Role of Innovation in Organization Development
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Role of Innovation in Organization Development
Innovation is the ability to creation of a new product, new method, or new idea (Diehl et al., 2008). Innovation is the ability to analyze the current consumer needs and developing a new trend that consumers are more likely to adapt and abandon their previous products or services. Innovation is critical in ensuring that organizations are able to survive due to changes in market forces that influence consumer behavior. The level of innovation of an organization hugely depends on the employees that the organizations have admitted. The employees are the core of innovation in any organization, and they should be supported to ensure that the organization dynamically progresses.
Internet Search to Investigate Innovation
Successful Innovation
Facebook is an excellent example of success in the creation of social media marketing (Al-Hadban, AL-Ghamdi, Al-Hassoun, & Hamdi, 2014). Facebook has changed how family and friends share their memories and love. The platform has enabled individuals to communicate through different venues such as private messages, video calls, comments, posting, among others. The platform provides individuals and organizations with various benefits that have been turned into business opportunities. Individuals and organizations can advertise and communicate with consumers directly either by using the free posting in different groups or through paid advertisements offered by Facebook. The Facebook team uses different analytics technology to target a specific niche for paid ads on its platform. As a result, the paid ads have a more significant impact on the targeted niche. The process makes it possible for the organization to improve its brand awareness.
Failure Innovation
On the other hand, Kanoa wireless headphones company is an excellent example of failed innovations. The company was crowdsourced, and the management had promised their backers a perfect product (Morris, 2017). The product was never provided to the backers due to a string of problems affecting the organization. The company had promised to produce perfect headphones that had an ideal charging system together with the pass-through mechanism that enhances the quality of audio. The product was excellent in theory, but the technical implementation of the idea was hard, and the company was poised to fail once the production had commenced (Fowler, 2016). This is because the problems started while developing prototypes of the idea hence making the concept not feasible.
Reason for Success of Facebook
Facebook platform is easy to use; hence; it attracts different types of users (Mauri, Cipresso, Balgera, & Villamira, 2012). The platform is easy to use owing to the user interface that is straightforward, and no technical knowledge is required to use the platform. The ease of use is critical since the population of the world is their target market, and not all people are educated. Facebook, as a platform, takes into consideration the technicality aspect of the platform hence simplifying the platform to accommodate all the users. Facebook has the ability to recognize names of friends when typed that is opposed to their rival Twitter that mainly uses @ and # hence making twitter more technical as compared to Facebook (Tillman, 2019).
Another reason why Facebook is a success story as opposed to other social media platforms is their constant upgrades (Wilson et al., 2012). Facebook team is dynamic and keeps on changing the platform based on the users’ needs. The platform is dynamic; hence, it keeps its competitive edge as one of the best social media platforms. The user interface is a significant point of interest in Facebook, and it has changed several over the period hence making Facebook be a trendsetter in the user interface sector. The user interface is crucial because it is the point where the users of the platform interact with the system; hence it should suit the needs of the users.
Facebook, as a platform, is a success because of the engaging nature of the platform. The platform is addictive in nature owing to the different features such as messaging, calling, a news feed, market place, among others available on Facebook (Mauri et al., 2012). The different features provide an individual with a maximum level of entertainment that is critical in relaxing the user. The features are addictive hence ensuring that the users are glued to the platform because it satisfies nearly every need of a user. The worldwide market is another reason that propelled Facebook to be a successful innovation in the social media world (Tillman, 2019).
Reason for Failures Kanoa Wireless Headphone
The case of Kanoa wireless headphone failure is caused by what many organization fears. The idea of negative feedback from consumers of a product is a big problem for organizations. Negative feedback, in most cases, has to be many to bring down an organization, but for the example of Kanoa wireless headphones, it was brought down by feedback from one YouTube product reviewer by the name crouch (Morris, 2017). The product was provided to crouch in 2016 to do a product review that resulted in the product reviewer giving a scathing analysis of the failures of the product. The product failed to connect to his phone, failure of the charging case to charge the battery, and there were allegations that management of Kanoa tried to bribe crouch with $500 to give a favorable product review (Fowler, 2016).
The negative feedback from the YouTube product analyst buried the organization, and the organization ceases to operate four days later. The organization also failed to pay its financiers after stopping to work due to the product review given by crouch. The product was unable to meet the standards during the production of prototypes that served as the first point of failure for the organization. The Kanoa organization set standards and expectations for financiers of the project that they were not able to fulfill. The organization failed because of promising a product that they were not capable of producing. The feedback given by the YouTube product reviewer confirmed the fears of the product (Morris, 2017). The review was critical in ensuring that Kanoa does not produce wireless headphones that would not satisfy the demand of consumers.
