Innovation in organization’s is done to ensure that the products and services provided by a company are unique from its competitors. The uniqueness of the products and services can help an organization gain a competitive advantage in the market. Organizational innovation has certain advantages that can be used for increasing revenue and reputation. One such advantage is the fact that the employees working in the organization can be skillful and develop creative knowledge about the manner in which they can approach the activities of an organization. The employees that can help the organization’s to increase its productivity and efficiency can gain more than one skill and competence. However, some experts countered the process of innovation stating that the weakness of innovation includes the fact that changes in organization’s need to be made for the implementation of innovation. These changes can be negative for the employees in a way that disruption at the workplace may result in the loss of productivity. Apart from this coordination and issues in management, also occur with the application of innovation in organization’s.
General-purpose theory of innovation normally affects the existing structure and the economy of an organization. The application of this theory provides a general concept about the manner in which innovation can take place in an organization. The general-purpose theory can provide eventful concepts about the manner in which organizational culture, structure and the capabilities of the employees can be linked. However, this theory could be too simple for innovation in an organization. The theory does not take into account the critical methods required for the application of innovation in an organization. This includes the manner in which the skills of the employees can be used to ensure proper innovation in an organization. At the same time, the general-purpose theory takes into the account the purpose behind the application of innovation and does not focus on the purpose of organization’s. Thus, it can be said that keeping the critics in mind, this theory cannot be used for defining the innovation in organization’s.
Disruptive innovation refers to the creation of new markets and provides value to the existing network. In the opinion of Clayton Christiansen, disruptive innovation is predictable among most industries. The less established companies use new technologies to ensure alternative, as well as cheap products, are provided with that counter the products of the established industry. For example, Toyota took on Detroit a few years ago and thus, the disruptive changes are beneficial to the organization’s that are small. A criticism in this view states that such changes in an organization are devastating innovation as it may cause unnecessary changes in an organization. The fact that the world is changing at a rapid pace makes this type of innovation a cause for panic among managers. This is because with stability in the organization’s it can be difficult for managers to continue with a proper change.
Predicting a possibility of a future state of affairs is one of the strong points of managers. The ability to predict the future can help organization’s prevent huge loss and undertake decisions that may have a negative influence on the organization’s. Hence, it is necessary to ensure that a theory is developed that helps in the prediction of the future events that take place in an organization. As evidenced by the words of Steve Jobs, the application of disruptive innovation can help in the prediction of the future state of events in an organization. The fact that such a theory can bring about drastic changes in the business world can be beneficial for organization’s that require changes. However, as it was observed, the rapid change in the business environment can result in hampering the jobs of the employees and thereby, create more problems in an organization. In this regard, it can be said that developing a proper theory can be difficult for organization’s as the future state of business changes at a rapid rate.
Survival and growth of an organization are one of the most important aspects to promote innovation. The stages of innovation and entrepreneurial activities need to be formulated in a systematic manner so that the objectives of an organization can be attained easily. However, there are certain constraints that act against the application of innovation in organization’s. These constraints include:
- The absence of a proper analysis system: To ensure that innovation is applied in organization’s it is necessary to conduct a proper analysis of the resources and capabilities it possesses. The proper analysis system can help in understanding the manner in which application of innovation can benefit an organization. The most important analysis system that needs to be developed is the failure-analysis system. The failure-analysis system can help organization’s identify the method that resulted in the failure of an activity. This can help organization’s to identify the reason and take proper actions in rectifying the mistakes.
- Poor change management technique: Change management is required for organization’s to maintain effective innovation. Without proper changes, an organization cannot innovate and implement the required goals that it has set up for the increase in productivity and reputation. Changes usually result in the revolt of the employees, as they need to be convinced about the requirement of change. Thus, it is necessary that organization’s maintain a proper change management system that can help in the convincing the employees. This can be done by applying change management models and theories that can help in convincing the employees about the requirement of changes in organization’s.
- Team formation: To gain success in organization’s, it is necessary that every employee support one another and work in a cordial manner. Hence, the formation of teams can help in the analysing the effective manner in which employees can interact with one another. The application of innovative technologies requires the contribution of every employee. The employees need to cooperate with one another and ensure that a proper team formation is maintained so that the innovation can be implemented successfully. Poor team formation may not have the necessary skills required for the successful completion of the innovative process and thereby prove to have a negative impact on the organizational development process.
- Inadequate opportunities for managing ideas: Managing ideas is necessary for the proper implementation of a business. Every idea needs to be put forward with the management of an organization so that changes can be made. However, with the inadequate opportunities present, it can be difficult for the managers and employees to continue work in managing the ideas. One of the reasons behind the inadequate opportunity of ideas is the fact that the managers limit the interaction with the employees. In some organization’s, decision-making of the employees is not given proper emphasis because the managers take every decision. Thus, these constraints can pose serious threats to the innovation process in an organization.
Corporate managers and leaders need to adopt certain techniques that can help them to continue their innovative process in an organization. The adoption of the innovative process is done by keeping in mind these techniques for the betterment of an organization. These techniques include:
- Acquisition: Acquisition of new or weak organization’s can help managers of reputed organizations to maintain its business. This can help the large as well as the small organizations to understand the manner in which collaboration can be done to maintain the effective business policy.
- Accelerators: It is necessary to accelerate the process of production in an organization. To do so effective innovation is required for the implementation of the strategies that can help in gaining a successful business.
- Collaboration: Collaboration with other organization’s for the effectiveness of the innovation process is required so that managers can gain easy access to the resources and capabilities required for effective innovation. This can help in the effective application of the innovative techniques.
- Competitions: Analyzing the competitors is important for the effective implementation of the innovative process. Competitors help an organization to understand the resources and capabilities it possesses and the manner in which it can be used to gain an effective competitive advantage.
- Conferences: Innovation can be best applied if conferences are made between managers of various departments. The conferences can help in setting up meetings and exchange ideas that are effective for the application of the innovative process. In this regard, it is necessary that the conferences be managed in a manner that can help in the effective management of decisions.
- Engagement with customers: Feedback from the customers is important so that the requirements of the customers can be understood. Hence, it is necessary that the engagement with customers is necessary so that effective innovation can be applied based on the results of the feedback. It needs to be ensured that the product and services provided by an organization are unique from its competitors.
- Leadership: Leadership is another important factor that needs to be implemented for the effective application of innovation. Every organization and team needs a leader that can guide the employees towards success by providing opportunities for local engagement with one another.
- Interest groups: Technologies and business organization’s take considerable time to show maturity. Hence, it is necessary that the managers of organization’s maintain a relationship with certain stakeholders that can help them to continue with the business in an effective manner.
- Networks: The networks include various stakeholders and other business organization’s that can provide resources and capabilities. The channeling of a network is required so that innovation can be maintained effectively within the organization’s and abundance of resources exists.
- Research and developments: Research and development are one of the most important parts of the business. Similarly, for innovation, proper research is required about the organizational and business environment to maintain proper innovative method.
Read:
- Disruptive Innovation: An Intellectual History and Directions for Future Research
- Why Constraints Are Good for Innovation
- Innovation Starts with Defining the Right Constraints