Innovation and Theories of Management.
Managerial Planning and Leading in Organizational Innovation
The account presented here is intended to examine the role of innovation in modern business practices. Particularly, this will be examined from the perspective of management and with a focus on the two primary management functions of Planning and Leading. The literature review hereafter considers these functions of management in direct relation to the complex questions pertaining to innovation. Primary areas of consideration are the decision-making which enters into the determination of whether to innovate or to follow market patterns; the impact of market externalities and economic cycles on this decision; and the correlation of internal factors and personnel matters on this decision. The discussion ultimately produces the finding that innovation is only suited for those firms possessing the right mix of internal and external conditions.
Introduction:
Corporate innovation is often thought of as an inherency in the world of business. That is, the impetus to engage in innovative practices is typically viewed from the outside as a highly desirable one. To this perspective, innovation is seen as a way to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace, to leap ahead of other firms in terms of process efficiency, to forge a new technology that alters behaviors industry wide and to create a wake of imitators that underscore the importance of your firm's market contributions. While all of these dimensions may be true to an extent, they are not accessible to all firms. To the contrary, firms wishing to engage in innovative practices must first engage in studied consideration of the implications of such endeavors. While some firms may possess the resources, may exist in the appropriate markets and may be prepared for the costs of entry for their ambitions, other firms may lack these qualities. The discussion hereafter considers the implications of innovation according to several key functions of management with the intent of providing an account that might be useful for a firm attempting to determine into which category it falls. Using the management functions of Planning and Leading, the discussion below considers innovation as a strategic business approach.
Innovation and Theories of Management:
Before proceeding to a discussion on innovation according to the Planning and Leading functions of management, it is appropriate to arrive at a definition of innovation. In his century-old text on the implications of innovation, Barnett (1906) provides the discussion with some basic conceptual definition. Here, the author characterizes innovation as "the appearance of novel ideas," framing it as a social event with widespread implications. He additionally characterizes innovation as a "mental phenomenon," highlighting the importance of the human aspect of innovation. (Barnett, 1906; p. 1)
According to the much more current discussion on innovation framed in the Abramson, et al. (2002) text, innovation retains these relative aspects in today's definition. Abramson, et al. gather the varying definitions found in texts coming before theirs to determine that "while there are clearly different nuances in various definitions of innovation, there appears to be general agreement that an innovation is 'new', usually 'novel,' and aspires to 'change' the way an organization (or part of an organization) operates and delivers service to the public." (Abramson, 2002; p. 2) As we proceed, this means that we come to understand innovation not just in terms of a company's output but also the way that it achieves this output. Particularly, innovation may also refer to a process, an internal technology or even a simple way of conceptualizing data that ultimately has a revolutionary impact on a company's behavior or performance and, consequently, on that of other company's in its sector or beyond.
That said, it is appropriate to proceed to an assessment of innovation according to the functions of management. Indeed, planning plays an absolutely crucial part in not just ensuring the success of innovation but in simply determining if innovation is a fitting strategy for the company in question. On this point, Guile, et al. (1988) point out that it is very challenging to gain concrete findings on the improvement of service end-user satisfaction after innovation implementation. Guile, et al. indicate that "service and profit benefits are virtually impossible to quantify, because side-by-side analyses with and without a model are never available." (Guile, et al., 1988; p. 137) To this end, we may deduce that Guile is suggesting an innovation model which graduates only certain parts of an organization toward implementation while maintaining a control group for evaluation under the same contextual circumstances.
This would allow us to measure for important factors such as cost differences and waste differences under existent...
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