Which of These Reasons Relate to Poor Planning?
Kanoa, a company, failed to plan for the production phase of their product. The lack of planning on how the product will be produced is poor planning. The lack of testing, whether the idea was feasible before crowdsourcing for the project, was a significant planning error. The management should have developed samples to test whether the product was feasible and whether it would be applied. The second poor planning arose where they produced their products to a renowned product reviewer and trying to bribe him for better feedback. The organization would have tested the product before realizing it to the consumers and product reviewers. The poor planning from the management made it possible for the defective product to be published on the internet.
The organization management should have ensured testing of the products and reaching the required standards. Products that do not reach the necessary measures are destroyed or return for more adjustments to meet the required standards. The management would have been able to detect and prevent the occurrence that caused the organization to go under. The organization would also have planned for rainy days through having a risk prevention and management process in place. The poor planning by the management resulted in the organization’s public relations team being caught flatfooted hence causing the organization to cease operating.
What Does This Tell You About the Keys to Success In Innovation?
Planning is essential in succeeding in innovation; this is because all ideas are great, but how the plans are implemented, matters a lot (Vincent et al., 2018). The case of Facebook shows a team that does a lot of planning, research, and testing before rolling out any business process. The evidence of Kanoa Company shows a company that does not plan for its product rollout. The lack of planning made the organization to be a target for product reviewers. The planning phase enables organizations to produce products that they have promised the public or stakeholders.
Leadership is also an important thing when it comes to the chances of a startup succeeding or failing (Mubarak & Yusoff, 2019). The leadership provided by Mark Zuckerberg ensured Facebook was a successful innovative idea. The leadership qualities lacked in Kanoa hence resulting in the organization producing products that do not meet the standards they had promised. Kanoa lacked leadership hence the lack of planning on the product rolling out process that acted against the organization. The Kanoa team was focused on acquiring the funding more than the technicality of the product they had promised.
Developing an Innovative Organization
What Do You Think of the Advice Given?
According to my point, the advice given about giving employees a sense of freedom is crucial in developing an innovative organization. Giving employees the freedom enables them to increase their productivity through developing new techniques that shorten the delivery time (Boukis, 2016). Limiting the capabilities of employees by the employer through imposing rules negatively influences the innovation capabilities of employees. I support the point of providing employees with space and resources to handle different organization business processes. The freedom to make decisions instill innovation to the organization workforce because they will always be experimenting with better ways to increase productivity and lower the time taken.
The advice of providing necessary resources to the workforce to improve innovation in an organization is essential (Park, 2017). I fully support the idea of equipping the workforce with the resources required to improve productivity. Equipping the workforce provides the employees with all the tools necessary to innovate new methods to increase productivity. Equipping the workforce, in my opinion, will have a considerable impact on the research and development team. This is because they are tasked with finding alternative ways of how an organization will be able to carry out their day-to-day operations. The advice is critical in ensuring that an innovative organization is developed using the existing workforce. The move will provide the employees with the required goodwill to research and implement new and better ways crucial in the production process.
I agree with the advice that I should allow the employees to fail. Allowing them to fail is a learning curve, and it should be allowed instead of penalizing the employees (Boukis, 2016). Allowing the employees to learn from failing encourages them to be innovative because they will not fear being penalized due to a failure. Fear does not promote innovation in an organization because it makes employees only focus on producing outputs using the same way every time; hence innovation is negatively hindered (Park, 2017).
Using the Resources Available to You, Compare the Advice You Find to the Advice of Other Experts.
The advice I obtained from regarding freedom of employees (Boukis, 2016) is similar to the one advocated by Lehman and Seitz because freedom positively impacts innovation (Lehmann & Seitz, 2016). The advice of providing employees with a sense of freedom with the aim of improving innovation in an organization. The feeling of freedom makes it possible for employees to focus on finding methods of increasing productivity.
Providing resources to the employees is a piece of advice that is supported because resource availability helps in boosting innovation in an organization (Demirkan, 2018). The advice is similar concerning the one given by (Park, 2017). The availability of resources positively impacts innovation because the employees are well motivated in their production activities.
Allowing employees to fail and to learn from mistakes is a point that is supported by other experts. The learning curve of employees should include failures and improvements from past failures (Diehl et al., 2008). Punitive punishment discourages employee’s innovation that affects the growth of an organization. The employees should not be negatively hindered from learning because of mistakes made during the process.
Developing Organizational Climate
What Issues do You Believe are Critical in Planning for the Integration and Sharing of Information in an Innovative Firm?
