Question 1

Diffusion of Innovation is one of the oldest theories of innovation, developed in 1962, its origin is communication since it aims to give meaning to how an idea gains momentum with time and diffuse. The diffusion of innovation is different from one of the current theories on innovation, Jobs-to-be-done which mainly focus on outcome driven innovation and is built on the idea people buy products to get other jobs done (Correia, n.d). The technology adaptation life cycle is similar to the diffusion of innovation because it seeks to explain why companies with disruptive products and technologies often experience difficulties in the industry the same way diffusion of innovation seeks to explain how an innovation got to where it is, this theory is also built on the diffusion of innovation thus they share the same concept.

Question 2

Creativity and innovation have a major impact on the success or the failure of an organisation. Nurturing creativity and innovation is necessary for the organisation to be able to respond to the advancements taking place in technology, the changing customer needs, the ever changing organisational structures and global issues concerning diversity. Innovation and creativity go hand in hand, for one to engage in innovation they must think of a new idea which requires creativity (Glassman, et al., 2016). Higher learning institutions are now offering Science Degrees in Creative Studies and Graduate Certificate Programs in Creativity and Change Management, the stated goal of these programs is to understand the role of creativity, innovation and problem solving from a theoretical perspective.  This is also to expose students at all levels to cross functional teams with the involvement of all members to bring innovation to the market through cross discipline understanding.  Creativity is based on societal norms and thus finding ways that are different from the societal norms to solve problems will advance the creativity and innovation of an individual (Glassman, et al., 2016). Learning institutions are at the forefront of teaching innovation and creativity and how to apply this knowledge into practices in the real world

Question 3

Research conducted by Kesting, et al., (2016) strongly shows that different leadership styles have different impacts on innovations.  Leadership is very important and plays a vital role in enhancing the creativity of an organisation, devising and launching innovative projects.  Different leadership styles impact the involvement and commitment of the employees differently which in turn influences the climate for innovation management. Leadership entails influencing the attitudes and behaviours and influencing how people interact within a group with a focus of achieving the set goals that are associated with leadership.

Directive leadership style is characterised by practices that are directly aimed at structuring subordinates such as giving guidelines, clarifying policies and procedures and stating expectations regarding employee’s compliance to the rules. In contrast to this leadership style there is participative leadership where decision making is shared between the leaders and the subordinates. However, the final decision making lies with the leaders in both cases and the main difference between these two leadership styles is the extent to which leaders consult with their subordinates in the decision making process. When directive and participative leadership are executed in innovation projects, directive leaders drive innovation by controlling monitoring and instructing, directive leaders often present their subordinates with a framework for decision making that is aligned to their superior vision. Leader who adopt the participative leadership style often succeed in driving team level innovation by getting involved at an early stage, being fully involved in the project the entire time and allowing team members to develop new solutions regarding the innovation project (Kesting, et al., 2016). Directive leadership always proves beneficial while establishing new rules thus deterring innovation and participative leadership stimulated creativity and innovation.

Another leadership style that greatly fosters innovation is the interactive style. This leadership style is defined by leaders encouraging their subordinates to participate, broad sharing of information, ideas and power and motivating employees to embrace different work tasks. leaders who use this style empower their subordinates to be innovative by orchestrating coaching and training while offering them the necessary support (Kesting, et al., 2016). 

Question 4

Innovation is key for the growth of any organisation, they often rely on teams to come up and develop new ideas and solutions that can meet the growing demand in the market place. Innovation is very crucial for the long term success of the business (Henderson, 2017). Innovation is relevant for organisation because it gives them an edge in penetrating markets faster and provide better connections to developing markets which can lead to bigger opportunities. Innovation also helps organisations to develop their original concept. Not only the innovation of new products help organisations develop but also the innovation of new services, process models and functions. An example is Starbucks and Google that have devised and launched game changing innovations in small ways that later contributed to the bigger picture. Starbucks does not use phrases such as small, medium or large cups but has innovated its own language such as grande and venti and its own payment app that is designed with PayPal and for Google one may start a search and later end up using Google Docs or Google Hangout (Henderson, 2017). The ability to resolve critical problems arising in industries and organisation depends on new innovations, innovation is important in allowing an organisation to stay relevant in a competitive market.

Question 5

Innovations are part of the main source of competitive advantage for a company, innovations are very significant for the growth of a company since organisations invest greatly in resources and time to create new innovations that will increase their performance in order to beat competition and satisfy the needs of their customers. There are many factors that are involved in innovation design system; internal and external factors. External factors include; competition, environment, customers and location. The location of an organisation is influenced by the decision the firm makes on where to conduct specific business operations. The decision on where to carry out activities will affect the innovations undertaken by the organisation. The demand from customers is what drives all innovations. An increase in customer’s demand brings pressure for new innovations and even encourages user innovation, whereby customers modify an organisation’s existing product without consent form the organisation and the organisation later adapts the modified product and sells it. Competition is one of the defining characteristics of a market and has a substantial effect on innovation of an organisation, when new firms enter the market competition becomes stiff thus giving rise to new innovations as a result of competitive pressure, these new entrants also enter the market with disruptive models and new innovations (Antonelli, et al., 2012).

