A framework for enterprise creativity and innovation
Files in This Item:
Filename | Description | Size | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
01Front.pdf | 754.71 kB | Adobe PDF | |||
02Whole.pdf | 110.68 MB | Adobe PDF |
Copyright Clearance Process
- Recently Added
- In Progress
- Closed Access
This item is closed access and not available.
NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. Access is restricted indefinitely. ----- With the shift from a manufacturing economy to a knowledge economy over the last
decades, innovation has become increasingly central to business success. Innovation is
necessary to create new products, new ways of working, new targeted strategies and/or
entirely new lines of business. There is no simple route to becoming innovative,
however, because innovation is not like most other business activities in that there
appear to be no known dependable templates, rules, processes or even measures of
success. In a sense, each act of innovation is a unique feat that can neither be reliably
predicted nor guaranteed as repeatable.
In spite of this, certain organisations are somehow able to devise - and realise - great
ideas over and over again. This raises the question as to whether there is a common
thread, an unspoken schema or set of rules-of-thumb that can make enterprise
innovation more likely. This is the question addressed by this research. Using a
qualitative Grounded Theory methodology to acquire and synthesise information from
73 senior managers of 62 successful technology-reliant businesses, I explore the
perspectives, roles, practices and associated factors involved in shaping an
organisation's potential for creativity and innovation.
The research results show that innovation involves a two-phase cycle. First, human
creativity is responsible for originating ideas; and, second, sponsored ideas are adopted
by the organisation for action and realisation. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate
that this fulfilment cycle is both complex and extremely fragile. Each phase requires a
number of co-requisites. For human creativity, the most important aspects are a
capacity for divergent thought in order to generate ideas; knowledge to enrich such
thought; vision to provide direction/purpose; and motivation to drive and energise the
achievement of a creative outcome. The second phase of idea adoption entails a
corporate vision to provide an overarching purpose; strategic intent to supply staff with
the motivational impetus to contribute to that vision; resources to provision the
innovation undertaking; and appropriate practices to enable idea realisation. In addition
to this, an organisational setting that encourages ideas, and facilitative leadership that is
committed to their realisation, is essential. The cycle can be easily destabilised, with
innovative capacity subverted, if one or more of the constituent facets operate(s) out of
tune with the rest or when negative external influences intrude upon the process.
The major contribution of this research is the development of a theory that can assist
enterprise leaders to better understand, and more deftly manage, those practices that
help transform human creativity into new products, services and ways of doing business.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: