Cultural Nuances and the Optimization of Innovation

Altering organizational culture is “a means to achieving greater managerial control or enhancing organizational performance” (Hatch, 2004, p. 2) Cultural change is a large piece within the entire puzzle of change. Change cannot take place within any environment unless the culture therein is changed. Culture is “a pattern of fundamental assumptions developed by the organization for dealing with problems of internal and external adaptation (Schein, 1985, 1996)” (Gilkey, 1999). Incorporating everyone into change is critical for the success of change. “Policies can go only so far in changing the culture of an organization” there needs to be a focus on organizational structure, and what barriers exist to teamwork, efficiency and productivity (Paslidis, 2008). Within change there is both chaos and stability. “One key to unlocking the dynamics of organizational culture is to understand that, at a given moment, culture is changing only in parts, other parts remain stable” (Hatch, 2004, p.8). Herskovits (1964) stated that “the broad stream which comprises any culture has varied currents, of which now some, now others will be more rapid” (Hatch, 2004), p. 8). The interior of an organization has its culture in the form of a stream and the exterior of an organization has its culture in the form of an ocean. The ocean is constantly providing a source to the stream and so the constant flow of culture and change is never ending always influencing one another and forcing adaptation and innovation to occur.

Reference:

Gilkey, R.W. (1999). The 21^st century health care leader. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Hatch, M.J. (2004). Dynamics in Organizational Culture. New Direction in the Study of Organizational Change and Innovation Processes. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved September 24, 2008 from http://www.commerce.virginia.edu/faculty_research/Research/Papers/Hatch_Dynamics_Organizational_Culture.pdf.

Paslidis, N.J. (2008). Wake-up call leads to organizational transformation. Physician Executive, 34.4 (July-August 2008): p. 28(5). Retrieved September 24, 2008 from Gale PowerSeach.

Social Responsibility and the Innovation Process

The impact of social responsibility in the innovation process is huge. Today, more than ever, as our boundaries vanish globally and our actions have a ripple affect across an infinite expanse, we need to be aware of how everything we do impacts other lives, businesses, and our environment. “With organizations, economies, and entire societies increasingly interconnected, our actions affect (and are affected by) others, often literally a world away” (Senge, 2003). Gebler (2006) posits that there are 7 levels on which ethical organizations operate: 1) financial stability, 2) communication, 3) systems and processes, 4) accountability, 5) alignment, 6) social responsibility, and 7) sustainability. Gebler (2006) also states that successful organizations “operate across the full spectrum with particular focus in the upper levels of consciousness-the common good-accountability, leading to learning and innovation” (Gebler, 2006). All of these constructs are created by nurturing an ethical organizational culture which starts with leadership that has a “cascading effect from higher level leaders to lower level leaders due to modeling effective behaviors, hiring others with similar behaviors, and behaviors being reinforced by the organization (Bass, Waldman, Avolio, & Bebb, 1987) (Tucker & Russell, 2004).

References:

Gebler, D. (2006). Creating an ethical structure. Strategic Finance. May 2006, Vol. 87, Iss.11; p. 28.

Senge, P.M. (2003). Creating desired futures in a global economy. Reflections. Vol. 5, Iss. 1. Retrieved from Ebscohost October 1, 2008.

Tucker, B.A. & Russell, R.F. (2004). The influence of the transformational leader. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies (Baker College). Spring 2004, Vol. 10, Iss. 4; p. 103-111.

Failure and Innovation

“The more you fail, the more you succeed” (Kotelnikov, 2008). I personally believe that failure is the foundation to success and innovation. One never knows what genius lurks in the cloak of failure waiting to be unveiled. “Failure provides great learning opportunity and should be viewed as a very lifeblood of success” (Kotelnikov, 2008). Within an innovative organization, new ideas might sound crazy but “it takes a great many silly ideas to spawn one viable one, and ..in the early stages there is no way of telling the silly idea from the stroke of genius” as they “both look equally impossible or equally brilliant” (Denning, 2005). Alfred Sloan the success maker of General Motors says, “life itself is a process of trial and error…and those people who make no mistakes are those who make nothing”. My husband and I had a successful contracting business for 11 years and as a result of many factors including hurricanes, structural damage, and dwindling liquid capital, our business went down in December of 2005. Many factors in this equation were out of our control but I take full responsibility for making poor choices, bad decisions, and having bad judgment which all equaled demise in the end. This was a huge personal and professional failure. These times of failure create defining moments that challenge us in deep ways and they “form, reveal, and test” us (Badaracco, 2003). These defining moments produce critical opportunities for self-inquiry that allow us to refocus our core values and principles, birthing a renewed sense of purpose, and crafts an authentic and strong identity based upon an understanding of our experiences and what is right (Badaracco, 2003). I learned so much from this experience about myself amidst this failure and how to approach future business. We now have another contracting business and it was from valuable lessons of past failures that we can have better judgment today and make more seasoned choices that produce better outcomes. Failure contains encapsulated lessons to be learned about myself, life, and business and creates opportunities to learn, change, and grow. It is difficult to make a comeback, but I would not trade the experience and lessons I have gained for easy success on any given day. It is through reflective efforts and vigilant scanning that I am able to move forward with confidence knowing that failure is vital to the learning process, the innovation process, and to personal and professional success.

References:

Badaracco, J.L. (2003). The Discipline of Building Character. Chapter 19. Business Leadership: A Jossey-Bass reader.

Denning, S. (2005). Transformational Innovation: A journey by narrative. Strategy & Leadership. Vol. 33, Iss. 3; p. 11.

Kotelnikov, V. (2008). Freedom to fail. The Highway to Success. Retrieved October 2, 2008 from http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/failure_freedom.html