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Purpose
Leadership is a key driver of innovation, shaping team culture and fostering creativity within organizations. In this discussion, you will explore the connection between effective leadership traits and diverse sources of innovation.
Task
This discussion encourages you to critically examine the challenges leaders may encounter when fostering innovation and propose strategies to overcome these obstacles while ensuring sustainable growth. After reading and reflecting on Chapters 5 and 6 in Managing Innovation, analyze how leadership styles influence innovation, and how leaders can leverage specific sources to create value.
In your initial post, address the following:
- Identify one key leadership trait or style from your textbook that you believe is critical for fostering innovation in teams. Provide an example from your experience that illustrates this leadership trait or style in action.
- Select one source of innovation from your textbook that aligns with this leadership style. Explain how leaders can leverage this source of innovation to create value for their teams or organizations.
- Discuss the challenges leaders might face when fostering innovation from this source and propose strategies to overcome these challenges.
- Reflect on how organizations can balance the push and pull of innovation to ensure sustainable growth.
In your responses to your peers, address the following:
- Compare their leadership examples or sources of innovation to your own.
- Offer additional strategies or leadership practices that could maximize innovation in their examples. Use specific insights or examples from the readings or your own experiences to support your suggestions.
Submission
- Post your initial response (2–3 paragraphs) supported by at least two reliable sources by 11:59 p.m. ET on Saturday. Properly cite all sources using an appropriate citation style.
- Respond to at least two classmates (1–2 paragraphs each) by 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Your responses should encourage meaningful dialogue and provide constructive feedback.
Criteria for Success
Discussion participation is graded using a rubric based on the following criteria:
- Quality
- Quantity
- Timeliness
- Writing
- For more information, review the Discussion Rubric.
This discussion is worth 50 points and will be graded using the Discussion Rubric.
BMGT 620 Discussion Rubric
Course: BMGT 620 9085 Innovation & Entrepreneurship (2252)
Initial Post Excellent Proficient
Approaching
Proficiency
Needs
Improvement
Not Evident (0) Criterion Score
Initial Post
(10
pts)
/ 10
Timeliness (5
pts)
/ 5
1
0
points
Applied
knowledge of
appropriate
topical content
in a
comprehensive
and
insightful
way. In-depth
analysis is
present.
(10 pts)
9 points
Demonstrates a
good
understanding
of the topical
material and
applies it in a
satisfactory
way. Good
analysis is
present.
(9 pts)
8 points
Demonstrates a
more
basic
understanding
of the topical
material and
applies it in a
basic way.
Rudimentary
analysis is
present.
(8 pts)
7 points
Demonstrates a
limited
understanding
of the topical
material or
applied it in a
limited way.
Little or no
analysis is
present.
(7 pts)
0 points
No evidence, or
the post was
dated after the
end of the
discussion
activity.
(0
points)
5 points
Submits initial
post on time
(4.5 – 5 points)
4 points
Submits initial
post within 24
hours of the
deadline.
(4.25 – 4 points)
3.5 points
Submits initial
post within 48
hours of the
deadline.
(3.75 -3.5
points)
3 points
Submits initial
post within 72
hours of the
deadline.
(3.25 – 3 points)
0 points
No evidence, or
the post was
dated after the
end of the
discussion
activity.
(0 points)
Initial Post Excellent Proficient
Approaching
Proficiency
Needs
Improvement
Not Evident (0) Criterion Score
Response 1 (5
pts)
/ 5
Response 2 (5
pts)
/ 5
5 points
Provided a
sufficiently
detailed and
insightful
response,
demonstrating a
deep
understanding
of the
course
material.
(4.5 – 5 points)
4 points
Provided a
sufficiently
detailed
response,
demonstrating a
basic
understanding
of the course
material.
(4.25 – 4 points)
3.5 points
Provided a
response that
was not
sufficiently
detailed or
insightful and
did not
demonstrate a
clear
understanding
of the course
material.
