Assessment Task Questions Answers

Assessment Task 1 Instructions

Provide answers to all of the questions below: 

Questions:

  • Research and discuss any two (2) innovation theories and discuss their key concepts. Write your answer in 250-300 words.
Schumpeter’s theory of innovation is the line of other investment theories and models of the business cycle and that will help in changes in investment accompanied by monetary development are the main aspects following the company alterations. As per Schumpeter, the cyclical procedure helps gain accurate outcomes of innovation in the firm, both commercial and industrial (Aas, et. al., 2015). The key concept of this theory is that it is mainly focused on capital growth and business cycles and analyze the significance of entrepreneurs and innovation. It has been analyzed that this theory indicates that business innovation is a major reason for enhancing capital and business variations.

The diffusion theory of innovation is such theory that helps in explaining and describing how, why, and at what rate the latest equipment and technology can be expanded. The main concept of this theory is to focus on adopting new ideas that can assist in developing innovation. It is that theory which helps in explaining new ideas which are spread among a group of individuals. Diffusion goes beyond the two stages of flow theory, centering on the situation that enhancing and decreasing the likelihood which is an innovation. But there are certain intermediaries between media and audience decision-making process. Along with this, it is required for the company is to use such theory and this will help in maintaining and managing business new ideas in a better manner. Such a theory mainly concentrates on developing new ideas and work on gaining better results that can provide them high success and growth.

 

  • Compare and contrast the theories selected in Question 1 with past innovation theories and thinking. Write your answer in 300-350 words.
Both the above-described theories differ from each other in each term. In Schumpeter’s theory of innovation, it is mainly focused on investing the required amount of capital that is used to maintain the business cycle in a better manner. Besides this, Schumpeter’s theory is applied in business and helpful in increasing investment and continuous fluctuation examined. On the other hand, diffusion of theory concentrates on developing major ideas that assist in reaching business goals and targets. This theory helps in motivating an organization employees so that they can easily think over the innovation which provides them higher growth and development. In this, the adoption of new ideas, behaviour, and products does not happen simultaneously in the social system. It is analyzed that innovation is not adopted by all individuals in the social system at the same time (Adegbile, et. al., 2017). They tend to adopt time sequence and it can be classified into adopter categories that are based on who long it is taken to start the process by using original ideas. Schumpeter is that theory which does not mean invention rather it defines commercial adoption of the latest techniques and equipment. Such theory has developed a model in two steps that include first approximation and second approximation to describe the business cycle theory of innovation. Under the Schumpeter theory of innovation, this is described that it assists in maintaining business investment and capital in a better manner. In the diffusion of theory, it is the process in which some people are more adopt innovation than others. The leader and manager of the company concentrate on encouraging people to reach with desired goals. It is important for a manager is to work for developing business growth and development. Along with this, it is useful in identifying agents who can recognize which category certain individuals belongs and analyze short term goals of change agent.

 

  • Explain how theory and thinking on innovation and creativity can contribute to applied practice. Write your answer in 400-450 words.
Successful innovators think critically and act strategically for understanding the applied practices. The ability to resolve the important issues and problems can rely heavily on innovator creativity and success factors. It is examined that innovation and creativity are the lifeblood of the company. It is necessary for any business is to focus on maintaining and managing creativity and they are thinking positively towards attaining desired targets. Creativity and innovation are the main areas that evaluate and determine the failure and success of the company. Innovation is a primary source of gaining competitive advantages in enhancing the complexities and quickly changes in the business environment. An innovation procedure contains two main functions such as innovation and creativity. In this, creativity mainly involves the generation of novel and useful ideas at the time of innovation entails the execution of such concepts into new commodities and processes. Both the creativity and innovation concept are the same things in which an individual need to focus on perform better work and think creatively so they can attain higher growth in future life career (Bagno, et. al., 2017). Such things are adopted and applied in real-life practice in which they require to understand the need for innovation in business and practices. Besides this, an individual should be encouraged by its management when he works in an organization, by this, they can easily attain extreme goals.

Creativity also inspires staff members to perform work and engage with each other while making decisions. Employees need to come up with new ideas and also listen to their team members regarding the business operations and how they will get new chances to develop the company in new form with innovation. With the help of such action, an organization can easily gain growth and development levels in which they should also focus on managing firm goals. The creativity procedure motivates and increases collaboration among team members and it is the most essential advantage of providing a workplace in which creative thinking arises. For innovation in the company, leaders should not only embrace innovation and foster creativity but also need to operationalize such innovation practically. All the described theories help get an accurate decision which helps in lead the company in the right direction. Creativity is the nature of developing something original, new, and concepts that assist in the smoothly run of business operations. Besides this, innovation can think about developing new changes in the company and leader in the right direction where they are focused on maintaining growth.

 

  • Discuss the impact of leadership style on innovation in organizations, including how specific approaches may encourage or inhibit innovation. Write your answer in 250–300 words.
It is analyzed that leadership style has created a positive impact through organizational learning on innovation procedures of the company. There is an important relationship between leadership styles and innovation within an organization. Leadership styles need to understand by managers and leaders and as per this, they should make innovative ideas. With the proper analysis of such styles, leaders can able to make decisions regarding how they will manage innovation and lead towards increasing growth in a company (Brexendorf, et. al., 2015). Various leadership styles help in creating changes in the company such as servant leadership, participative and transformational leadership motivates collaborations and exchanges ideas in different ways. An organization is compensated with innovation, encouragement, and enclosure. It is required for company leaders is to focus on identifying the impact of leadership style on innovation and also understand various approaches that may motivate or inhibit innovation.

In this, the manager needs to evaluate ideas before confirming this and use the correct style of leadership that helps in making the correct decision for business growth. The leadership styles could coherence to the unit and also induce employees who are participated in the work along with maintaining the ability to reach organizational innovation. Such styles can affect the business operations of innovation administration that could persuade staff members to perform hard work. The leaders need to focus on maintaining and managing innovation along with work for encouraging leading the correct path. It is required for the company is to focus on leadership forms that are important for enhancing business operations and processes.

 

  • Discuss the relevance of innovation in the organizational and industry context. Write your answer in 250–300 words.
Innovation is the most essential concern of every company and the main role is to develop and coordinate the market is inalienable. Innovation is that process that starts with an introduction to plan of an idea and it will become a new operation and it is very different from creation. The main point is that innovation is diverse from creativity. The significance of innovation and their essential role in growth, success, and survival of the company. It is important for the company is to provide effective training and development sessions to their employees so that they can easily perform work in a better manner (Dickel, et. al., 2016).

With the help of training, the team members and leaders have developed new skills and develop ideas to conduct innovation in business operations which assist in increasing growth. Innovation is essential to the advancement of the community as it helps in solving such types of social issues and increases society’s capacity to perform. It is the main role of the company is to resolve collective issues and challenges effectively and it is used in new technology for further development. Innovation is the key success of an organization and it helps in increasing the growth of a firm in a large marketplace. In the context of industry and organization, innovation is critical processes that have sustainable business as it allows one to look into the future and come up with new creative ideas that do not think by competitors. Every employee should focus on think creative and innovative that assists the company in developing huge growth and development.

 

  • Analyse the internal and external conditions or factors that impact organizational innovation. Write your answer in 200–250 words.
It is important for the company is to focus on analyzing internal and external conditions ad factors that may directly influence organizational innovation. There are variously internal and external factors such as customers, competitors, suppliers, labourers, government and so more. The external factors involve economy, politics, customers, rivals and on the other hand, internal factors include employees, company culture, financial condition, a process that is seen in the company. For this, the company needs to analyze the whole market situation and according to the condition of the external market, they require developing their decision (Frishammar, et. al., 2019). By evaluating whole external or internal conditions, the company needs to take any action through which their innovation activities do not impact. It is analyzed that the company’s stability and profitability are interdependent with each other and they identify the response to change the whole environment.

For analyzing both the internal and external factors, an organization requires to conduct an environmental scan which is used to examine the overall market situation. It also assists the company is taking various opportunities before they are building any decisions and focus on enhancing the growth of an organization. Through examining whole factors, the company can easily deal with arising issues and problems that may create a negative influence on the business operations and its functions. When the company innovates new product and services then they need to focus on both internal and external factors which can directly impact business activities and procedures. Besides this, these aspects assist in maintaining innovative ideas and thoughts which can regulate the overall business procedures effectively.

 

  • Outline the strategies for identifying, assessing, and managing risks associated with innovation? Write your answer in 500-550 words.
Various strategies help in identifying, assessing, and managing the required risk that is related to innovation. It includes:

Identify the risk as a major opportunity: It is important for the company is to focus on recognizing the risk that may impact business operations. To avoid risk, they can take advantage of and lead to conduct new creative ways of resolving issues. The company could take risks that are providing accurate solutions to certain issues. Risk is said to be the main chance for any company as it helps in recognize various issues and problems which may create a negative impact on the business functions and its operations.

