Innovation and Change

In an ever changing world, an organization needs to respond to innovation. To continue to be successful and to ensure its survival, the organization must realize “the importance of encouraging innovative thinking and the necessity of becoming a learning organization” (Dr. Bligh). To institute change successfully, there are three important steps the organization needs to take : 1) it needs to create an environment where making mistakes is seen to be part of the learning process (Padgaonkar, 2007). 2) It needs to create a unique and winning culture (Rogers & Meehan, 2007). 3) People in the organization need to continue learning (Harper& Glew, 2008) and so they acquire knowledge that helps them to implement a successful organizational design that allows them to survive in a competitive environment (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). In an innovative environment, members of the organization must feel comfortable making mistakes without the fear of punishment as “experimentation will lead to errors and that errors are learning experiences” (Padgaonkar, 2007, 15). History bears witness to how mistakes have led to greater inventions. A classic example to illustrate this point is the invention of the Post- It notes. Spencer Silver’s experimentation to produce stronger glue failed; instead he was left with something that was much weaker. Silver didn’t throw the glue away and so a few years later Arthur Fry needed something to keep his hymn markers in place. He remembered the glue and used some on his markers, which lead to the birth of the Post- It note. Fry continued to experiment and the Post- It note went through a process of trial and error to make it marketable (Smithsonian). Had 3m not encouraged errors, Silver would not have shared this information with anyone and would have discarded the glue. The result would have been that we would have been left without a wonderful invention. This case also illustrates that organizations “need to instigate learning by making deliberate mistakes” (Padgaonkar, 2007, 15). Sometimes errors can lead to other inventions and sometimes they are needed to improve existing products. For an organization to have the competitive edge it needs to build a winning culture. This is the symbolic glue that holds the organization together and it “inspires loyalty in employees and makes them want to be part of a team” (Rogers & Meehan, 2007, 254). For an organization to create a winning culture it must put its members first. An example of this is the U.K. based IT solutions company Softcat. When the company initially started the Softcat chairman, Peter Kelly, stated clearly that his staff’s happiness was his greatest priority. On the company’s webpage, where each member is introduced, the caption under Kelly’s photograph states “passionate about staff happiness” (http://www.softcat.com/who-we-are/meet-the-people). The captions under each team member starts of with “passionate about”. Clearly Softcat has built a culture around passion. Whether is a passion for the staff or the work they do, Softcat members are part of a unified culture which believes in being passionate. Part of the winning culture is communication with members (Rogers & Meehan, 2007) and “Kelly instilled a democratic ethos from the start, involving staff in company-wide decisions and communicating everything that goes on in the business to employees” (Director, 2011, n.d). Celebration is also an important aspect of the winning culture (Rogers & Meehan, 2007) and so Kelly treats his top performing staff to U.Ks best restaurants and incentive trips (Director, 2011, n.d.). Due to the amazing winning culture of Softcat and Kelly, “This year his 300-employee company is on track to turn over £200m” (Director, 2011, n.d). Sofcats’ case illustrates that creating a winning culture can have a huge impact on the company’s performance. Culture has a huge part in innovation and in an organizational culture “where employees are always listened to, their ideas taken on board, and they are encouraged to do a certain amount of autonomous working” (Director, 2011, n.d) success is imminent. Another important aspect of a successful organization is its belief in learning as “the primary responsibility business leaders have is to develop firms that will be more successful tomorrow than today” (Harper & Glew, 2008, 27). The only way this can be achieved is if the organization encourages innovative thinking. Members would have to assess internal and external factors and then use that knowledge to implement a successful strategy to help the organization survive (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). The Amway Corporation is a good example of this. When Amway started in the early 1950s, it only sold one product. Over the decades it added more products that would satisfy customer demands and with new technologies emerging, it started to rely on research to make its products better (Amway, 2011, n.d) . Amway started off as a door to door business, but with the emergence of e-business, it quickly went online as it realized it “must be able to offer products and services that give them a competitive edge” (Harper& Glew, 2008, 27). Like Amazon.com Amway redesigned its structure to reflect “the importance of innovation and the ability to learn from advanced IT”(Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008, 430). With the progression of IT and its capability to connect markets globally, Amway expanded its business to 80 countries. Now individuals who join Amway can own businesses in multiple countries. Had Amway not reorganized its structure and strategy and adopted the innovative technology, it would still be a company operating in just the U.S. Even though Amway reorganized to reflect the technology, it still emphasizes its original vision from the 1950s as it declares on its website “The world may change but our values and vision remains the same” (Amway, 2011, n.d). Organizations, for the sake of survival, must ensure that they continue to foster new and innovative ideas. During this process managers need to accept mistakes as part of the learning process and sometimes for innovation to take off, they may have to encourage mistakes. Additionally, leaders and members need to continue to scan the internal and external environment to gain knowledge. They must then use this knowledge to restructure or reorganize and adopt innovation to compete in a global market. Part of this process has to be creating a winning culture that focuses on relationships and actively celebrates success. Without these steps, the organization may find itself to be out of date and soon extinct. Organizational Behavior (10th ed.) by Schermerhorn, J. R., Hunt, J. G., & Osborn, R. N. Copyright 2008 by John Wiley & Sons Inc. Harper, S. C., & Glew, D. J. (2008). Is your organization learning-impaired? Industrial Management, 50(2), 26–30. Rogers, P., & Meehan, P. (2007). Building a winning culture. Business Strategy Series, 8(4), 254–261. Video Program “Fostering Innovation” Dr. Michelle Bligh http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/iap/inventors_fry2.html http://www.softcat.com/who-we-are/meet-the-people http://www.director.co.uk/MAGAZINE/2011/3_march/culture_64_07.html http://www.amway.com/about-amway/our-company/heritage?aid=About+Amway-Our+Company-Heritage