write a 8- to 12-page evaluation (excluding title page and References section) of your research on change management. In your evaluation, be sure to address the following: Analysis of the Field What is your analysis of the state of the field of change ma

FROM THE EDITOR

Innovation is Change Management Jim Euchner

"We have met the enemy, and he is us. " Pogo (Walt Kelly)

It is perhaps a tautology to say that in- novation is change management. By definition, innovation is giving some- thing new to the world, and accepting something new requires some level of change. We often think of ourselves not as change agents, however, but as cre- ators, inventors, and designers caught in a web of resistances that are largely beyond our control. We might be more satisfied and successful if we thought of ourselves formally (and perhaps pri- marily) as change agents.

Innovators confront a variety of organizational change issues. There is change associated with introducing new methods or technical capabilities into an organization. There is change associated with incubating an innovation that doesn't quite fit with what Govindarajan and Trimble call the "performance engine" of a corporation.' And there is change required to bring to life a new

' Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble, The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2010).

James Euchner is editor-in-chief of Research- Technology Management and vice president of global innovation at Goodyear. He previously held senior nnanagennent positions in the leadership of innovation at Pitney Bowes and Bell Atlantic. He holds BS and MS degrees in mechanical and aero- space engineering from Cornell and Princeton Uni- versities, respectively, and an MBA from Southern Methodist University, [email protected]

DOI: 10.5437/08956308X5604002

growth engine for a firm. We all man- age these changes, sometimes well and sometimes poorly, sometimes with opti- mism and at others with despair, some- times consciously and at other times haphazardly. But few of us are formally taught or consciously learn the disci- plines of change management.

Chris Argyris, an expert in organiza- tional learning and change, identified the concept of organizational defensive routines (ODRs), the patterns of behav- ior that keep companies from embrac- ing the kinds of big change required for transformational or breakthrough innovation—change that requires re- thinking how resources are prioritized, how decisions are made, or how pro- cesses are optimized.^ Faced with this kind of unsettling change, people will do whatever is needed to maintain the sta- tus quo and resist the efforts of those trying to create a new reality. Over- coming ODRs is the province of change management.

John Kotter developed an infiuen- tial seven-step model for managing or- ganizational change that I think is relevant to managing innovation.' The first three steps are:

1. Create a sense of urgency for the change. The people critical to im- plementing an innovation need to have a gut-!evel belief that it is im-

^ Chris Argyris, On Organizational Learning, 2nd ed. {Maiden, MA: Blackwell, 1999). ' John Kotter, Leading Change, 2nd ed. (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2012).

portant (not jiist nice to have). If the company can meet its goals and aspirations without the innovation, it is hard to create that sense of urgency.

2. Build a powerful guiding coali- tion. The change must be enabled by an influential group of people personally committed to its success, people who can create the necessary sense of priority and give permis- sion to reset operating norms where appropriate.

3. Establish a clear (and shared) vision for the future. If you don't have a coherent vision that de- scribes where you are going, it's difficult for people to support your efforts. Without a growth strategy, innovation becomes fragmented and energy is dissipated. Far from con- straining innovation, clear boundar- ies liberate people to pursue new concepts that have a chance of being implemented.

These steps can often be taken for granted with innovation to create next- generation products, the dominant role of R&-D in most companies. But for innovation that requires change management—including attempts to create new businesses, shift business models, or respond to potentially dis- ruptive technologies—the require- ments for change management are vital, and rarely explicitly managed. Innovators tend to focus on the busi- ness, financial, and technical risks of

1 0 I Research-Technology Management • July—August 2013

the venture, not on the associated or- ganizational change. This accounts, I think, for the failure of many promising new businesses inside corporations.

Each of the kinds of change noted above is discussed in this issue. Lauto and Valentin consider the introduction of a new innovation method in a firm. In "Managing Front-End Innovation through Idea Markets at Novozymes," they share a case study of the use of idea markets to make portfolio deci- sions. One of the approaches the firm used was to blend idea markets with traditional, hierarchical decision mak- ing in order to increase acceptance of the new method.

Maylor, Turner, and Murray-Webster report on a study of cross-functional teams undertaking innovation proj- ects. In "Actively Managing Complex- ity in Technology Projects," they discuss an instrument they developed for assessing, a priori, the complexity of

a project, including its organizational complexity. A key finding was that much of the value of the instrument was in the conversations it provoked among different stakeholders with dif- fering perceptions of risk. The conver- sations helped manage change by creating shared understanding at a project level.

Markham and Lee discuss change management at an organizational level. In "Use of an Innovation Board to Inte- grate the Front End of Innovation with Formal NDP Processes," they present a longitudinal case study of the evolu- tion and effectiveness of an Innovation Board at a major firm. Their study chronicles in some detail the issues the firm confronted as it sought to imple- ment a more innovative culture over a period of 12 years.

Finally, in this issue's C-Scape, Rob van Leen discusses his experience at DSM helping to create new growth

engines for the company. The role he plays as Chief Innovation Officer is in large part a change agent role; he de- scribes himself as "the catalyst for in- creasing the speed of innovation in the company."

So, what can innovation leaders do given these challenges? One option is to stay within the bounds of incremental innovation that requires little change management. Another is to innovate and pray—to hope that the innovation itself will be engaging enough to draw the organization forward. A more reli- able approach is to broaden their per- ception of their roles as innovators and learn some of the disciplines of change management. These tools are often softer than the other management tools we use, and they take us outside of our comfort zones. But without them, we are liable to be frustrated by a lack of organizational acceptance, especially of our most innovative initiatives.

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