Assess the risk and risk acceptance level: It is required for the company is to understand the risk and manage these risks which create a negative impact on the business functions and its operations. It is also necessary for a firm is to focus on assess the issues that are arising while the company performs any functions. For this, the business needs to focus on required changes and alterations which can create negative influences on the company activities (Goffin, et. al., 2019). This is significant to evaluate and determine the risk acceptance level of the stakeholders as well. Also, the company should make sure to understand the risk tolerance of the stakeholders so that they can develop accurate decisions on how and when they required proceeding with risky factors of the innovation.

Eliminate the biggest risk: It is essential for any company is to concentrate on mitigating the important risks at the prior level to ensure that they do not completely understand the whole project. When an organization works on a specific project then they require focusing on eliminating such risk which may be increasing the chances of building a negative impact on the business operations. It is important for the company is to solve the biggest issues before investing in detailed design to ignore the waste efforts effectively.

Realize that small risk can accumulate: This requires considering both the size and quantity of risks in the project on regular basis. When a company gets the point where they have eliminated the most important risk and ready for performing the next step, then they need to recognize that all the small risks can add frequently and become significant. It is those strategies that assist in assessing, identifying, and managing risks in a better way. By this, innovative actions can be increasing and lead towards higher success or growth.

Not assume risk management will end: Innovation progress and success need continuous risk management which helps in maintaining innovative activities of an organization. This is seen that the company will always better proactive and maintain risk on an ongoing basis to prevent the smooth running of business functions. It is required for the company is to assume and predict risk management that assists in dealing with issues and problems.

 

  • Discuss the four (4) phases of the innovation process. Write your answer in 200-300 words.
Innovations are challenges, characterized, risk, and complexity and it is essential to formulate a system, structure, and method for the development. It includes practical innovation procedures as per the different stages that lead towards creativity and focus on gaining desired goals.

Phase 1: Ideas

It is an innovation process that helps in search and explores for finding innovation potentials and derivations of ideas that are consequently determined. In this, the company needs to focus on idea emerges from the desire for innovation. With the help of new ideas, firms can easily reach goals and targets properly (Korableva, et. al., 2017).

Phase 2: Concept

It is an effective stage which is used to collect and gather important information regarding the ideas and further processing. For the idea generation, the concept is essential to evaluate by the company. It examines the need for a solution, execution, and marketing. The company’s main attention is paid to the solution concept that is best determined with future clients and users.

Phase 3: Solution:

The innovation process has the third stage which is a solution for the innovation in which the results or outcomes of the innovation will be tested or evaluated for the conditions on which it was created. This will help in the organizational behaviour for the working culture as the solutions of the innovation are required to be accurate for following the goals and objectives of the organization.

Phase 4: Market

This is based on the innovation process in which the final product will be included in the market place for the conduction of the various places as the market popularity of the things are very important for the innovation process. The market exposure of the innovation will decide the accuracy and other factors regarding the performance of the innovative technology which is introduced in the organization.

 

  1. Explain any three (3) examples of organizational innovation drivers. Write your answer in 200-300 words.
Organizational innovation drivers are the factors that encourage and drive innovative activities in the organization for helping the organization in growth and development. The drivers of innovation demand learning and continuity for development. A sense of urgency is being created for the organizational goals by the innovation drivers for generating the latest and creative ideas for the accomplishment of the goals of the organization.

·      Problems: problems are the important driver for innovation in any business as they arise of problems initiates the idea of the introduction of innovation in the various activities of the organization (Martín-de Castro, 2015). This will help in the promotion and support of the innovative ideas of the organization to be implemented for the completion of tasks and consideration of the parts of company. The problems are the factors which induce the chances of introducing the motive of innovation in the organization for successfully implementing the goals and objectives in the organization.

·      Constraints: the various conditions which introduce constraints of the organization which will force for the implementation of the various innovative ideas in the field of work for the support of the growth and development for the enhancement in the activities of the organization. The constraints drove innovation in the organization’s development and enhancement of innovative activities.

·      Opportunities: the opportunities are very important drivers in the way of enhancing the innovation activities in the organization for the improvement in the working knowledge and other factors of the company. These are very important for the pushing of innovative actions in the direction of the company’s goals and objectives. The opportunities will enhance the chances for the implementation of the innovation in the company’s goals and objectives which can be promoted and supported by the top leadership in the organization for development and growth.

