Challenges Faced by Amanda Leighton
Question:
Discuss about the Innovation Management Program Of Organization.
The report helps in analysis of the action plan that is relating to the innovation management program at Silver Street. The different considerations has to be analyzed wherein this will help the company in finding a way to return the program of innovation back to the top of agenda of the colleagues. The second part includes the designing and selling of innovation management program of Silver Screen that will help in meeting the strategic direction of the company along with interests of different stakeholders.
The main aim and purpose of the report is to explain the action plan that could have been done by the other person in place of Amanda Leighton. There were different issues relating to the action plan that has been created by Amanda Leighton and few changes were required to be made in order to make the innovation management program effective in nature.
The structure of the report includes the action plan that will be prepared by Chief People Officer in place of Amanda Leighton. The innovation management plan will be prepared in regards to take the innovation management program back to the top to the agenda prepared by the colleagues.
The organizational innovation is defined as the implementation of different organizational methods that will help in undertaking the different business practices and improve both internal and external relationships. Innovation management program is necessary in nature in different organizations as this helps them in strengthening the ability to innovate the different aspects that can help the organization to gain competitive advantage. If I was in place of Amanda Leighton, there can be different kind of changes that could have been incorporated as there were different issues that are affecting the entire organization along with employees effectualy.
The main issue in the innovation management plan of Amanda Leighton was that she did not implement any such kind of innovations from her own. She had asked the different teams to provide with their own ideas and analyze the ideas to create a proper innovation management plan. These kind of plan for innovation management were not liked and appreciated by the different teams as there was no such ideas of the head in the innovation management. If I would have been in place of Amanda Leighton, I would have implemented different kind of strategies that will help in solving the issues in an effective manner. The below diagram will help in understanding the importance of innovation management in organizations.
However, there can be different changes that can be implemented in the plan of innovation management in the entire organization if I was in place of Amanda Leighton. The innovation management plan has to be incorporated by the entire management team in order to generate proper organizational objectives. The organization has and it needs to hire different experts for their organization, as this will help them in managing the entire innovation of the organization. If I was in place of Amanda Leighton, I would conduct a meeting in order to understand the different kind of issues that are faced by the employees in the organization as this could have provided me a brief overview of issues and solve them in an effective manner as well.
Alternative Strategies for Innovation Management
The training has to be provided to the experts in the organization, as this will help them to provide a proper and clear idea about the innovations that will be taking place in the organization. The scalable platform for success of the organizations has to be created as this will increase the engagement of the employees and generate stream of ideas that is constant in nature as well. Proper establishment of the right principles related to the organization has to be analyzed, as this will help in supporting the innovation management plan. This will help me to incorporate different changes that will help the organization in performing better in an overall manner.
Proper engagement of the employees is essential in nature that has to be incorporated in order to build a proper management tool. The entire focus of the organization along with the different teams has to be completely on the different aspects that can help them in gaining success. There should be no implementation of the compensation plan, as this will help in removing the resistance among the employees. The training of the employees is necessary as this will reduce resistance of employees and celebrate success as well.
Furthermore, the experts require understanding the different innovation techniques that has been adopted by different teams in the organization. I would have made the experts understand whether any such innovation techniques has been done by the different teams as this is essential to know the requirement for the steps in the future. The respective organization needs to analyze the different other steps in such a manner that will help them in creating the innovation management plan more unique and this will be helpful for all the departments. The experts who had been hired needs to check the work performed by all the departments as this will help in making the innovation management successful and effectual.
I would have made the employees understand the importance of change management by telling them the example of Motorola Company wherein the innovation management was organized and they were successful in implementing the plan of all the departments in an effective manner. The action plan prepared by employees of Motorola was effective and they tried to implement the innovation management in an effectual manner. The respective company focused on the overall targeted innovation that helped them in exchanging the different ideas of the employees in the organization.
I would have made different groups of employees wherein I would have provided them with different plans and tasks that had to be performed by them as this will help the employees to become more obedient and this will help the organization in performing better in the future as well. I would have implemented different innovation models and techniques that can be implemented by employees as to bring changes in organization. I would have tried to understand and analyze the issues in keeping myself in their position and solve the matter effectively.
