(unpublished paper as of 4 August 2010) © 2010 Lawrence Hiner & Janis Morariu
1
GROWING GLOBALLY IN THE 21
ST
CENTURY: INNOVATION,COLLABORATION, LEADERSHIP, AND TECHNOLOGY
LAWRENCE E. HINER III, PSY.D.
JANIS MORARIU, PH.D.
The contemporary challenge facing all organizations th
at are pursuing real growth is: “H
ow do we
leverage our current success into growing globally?” This
scholarly paper addresses the questionfrom four, related perspectives:(1)
Innovation
–
the appreciative adaptation to turbulence;(2)
Collaboration
–
incorporating diversity to promote accelerated innovation;(3)
Pervasive Leadership
–
an all-inclusive approach to sponsoring collaborative innovation;(4)
Converging Technologies
–
emerging digital faculties that enable collaborative innovation.
Keywords
: global growth; innovation; collaboration; leadership; technology.
1.
Introduction
Growing globally in the 21st Century will require immediate and positive responses toemerging customer needs. This level of innovation will depend heavily on the
organization‟s ability to collaborate effectively, lead for change, and integrate converging
technologies to support these organizational processes.
This paper addresses the question, “How do we leverage our current corporatesuccess to grow globally?” by: (1) describing the process of innovation as a response to
changing customer requirements; (2) defining collaboration in support of innovation; (3)offering leadership models that contribute to collaborative innovation; and (4) reviewingconverging technologies that support these processes.(1)
Innovation can be defined as “the appreciative adaptation to turbulence.” Innovation
is appreciative, because it is based on envisioning positive outcomes, rather than
“fixing problems.” Innovation is an adaptation, because it occurs in response to an
identified need in the environment. Innovation is in response to turbulence becauseit keeps pace with the rate of change in the environment. Thus, a climate of innovation will help an organization grow globally by responding positively to theexponential number of changes that will be encountered.(2)
Collaboration incorporates diverse views and capabilities in support of theinnovation response. Diversity is an essential element in accelerating innovation
–
there is only so much that a static group of thinkers can accomplish in response to
© 2010 Lawrence Hiner & Janis Morariu
2
the various changes in the environment. Diversity of thought and skills will add tothe creativity as well as execution of innovations.(3)
Pervasive Leadership
–
recognizing and leveraging appropriate leader activity at alllevels of the organization
–
increases the quantity and quality of innovation.Workers from various departments within an organization can more readilyrecognize changes in the environment and contribute to collaborative innovation inresponse. Distinct from
–
but often parallel with
–
management, leadership alignscorporate activity with corporate vision, and elicits the highest quality productivity ina supportive, trusting, progressive, and developmental atmosphere.(4)
Converging technologies are dramatically speeding up the pace and possibilities forexpanding the global reach of collaborative innova
tion. The entire “Web 2.0”
phenomenon is dedicated to the ability to network with others, tag information to beshared with others, and provide platforms to generate solutions. Social networkingfacilities such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, along w
ith more “traditional”
tools like email and instant messaging, are used effectively by creative teams tobridge time and distance in pursuit of truly global collaboration. On the cuttingedge, Cloud Computing and immersive 3D Virtual Social Environments (VSEs) areconverging and morphing into unique avenues to deepen the level of communicationamong and across groups who, in the recent past, would not be able to createsolutions together. These converging technologies provide not only in-worldmeeting spaces, but teaming spaces where the co-creation and testing of virtualprototypes of all aspects of business across all industries is a faster and far less costlymethod of modeling and evaluating physical solutions.
2.
Background
In 2005 (not all that long ago), Thomas Friedman told us that the world is flat [Friedman(2005)]. It was not so much that he had a brand new idea that needed to be proposed,proven, and adopted
–
Friedman really put a fine point on telling us what we alreadyknew: the rate of rampant consumerism in the industrialized nations was declining, and
the “developing world” was acquiring an
appetite for new goods and services. At thesame time, the cost of manufacturing was becoming more attractive in some parts of theworld, rather than other, more traditional venues, helping to keep product costs moderate.Exchanging products and services across international boundaries would be essential tothis new economy. Friedman gave us a common term to readily share that notion
–
the
world has indeed become “flat.”
To be sure, economic disparities and financial market crises have introduced somehills in the landscape. Energy is needed to transport people and products around theglobe
–
yet carbon fuels are increasingly costly in terms of dollars and environmentalimpact. Variances in currency value slow the stable exchange of funds betweencountries. The rise and fall of consumer confidence and spending play havoc with
production estimates. Yet, the market appears to hurtle inexorably towards “global.”
A parallel development during the late 20th and early 21st Centuries is the ever-increasing demand for innovation. With consumer variables ever-more quickly changingthe face of the market, companies need to respond ever-more quickly to those changes.
Growing Globally in the 21
st
Century
3
Those responses are derived through innovation. Innovation demands collaborationamong various entities within a company. Efficient collaboration yielding innovationrequires a leadership structure that supports these business processes.
Figure 1: Collaboration, Leadership, and Technology support Innovation in a Flat World.
These processes, and converging technologies that support them, will be discussed inthis paper.
3.
Research Hypothesis
The hypothetical construct by which this paper is organized is: “Innovation, as supported
by collaboration, leadership, and converging technologies, is necessary to the successfulglobal growth of 21st century organizations.
4.
Methodology
The methodology used to research this hypothesis is scholarly;
viz.
, the hypotheticalconstruct is supported through the examination of relevant literature and conclusions bythe authors.
5.
Innovation5.1.
The Definition of Innovation
Many different definitions have been offered for the concept of “innovation.” As
discussed by one of the authors in his dissertation research [Hiner (2007)], the definitionof innovation varies according to the perspective of the one doing the defining. The
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