(3.75 -3.5
points)
3 points
Provided a
response that
was poorly
written and
organized and
demonstrated
little or no
understanding
of the course
material.
(3.25 – 3 points)
0 points
No evidence, or
the post was
dated after the
end of the
discussion
activity.
(0 points)
5 points
Provided a
sufficiently
detailed and
insightful
response,
demonstrating a
deep
understanding
of the course
material.
(4.5 – 5 points)
4 points
Provided a
sufficiently
detailed
response,
demonstrating a
basic
understanding
of the course
material.
(4.25 – 4 points)
3.5 points
Provided a
response that
was not
sufficiently
detailed or
insightful and
did not
demonstrate a
clear
understanding
of the course
material.
(3.75 -3.5
points)
3 points
Provided a
response that
was poorly
written and
organized and
demonstrated
little or no
understanding
of the course
material.
(3.25 – 3 points)
0 points
No evidence, or
the post was
dated after the
end of the
discussion
activity.
(0 points)
Initial Post Excellent Proficient
Approaching
Proficiency
Needs
Improvement
Not Evident (0) Criterion Score
Cumulative
Posts:
Evidence and
research. (7.5
pts)
/ 7.5
Cumulative
Posts:
Professional
writing and
organization
skills (5 pts)
/ 5
7.5 points
Included
multiple specific
and
relevant
examples to
support claims
from course
resources and
additional
research.
(7.5-6.75
points)
6 points
Included some
good
examples
from course
resources and
research, but
they were not
always specific
or relevant to
claims.
(6.5 – 6 points)
5.25 points
Included only a
few examples
from course
resources and
research, or the
examples
provided were
not
specific or
relevant
enough.
(5.75 – 5.25
points
4.5 points
Did not include
evidence from
course
resources or
research or
provided
inaccurate
evidence to
support claims.
(5 – 4.5 points)
0 points
No evidence, or
the post was
dated after the
end of the
discussion
activity.
(0 points)
5 points
Demonstrated
professional
writing and
organization
skills, with very
few or no
errors.
(4.5 – 5 points)
4 points
Demonstrated
professional
writing and
organization
skills with some
minor errors.
(4.25 – 4 points)
3.5 points
Demonstrated
professional
writing and
organization
skills but with
several errors.
(3.75 -3.5
points)
3 points
Demonstrated
poor writing and
organization
skills with
multiple errors.
(3.25 – 3 points)
0 points
No evidence, or
the post was
dated after the
end of the
discussion
activity.
(0 points)
Total / 50
Initial Post Excellent Proficient
Approaching
Proficiency
Needs
Improvement
Not Evident (0) Criterion Score
Cumulative
Posts:
Application of
course
material to
real-world
situations (5
pts)
/ 5
Evidence of
Skills (7.5 pts
/ 7.5
5 points
Post(s)
incorporated
examples of
real-world
situations to
support and
substantiate the
position.
Demonstrated a
deep
understanding
of how the
course material
can be used to
solve
business
problems.
(4.5 – 5 points)
4 points
Post(s)
incorporated
some examples
of real-world
situations to
support and
substantiate the
position.
Demonstrated a
good
understanding
of how the
course material
can be used to
solve business
problems.
(4.25 – 4 points)
3.5 points
Post(s)
incorporated
few examples of
real-world
situations.
Examples may
not have been
specific or
relevant, or the
post(s)
demonstrated a
limited or
inaccurate
understanding
of how the
course material
can be used to
solve business
problems.
(3.75 -3.5
points)
3 points
Post(s) did not
incorporate any
examples of
real-world
situations or
demonstrated
inaccurate
understanding
of how the
course material
can be used to
solve business
problems.
(3.25 – 3 points)
0 points
No evidence, or
the post was
dated after the
end of the
discussion
activity.
