Practical Management Essay For The Organizational World.

Management Challenge Presented By Innovation

Describe about the Practical Management Report for The Organizational World.

Innovation is very important in the organizational world. It is beyond creative thinking. As creative thinking refers to as the ability of imagining novel possibilities or developing new uses to the existing technologies or ideas, Innovation is totally different. This is because it is a long process involving development and implementation. Innovation will help the company in many ways. This report was approved after Tony Smith and his team of senior management were convinced that innovation within the organization is a practical thing that should be considered. This research found out a few things about innovation. First, Innovation is important as opens up new possibilities for the business and it could help to improve on current operations. Researchers found that innovation is essential to the long-term sustain-ability of an organization. Furthermore one cannot believe that this would put any strain on the Management team as it would be advantageous if co-workers could make innovative practices a habit, which we can aid by creating a nurturing space. The world is constantly evolving and companies need to evolve with it to stay relevant. If we want to have a competitive advantage over competitors the need for innovation is vital. Innovations are a powerful source of competitive advantage and the management must focus on innovation.

In most companies, the topic of innovation is challenging to the managers. The issue of managing innovation is not all about stacking cards together and the results are seen, most particularly in the kinds of disruptive innovations or the new ideas which are expected to lead to major changes in the business and within the marketplace. Some of the innovation management challenges that arise include indifferences, hostility, and isolation.

The challenge of indifference occurs since most CEOs and senior management talks of innovation but do very little about it. To most of them, they are just words. Their failure to act is not merely as a result of them not being smart or good enough, it’s just that innovation lacks in their DNA (Lenz et al., 2016). Most senior managers make it to the top management positions because they were good operational managers who could improve services and products, meet sales objectives or even keep up with the competitors. According to Song et al. (2015), senior managers are sometimes challenged by innovation management because they are the type that typically execute tactics and incremental strategies well but lack on some skills that are required for innovation.

How to Develop Innovation Capability

Lack of hostility within the top managers leads to challenges in innovation management. Such senior managers do not encourage new ideas and innovations. They are the kind that listen attentively to innovative ideas, they provide good advice and some encouragement. However, if they are honest enough, they would also say that they don’t have energy, time or a budget that may help beyond a pat on one’s back. Corporate bully show their hostility by going beyond such senior managers. Even though they may be poor in their interpersonal skills, they create an innovative environment that is healthy for the business.

Innovation is a technologically complex and a multidisciplinary subject because it arises from various spheres or fields of activity. This is the reason why innovation often results from groups of individuals that are not only exceedingly talented but who, together bring points and skills that are diverse. Sometimes organizations have senior managers who have isolation skills and who make their businesses to be isolated (Vl??ceanu, 2013). Such isolation hinders the workers from bringing new ideas and innovations to the workplace. Lack of a corroborative approach leads to a challenge in management of innovations. Bouncing of ideas from one place to the other helps to improve it and instill value to it.

The best tool that can be used to innovation is the experimentation culture. It is not always correct that great business are built on great ideas. According to Aramonte (2012), great businesses result from continuous tinkering until the emergence of the big idea. Experimentation is one organizational skill which triggers every other organizational issue. Innovation challenge can be overcome by encouraging an experimentation culture within the business. Big enterprises sometimes find it challenging to keep up the innovative culture because they fail in the experimentation approach. This is where small businesses and start-ups do better than them- they are willing to experiment and to try any new idea.

Development of innovation is not a task for particular people in the organization, not even the managers. The main role that managers need to play is to nurture a ‘space’ that encourages the subordinates to engage in innovative practices as a habit. Being creative provides a good start to innovation. Creative thinking is part of creativity. Individuals who engage in creative thinking regard themselves as being creative. However, for individuals that regard themselves as non-creative, managers have the opportunity of motivating them to be creative through recognition of the creative individuals by rewarding them. Managers can also recognize those who have the potential to think creatively.

External Environmental Factors to Watch

One of the best and simplest ways of making people to be innovative is ensuring that those who have the potential and those who show it are innovative. This creates an innovative culture within the company. Some of the rewards that can be used include the non-monetary and the monetary rewards (Mc Carthy, 2011). However, some researches indicate that monetary rewards alone cannot improve the quantity or the quality required. Incorporation of non-monetary rewards is more effective on showing what is required and it’s also interesting to use.

Innovation management can be regarded to as organizational capability. Companies that excel nurture and invest on such capabilities. This enables them to execute innovation processes that are effective, leading to new product, process and service innovations. The end result is a superior business process. Developing a conceptual model within the organization creates an innovation engine. Quinn et al. (2015) suggests that if an organization invests on innovation capability rather than the physical assets, there would be higher chances of wealth creation. According to Lawson and Samson (2011), innovation capability is would be developed if organizations would dwell on seven elements which includes: strategy and vision, competence base harness, intelligence of the organization, idea management and creativity, systems and structures of the organization, climate and culture as well as managing technology. The seven elements have been designed from management of innovation literature.

Linking innovation, strategy and vision provides one of the best and effective management of innovation. Strategy is a determinant of the manner in which resources, processes, systems and products are configured in order to deal with uncertainties that exist in the environment (De Oliveira et al, 2012). This manner of developing innovation would require firms to decide on which businesses they should perform and in which markets.  For innovation to succeed, it is important for the organization to effectively and correctly direct resources to the specific sections that they are required.

The external environment presents factors that needs consideration as the organization endeavors to become innovative. In contrast to the internal environment, the external environment is diverse (Bala Subrahmanya, 2013). The management has to measure, discuss and analyze models that exist in the external environment. Such models include PESTEL framework, Porter's Five Force and the SWOT Analysis.  Some of the external factors that organizations should be watch out for includes the market, competition, technology, supplier markets, labor markets, the economy, regulatory environment, globalization and sustainability among others.

