding the big-shot themes of innovation, an aggregation of all ideas generated from the employees was given more priorities. Finally, it's not adequate to demean one's idea and letting him get demotivated. Instead, any idea should be welcomed and encouraged to keep the person on right track and should be communicated that the company is expecting more.

Innovation is a strategy, not just a chose way of life for an organization. It requires a change in the culture of the organization. It is very difficult for any company to become innovative suddenly when the strategy had been something else so far. Aligning people is always the primary challenge in innovation strategy. First, the company should educate its people about what innovation means for the business. Companies like Nails RU may have experienced years of efficiency management. This will make people vulnerable to think innovation as another way of efficiency improvement. It is the duty of management to get them on-board by letting them understand that it is about new offerings to customers. Second, the company should take innovation to the goal-setting and performance management process. Innovation and efforts for that should also be measured. Finally, the company should find quick wins or early success stories of innovation and should publicize them to educate and motivate people.