(0 points)
7.5 points
Submission
provided an
exceptional
application of
business
strategies skills
in the
discussion
response
(7.5-6.75
points)
6 points
Submission
provided a
sufficient
application of
business
strategies skills
in the
discussion
response
(6.5 – 6 points)
5.25 points
Submission
provided a
somewhat
sufficient
application of
business
strategies skills
in the
discussion
response which
did not show
proficiency
(5.75 – 5.25
points)
4.5 points
Submission
provided an
insufficient
application of
business
strategies skills
in the
discussion
response
(5 – 4.5 points)
0 points
No evidence, or
the post was
dated after the
end of the
discussion
activity.
(0 points)
Overall Score
Excellent
45 points minimum
Proficient
40 points minimum
Approaching Proficiency
35 points minimum
Needs Improvement
30 points minimum
No Submission
0 points minimum
Student
Resource
Chapter 6: Sources of innovation
Chapter 6:
Sources of
innovation
• In the following PowerPoint slides you will
find the key headings from CHAPTER 6
together with the main illustrations, tables,
etc.
• There are also slides summarizing the key
messages in bullet-point fashion, and a wide
range of activities which you can use to help
students explore around these themes.
• Finally there are some reflection questions
which can be used as the basis for discussion
or assignments.
Learning
Objectives
By the end of this chapter you will develop an
understanding of:
where innovations come from – the wide range
of different sources which offer opportunities to
entrepreneurs
the idea of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ forces and their
interaction
Innovation as a pattern of occasional
breakthrough and long periods of incremental
improvement
the importance of different sources over time
where and when you could search for
opportunities to innovate.
Sources of innovation
Knowledge
push
Accidents
Design-driven
and experience
innovation
Benchmarking
/ learning
from others
Need pull
Process
improvement
Crisis driven
and extreme
contexts
Frugal
innovation
Mass
customisation
User –led
innovation
Recombinant
innovation
Regulation
Prototyping
and
experiment
Futures and
forecasting
Core themes
and material
from the
book
Where do innovations come from?
Figure 6.1 of the book indicates the wide range of stimuli which can begin the innovation journey
Sources of
innovation
• Knowledge push
• Need pull
• Product innovation
• Process improvement
• Crisis-driven
• Frugal innovation
•
Mass customization
• User-led innovation
• Prototyping
• Benchmarking
• Recombinant innovation
• Design-driven innovation
• Regulation
• Futures and forecasting
• Accidents
Knowledge push innovation
Types of product innovation
Figure 6.2 of the book indicates a typical breakdown, and we could construct a similar
picture for process innovation
New to the world products
New product lines
Line extensions
Repositionings
Cost reductions
Incremental product
improvements
Disruptive innovation
Mass customization
Table 6.1 of the book summarises options in customization (after Mintzberg and Lampel)
Mass customization
(continued)
Mass customization
(continued)
Mass customization
(continued)
Design driven innovation
Source: Based on R. Verganti (2009) Design-Driven Innovation. Harvard Business School Press
Meaning
Technology
Incremental
change
Radical
change
Radical
change
Incremental
change
Market pull
(user centred)
Technology push
Design-driven
Summary
Innovations come from many different sources
Innovations don’t just appear perfectly formed
– and the process is not simply a spark of
imagination giving rise to changing the world.
Instead innovations come from a number of
sources and these interact over time.
Sources of innovation can be resolved into two
broad classes – knowledge push and need pull
– although they almost always act in tandem.
Innovation arises from the interplay between
them.
Summary
There are many variations on this theme –
for example, ‘need pull’ can include social
needs, market needs, latent needs
(squeaking wheels), crisis needs, etc.
Whilst the basic forces pushing and
pulling have been a feature of the
innovation landscape for a long time, it
involves a moving frontier in which new
sources of push and pull come into play.
Examples include the emerging demand
pull from the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ and
the opportunities opened up by an
acceleration in knowledge production in
R&D systems around the world.
