Question

Define characteristics of an organization which exemplifies successful innovation management.

Answer 1

First of all we have to know about what is organization in general terms Organization is the structural framework of duties and responsibilities required of personnel in performing various functions with a view to achieve business goals through organization. Management tries to combine various business activities to accomplish predetermined goals.Present business system is very complex. The unit must be run efficiently to stay in the competitive world of business. Various jobs are to be performed by persons most suitable for them. First of all various activities should be grouped into different functions. The authority and responsibility is fixed at various levels. All efforts should be made to co-ordinate different activities for running the units efficiently so that cost of production may be reduced and profitability of the unit may be increased.

Now we can talk about what is innovation management .'Innovation Management is about more than just planning new products, services, brand extensions, or technology inventions. It’s about imagining, mobilizing, and competing in new ways,” says Idris Mootee, author of Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation".

  

Innovation management initiatives focus on disruptive or step changes that transform the business in some significant way.

This discipline of managing the innovation process harnesses creative ideas and uses them to build a steady pipeline of innovations that are reliable, repeatable, consistent, and profitable.

In a turbulent and rapidly changing economy, organizations must prepare themselves to innovate on a continuing basis or else their survival is seriously threatened. Innovation management helps deal with the challenges that stem from the innovation process. Broadly, the benefits of managing innovation include the following:

• Improves efficiency
• Guarantees long-term success
• Increases market success
• Decreases costs
• Reduces processing time
• Initiates the innovation process
• Reduces risk of becoming obsolete due to competitors
• Improves chances of survival due to better solutions spawned from newer technologies.

characteristics of an organization which exemplifies innovation management

Innovation is mainly depend on organizational structure and Organizations can be centralized, decentralized, organic, mechanistic, etc. “In centralized companies, many important decisions are made at higher levels of the hierarchy, whereas in decentralized companies, decisions are made and problems are solved at lower levels by employees who are closer to the problem in question.” Organic structures are decentralized and flexible, whereas mechanic structures are centralized and highly formalized (like a bureaucracy). Innovation is lesser in functional structures than in divisional structures .

  For companies with offices spread across the world, a decentralized approach will work better as they must deal with different markets, legal structures, etc. Google and 3M are good examples of this model. Studies show that for open innovation (OI) which uses both internal and external ideas, an informal organizational structure is better. In open innovation models, organizations maintain strong relationships with external parties during the research, development, and commercialization phases of innovation.

Organization innovation also depends on type of industry .And industry can be high-tech, FMCG, supplier-driven etc. The focus area (new markets, new uses, the source of ideas, line extensions, product development, etc.) for a consumer-product company or a business-product one or the best practices for product development in low-tech and high-tech firms will be different. Managerial decisions can also be influenced by culture of nations .But national cultures can be understood by characterizing them based on Hofstede’s culture dimensions. Cultural values will determine, For instance, research has shown that European countries that are more individualistic and have low power distance and uncertainty avoidance are more innovative. Organizational culture (values, beliefs, assumptions, myths, norms, and goals) has a significant effect on the creativity and innovation. For example, an adaptive culture will encourage risk-taking, fast decision making, initiative, willingness to experiment, and innovation. Also, flat organizations have a more egalitarian structure where all workers share equal responsibilities and power. In hierarchical organizations, there are multiple management tiers and well-defined roles and compliance are expected.

Typically, innovation takes place through consecutive actions in the organization. For successfully implementing the innovation process in the organization, the managers need to ensure that all the stages will be carried out respectively in the organization. These stages are the need for change and innovation, comments and ideas, acceptance, execution, and resources. The need for change and innovation is felt
when the managers are unhappy about the current performance of the organizations; therefore, the managers must seek and become aware of new methods. Comments and ideas are the new way of doing things; therefore, they can be considered as a model or plan or program that the organization must be implemented. A comment and idea may be implemented within the organization or be entered from
outside to inside of the organization. Usually, the comment and idea in the organization should be compared with target requirements. The next stage is acceptance in which the managers are going to look back and implement their ideas. To create a change in the organization, the managers and
employees must be able to approve it and support the new phenomenon. In execution stage, the organizations’ members bring their own new idea, method, and behavior into action. At this stage, the organization must provide all necessary equipments and therefore the employees must also pass new
training courses so that they can comment about new ideas and implement them. The last stage which is necessary for innovation is human resources. Innovation requires time and resources for providing new comments and ideas and fulfilling them. The members of organization should consume a lot of energy for fulfilling these two needs.

  Innovation process has some characteristics. First, innovation process is based on personal knowledge and learning and it can be strengthened by new knowledge. It relies on individual creativity, intelligence, and mutual learning. Due to the speed of new experiences, rapid communication of all those involved in the innovation process is considered necessary. Second, Hesitation is associated with innovation process and creating the massive opportunities for
innovation is unpredictable. The results of innovation can hardly be measured with the managers’ previous experiences and cannot be expected to provide specific results. Third,
innovation process is in contrast to some tasks. Innovation often involves removing some of organizations’ activities and placing them in opposite position. Fourth, it goes beyond existing inter- and intra- organizational boundaries. The experimentation and exchange of information are considered as the driver of innovation in different parts of the organization and its outside.  

So we can conclude from all this is that Organizations need to have new ideas to survive and achieve the greatest success in the competitive environment of organizations of the third millennium. In this regard, the organizations should pay special attention to people who provide the creative ways. The managers should seek opportunities to innovate and finding new ways to improve processes and communications. Thus, innovation is considered as the vital part of optimal facility management. Today, the most important functions of the organizational leaders and senior manager include recognizing the inventive and creative people within the organization and maintaining and motivating them through determining the appropriate substrate. Thus, the
organizations can sustain their world markets and finally overcome their competitors through abandoning the traditional methods. Finally, only those organizations that have the ability to create innovation and management innovation can remain in this field and overtake their competitors.