What I have learnt.

I have learnt that in a business everything will be better if there is some form of innovation. Innovation can be a small thing but it can make a very big impact. Initially before my research i thought that innovation was just about inventing a new product but now i know that innovation is about the organisational structure the employee environment it is about everything in a business. It has opened my eyes to what i think the best sort of innovation in a company is and that is to have a narrow span so small teams but also have a flat structure so that when the boss walks into the room it does not all go quite because most employees will have spoken to the boss whether it via email or around the office about idea that they have for the company. This has been eye opening for me about what innovation can actually do for a company and i now know that it is a very valuable asset and when I become a manager i should use my employees for ideas rather than getting a consultant in.

CIPD and innovation

"Innovation is widely regarded as a key driver of success for both private and public sector companies. But innovation is not just about the development of new products and technologies- it is about management innovation, which includes new ways of working, new organisational structures and new management methods" The CIPD stands for the Charted Institutes of Personnel and Development. The facts that i am going to present to you i have found from the CIPD innovation survey of 2008. Management innovation needs to be focused on more in businesses as "Fewer than 25%of respondents stated that innovation management and HR systems was given a high level of attention in their organisation" innovation management is to do with the organisational structure as i have discussed in my blog on organisational structures and innovation. It is a very important part of innovation which companies are obviously not paying much attention too. So from the CIPD survey i have been able to see that this is an area that needs improving. Although "65 who said their organisations were given a high level of attention to product and services" this shows that companies are becoming more innovative but are yet to see that it is not just about the product and service it is about the employees.

The survey also found that "overall, the research suggests that most organisations have not yet fully embraced the needs of generation Y employees" generation Y employees are those born after 1980. Companies are yet to realise that employees want more freedom and flexibility to be able to work from home around their children this is another area that needs to massively improve in the innovation sector as this type of innovation will benefit the company. If you give employees the trust to work at home they will show you respect and do above and beyond their work. Companies have to realise just how important jobs are to people in the current climate and that times are changing and heading towards more flexible working.

The CIPD survey has allowed me to look at some statistics that back up what I thought that while companies are trying to be innovative they are thinking big rather than small and they need to be doing both.

CIPD. (2008). Survey report September . Available: http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-583833-dt-content-rid-243994_2/courses/MGT2012M-1112/innovation_workplace%20CIPD%20Survey%202008.pdf. Last accessed 19th January 2012

Innovation Models Apple vs Google

There are many different ways of innovating in a company and as i have explored in my blog both Apple and Google are very good at innovating however they both do it in a very different way. One of the first main question asked before you start innovating in a company is should the innovative ideas come from external or internal sources or maybe both. Most of the time companies will opt for both as then they will be able to get the feedback from what the employees think but also what the customer and other external audiences think.

The next question to be asked is should the innovation team by a "small secretive group removed from the rest of the organisation"(OVO Innovate on purpose, 2008).  and centralised like what Apple have. Or should it be "broadly participative across the organization"(OVO Innovate on purpose, 2008).  and decentralised like what Google have.

So which one is better a centralised small team of people like Apple have or a decentralised broadly participative team like Google. I think they are both excellent company but i do feel that the better innovative company is Google as they are asking for all there employees ideas and keeping an open mind to ideas. Whereas Apple are a selected bunch of people who do come up with some fascinating ideas but could other employees have better ones that the company do not know about.

OVO Innovate on purpose. (2008). Defining your innovation model. Available: http://www.ovoinnovation.com/pdf/Innovation%20Model%20Facets.pdf. Last accessed 19th January .

Truly inspirational innovation

This poem has been written by a six year old girl with terminal cancer in a New York Hospital

Slow Dance -

Have you ever watched kids

On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over
(Anonymous author, 2012)

Why is it that that six year old little girl has to think this way she has such an open mind to the world and deserves to live. Innovation is not just about a business and it becoming a success. Innovation is about changing peoples life for the better and one day there will be a cure.  "Pharmaceutical discovery has benefited from a remarkable revolution in technology, from its early beginnings with the introduction of aspirin to the discovery of drugs that target specific genes that cause disease. Today, pharmaceutical innovation looks very different than it did 100 years ago, 50 years ago, or even just 10 years ago." (Innovation.org,2012) because of innovation we will one day find a cure and save life’s.