Hire experts and install a decision support system to safeguard the organization from the loss of relevant information. The expert will provide the organization management with the much-needed expert opinion based on innovative ideas that would have been crashed. The expert point of view differs from the organization management because of their ability to analyze a system in terms of its technical capabilities. The decision support system will support the innovative idea based on the value it adds to the organization. The organization will not be able to pour cold water on a creative idea that can increase productivity and utilize similar input. The organization management will provide leadership through analyzing innovative ideas using facts and making a decision (Huck-Sandhu & Zerfass, 2007).
Designing a communication network that enables employees to exchange different ideas, the communication network should record all the conversations. The record will allow the organization employees to refer to past innovative ideas, and as a result, no information can be left out. The communication network also encourages the employees to share innovative ideas that can help the organization to grow (Pittaway, Robertson, Munir, & Denyer, 2004). Communication is an essential avenue for exchanging ideas, and the organization will benefit because of ensuring that the communication network does not discriminate employees. All the employees are given a space where they can share ideas and provide feedback for purposes offered by other employees of the organization. The communication channel will ensure that the employees are given a level field to share their thoughts.
How Do These Issues Differ for Product and Process Innovations?
The process of innovation does not differ from bringing in an expert opinion. This is because the employees are given the sense of freedom of developing innovative ideas that are subjected to the critical review from experts. The expert based on the creative idea and the best way to perfect the idea then advise the employees. The process helps in nurturing innovation in an organization because of the freedom given to employees to develop new insights concerning the organization’s business process.
(Hautamäki, 2010)
Developing a communication network supports product and process innovations. The communication network is a resource that is needed by the employees to facilitate communication and sharing of ideas. The innovation process involved providing employees with access to resources such as the communication network. The communication network will also enable the organization management to track employees who are the most innovative based on the frequency that they share viable innovative ideas.
Google Inc Innovation Climate Creation
What Do You Think Are the Critical Issues?
Needs is one of the critical issues that help in shaping up the innovation climate creation in Google Inc (Boon & Edler, 2018). The needs of the organization keep changing based on other factors, and the organization should strive to fulfill their ever-changing needs. Google Inc’s workforce is responsible for developing new methods that the organization can use to ensure they meet their needs. The research and development department is responsible for acquiring necessary methods that can facilitate organization methods. The needs of Google Inc change based on different players that impact the organization both directly and indirectly.
The demand for Google Inc products is a critical issue in innovation climate creation (Boon & Edler, 2018). The organization demand has been increasing over the period owing to the increasing number of people accessing the internet. The demand shapes how the organization handles innovation due to the production pressure due to an increase in demand for Google Inc products.
What are the Potential Advantages of an Innovative Strategy for Individuals at Each Level?
The top-level benefits from the innovative strategy because the information for decision-making is readily available due to the existence of documentation. The top-level management is able to have a reduced workload with regards to paperwork because only reports will be available to them hence reducing the process involved in decision making.
The middle management level benefits from the innovative strategy because their scope of managing low-level employees is reduced. This is because employees are given freedom in business processes used. Only the final output and resource consumption are measured. The middle management level, as a result, benefit from the innovative strategy.
The low-level employees benefit from the innovative strategy because they are afforded space to handle their work. The innovative approach also allows the employees to use unconventional methods in the production process that yield more output. The low-level employees are also able to learn from mistakes hence making the learning curve more satisfying.
What Should Be the Biggest Fear at Each Level?
The top management level has the most prominent fear concerning using information available in decision-making. The data collected from the innovative strategy might mislead the top-level management into making decisions that might affect the organization. The middle management level has the biggest fear of a reduction in the level of productivity. The level of productivity is a significant concern for middle-level management because it is their work to ensure the production level is as forecasted. The low-level employee’s biggest fear is trying a new method and ending up failing. The failure negatively affects the ratings of the employee, and it might negatively impact their future chances.
Conclusion
In conclusion, innovation is a critical part of an organization if it aims at moving with the incoming trends that would otherwise make the company competitive and relevant to its niche. The paper noted that innovation plays an instrumental role in strengthening the operation of the organization if properly anchored. Innovation enables an organization to adapt to changes that are always available in the world of commerce. Organizations have to adapt to changes to be able to survive and thrive in a highly dynamic world. The level of innovation enables organizations to keep their competitive edge and allow it to survive in the future. Failure for an organization to adapt to newer business practices might result in the organization going out of business. This is because of the competitive nature that requires constant re-evaluation of the business process to remain relevant. The consumer’s tastes and preferences keep changing, and the organization should change.
References
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