 

  • What are innovation enablers? Explain any four (4) organizational innovation enablers. Write your answer in 150-200 words.
Innovation enablers are defined as the contributed factors which are involved in the facilitation of innovation team for the innovation working in the organization and claiming for the innovation application as in the ideas of practice which will provide the benefits for the organization working culture. There are various organizational innovation enablers which are as follows-

·      Leadership: leadership is a very important innovation enabler as the employees will be motivated by the leaders of the organization to work in the direction of enhancement in the innovative technology of the company (Mergel, 2016).

·      Strategy: the strategy is very crucial for the innovation enabler as the innovation needs to be strategized for the conditions to be followed properly and getting the defined results of the innovative practices being followed in the organization.

·      Risk-taking: risk-taking is the innovation enabler which gives the power to be ready for the innovation results as these can be depressive or impressive which has the chance to go in the direction of every possibility for the organization.

·      Empowerment: It is a necessary innovation enabler in which the power is being provided for the initiation of the innovation in the working culture of the organization to be supporting and promoting the innovation changes in the culture.

 

  • Give at least five examples of activities that will promote and support innovative practices in an operational context.
There are various kinds of activities that will promote and support innovative practices in an operational context. The employees can be provided with extra perks or rewards for enhancing innovative practices in the operational field of the organization. This will support the innovative practices in the operational context as employees will be boosted with energy and enthusiasm for innovation. The second activity is to make them understand the idea of innovation and its importance for the company which will support and promote the innovative practice in the operational context as the employees will get the contribution’s benefits (Mir, et. al., 2016). The third activity for the support and promotion of innovative practices can be provided with the training for being innovative in working conditions. This will improve the working environment for supporting and promoting the innovative practices in the organization. The fourth activity can be involving brainstorming sessions for the employees of the organization as it will enlarge the perspective of innovation along with the contribution of top-level groups for the development of the organization. The fifth activity can be to introduce the habits of being innovative on daily working purposes which will promote and support the innovative practices in the organization. This will support the culture and enhance growth and developmental practices in the organization.

 

 

  • Describe mechanisms at the system or process level that can support innovative practices. Write your answer in 150-200 Words.
Brainstorming is the mechanism at the system or process level which can support the innovative practices for the organization. The brainstorming is the contribution of every member of the innovative practices which are very important for the organization to develop the situation for the enhancement in the innovation practices in the support for the organization. The brainstorming considers the viewpoint of every member related to the situation of the organization for following the innovation practices (Murphy, et. al., 2015). The mechanism is very helpful in the process level which will gain the advantages in the support of innovative practices for the different conditions of the innovation of mechanism in organization. The brainstorming process is very useful for getting new ideas for the innovation practices to support the cause for the benefits of the organization and this will improve the conditions of the organization for working in the improved space.

 

  • Discuss nine (9) common challenges to innovation within an organization. Write your answer in 250-300 Words.
There are various common challenges to innovation within an organization which are as follows:

·      The employees in the organization are not given the power to innovate on their own as the manager fear innovation as they think it will distract the employees from their work.

·      The employees are not being motivated by the top leadership of the business to encourage them for trying out new ideas or skills in the organization’s working culture which will help the company (Nambisan, et. al., 2017).

·      There is a lack of innovation strategy in various organizations which is very common to not develop any concise innovation strategies as it is very crucial.

·      The innovation is limited to one function group in organizations which is a common challenge as it should spread to the various departments of the organization as it is the problem that needs to be resolved.

·      Lack of collaboration in the organization can be considered as the issues of innovation in which the top management is not supportive of the innovation measures which are being taken.

·      Lacking diversity in the company is another challenge for the organization as these are important for the innovation of the organization for the advantages in the functioning of the groups (Song, et. al., 2015).

·      The firm does not take interest in innovation if its current services are being successful which a very big challenge for the organization is.

·      The organization loses the connection with its customers which is an important challenge for the organization to utilize the feedback from customers regularly for the organization.

The innovation measurement correction is very important to challenge in which the organization is being improved for the benchmarking core of innovation for the firm.

 

  • List at least ten (10) potential barriers to innovation within an
The potential barriers to innovation within an organization are as follows:

·      Short term thinking

·      Fear

·      Lack of leadership skills

·      Lack of collaboration

·      No time

·      Lack of capacity or resources

·      Pack of ideas, but not delivering to market place

·      Focus lacking

·      Lack of urgency

·      No clear process

 

  • Give three (3) examples of how you can overcome challenges and barriers to innovation in an organization at the management level? Write your answer in 100-150 words.
There are various ways in which the challenges and barriers to innovation in an organization can be overcome at the management levels of the company which are as follows-

·      Support from top administration: this is a very easy way to overcome challenges and barriers in which the top administration will support the innovative actions taken by the lower levels of the organization to bring freshness and creativity to the working culture.