The business needs were analyzed and understood by the different employees and this will help in achieving success as well. A rigorous process of the innovation management has helped the company in managing the backend of innovation and they celebrated the success of the innovation management in a positive manner. The building of the management tool by the company along with different employees of various departments helped them in gaining success. Therefore, these are the different kind of techniques that can be applied by me if I was in place of Amanda Leighton and this would have helped me in solving the issues in an effectual manner that will help me and the employees to understand the requirement of change management and innovative in the organization. I think that change management and innovation management is essential in nature as this will help in solving the issues in an effective manner as this provides brief overview of the techniques that will be suitable for different kind of organizations.
Importance of Change Management
The given innovation plan and framework outlines the design of the innovation management plan that should be present in the organization. The given plan is bound to impact positivity into the business components and aims to bring out positive results for the given organization. The management program consists of seven steps that will be helpful in designing and implementing a successful innovation program.
The idea generation for the given restaurant is extremely important in understanding the direction in which the organization needs to go. The ideas of the company can be generated from a vast number of sources like:
- Outside: This method can be used to generate ideas from various sources like market trends, technology, customer feedback and other relevant sources of ideas. The company can also look out for ideas in various case studies, books and journals. It can take examples from its competitor’s action in order to understand the manner it should go about in its sphere.
- Top down- Ideas in the organization can also come from the executive and top level managers. Top management has certain amount of mission and visions which it can use in order to understand the future path of the organization. The innovation ideas can also be taken from a product or a service.
- Inside out- The ideas for business innovation can also come out from the knowledge that is possessed by the customers and the various employees as well as from the knowledge of the business enterprise and their various plans which have been excited in the past.
The primary motive of generating an idea is that the company must develop a new path of innovation. For the innovation program of the Silver Street, the ideas can be generated from various sources like the employees, from competitors and from the management itself.
As seen from the case study, the approach used earlier was an inside out approach whereby the various employees were contributing towards the success of the organization. However, in the given plan an outside in approach has been suggested hereby the company should observe the customer demands and their feedback should be taken to improve the innovation at the organization.
Had I been at Amanda`s position I would have followed the given steps:
An innovation framework needs to be formed for a business which shall prove as a platform in order to harness the talents of the organization, alongside staying in alignment with the corporate strategy. Without a proper framework for an organization, the company will not be able to implement the various ideas which need to be collected. Innovation needs to be a strategic approach towards organizational change. I believe that the innovation framework which will be designed should be such that:
- It has a positive impact on the organizational culture
- It increases employee engagement
- It helps in generation of ideas.
According to me, social media tools can be used along with innovation framework in order to make sure that the organization has the ability to manage the resources, with the help of various online resources and tools.
Although Silver Street began on a good note and started taking advice from all the employees and management, however, it was initially unable to make a direct connect with the different employees and it could not build a rapport from them. I can analyze that the innovation structure came about as a pressure on the different employees and departments which later gave up on the idea and declared they were already well updated and that they did not need any kind of ne program.
According to me, through a proper framework, this concept and resistance needs to be converted to acceptance. Only when it has been changed it to acceptance then the implementation can actually start.
The de-freezing period for an organization serves as a buffer period whereby the employees are given some time to amend their old ways and get prepared to adopt the new ones. Many employees are often resistance towards change and hence I believe that as a platform has already been created, the workers should be given an opportunity to prepare themselves for the new ways and get rid of the old ones.
Conclusion
Application to Silver Street
Had I been at Amanda`s position I would have encouraged everyone to change and upgrade to adapt to the innovation process that would be adopted soon but provided the employees with buffer period whereby they can let go of the old process and embrace for the new change in their working style.
Principles play a key role in the establishment of innovation in any given organization. If the organization is serious about the implementation of the innovation plans then the organization needs to hire and form a community of champions who are highly talented and knowledgeable advocates who have knowledge about various business organizations and have many connections within and outside the firm. They will be providing the organization with certain inputs for the welfare of the organization.
The change and innovation which needs to be brought about in the organization, needs to consulted along with the experts. I believe that the Silver Street Company needs to employee some experts who will then work for the organization change after analysis of the external environment and other relevant factors.
Employees can be said to be the primary backbone of the organization. In the given scenario, lot of resistant was faced from the employees who were unwilling to change their ways because they believed that they had already bought about a huge amount of change and that more innovation was not required. The employees should be consistently trained, monitored and guided in the organization. Team work should be encouraged in order to bring about essential success and sustainability of the program.