Summary
Users are a rich source of innovation ideas and
can help accelerate diffusion
Regulation is an important element in shaping
and directing innovative activity – by restricting
what can and can’t be done for legal reasons,
new trajectories for change are established
which entrepreneurs can take advantage of
Accidents, crises and extreme conditions can
provide unexpected triggers for novel
directions
Videos
• There are several videos
which can help explore and
present the key themes of
the chapter:
• knowledge push and need
pull as sources of innovation
• examples of knowledge push
innovation
• different kinds of need pull
innovation:
• Incremental improvement
• Radical innovation
• Disruptive innovation
Videos
Other films which explore in more detail:
• User-led innovation (part 1)
• User led innovation part 2
• Interview with Pedro Oliveira talking about
the Patient Innovation platform, a way of
mobilizing user innovators in the healthcare
space
• Mandy Haberman talking about user
innovation
• Interview with Helle-Vibeke Carstensen
talking about innovation search in the public
sector
• Continuous improvement at Veeder Root
• Finding innovation opportunities in
healthcare settings
• Emma Taylor and employee innovation
• The birth of bike
• The birth of mp3
• Sweeping the floor with innovation
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
Videos
• Interview with Michael Bartl of Hyve, talking
about the use of ‘netnography’ in the search
for new innovation opportunities
• Interview with Tim Craft (audio and video)
talking about his experience as a user-
innovator
• Interview with Catharina van Delden and her
company Innosabi which mobilizes external
communities as a source of innovation for
businesses
• Interview (audio) with Helen King of the Irish
Food Board talking about their use of futures
methods to search for innovation opportunities
• Interview with Lynne Maher, UK National
Health Service talking about user experience as
a source of innovation
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
Disruptive
innovation
• Follow the link below to watch a
video briefly explaining Clay
Christensen’s theory of
Disruptive Innovation
• https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=mbPiAzzGap0
• Follow the link below to watch
Ted Graham’s TED Talk, ‘Three
things I learned about disruptive
innovation as an UberX driver’
• https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=4L30uIkMeMM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbPiAzzGap0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbPiAzzGap0
Human-
centred
design
• Follow the link below to
watch David Kelley’s TED
Talk ‘Human-centred
Design’
• https://www.ted.com/talks/
david_kelley_on_human_ce
ntered_design
Blogs and
podcasts
• There are several podcasts
and blogs picking up key
themes around managing
innovation as a process and
some of the key variables:
• Birth of the bike
• An innovation birthday party
• Flirting with ideas
• Frugal innovation
• Recombinant innovation
https://www.buzzsprout.com/721626
https://johnbessant.org/category/blog/
- Slide 1: Student Resource
- Slide 2: Chapter 6: Sources of innovation
- Slide 3: Learning Objectives
- Slide 4
- Slide 5: Core themes and material from the book
- Slide 6
- Slide 7: Sources of innovation
- Slide 8: Knowledge push innovation
- Slide 9
- Slide 10: Disruptive innovation
- Slide 11
- Slide 12
- Slide 13
- Slide 14
- Slide 15
- Slide 16: Summary
- Slide 17: Summary
- Slide 18: Summary
- Slide 19: Videos
- Slide 20: Videos
- Slide 21: Videos
- Slide 22: Disruptive innovation
- Slide 23: Human-centred design
- Slide 24: Blogs and podcasts
Student
Resource
Chapter 5: Building the innovative organization
Chapter 5:
Building the
innovative
organization
• In the following PowerPoint slides you will find the
key headings from CHAPTER 5 together with the main
illustrations, tables, etc.
• There are also slides summarizing the key
messages in bullet-point fashion, and a wide range of
activities which you can use to help students explore
around these themes.
• Finally there are some reflection questions which
can be used as the basis for discussion or
assignments.
Learning
objectives
• By the end of this chapter you will understand:
• how leadership and organization of innovation is
much more than a set of processes, tools and
techniques,
• how different leadership and creative styles
influence the ability to identify, assess and
develop new ideas and concepts.
• how teams, gro
up
s and processes each contribute
to successful innovation behaviours and
outcomes.