Internal factors that affect innovation include; management practices, organisational motivation and resources.  In management practices specific actions and practices that impact innovation includes allowing freedom and autonomy in the work related fields, providing challenges that require to be solved and clear strategic goals. Organisation motivation is the basic orientation of an organisation towards innovation, to foster innovation the organisation ought to have a culture that influences creativity of its employees and one that allows sharing of ideas. Resources are key in creating and launching an implementation, for innovation to take place in an organisation the organisation ought to have sufficient resources inclusive of funds, materials, facilities and information (Antonelli, et al., 2012). These internal factors play a vital role in influencing innovation in an organisation.

Question 6

As a result of innovation attempting to predict the future they come with a wide array of risks even though organisations have dedicated a lot of resources in managing these risks. In order to fully manage these risks organizations should develop their decision model under which they evaluate their respective evaluations. Risks associated with innovation can be dealt with by; first recognising that a model exists and needs to be developed judging the risk it poses and the returns it brings. The second strategy is recognising every innovation model comes with its own set of limitations, the first perspective of limitation is having an incomplete model where the assumption on the model is completely wrong and to solve this a complete turnaround or redevelopment of a new model is required and an incomplete decision model, incompleteness is a limitation all models have since an innovation model  cannot be perfect.  The third strategy is expecting the unknown. The fifth strategy is obtaining all the knowedge that can be gotten on the potential user of the innovation. The sixth and last strategy is considering the infrastructure where the innovation will be placed (Ahmed, 2017).

Question 7

Nurturing talents, every individual has the ability to think creatively, but there is always those individuals with natural talents within the field, these talents are based on the way these individual feel or think. They are capable of leading innovation if their talents are natured. Managing creativity, when a team comes up with a creative idea it is necessary to reward the team with in order to further innovation, when a team feels that their efforts are acknowledged they are more likely to come up with innovative ideas in the future (Oxford College of Marketing, n.d).

Question 8

Climate, which refers to the way a team works together based on shared policies, procedures and perceptions.  Employees are the main source of creativity in an organization and climate is a source of motivation that motivates them towards innovation. Economy is another innovation enable, when the economy of an organization becomes almost equal to what it is investing in an innovative project in terms of resources such as time, knowledge and finance it shows that the innovative project is valuable to the organization (Mikael, 2017).

Question 9

Broadcasting, which is the most common mechanism, which involves publishing an innovative request as a challenge to a vast audience in the hopes that someone with a solution will emerge. Connecting and networking, it is important for companies to develop their networks without an immediate objective to foster collaboration and partnership that may benefit the organization and help with innovations (EsadeKnowledge 2018).

Question 10

Short term focus, Lack of time or resources, lack of proper leadership and lack of systematic innovation processes are some of the barriers to innovation. To solve the challenge of lack of proper leaderships, all leaders in an organization have to understand that innovation goes beyond CEO and all the leaders of an organization have to be involved although engagement starts from the top of the command chain. The lack of resources can be solved by making sure that employees are availed with the necessary tools and requirements that are need to encourage the process of innovation.  Lastly, to solve the problem of lack of systematic innovation processes organisations have to ensure that they don’t put in place rigorous processes that discourage the staff towards innovation but put in places processes that empower employees towards innovation (Loewe, et al., 2006).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References.

Ahmed,R. (2017). Risk Mitigation Strategies in Innovative Projects. In Key Issues for Management of             Innovative Projects. Intechopen.

Antonelli, C., Crespi, F., Giuseppe, S., (2012). Internal and External Factors in Innovation Persistence.             Economics of Innovation and New Technology. 22.1-25.10.1080/10438599.2012.708135.

Correia, A., (n.d). “theories of Innovation adaptation and Real World case analyses. Driving educational             change: Innovations in action.

EsadeKnowledge (2018). 5 mechanisms to promote innovation. Retrieved from;             https://www.esadeknowledge.com/view/5-mechanisms-to-promote-innovation-174880  

Glassman, A. M, &Opengart, R. (2016). Teaching innovation and creativity: “Turning theory into             practice.” Journal of International Business Education 11(2016): 113

Henderson, T., (2017). Why innovation is Crucial to your Organisation’s long term success. Retrived      from;  https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/05/08/why-innovation-is-            crucial-to-your-organizations-long-term-sucess/

Kesting, P., Ulhoi, J. P, Song, L. J., & Niu, H. (2016). The Impact of Leadership style on innovation-a             review. Journal of Innovation Management, 3(4), 22-41.

Loewe, P., & Dominiquini, J. (2006). Overcoming the Barriers to Effective Innovation. Strategy &             Leadership 34(1),24-31.

Mikael, J., (2017).  Innovation Enablers for Innovation Teams-a review. Journal of Innovation     Management JIM 5, 3(2017) 750-121.

Oxford College of Marketing (n.d). 4 Key Drivers of Innovation. Retrieved from;             https://blog.oxfordcollegeofmarketing.com/2015/01/21/4-key-drivers-of-innovation/