·      Rewarding employees with innovative skills: this can be involved in the overcoming of barriers that will be taken in accord in various ways. The employees can be rewarded which will boost their morale to keep doing the innovative efforts for the organization at the management levels (Tidd, et. al., 2016).

·      Experiment and evaluation: in the management level of the organization, the innovative approaches or policies can be experimented with or evaluated for the research of the results of the particular action for the company’s benefits or advantages which will remove the chances of challenges or barriers in the implementation of the organization.

 

 

 

  • Name the three (3) components of a knowledge management system and how would you promote transfer? Write your answer in 100-150 words.
The major components of a knowledge management system are people, processes, and information. The people are the components that are responsible for the keeping of knowledge and applying them. The processes are the components that are included in the people organize, store, create, distribute, or capture knowledge. The information is the parts of facts or data which are converted and applied as knowledge by people in the knowledge management system (Vishnevskiy, et. al., 2015). The transfer of knowledge will be promoted in the knowledge management system by the step by step processes. The knowledge will be identified and collected, stored & captured, transferred to the people who require knowledge. The knowledge transfer will be promoted by spreading the benefits of knowledge management between the people which will improve the awareness of the advantages of being intensified with the knowledge terms and dealing with the outer world with the power of knowledge.

 

References

Aas, T. H., Breunig, K. J., Hydle, K. M., & Pedersen, P. E. (2015). Innovation management practices in production-intensive service firms. International Journal of Innovation Management19(05), 1550055.

Adegbile, A., Sarpong, D., & Meissner, D. (2017). Strategic foresight for innovation management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management14(04), 1750019.

Bagno, R. B., Salerno, M. S., & da Silva, D. O. (2017). Models with graphical representation for innovation management: a literature review. R&D Management47(4), 637-653.

Brexendorf, T. O., Bayus, B., & Keller, K. L. (2015). Understanding the interplay between brand and innovation management: findings and future research directions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science43(5), 548-557.

Dickel, D. G., & de Moura, G. L. (2016). Organizational performance evaluation in intangible criteria: a model based on knowledge management and innovation management. RAI Revista de Administração e Inovação13(3), 211-220.

Frishammar, J., Richtnér, A., Brattström, A., Magnusson, M., & Björk, J. (2019). Opportunities and challenges in the innovation landscape: Implications for innovation auditing and innovation management. European Management Journal37(2), 151-164.

Goffin, K., Åhlström, P., Bianchi, M., & Richtnér, A. (2019). Perspective: State‐of‐the‐art: The quality of case study research in innovation management. Journal of Product Innovation Management36(5), 586-615.

Korableva, O. N., Gorelov, N. A., & Shulha, M. V. (2017, September). Risk component of innovation management strategy. In European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (pp. 837-843). Academic Conferences International Limited.

Martín-de Castro, G. (2015). Knowledge management and innovation in knowledge-based and high-tech industrial markets: The role of openness and absorptive capacity. Industrial marketing management47, 143-146.

Mergel, I. (2016). Agile innovation management in government: A research agenda. Government Information Quarterly33(3), 516-523.

Mir, M., Casadesús, M., & Petnji, L. H. (2016). The impact of standardized innovation management systems on innovation capability and business performance: An empirical study. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management41, 26-44.

Murphy, M. E., Perera, S., & Heaney, G. (2015). Innovation management model: a tool for sustained implementation of product innovation into construction projects. Construction Management and Economics33(3), 209-232.

Nambisan, S., Lyytinen, K., Majchrzak, A., & Song, M. (2017). Digital Innovation Management: Reinventing innovation management research in the digital world. Mis Quarterly41(1).

Song, W., Ming, X., Han, Y., Xu, Z., & Wu, Z. (2015). An integrative framework for innovation management of product–service system. International Journal of Production Research53(8), 2252-2268.

Tidd, J., & Thuriaux‐Alemán, B. (2016). Innovation management practices: cross‐sectorial adoption, variation, and effectiveness. R&D Management46(S3), 1024-1043.

Vishnevskiy, K., Karasev, O., & Meissner, D. (2015). Integrated roadmaps and corporate foresight as tools of innovation management: the case of Russian companies. Technological Forecasting and Social Change90, 433-443.

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