According to me, this aspect as well covered by the company whereby, Silver Street needs to engage the various employees into a union and work for the welfare of the company.
I believe that, if encouraged to provide their valuable input and provide various ideas which should then be kept a track of. Even if the innovation idea is coming from outside the organization, the company should see to it that the employees are encouraged to collaborate with the change and work accordingly; it shall go a long way in contributing towards the success of the firm.
Very often the initial concept is unable to provide justice to the organization and hence, it is recommended that a dummy test is run. This dummy test can check the capability of the innovative idea to bring about a change in the organization.
Whenever an employee is providing some idea, the company should see to it that the idea is valid and run a test. According to me, this will have a two way effect. The employee will feel valued and his morale will get raised. Secondly, the idea which sounds too lofty in the beginning might work out for the company.
An idea management system needs to be built which may add transparency to the process of the innovation program. The company should chalk out an innovative portal here the employees can give in their ideas and a record of it is kept (Hattendorf, 2018). There should be a presence of a proper feedback system that needs to enable the firm to gather feedback from the champions, employees and management alike.
I believe that when the employees are providing ides, it should be seen to it that the there is a proper system of recording those ideas. A portal like system should be built whereby the employees can give in their feedback and transparency with respect to the implementation of those ideas is maintained.
Targeted innovation can be described as a technique whereby along with providing ideas a framework of innovations formed whereby the stakeholders of the organization are able to solve their doubts and queries.
The targeted innovation can be said to be a key concept that is essential to solve the resistance problem that is received from the various employees and other internal stakeholders. In this step the given innovation program is well defined and clear. The background, scope and duration are provided adequately. It is ensured that the focus of the organization is weighted on the right areas. This step ensures that the concept is readily accepted b others.
Earlier at Silver Street, innovation ideas were just being discussed randomly and proper direction was missing. This is the reason that the program was not implemented successfully and the employees showed resistant. This resistant took the form of different departments not willing to take in the necessary changes which were required to be taken. If the innovation had a targeted view point, the results would have been more successful. The different departments could have been presented with a proper targeted area where they could have improved. Hence, it is suggested that instead of creating ambiguity the management should directly take a concerned area and start the innovation plan.
In the given stage it is seen that the ideas which have not been taken up are constantly reviewed for adoption. Ideas come from all members in the organization and it becomes extremely important to see to it that some ideas which did not fit in the beginning might be able to fit at the end. The primary motive is to regard and carry forward with new ideas.
I believe that, various ideas come up to the decision makers, from the employees at Silver Street, however not all of them could be implemented because for circumstances like the idea being too advanced for the organization. Hence, these ideas need to be constantly reviewed by the management and fit them for the welfare of the organization just like a puzzle.
The companies must also celebrate their success when they are able to successfully convert their innovation program. The culture of the firm becomes accountable and innovative which counts for celebration.
Celebration boosts the morale of the stakeholders and strengthens their bond with the company. The trick is extremely simple (Hattendorf, 2018). The efforts must be recognized and regarded.
Once the innovation program has been successfully implemented then the company should celebrate its efforts and success. Once it is able to that then only the employees will become motivated for the future of the organization and will want to take innovation programs for the future.
Innovation is not an easy task. It involves amalgamation of various ideas and funds. The components include sponsors, employees of all levels, funds, technology and many more resources. The innovators must however not stop at any stage and keep looking forward to the next move. The suggested measures will help the organization to design and sell the innovation plan to the organization and make it strive towards success.
Hence, if the company is able to have a targeted vision and be able to involve in successful implementation as well as planning with the help of experts, then Silver Sprung will be able to achieve its goal successfully.
Conclusion
Therefore from the given report it can be stated that innovation forms an essential part of an organization. In the business era today, adaptability is the main selling point. The companies who are able to adapt to the new techniques, are the ones who are able to survive in the given race. However, the lunge between the present state to the adaptation and implementation of the new stage is not any easy task and requires innovation. Amanda Leighton planned to do the same with the organization but was not successful in doing so because of the lack of a proper planning system. Hence, a proper framework for the successful design and acceptance of the people has been provided in the report which elaborates upon how an innovation plan must be designed and sold to the various stakeholders in the organization with special reference to Silver Street Confections.