Destination Innovation: Hr's Role in Charting the Course - Softcover

Buhler, Patricia M., Dr.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1586443836 ISBN 13: 9781586443832

Verlag: Society for Human Resource Management, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

HR professionals are responsible in large part for nurturing the culture of organizations. As the profession continues its shift to more strategic work, this challenge becomes even more critical. Working at the epicenter of our organizations, HR has the opportunity--and duty--to shape the components essential to effective execution in building a culture success...a culture of innovation. Using this as the foundation, this book, written for HR professionals, will help readers better perform the recruitment process to ensure creative talent feeds this culture. And once hired, this talent must be developed, managed, and recognized to further prime the pump of innovation throughout the organization. This book offers the tools to achieve this strategic mandate.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Patricia M. Buhler, DBA, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, is full professor at Goldey-Beacom College. She teaches several undergraduate- and graduate-level management and HR courses. She is a law firm consultant on HR-related legal issues. Dr. Buhler is the author/coauthor of several books, including Up, Down, and Sideways: High-Impact Verbal Communication for HR Professionals with Joel D. Worden.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Destination Innovation

HR's Role in Charting the Course

By Patricia M. Buhler

Society For Human Resource Management

Copyright © 2015 Patricia M. Buhler
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-58644-383-2

Contents

Dedication, 
Chapter 1. An Introduction to Innovation: More Than Thinking Outside the Box, 
Chapter 2. Understanding the Foundation of an Innovative Culture: Making It Work!, 
Chapter 3. Hiring for Innovation: Feeding Our Culture, 
Chapter 4. The Awakening: Developing a Workforce that Embraces Innovation, 
Chapter 5. The Carrot and the Stick: Rewarding for Innovation, 
Chapter 6. Managing People in an Innovative Culture, 
Chapter 7. The Shoemaker's Children: Is HR's House Innovating?, 
Chapter 8. Parting Thoughts: Putting It All Together, 
Endnotes, 
About the Author, 
Additional SHRM-Published Books, 

CHAPTER 1

An Introduction to Innovation: More Than Thinking Outside the Box

Our ability to innovate affects our organizations' performance — regardless of company or industry. One survey found that 98 percent of its respondents reported innovation as either important or very important in the success of their firm going forward. Furthermore, those companies that possess an openness to change and that focus on innovation tend to be the market leaders.

The business case for innovation and an expanded understanding of what innovation means today are explored in this chapter with surveys and research reports providing the foundation for the growing importance of innovation today — across all industries and organizations. Yet perhaps the strongest case for the importance of innovation is found in the best practices (and business performance) of successful organizations.

The nearly impossible can become possible with innovation, especially when executed as a team. The rescue of the 33 trapped Chilean miners in 2010 is a widely publicized example of the power of innovation. Harvard Business School professor Amy C. Edmondson shared that "it took the collaborative efforts of over one hundred experts in diverse fields innovating to develop and execute a novel solution on the fly." Consider the possibilities in our own organizations with a commitment to innovation!

Why Innovation?

To generate a competitive advantage in today's business landscape, companies must continually change. In their book Competing for the Future, Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad sent the clear message that organizations must be fast, agile, and responsive. We cannot be slow to take action. The window of opportunity is open for shorter periods of time today as our time horizons diminish. And being agile means being flexible, not being wed to the past.

The "same old, same old" (or business as usual) simply does not cut it today. In fact, there is no "usual" in today's dynamic business landscape. Those organizations that are not moving ahead are quickly falling behind. And in a rapidly changing world, falling behind just a little often puts us in the precarious position of playing the eternal catch-up game — until alas, we can no longer catch up, and we perish.

The firm that embraces innovation is better positioned to be responsive to its customers, anticipating their needs and responding accordingly. The innovative organization can often identify what their customers want before the customers even know it. How many of us cannot imagine a day without our smartphones? Apple may have very well envisioned this day far before we did!

Matt Donovan, author of the article "Shifting Focus to Agile Development" made the point that agility requires more systematic change rather than simply addressing pockets of change. An agile manifesto that was written at a computer programmers' summit in 2001 can provide a refresher for us today in moving away from the more traditional approaches to doing things. Much of the change so necessary for today's world, then, may require firms to reinvent themselves. And at the heart of this ability to change is the very DNA of the firm, known as its organizational culture. A culture that embraces innovation is critical in addressing the need for change.

According to Michael Stanleigh, "A recent study by the Harris Group indicated that executives see a culture of innovation as crucial to not only growing their business (95 percent) and profitability (94 percent) but also for attracting and keeping talent (86 percent)." It is no wonder, then, that the new battle cry of business has become "innovate or die." Recent surveys have reported that organizations across the globe are placing increasing importance on the need for innovation — and rightly so. The ASTD white paper, Building an Innovative Organization: The Role of Training and Development, reported,

"Today's executives firmly believe that innovation is central to a company's strategy and performance, but getting it right is as hard as ever. ... PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) even stated that 74 percent of CEOs regard innovation as at least equally important to operational effectiveness."

Depending on the criteria and which publication or company is generating the list, we see a variety of companies across a wide range of industries named as 2014's most innovative companies. Forbes highlighted Salesforce.com, Amazon.com, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Unilever Indonesia among its top picks. We see recognizable names such as Coca-Cola and Chipotle Mexican Grill on others. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has named Apple as its top pick for nearly a decade. Google, Microsoft, and IBM remain among the top 10 year after year. Samsung has been climbing in the rankings over the past few years. And two automakers made the top 10 this year. We see that it is not just about tech companies. The question we need to ask is, "What is it that they know and do that we don't?" Perhaps first and foremost, they recognize the importance of innovation. Do you? Do your organization's leaders even understand what it means to be innovative?

What Does It Mean to Think Outside the Box?

Creative thinking is an essential element of an innovative culture. Everyone must embrace creativity to think outside the box. But what does this really mean? The term "thinking outside the box" comes from the classic nine-dot exercise where we are asked to connect all nine dots in a 3 x 3 configuration with four lines while never lifting our pencils from the paper (see Figure 1.1). You might try this before peeking at the solution at the end of the chapter.

One of the greatest barriers to thinking creatively is demonstrated in this challenge, that is, placing artificial constraints on ourselves — and on our thinking. When we are hindered by these constraints, we cannot solve the challenge of the nine dots because our attempts are always made when drawing the lines inside the box created by the nine dots. When viewing the solution (see Figure 1.2 at the end of the chapter), we can see that it requires drawing lines beyond the limits of the nine dots. And thereby we learn to literally "think outside the box."

Too often when faced with a challenge, we place these artificial constraints on ourselves and fail to truly be innovative. Instead, with our limiting assumptions we simply tweak our existing approach to the challenge with only an incremental improvement.

A New Perspective on Innovation: What and Where

But what exactly does it mean to be innovative? For decades we talked of building the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Society for Human Resource Management
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1586443836
• ISBN 13: 9781586443832
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 139
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar