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Based on the brainstorming session on 6.10.2009, this is a first attempt at creating an overview/layout of the book chapter to be completed by 10.12.2009.
Please feel free to comment, complete, edit, review etc.]
1 Introduction
1.1 In this chapter, we will focus on [...].
1.2 Glossary of terms [organization, innovation, ...].
1.3 Brief discussion of innovation [from wikipedia: goals of innovation, sources of innovation, ...].
1.4 This chapter attempts to set up and answer questions of the following nature:
- What are certain best practices than may be adopted to maximally incentivize innovation within an organization?
- How do these practices vary as a function of the size, culture, diversity, goals etc. of the organization?
- ...
- ...
2 A systems-theoretic approach to innovation
As such, the main focus of this chapter and indeed this book, is on organizational innovation. However, we must recognize that organizations do not operate in vacuum. In order to fully understand the impact of innovation policies, organizations must be studied in the context of their interactions with other organizations in a larger eco-system. Thus for instance, two comparable high-tech companies in two different cities (say, A and B) with identical innovation policies might perform vastly differently due to their differing proximity to good technical universities, the different capacities of cities A and B to attract and retain a talent pool of employees, the number of competing tech-companies in the two cities, the different levels of motivation that the cultural milieu inspires, and so on.
Approaches from
systems theory,
network theory etc. may be useful.
We could start by describing the eco-system of various types of organizations and their influence. For e.g.,
Organization: Tech-company
Eco-system: Tech-university, partners, competitors, markets, city, external culture, macroeconomics of the city and country, talent pool...
Organization: School
Eco-system: Families, students, teachers, boards of education, public infrastructure such as transport, proximity to homes, hospitals, sister institutions...
Once we have described such an eco-system, we can begin to ask questions about causal relationships within the eco-system and define potential goals of these organizations e.g. how to make innovation appetite of the company independent of the macroeconomics?
Relevant literature:
- Ambition and cities, Paul Graham
- ...
3 Mental models and motivation management
In this section, we must answer the following questions pertaining to motivation and motivation management.
- What factors motivate employees to innovate? [intrinsic vs. extrinsic factors]
- How can the management enhance these factors?
- Is it worth considering individual differences between employees' aptitude for a specific type of problem solving? If so, how? [nature vs. nurture]
I understand that a useful tool to analyze motivation is using the theory of mental models [CITATION NEEDED]. This theory ascribes to each employee, a set of mental models with which he/she understands his/her relationships with fellow co-workers. It turns out that certain classes of mental models are better suited to certain types of organizational culture etc. [
Marja, please correct me here]
Relevant literature:
- Motivation on wikipedia. Do pay particular attention to the section on business.
- Mental models?
- The links in this earlier post
4 Physical infrastructureIn this section, we must discuss the influence of physical spaces on motivation, creativity and efficiency. We must address the role of physical spaces from the scale of the office, up to the city.
Relevant literature:
- Esa Santamaki's masters thesis
- Alain de Botton's The Architecture of Happiness
5 Organizational culture
In this section, we must discuss the various aspects of work culture as a function of the structure and principles of the organization. Specific issues include:
- Various organizational structure
- The role of leadership
- Participation as a function of hierarchy
- Bottom up vs. top down innovation as a function of raw materials, infrastructure, goals, people and teams etc.
- Working for the week vs. the weekend
- How to inspire the ideology of 24/7 innovation mindset? etc.
6 The dynamics of the innovation processInnovation is a dynamic process, going through various stages from conceptualization to realization, experimentation to focused implementation, etc. How are the tasks distributed, how is goal setting done, how does it evolve, what are the characteristics of these dynamics? Some aspects:
- How do multidisciplinary teams contribute at various stages of the process?
- What are the various stages from invention to realization?
- What is the role of hard work vs. ideas?
- Promising innovators, buffer zones, long term vs short term focus...
7 Case studiesA few case studies will be compiled by surveying startups from the design factory, and they will in turn be analyzed according to the parameters defined in the rest of the text.