Anonymous author. (2012). Slow Dance. Available: http://www.cancernet.co.uk/poems.htm. Last accessed 19th January 2012
Innovation.org. (2012). Innovation Today. Available: http://www.innovation.org/index.cfm/InnovationToday/Innovation_Today. Last accessed 19th January 2012.

Small Ideas make a BIG impact

When most people think of innovation they think of a brand new product never been seen before made by the brightest person you have ever met. But this is not the case many company’s struggle to innovate and that is because they don’t realise that it is not just about making a new product it can be about a small everyday task. It is the small things that make a big impact look at the butterfly effect "the idea, used in chaos theory, that a very small difference in the initial state of a physical system can make a significant difference to the state at some later time"(Farlex,2012).

A staff member may feel like there is a need for the schedules to be put up at an early date than what they are because she does not feel that it gives her enough time to get child care sorted and ends up not turning into work when she cannot get childcare sorted. This is a relatively small issue to the senior directors at the top of the organisational structure but is a large issue for many shop floor employees. However this small staff timetable issue may escalate to the company having to get agency staff in to cover people who are not able to work .It may also lead to people getting sacked for not turning into work. This could then lead to a higher staff turnover for the company. Which ultimately means the company has to spend more money promoting jobs and retraining staff. This could all be avoided if the employees were listened to and the schedules were put up 2 weeks earlier than what they are. This would save the company money and is an innovative idea which will help the company massively. This shows innovation does not have to be about a new invention it can be about a small matter as they do make big differences.

Farlex. (2012). Butterfly effect. Available: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/butterfly+effect. Last accessed 17th January

Innovation and change

"The lesson is clear: if you settle for the status quo, if you believe you can't change anything, you might as well stop reading right now! Business unconventionalists develop new value creation strategies, and that is not possible without passion and the determination to change things" (Foerster,A ,2009) Change is vital for a company success. In business you must keep up with the times the biggest change that has influenced businesses around the world most recently has been the technological change. This change has enabled companies to use more machines than humans which have been to companies benefit, as they are paying less for labour. However you could also argue that the technological change has put people out of work leaving them with no money to buy the goods the company are supplying.

Change can be highly demotivating for employees as it changes what you know and like. Innovation is a better way of dealing with change as the employees will feel like they are the ones who have made the change to the company and this could be very rewarding and therefore motivational for employees.
Communication is key for change as if the changes that are being made in a company are not told to every employee so that they fully understand then this would lead to demotivation and reluctance to change as they become unaware of how the business is running. If you tell the employees clearly why the changes are happening and what it is going to do for the business there should be no reluctance for change as a benefit for the business is a benefit for them.
Businesses especially in the economic climate need to make sure they are changing as being the same as another company is not going to keep them in the market any more. They need to make the most of what resources they have so making sure that the staff are aware of the company goals and asking them for innovative ideas as this will lead to success because 100 ideas are better than 1.

Foerster, A and Kreuz, P (2009). Different Thinking. London: Kogan Page Limited. p60-61

Virgin innovation



Virgin is a very successful innovative company and they say "We believe in making a difference. Virgin stands for value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge. We deliver a quality service by empowering our employees and we facilitate and monitor customer feedback to continually improve the customer's experience through innovation." (Virgin,2012) This shows that to be successful you have to listen to your employees and your customers as they are you most treasured assets. The most innovative product i think Richard Branson has produced so far is Virgin Galactic. This really is fulfilling people’s dreams it backs up what Steve Jobs said about "sell dreams not products".