There are different external environmental factors that affect the manner in which a business can become innovative. Globalization has been an external factor to watch over the last few years (Sheen, Trück and Wang, 2015). Apart from affecting businesses, this factor affects the society, environment as well as the economy. These alterations are majorly related to the rapid technological changes, information transfer and the increased technology. Competition as a result of globalization results from cost of product and service, adaptation to technology, quick company production, quick responses as well as target markets. Innovation enables businesses to produce items and services at less costs and later sell them cheaply, thereby leading to increased market share. It is important that this organization becomes innovative since customers are always provided with large choices that exist within the market. When globalization presents these choices, the behavior of customers change and they turn to the need of acquiring services and goods in a more efficient manner and in a quick way than before.

As the business seeks to become innovative, it is important that it watches the sustainability factor. While considering a certain innovation or new idea, the market should focus on sustaining its market or any additional customers that would be attracted. Sometimes sustainability refers to the management of social, financial and environmental risks, opportunities and obligations. In order to foster sustainability, the organization can practice stakeholder engagement, management of systems within the environment, reporting and disclosures and life cycle analysis. Employees, customers and the community are some of the stakeholders that businesses should engage. Environmental management systems provide processes and structures which help in embedding efficiency of the environment that would help in mitigation of risks (Wang and Kimble, 2016). While practicing innovation, it is important that the organization keeps analyzing the life cycle. The social and environmental impacts should be systematically analyzed through life cycle analysis.

The contingency theory explains how managers act in external environments in relation to certain variables. For instance, when the size of the organization increases, coordination problems arise. The procedures that the managers use in coordination large organizations would not appropriately work in small organizations. Also, the technology that is used in production of outputs differs and hence influences appropriateness of leadership styles, organizational structures as well as the control systems. Environments hold organizations and as such, the environments may be turbulent and uncertain or unchanging and predictable (Quinn et al., 2015). This affects leadership styles, and organizational structures. The contingency theory also makes it clear that the way individuals differ, they have different needs in which managers should try and adjust to.

In conclusion, despite the rate of innovation that companies across the globe are transforming, the main thing that matters is how innovative an individual firm is. The string of struggling used by organizations such as Nokia, Blackberry, Kodak and Blockbuster attests to the fact that the firms attempted intrinsic innovation in which they were unsuccessful or they resisted the innovation altogether.  My proposal to the senior management to make our firm more innovative will prevent it from failing like these other companies in the near future. Indifferences, hostility and isolation are subjects that managers should always understand and work on their part to avoid failure of the organization. If managers play their part and avoid the management challenges that face innovation, organization members are at a better chance of making their new ideas and innovations work. The organizational management has the ability to make members of the organization more innovative through motivations, training and initiating organizational cultures like experimentation. In its endeavors, the firm should watch external environmental factors including market, competition, technology, supplier markets, labor markets, the economy, regulatory environment, globalization and sustainability among others. It is also important that challenges that hinder innovativeness be considered within the next few years to propagate innovativeness.

It is important that the organization ensures that its priorities and organizational processes are flexible and adaptable. In order to do so, first I would recommend that the company avoids isolation. The firm should interact with its competitors by organizing events that create interaction. This way, members of the organization will come up with new ideas. Secondly, I would recommend that the firm makes experimentation its culture. If members are allowed to be free during certain periods where they conduct their own experiments, there is a probability that innovations would come up. Finally, individuals showing potential should be motivated and rewarded when they perform.

References

Aramonte, S. (2012). Innovation, Investor Sentiment, and Firm-Level Experimentation. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2653820

Bala Subrahmanya, M. H. (2013). External Support, Innovation and Economic Performance: What Firm Level Factors Matter For High-Tech Mses.? How? International Journal of Innovation Management, 17(5), -1. Doi: 10.1142/S1363919613500242

Sheen, J., Trück, S., & Wang, B. Z. (2015). Daily Business and External Condition Indices for the Australian Economy. Economic Record, 9138-53. doi:10.1111/1475-4932.12181

De Oliveira, P., Gonçalves, C., De Paula, E., & Santos, K. (2012). Knowledge Management Strategy Focused To Innovation Technology Products: The Case Of Invent Vision. RAI, 9(4). https://dx.doi.org/10.5773/rai.v9i4.842

Lawson, B. & Samson, D. (2011). Developing Innovation Capability in Organisations: A Dynamic Capabilities Approach. International Journal of Innovation Management, 05(03), 377-400. https://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s1363919601000427

Lenz, S., Pinhanez, M., De Césaris, L. U., & Jacobs, C. (2016). Open Innovation and the Challenges of Human Resource Management. International Journal of Innovation Management, 20(7), -1. doi:10.1142/S1363919616500638

Mc Carthy, N. (2011). Non-monetary rewards are greater than job’s challenges. Nursing Standard, 25(32), 32-32. https://dx.doi.org/10.7748/ns.25.32.32.s41

Quinn, R., Clair, L., Faerman, S., & Tho. (2015). Becoming a Master Manager: A Competing Values Approach, 6th Edition. John Wiley & Sons.

Song, W., Ming, X., Han, Y., Xu, Z., & Wu, Z. (2015). An integrative framework for innovation management of product–service system. International Journal of Production Research, 53(8), 2252-2268. doi:10.1080/00207543.2014.932929

Vl??ceanu, C. (2013). Innovation Management - Solution in the Context of the Contemporary Society Challenges. Review of International Comparative Management / Revista De Management Comparat International, 14(5), 774-782.

Wang, H., & Kimble, C. (2016). How External Factors Influence Business Model Innovation: A Study of the Bosch Group and the Chinese Automotive Aftermarket. Global Business & Organizational Excellence, 35(6), 53-64. doi:10.1002/joe.21712