• how different environmental factors can support
or hinder innovation and entrepreneurship.
Core themes
and material
from the
book
The innovative organization
Research shows these factors are associated with good performance:
The innovative organization
(continued)
Innovation leadership
Reviews of research on leadership and performance suggest leadership directly
influences:
• Around 15% of the differences found in performance of businesses;
• Contributes around an additional 35% through the choice of business strategy;
• So directly and indirectly leadership can account for half of the variance in
performance observed across organizations.
Characteristic traits of
good leaders
• bright, alert and intelligent;
• seek responsibility and take charge;
• skillful in their task domain;
• administratively and socially competent;
• energetic, active and resilient;
• good communicators.
BUT
There is no brief and universal list of enduring traits that
all good leaders must possess under all conditions.
Key factors for leaders to
focus on
A review of twenty-seven empirical studies of the
relationships between leadership and innovation
investigated when and how leadership influences
innovation, identified six factors leaders should focus on:
1. Upper management should establish an innovation
policy that is promoted throughout the organization.
It is necessary that the organization through its
leaders communicate to employees that innovative
behavior will be rewarded.
Key factors for leaders to
focus on (continued)
2. When forming teams, some heterogeneity is
necessary to promote innovation. However, if the
team is too heterogeneous, tensions may arise, when
heterogeneity is too low, more directive leadership is
required to promote team reflection, for example, by
encouraging discussion and disagreement.
3. Leaders should promote a team climate of emotional
safety, respect, and joy through emotional support
and shared decision-making.
Key factors for leaders to
focus on (continued)
4. Individuals and teams have autonomy and space
for idea generation and creative problem solving.
5. Time limits for idea creation and problem solutions
should be set, particularly in the implementation phases
6. Finally, team leaders, who have the expertise,
should engage closely in the evaluation of innovative
activities.
Creative style
Kirton’s ‘adaptors and innovators’ spectrum:
• Adaptors characteristically produce a sufficiency of ideas
based closely on existing agreed definitions of a problem and
its likely solutions, but stretching the solutions. These ideas
help to improve and ‘do better’.
• Innovators are more likely to reconstruct the problem,
challenge the assumptions and to emerge with a much less
expected solution which very probably is also at first less
acceptable. Innovators are less concerned with doing things
better than with doing things differently.
Collective and social
aspects of innovation
• ‘It takes five years to develop a new car in this country. Heck, we won World
War 2 in four years…’
• Ross Perot’s critical comment on the state of the US car industry in the late
1980s captured some of the frustration with existing ways of designing and
building cars.
Collective and social aspects
of innovation (continued)
• The power of team working
• Lew Varaldi, project manager of Ford’s Team Taurus
project put it, ‘… it’s amazing the dedication and
commitment you get from people…we will never go
back to the old ways because we know so much about
what they can bring to the party…’
• Groups are not necessarily teams….
High involvement innovation
Key factors in high
performance teams
Key elements in effective high-performance team
working include:
• clearly defined tasks and objectives;
• effective team leadership;
• good balance of team roles and match to individual
behavioural style;
• effective conflict resolution mechanisms within the
group;
• continuing liaison with external organization.
Tuckman’s model of team
development
Teams typically go through four stages of development:
•‘forming,
•storming,
•norming,
•performing’.
Advantages and
disadvantages of groups
Advantages and
disadvantages of groups
Source: S. Isaksen and J. Tidd (2006) Meeting the Innovation Challenge, John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd, Chichester
High performing teams
Based on Tidd and Isaksen research, high performing
characteristics are:
• a clear, common and elevating goal;
• results-driven structure;
• competent team members;
• unified commitment.
Collaborative climate:
• standards of excellence;
• external support and recognition;
• principled leadership.
High performing teams
(continued)
Based on Tidd and Isaksen research, appropriate use of
the team:
• participation in decision making;
• team spirit;
• embracing appropriate change.