Virgin. (2012). About Virgin. Available: http://www.virgin.com/about-us. Last accessed 17th January 2012

Google Innovation

"The key element of changing the work so that the work itself becomes a critical attraction and retention force and driver of innovation and motivation is what Google calls “20% work.” There is no concrete definition of what 20% work means, but generally for professional jobs it means that the employee works the equivalent of one-day-a-week on their own researching individually selected projects that the company funds and supports. Both Google Groups and Google News products are reported to have started as a result of personal 20% time projects."(Sullivan,J.2005).
Google give their employees time at work to come up with innovative ideas and they have seen many results from this. Google have a very narrow span as they have small teams who work together. Their structure is also rather flat, employees would be able to get ideas to the top of the organisational structure quickly as the structure is flat. Google is a very innovative company and they have a different way of doing things for example they have a slide from the top floor to the bottom to make things more exciting and different at work. Also as a mode of transport between meetings "Bicycles or scooters for efficient travel between meetings; dogs; lava lamps; massage chairs; large inflatable balls"(Google,2012) .This is all about having fun and getting ideas out in the open and it certainly works. I think Google's example of innovation and how to run a business is inspiring and should be copied. In my opinion employers need to learn that a workplace should be somewhere an employee wants to be not somewhere an employee has to be.

Google. (2012). The Google Culture. Available: http://www.google.com/about/corporate/company/culture.html. Last accessed 19th January 2012

Sullivan, J. (2005). A case study of Google recruiting. Available: http://www.ere.net/2005/12/05/a-case-study-of-google-recruiting/. Last accessed 19th January 2012

The organisational structure and innovation

When setting up a business you need to carefully think about your organisational structure. A Drucker says "Good organisational structure does not by itself produce good performance. But poor organisational structure makes good performance impossible, no matter how good the individual managers may be. To improve organisational structure... will therefore improve performance." (Drucker,P,F,1989) Drucker is basically saying that without good organisational structure the company will not be able to succeed. This is why it is so important to a business to have the correct organisational structure. The size of the company will affect what organisational structure it has. The span of control in a business can either be wide or narrow this is the ratio of managers to employees if it is a lot of employees to one manager this is a wide span and if it is a small amount of employees to the manager this is called a narrow span. The most common organisational structures are:                                                        Tall Structure:

Tall- "In its simplest form a tall organisation has many levels of management and supervision. There is a “long chain of command” running from the top of the organisation e.g. Chief Executive down to the bottom of the organisation e.g. shop floor worker."(Management2,2012) Using a tall structure means that the span is narrow and the staff can see a clear path to the top of the organisation which will be motivating which is a very big positive in a company. However the tall structure means narrowness which means there are more manager to staff. The staff also do not have many responsibilities which could be demotivating and lead the employees to be less innovative as they feel they have no power. Also the communication in tall structures is poor as there are too many levels to go through before you can get to the top and by the time your question or idea gets to the top of the company it may have been passed through several different people and changed "Chinese whispers" effect.

There is also another type of structure which is called a flat structure "This means that the “Chain of Command” from top to bottom is short and the “span of control is wide”(Management2,2012) advantage to this are that there will be a lot of team spirit as ever one is on the same level however having this style of structure could hinder the company’s chances of expanding. Decision making in a flat structure would be quick as there are not many level this would be good for innovation because all ideas would be heard as more than likely the boss may also be your manager.                                                 Flat structure :

Having a flat structure would work better for a small company so maybe when you first set up in business it would be good to have a flat structure which i believe is better for innovation however what happens when the company expands because i feel the tall structure is suited to the authoritarian way of management which is not what i feel is best for innovation.

The method that i feel is best in a large business is hierarchical "In a hierarchical organisation employees are ranked at various levels within the organisation, each level is one above the other. At each stage in the chain,

one person has a number of workers directly under them, within their span of control."(management2,2012) the hierarchal structure clearly defines each employee’s role which is motivating for the employee. The hierarchical style of structure incorporates both a narrow span at the top of the structure and as it works its way down becomes a wider span. A big advantage to this structure is that responsibilities are clearly defined and there is a clear path way to promotion.
I suppose it depends on your business what organisational structure you pick but it has to be the right one to suit you. No matter what structure is picked there needs to be a clear way of employees being able to give innovative ideas straight to the head of the business. So in a flat structure this would be easy they could have a meeting or just speak in the office. However in a tall structure the staff need to have something like a suggestion box for ideas and then regular feedback on what is happening with their ideas.
Hierarchical structure:



Drucker, P,F (1989). The Practise of management. : Heinemann Professional. p223

Learn management2. (2012). Organisational structures: Introduction. Available: http://www.learnmanagement2.com/organisational%20structures.htm. Last accessed 18th January 2012.

