Bachelor of Business Management (Hons)

INNOVATIVE AND CREATIVE SKILLS IN BUSINESS

Building the innovative organization (Part 2)

(Week 6)

PowerPoint® Slides
by Harjinder Kaur

06/03/21
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This week lesson will be on Building the innovative

organization (Part 2). Students will be taught on the
following:

•Components which are necessary and important to

create an innovative organization,
•Identification of key individuals in an organization and

their importance to the organization

•Importance of effective team working, High-involvement

innovation, Creative climate and also external focus to

an organization.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

On successful completion of this topic students should

be able to:
• Describe the components that build an innovative

organization.
• Identify who are the key individuals in an organization

and their importance to the organization.

• Analyse the importance of effective team working,

High-involvement innovation, Creative climate and

also external focus to an organization.

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 COMPONENTS OF THE
INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATION

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Components of the innovative organization

Component Key features

1. Shared vision, leadership Clearly articulated (express)
and the will to innovate and shared sense of purpose,
Stretching (broaden) strategic
intent (goal) &‘Top
management commitment’
2. Appropriate structure Organization design which
enables creativity, learning and
interaction. Key issue is finding
appropriate balance between
‘organic and mechanistic’
options for particular
contingencies.

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Components of the innovative organization

Component Key features

3. Key individuals Promoters, champion,
gatekeepers and other roles
which energize or facilitate
innovation
4. Effective team working Appropriate use of teams (at
local, cross-functional and
inter-organizational level) to
solve problems, requires
investment in team selection
and building
5. High-involvement innovation Participation in organization-
wide continuous improvement
activity
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Components of the innovative organization

Component Key features

6. Creative climate Positive approach to creative
ideas, supported by relevant
motivation systems
7. External focus
Extensive networking

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3. Key individuals

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 Key individuals
• A key individual (or a group of people) who is contribute to
innovation.
• The key here is people. Any worthwhile endeavor involves
having the right people doing the right things the right way
at the right time.
• Help you identify the people in your organization that can
help you Innovate on Purpose.
• Our approach is people centric. Too often in many firms, a
“champion” is designated and works to push an idea
forward. The right people are the key to any organization’s
success, so it stands to reason that in addition to
understanding what the innovation management process
is, you have to understand how people will implement it in
your organization.

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 Key individuals
• These people will not be defined by organizational title
(e.g. VP of Marketing) but by the role they play in the
innovation process (e.g. Connector).
• Find the right people who can fill these roles and your
innovation initiative is ready to start.
• Ultimately, no matter how good your ideas are, and no
matter how strong your processes are, if your teams
don’t work to support innovation then your firm won’t be
innovative.
• The people and the roles they play hold a real key to
innovation.
• http://www.ttmp.com/Innovation/Innovation_Roles.pdf

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Supplementary Materials/Extra Reading
Characteristics of Key individuals:

http://www.ttmp.com/Innovation/Innovation_Roles.pdf

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4. High involvements in innovation

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 High involvement in innovation
• High involvement innovation addresses the challenge of
mobilize (gather together) your organizations people
and their networks to solve problems and deliver
continuous innovation.

• It is the process of harnessing (connect) people to drive

both sustaining and disruptive innovation; it helps you
to engage the collective intelligence
(is shared or group intelligence that emerges from the
collaboration, collective efforts, and competition of many
individuals and appears in consensus decision making)

• creativity and experience of your workforce and/or their

networks to solve problems and to create and sustain a
culture of continuous innovation.
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Effective team working

• Team – a combination of individuals who come

together or who have been brought together for a
common purpose or goal in their organization.

• A group that must collaborate in their professional

work in some assignment and share accountability or
responsibility for obtaining results.

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• Teamwork is defined in Webster's New World Dictionary
as "a joint action by a group of people, in which each
person subordinates his or her individual interests and
opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group." This
does not mean that the individual is no longer important;
however, it does mean that effective and efficient
teamwork goes beyond individual accomplishments.
The most effective teamwork is produced when all the
individuals involved harmonize their contributions
and work towards a common goal.

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Characteristics of Effective Teams
1. Clear goals
• Teams have clear understanding of the goals to be
achieved and are committed to the team’s goals

2. Relevant skills

• Teams are composed of individuals who have the

technical (eg: planning, organizing, controlling, leading,
motivating) and interpersonal skills (eg: writing,
presentation, communication, speaking) to achieve the
desired goals
3. Mutual trust

• Team have high mutual trust among members

• They believe in each other’s ability, character & integrity
• In discussions they openly disagree without fear of
negative consequences

4. Unified commitment

• Members are dedicated & committed to the team’s

goals & are willing to do whatever to help their team
succeed
5. Good communication

• Teams have good communication

• Members convey messages that are clearly understood

6. Negotiating skills

• Team members possess negotiating skills

• Since problems & relationships are regularly changing in team,

members need to confront & reconcile (settle) differences

• Decisions are made by consensus. All team members support

final decision
7. Appropriate leadership

• When needs for leadership arise, anyone feels free to volunteer

• Effective leaders can motivate a team to follow them through

the most difficult situation

• Good leader can also help members to fully utilize their

potential
8.Internal Support

• Sound infrastructure, proper training, reasonable

measurement system, incentive programs that recognizes
& reward team activities & a supportive human resource
system.