‘Tripwires’ undermining
team effectiveness
• group versus team;
• ends versus means;
• structured freedom;
• support structures and systems;
• assumed competence.
• Climate is defined as the recurring patterns of
behaviour, attitudes and feelings that characterize life in
the organization.
• Objectively shared perceptions that characterize life
within a defined work unit or in the larger organization.
• Climate is distinct from culture in that it is more
observable at a surface level within the organization and
more amenable to change and improvement efforts.
• Culture refers to the deeper and more enduring values,
norms and beliefs within the organization.
Context and climate
Climate factors influencing
innovation
Source: Derived for Scott Isaksen and Joe Tidd (2006) Meeting the Innovation
Challenge (Wiley).
Summary
Leadership and organization of innovation is much more
than a set of processes, tools and techniques, and the
successful practice of innovation demands the
interaction and integration of three different levels of
management, individual, collective and climate.
Summary
At the personal or individual level, the key is to match the
leadership styles with the task requirement and type of
teams. General leadership requirements for innovative
projects include expertise and experience relevant to the
project, articulating a vision and inspirational
communication, intellectual stimulation, and quality of
leader-member exchange (LMX).
Summary
At the collective or social level, there is no universal best-
practice but successful teams require clear, common and
elevating goals, unified commitment, cross-functional
expertise, collaborative climate, external support and
recognition and participation in decision making.
Summary
At the context or climate level, there is no “best
innovation culture”, but innovation is promoted or
hindered by a number of factors, including trust and
openness, challenge and involvement, support and space
for ideas, conflict and debate, risk-taking and freedom.
Videos
• There are several videos which can
help explore and present the key
themes of the chapter:
• Building the innovative organization
part 1
• Building the innovative organization
part 2
• Piers Ibbotson talking about
leadership
• Patrick McLoughlin on leadership
• Victor Cui on organizing a startup
• Tidewave as a start-up organization
• Melissa Clark-Reynolds on her start-
up
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/tidewave/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
Videos
• Hugh Chapman, Managing
Director of Veeder Root on
innovation leadership
• Emma Taylor of Denso
Systems on employee
involvement
• Armin Rau, Strategy Partner
of Sicap.
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
https://johnbessant.org/resources/media-resources/the-innovators-media-library/
Armin%20Rau,%20Strategy%20Partner%20of%20Sicap.
Videos
• Douglas Merril of Google
who explains a little about
how the organization
supports innovation
• Linda Hill’s TED Talk on
collective creativity
• https://www.ted.com/talks/
linda_hill_how_to_manage
_for_collective_creativity
• Four cases of employee
involvement in innovation
On the Portal there is a case study of Nokia Networks
together with a media interview with Fabian Schlage,
Innovation Manager, which illustrates some of these
themes:
http://www.innovation-portal.info/resources/fabian-
schlage-nokia/
http://ispim.org/video-and-articles/#mg_ld_1706
Case study and video: Nokia
Solutions and Networks
http://www.innovation-portal.info/resources/fabian-schlage-nokia/
http://www.innovation-portal.info/resources/fabian-schlage-nokia/
http://ispim.org/video-and-articles/
Blogs and
podcasts
• There are several podcasts
picking up key themes
around managing
innovation as a process and
some of the key variables:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/721626
- Slide 1: Student Resource
- Slide 2: Chapter 5: Building the innovative organization
- Slide 3: Learning objectives
- Slide 4: Core themes and material from the book
- Slide 5
- Slide 6
- Slide 7
- Slide 8
- Slide 9
- Slide 10
- Slide 11
- Slide 12
- Slide 13
- Slide 14
- Slide 15: High involvement innovation
- Slide 16
- Slide 17
- Slide 18
- Slide 19
- Slide 20
- Slide 21
- Slide 22
- Slide 23
- Slide 24
- Slide 25
- Slide 26
- Slide 27
- Slide 28
- Slide 29: Videos
- Slide 30: Videos
- Slide 31: Videos
- Slide 32
- Slide 33: Blogs and podcasts
