Innovation and Change - Assignment Example

? Innovation and Change Introduction In the last few decades the global map of this earth has completely reformed. Technology which was a fantasy before World War II has now become a gigantic reality; nobody knew that science would become a part of the daily lives of every single human being. But the biggest question is how does change comes into this massive world. The answer to this is “innovation”. Changeability and innovation are interrelated as one confirms the possibility of the other. Innovation is the process of introduction of new possibilities in the current one. However it depends upon various factors including willingness to bring a change, vision for change, determination as well as leadership qualities, certainty of progress in right direction and guidance (Jarret, 2009). Different people have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to finding a solution for their problems, but it is the circumstances due to which they come up with something extra ordinary and contribute to the process of innovation (Mayle, 2006). According to Rosanne Cash “The key to change... is to let go of fear”. A change can only occur when people let their guard off and let things happen as they please. Innovation on the other hand is derived from a Latin word that means “to introduce something new to the existing realm and order of things”. In simple words it’s kind of a small revolution in its self (Shavinina 2003). Innovation or change does not occur randomly but thoughts and effort is put into the process to implement a successful change. Lots of decision making goes into this process which is affected by mental models, personal bias and stereotypes that consistently influence the decision makers during statistical computation (Jarret 2009). This does not mean that decisions made are effective sometimes they can be flawed as well. In fact many times the greatest obstacle in the way of innovative change is the flawed human judgment. For example, mergers largely fail to achieve potential. Failure in achieving an effective change can be due to many factors like lack of vision, poor processing, inappropriate business strategies etc. but being able to manage a flawed judgment is the key to survival. Change has to be strategized in a way that leads to successful future yet satisfies short term requirements (Holbeche 2006). Theories of Innovation and Change Different theories about innovation have been brought by different scholar that are being seen practically implemented on to this world such theories as presented by Max Weber, Nisbet, etc are important to be discussed so that change innovation can be well comprehended. With the existence of social science there have been untimely diverse changes in the society. The theory that emerged from Robert Nisbet was the first time people started noticing that there is link between change and society with its past and the present, and here started a new debate. Nisbet’s thesis presented the fact that there can be no reflection or study upon the social change evolving hence it is not measurable and it is distinguishable from the intellectual activity which is usually referred as history (Boudan 1986). Revolution can be defined as a social change that place within a very short period of time. Social change is made up of four factors that are; Modernization, Diffusion, cultural lag and indigenously initiated alteration within the systems. When society is not able to cope up with the forced factors that have been involved into it, changes in that society are inevitable and thus revolution comes into that society. Max Weber was the first person who thought that social changes are rather just not linked to the economics going on around people but to the entire social sciences that are revolving around us. These kinds of changes are important to be discussed and mentioned in researches where social communication is involved (Boudon 1986). Leadership of innovation and change: With the acceleration in the onset of change and innovation, leaders have to evaluate their leadership skills for managing the transitional environment. They need to assess their leadership styles and practice for confirming to the opportunities being presented in the retail sector (Crawford 2005, p.5). The prevalent leadership theories are the Fielder’s contingency model that help to articulate a positive image in the followers regarding the role a leader has to offer by utilizing the “least preferred coworker scale (LPC)” (McFadden et al. 2005, p.3), transformational leadership that supports leader to think freely and come up with new ideas and transactional leadership that promotes followers to practice analytical thinking in the pursuit of performing tasks. Microsoft developer, Bill Gates and the revolutionary leader of Iran, Imam Khomeni have been such ambassadors of change even in history they would be counted as examples to whom people would look upon in admiration, that in such short times they changed the whole scenario. As Napoleon Bonaparte said “A Leader is a dealer of hope”. As this quote describes that leaders deal with the hope that change will come and it will come for good, without leadership the idea of change or innovation is impossible to even imagine. Some of the theories in the aspect of social, business and technology would be discussed below. Technological Changes and Innovation It can be said that now a days the professors at any level whether at university or high school prefer that students submit their assignments in the form of a softcopy and not conventionally on a paper handwritten as for them it is easier to grade it online and check for errors. Nearly ten to fifteen years ago, there was no such idea of that, so how did this happen? The technological innovation and change brought about this new realm of events. This sort of innovation opened a whole new aspect of communication and automation that is becoming a part of our routine lives, may they be professional or personal. Paperless environment is being preferred over the manual file systems. Different operating systems like Windows and Macintosh has sped up the processes of documentation and calculations. In the old days people did business based on the theoretical underpinnings of the demand and supply theory that is provided by the economical structure already present. Still the core of the business is the demand supply rule, but a lot of innovation has been done when it comes to managing the business and using the technology according to the need perceptions of this age. Internet has changed how everything works nowadays especially in the business sector. E-business is one area which is growing day by day and new and exciting ways to promote a product and to sell it are evolving. Evaluation of Successful and Less Successful Innovation: The biggest complication that comes between changes is the lack of patience. As it is said “better things come to those who wait”, so patience is the main key of revolving and getting the results one wants. Even in corporate sectors if a change is to be incorporated and a certain head of the department is not supportive of it, it will always be restricted in being implemented completely. Any change is only possible when with the team leader is agreed upon it. And last but not the least if the vision for the change is not clear, the change cannot happen until its final destination is not known (Kotter 1996). Kahneman and Teversky proposed that "…personal bias, mental models and stereotypes consistently influence decision makers over rational statistical computation". They complain against people wasting time by investing their "time, effort and money into poor decisions." (Jarret, 2009, p.84) thus the greatest obstacle in the way of innovative change is the flawed human judgment. Human emotions also affect the innovative change as they mar reason and sensibility e.g. in the automobile sector American car industry was the global leader for decades but Japan adopted innovative strategies thus lagging America behind with the invention of Hybrid cars. Owners of American automobiles especially Ford and General Motor took the wrong decision not to change their current market strategies and thus suffered the consequences in terms of losing international market share. Joseph Schumpeter argued that innovation is a vital factor of the competitive capitalistic economies. Innovation in an economy sets the forces of competitiveness in motion and due to this other similar businesses try to put more creative ideas on the table and come up with more spectacular products. Similarly communication has revolutionized from telephones to emails to social networking, a recent example of Facebook certainly brought a change in how people communicate with each other; a trend of socializing through online medium is being considered convenient rather than calling up or texting. The changes that technology has brought are not just limited to sciences but also it has changed the social aspects, the economical aspects and also the way now people communicate and relate to things. At times attitudinal modification can result in a successful change. Hesitations or hindrances towards accepting change can cause serious bounds in the change process and often result in change ending in a negative way. For leaders it is compulsive to have this positive attitude within themselves as well as their followers. It comes under their surveillance protocols to ensure that everyone is on the same vision with the same goal of implementing a change or if it is necessary persuade them effectively to have positivity in accepting this change for their own benefit. If it is described in business context that what kind of changes are necessary, some of them are briefly discussed below (Holbeche 2006): Improvement in skills and performances of the employees Enhancement of the experiences due to the changes in skills and performances Due to all this employees learn to be flexible In the end, due to all this employees remain committed towards the organization. Conclusion Change is necessary and effective to keep up with the trends. Strategic thinking in the process of change can open doors for innovations. It is a human, emotional and symbolic process to manage change. Leaders have to play a key role in this process. They need to judge carefully the extent of change that is required. . It is also important to be very clear upon what kind of changes there are to be made, the focus should be set and the kind of measurements that are needed for those changes should be set. There will be resistance that can be managed. Implementing change can be easier if a process is followed. Firstly there needs to be preparation. It is important to be clear about the reason to change. Secondly options need to be evaluated which helps in deciding on a change strategy. And lastly the implementation process which includes the activities that will need to be carried out, involving the associated people, reviewing, learning and rewarding the ones involved. Change has its own pace and it should be never forced, with change behavior of people also change and life is going to evolve constantly. This will lead to innovation as it will be renewing the practices of life. Making choices outside the norm is risky but at times the right thing to do. References Boudon, R. 1986, Theories of social change: a critical appraisal, Los Angeles, University of California Press. Crawford, C. 2005, ‘Effects of transformational leadership and organizational position on knowledge management’, Journal of Knowledge Management, vol 9, no.6, pp. 6-17. Holbeche, L. 2006, Understanding change: theory, implementation and success, Illustrated, Burlington, Butterworth-Heinemann. Jarret M., 2009, Changeability, UK, Pearson Education Ltd. Kotter, J.P. 1996. Leading Change, Illustrated, reprint. Mayle, D. 2006, Managing innovation and change, 3rd Edition, Illustrated, Thousand Oaks, SAGE. McFadden, C., Eakin, R., Beck-Frazier, S., & McGlone, J. 2005. ‘Major approaches to the study of leadership’, Academic Exchange Quarterly, vol 9, no.2, pp.71-76. Shavinina, L.V. 2003, The international handbook on innovation, Illustrated, Elsevier. Read More