Innovation in Organizations

November, 2011

Taesung Kim (tzk5085@psu.edu)

Types of Innovation-Decisions

1. Optional innovation-decisions: choices are made

by an independent individual

2. Collective innovation-decisions: … by consensus

among the members of a system

3. Authority innovation-decision: … by a few

powerful individuals in a system

4. Contingent innovation-decisions: … only after a

prior innovation-decision

Organizational Innovativeness

1. Leader’s characteristics: leader’s attitude toward

change (+)

2. Org’s internal characteristics: centralization,

formalization (-) / complexity, interconnectedness,

organizational slack, size (+)

3. Org’s external characteristics: system openness

(+)

1. The presence of an innovation champion:

contributes to the success of an innovation in an

organization

2. The role: something like that of an opinion leader in a

community

3. The characteristics: innovation-minded, good at

people skills rather than power

The Role of Champions

The Innovation Process in an Org

Initiation

Agenda

Setting

Decision

MatchingRedefining/

RestructuringClarifying Routinizing

Implementation

The Innovation Process in an Org

1. Agenda-Setting: Organizational problems create a

perceived need for innovation. Sometimes the need

sets off the innovation, and sometimes knowledge

of an innovation creates a need for it.

2. Matching: Fitting an organizational problem with an

innovation.

The Innovation Process in an Org

3. Redefining/Restructuring: The innovation is re-

invented to fit the org, and organizational structures

are altered. Both the innovation and the org usually

change in the innovation process.

4. Clarifying: The relationship between the org and

the innovation is defined more clearly. The framing

of an innovation has important consequences.

The Innovation Process in an Org

5. Routinizing: The innovation becomes an ongoing

element in the org’s activities, which means

sustainability. Sustainability of the innovation is

related to (a) its degree of re-invention, (b) the fit

between the intervention and the org, and (c) the

involvement of a local champion.

Discussion Questions

1. Assuming you are writing an article about

diffusion of innovations in the organization,

could you describe its outline with a brief

introduction, research questions, methodology,

and so forth? (Actually the answer to this question

can be used for the fundamental of task 4.1.)

Discussion Questions

2. Could you provide several examples for each

type of innovation-decisions in the

organization? (Several examples for optional,

collective, authority, and contingent innovation-

decisions respectively)

Discussion Questions

3. Do you happen to have any idea against or

different from the generalizations in this

chapter, not necessarily from the scientific

standpoint but from your intuition or specific

experience? If you do, please share your

thought. (G1. Larger orgs are more innovative. G3. The innovation

champion contributes to the success of an innovation in an org. G4. A

performance gap can trigger the innovation process in an org. G5. Both the

innovation and the org usually change during the innovation process.)

Taesung Kim

tzk5085@psu.edu

Thank you!