Leadership styles and innovation

"Leaders tend to shape organisational culture by signalling what are the important priorities and values for the organisation"(Amed,P,2010)The leadership styles that a company chooses to follow will affect the innovation in a company. If you look at the difference between autocratic style of management and a laissez-faire style of management they are very different. An autocratic style of leadership "is where the focus of power is with the manager and all interactions within the group move towards the manager."(Mullins,L,2010). If a business follows this style of management it will be very hard for anyone but the manager to be innovative as they have all the power and therefore tend not to see the employees as people who would be able to come up with innovative ideas to improve the company. Whereas laissez-faire style of leadership "is where the manager observes that members of the group are working well on their own. The manager consciously makes a decision to pass the focus of power to members, to allow freedom of action"(Mullins,L,2010). This style of management will allow for more creativity as employees are not always being told what to do. They will see the manager or their leader someone they can go to with an idea that will help them to implement it.

The lassie- faire style of management makes it a lot easier for everyone in the company to be innovative this is the style of management that is adopted in company’s such as Google "Google is also an extremely employee friendly company. There are many initiatives at Google that originate with the employees. Some things Google has instituted are prayer and meditation rooms, companywide volunteer days. They have also invited presidential candidates to their campus to talk about the issues with their employees. Many of these candidates did respond and visited Google's Campus in San Jose, CA. Google has borrowed a lot of the environment that is found in Universities and provides all the things you would find in a PHD or graduate program."(Mance,A,2012) They care about their staff and give them freedom and in turn the staff repay them with loyalty and feel like they can give innovative ideas for the company as they will be listened to because at Google as employees they have power.

Ahmed,P and Shepard,C (2010). Innovation Management. Essex: Pearsons Education Limited. p 314-317.

Mance,A. (2012). What Makes the Number One Innovative Company So Innovative?. Available: http://andymanca.hubpages.com/hub/What-Makes-the-Number-One-Innovative-Company-So-Innovative-. Last accessed 17th January 2012.

Mullins,L (2010). Management and organisational behaviour. 9th ed. Essex: Pearsons Education Limited. 380-381.

Creativity and innovation

Creation is a large part of innovation. It is creativity that leads to innovation for example for a person to invent a whole new product they need to tap into their creative way of thinking. Also if it is not an invention of a product it could be a new way of doing things to improve the company if you were in the service industry. Creativity is all about thinking out side of the box for example look at this picture:
What do you see?

Some people see a young woman however some people see an old hag. This shows that people’s minds work in very different ways depending on how they think. In a business some employees will be able to see problems with products and services that others may not have even noticed like if I had not told you there is two ways to look at the picture you may not necessarily have seen it.
The old approach to creativity in the workplace was that the managers did all the creative thinking and “consultants were hired to help to achieve a breakthrough in products and markets” (Ahmed,P,2010) In my opinion this is a very naive and expensive way of running a business. Not only will it demotivate the employees but everyone has some level of creativity inside of them and in a company it is more than likely that some one knows the answer to your problem as they see it in a different light to you like the picture. There is now a new approach to creativity and this involves listening to staff getting lots of people involved.
Companies need creativity to make them stand out from the crowd “without a creative approach to the challenges facing them, there is a tendency to descend to the average of corporate practise”(Ahmed,P,2010) with no new ideas or ways of doing things differently the company will only be copying what is already out there and this is not what makes a market leader. Creativity’s main role in a business is problem solving coming up with techniques or ideas to solve a problem in the business however it has many other functions it can be used for problem finding so the directors of a company may not know about the problems that are happening on the shop floor there for using suggestion boxes and having meeting brings up these problems and solution that employees may have.
However you can have many creative ideas given by staff but for them to be effective the company need to implement them. This diagram shows the creativity to innovation process:

The ideas are generated by staff and selected so in this is a process of illumination ideas that the head of the company does not believe is relevant then the ideas have to be implemented which can be a very lengthy process. I feel that businesses need to make it a lot easier for change to happen for ideas to be tested. As this is the demotivating factor for employees they do not want to give ideas as when they do they are not implemented and are forgot about so what is the point. This very true as I have experienced this myself I work for McDonalds and I approached a manager and told her that I thought it would be a lot better if I was to give out condiments at window one to improve the times on the drive threw to which she replied no it works fine the way it does. This shows the reluctance to change they could have easily tried it for a day if it didn’t work then they could have changed it back but they would not because they did not want change and probably didn’t like that I am a crew member was suggesting a change as I do not have power.
(Ahmed,P and Shepard,C (2010). Innovation Management. Essex: Pearsons Education Limited. p3-49)

Reebok EasyTone

"Basically the shoes integrate balance or bosu ball “balance pods” into the toe, ball and heel of the shoe. Reebok claims that this increases gluteal or butt muscle activation an average of 28 percent, in addition to stimulating hamstring and calf muscles 11 percent better."(Davis,J,2009) This is a very innovative idea especially in the current climate that we are living in as people live very busy lifestyles and do not have time to go to the gym every day and by selling the idea that by simply wearing there trainers you will be able to improve your legs and your bum a lot of people will try it. However i do query the trainers slightly as i have found out that they only tested the trainers on "A Reebok financed an exercise study involving five people"(Davis,J,2009). It is an innovative idea tapping into this market however do they really work in the long term is yet to be seen so i am not sold on the product yet but they have got to try these things as this is what innovation is all about.

Davis, J. (2009). Is the Reebok EasyTone an easy way to a sculpted butt and legs?. Available: http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/is-the-reebok-easytone-an-easy-way-to-a-sculpted-butt-and-legs. Last accessed 17th January 2012.

Dyson

Dyson is another company known for its innovation. Dyson is owned by James Dyson who has shown that he is able to look at a product see where it could be improved and make it happen .James Dyson has improved many products we all use on a daily basis for example the hand dryer and the hoover. The latest arrival from James Dyson has been the new bladeless fan. James version of a fan has no blades so the safety aspects of a fan have been improved. James has also developed the efficiency of the fan making it 15 times more efficient than a standard fan. However my view on the product is will people be willing to pay £199 for a fan. When the be can get a standard fan for £11.99 from Argos which is a fraction of the price and has an average score of 4 and a half stars from over 225 reviews. This shows that people are happy with a standard fan. The weather in Brittan means that there is not a great deal of demand for the product however it may be that other parts of the world snap up this new invention. I believe that the product is innovative as it is taking a product and transforming it which is exciting however i do not feel it will benefit my life in any way and if i needed a fan i would rather buy a standard one for £11.99 i think the audience for this product is in hot countries.

Charge your phone by walking.

This is a product that really interests me as it is a new invention. What makes this product so exciting is it is finding an alternative source of energy through something that most people do every day. Not only will this invention save people money on their electricity bills but it will also enable people to charge there devices no matter where they are. "Taking a stroll may soon be enough to re-charge your mobile phone, after US researchers developed a way to generate electricity from human motion."(BBC,2011) This product is innovation at its best in my eyes as this could help to save the planet. If one person can charge there phone just by walking then what could a city full of people do. There have been problems with this device due to the bombings and the fact that the shoes are producing electricity they would not be allowed in airports. But every product has its draw backs and a true innovator you have to believe in your product and just keep developing it until it is airport friendly. From this technology in Tokyo they have been able to “On a larger scale, power-generating mats have been installed under the floors at two Tokyo train stations to capture the vibrations of the thousands of commuters. The recovered energy is used to power a number of appliances, including the stations' (BBC ,2011)automatic doors. This shows just how important innovation is as it chaK, 

Moskvitch. (2011). Mobile phones could soon be 'powered by walking'. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14647639. Last accessed 19th Decembernges the way we live.