Change management paper

Innovation

I. Diffusion Approach (Everett Rogers).

A. An innovation is an idea, practice or object perceived as new by an individual.

B. Characteristics.

1. Relative advantage.

2. Compatibility

3. Complexity

4. Trialability

5. Observability.

C. Innovativeness is the degree to which an individual is relatively early in adopting new ideas rather than other members of the social system.

1. Innovators are the first 2.5% to adopt. High education, high income, high social status, specialized media use and strange.

2. Early adopters are the next 13.5% to adopt. Successful, opinion leaders. Popular specialized media.

3. Early Majority are the next 34% to adopt. Deliberate choice to adopt new ideas but don’t want to lead. General media (e.g., TV, newspapers).

4. Late Majority are the next 34% to adopt. Adoption due to economic necessity and social pressure.

5. Laggards are the last 16% to adopt and some never will. Little education, traditional, semi-isolates, suspicious.

D. Stages of adoption.

1. S- curve between time and rate of adoption.

E. Change agents professionals who influence innovations decisions.

1. Traits Expert, empathic, compassionate, capacity to handle ambiguity, friendly, venturesome, trusted

2. Stage of influence.

a. Stage 1: less than 5% adoption, change agent has little influence. Primarily media.

b. Stage 2: 5 to 20% adoption, change agents have much bigger impact. Help to get the word out to opinion leaders.

c. Stage 3: 15% to 20% adoption, change agents have little impact. Adoption is due to word of mouth from other adopters (opinion leaders)

Diffusion of innovation model.

Source: Rogers (1995)

D. Organizational characteristics that influence innovativeness.

1. Knowledge of innovation and reinvention: The likelihood of innovativeness is a function of knowledge and the perception that new idea can be adapted to their needs.

2. External accountability. To the degree to which an organization is accountable to stakeholders in the environment, it will be innovative.

3. Slack resources: The degree to which there are unused resources, organizations will be innovative. Turns out to be nonlinear. Too many or too few are bad for the organization.

4. Organizational structure

a. Complexity- number of occupational specializations and professions increase initiation of innovations but decreases implementation.

b. Formalization-existence of rules and routines decrease initiation of innovation and increases implementation.

c. Centralization-the concentration of power decreases initiation of innovation and increases implementation.

5. Permeable boundaries

a. Diversity in hiring.

b. Environmental monitoring.

c. Networks

1) Formal channels help diffuse innovative ideas.

2) Informal channels help influence attitudes and create adoption.

3) Roles: bridges, liaisons, cosmopolites, isolates.

II. Wilson

A. Innovation in an organization occurs in three stage: Conception of change, proposing of change and the adoption/implementation of change.

B. The odds of innovation activity is a function diversity of the organization.

C. Diversity is a function of the complexity of the task structure and incentive system. The greater the number of different tasks and nonroutine tasks the greater the diversity. The more complexity of the sources of rewards, the greater the diversity.

D. Proposition 1: The greater the diversity, the greater the possibility of conceiving of an innovation.

E. Proposition 2: The greater the diversity, the greater the probability of proposing an innovation.

F. Proposition 3: The greater the diversity, the smaller the probability that an innovation will be adopted.

G. Proposition 4: Diversity is unrelated to the overall frequency of innovations that are implemented.

H. Proposition 5: It is easier to increase an organizations capacity to generate new proposals than it is to increase the likelihood that any will be ratified.

I. Many organizations will not adopt new proposals unless there is a crisis.

J. Organizations that rely on intangible incentives will have greater numbers of proposals than will those that rely on material incentives.

K. External changes will prompt innovativeness to the extent they alter the incentives of organizational members.

L. Decentralization increases the chance of adoption.

M. Innovativeness will increase when the incentive system is uncertain.

III. Factors leading to innovation and creativeness on the job.

A. Damanpour

1. specialization.

2. functional differentiation: coalitions of professional across units.

3. professionalism

4. decentralizations

5. managerial attitude toward change.

6. technical knowledge resources

7. administrative intensity: higher proportion of managers

8. slack resources

9. external/internal communication.

B. Work climate: Baer and Frese

1. initiative

2. psychological safety

C. Trust and thinking: Clegg et al.

1. Systematic Thinking to suggestions.

2. Role breadth self-efficacy to suggestions

3. Trust that management will share benefit to suggestions.

4. Trust that heard to implementation of ideas.

5. Support for innovation from management to implementation

6. LMX to implementation.

D. Employee creativity. Oldham et al.

1. Complex jobs

2. Challenging jobs

3. Supervised in supportive but noncontrolling fashion.

4. Personality: capable, clever, confident, egotistical, humorous, informal, individualistic, insightful, intelligent, wide interests, inventive, original reflective, resources, self-confident, sexy, snobbish and unconventional.

E. Leaders of change.

1. Champions, Howell et al.,

a. Risk takers.

b. Achievement oriented.

c. Leadership skills: Inspiring

d. Leadership skills: Intellectual stimulations

e. Charisma

f. Influence: frequency

g. Influence: variety

IV. Dark side of innovation.

A. Jannsen: innovative employees are in conflict with colleagues and have unsatisfying relationships.

B. Fads and fashions. Abrahamson

1. Fads come from imitating competitors.

Haunschild et al. study

a. Frequency imitation in times of economic uncertainty.

b. Trait imitation copying organizations with certain features.

c. Outcome imitation only occurs if sustained success.

2. Fashions come from business gurus and consultants.

a) enthusiastic emotionally charged, unreasoned discourse.

b) Reasoned unemotional and qualified discourse.