9.External Support

• Managers should provide team with the resources needed

to get the job done.
Effective team working

Characteristics that promote effective teamwork:

• A clear, common and elevating (inspiring) goal.
• Results-driven structure.
• Competent team members.
• Unified commitment.
• Collaborative climate.
• Standards of excellence.
• Participation in decision making
• Team spirit
• Embracing (acceptance) appropriate change.

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Extra reading:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/characteristics-effective-
teamwork-691.html

http://web.stanford.edu/class/e140/e140a/effective.html

http://blog.eonetwork.org/2010/08/work-teams-internal-and-
external-influences-on-performance/

http://www.library.drexel.edu/blogs/groupwork/2012/07/18/w
hat-is-teamwork-characteristics-of-effective-teams

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6. Creative Climate

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Creative climate
• The concept of organisational climate was first
developed by Lewin, Lippitt and White (1939). Our
objective here is to identify and consider those
climatic factors that influence organisational
creativity.
• Goran Ekvall, professor emeritus of organisational
psychology at the University of Lund, Sweden spent
many years looking at the organisational climatic
dimensions which affects organisational creativity.

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Creative climate
He identified 10 dimensions :
•Challenge (How challenged, emotionally involved, and

committed are employees to the work )

•Freedom (How free is the staff to decide how to do their

job?)
•Idea time (Do employees have time to think things through

before having to act?)

•Dynamism (energy/drive, vitality, Enthusiasm, vibrant,

self motivated)  the eventfulness of life in the organisation

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• Idea support (Are there resources to give new ideas a
try?)
• Trust and openness (Do people feel safe speaking their
minds and offering different points of view?)
• Playfulness and humor (How relaxed is the workplace-
is it okay to have fun. )
• Conflicts (To what degree do people engage in
interpersonal conflict or 'warfare? (war/fighting)“
• Debates (To what degree do people engage in lively
debates about the issues')
• Risk-taking (Is it okay to fail?)

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Supplementary Materials/Extra Reading:

http://www.m1creativity.co.uk/innovationclimate.htm

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Creative climate

Climate factors influencing innovation:

• Trust and openness

• Challenge and involvement

• Support and space for ideas

• Conflict and debate

• Risk taking

• Freedom

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7. External Focus

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External focus

• Extensive networking required to extend avenue

(opportunity) in your business
• Move beyond existing and effective value networks to
open up new options.

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Supplementary Materials/Extra Reading

• http://institute.uschamber.com/networking-the-impact-
and-importance-on-your-business/

Youtube:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeSOK90z-hY

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daoILLWdVgc

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Conclusions

• Key individuals – Key features:

• Promoters, champions, gatekeepers and other roles

which energize or facilitate innovation

• Effective team working – Key features:
• Appropriate use of teams (at local, cross-functional

and inter-organizational level) to solve problems,

requires investment in team selection and building
• High-involvement innovation – Key features:
• Participation in organization-wide continuous

improvement activity

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Conclusions

• Creative climate – Key features:

• Positive approach to creative ideas, supported by

relevant motivation systems

• External focus – Key features:
• Extensive networking

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REFERENCES
 Tidd, Bessant (2013), Managing Innovation - Integrating
Technological Market & Organisational Change, 5th
edition, Wiley.
 Byrd, Brown (2002), The innovation equation: Building
Creativity & Risk-taking in Your Organization, Wiley.
 Zimmerer, Scarborough (2008), Essentials of
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, 5th
edition, FT Prentice Hall.
• Smith, David (2010), Exploring Innovation, 2nd edition,
McGraw Hill.

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Key Terms

KEYTERMS DEFINITION
A combination of individuals who come together or who
Team have been brought together for a common purpose or
goal in their organization.
Recurring patterns of behavior, attitudes and feelings
Climate
that characterize life in the organization.

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Key Terms
KEYTERMS DEFINITION
Express long term intention of the organization to
Vision
develop in a certain way.
Organizations change their structures, roles, and
Organic structure processes to respond and adapt to their environments.
Hierarchical, bureaucratic, organization-structure
characterized by centralization of authority,
Mechanistic structure formalization of procedures and practices, and
specialization of functions.

Rely on one individual to make decisions and provide

Centralized structure direction for the company
Often have several individuals responsible for making
Decentralized structure business decisions and running the business

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THE END

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