INNOVATION ARCHITECTURE 1

Innovation Architecture
<Your Name>
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Innovation is much more than just design thinking workshops. In fact, innovation is a

challenging undertaking. For the success of an organization it requires repeatable and rigorous

system of innovation. Creativity and ideas are essential ingredients of innovation. The seeds of

innovation are provided by individuals, but innovation is a team effort that turns ideas into reality

and delivers tangible outcomes. (Elliott, 2014)

Companies today face a harsh ultimatum: Innovate or die. Senior executives repeatedly

tell to their employees that failing to innovate would create a critical risk to their enterprise’s

growth, even its survival. Organizations rate themselves lowest on one aspect of innovation i.e.

the ability to implement a “system of innovation” – a defined, consistent and effective innovation

process. (France, Mott, & Wagner, 2014)

Innovation involves the introduction of something new, particularly something radically

different. The something new could be products and services, product/service delivery, business

designs, business processes, or new ways of managing.

Business Innovation can be differentiated from other types of initiative such as

efficiency, continuous improvement, transformation, optimization etc. by its purpose. The

purpose of business innovation is to create new future value for the organization. Innovation is

strongly connected to strategy since the focus of strategy is to consider the constantly changing

context and envision the future to define the best competitive position to achieve future goals.

The greatest challenge faced in building innovation architecture is that leaders are not able to

create a climate for innovation in an organization. The employees are not recognized and

rewarded for the innovative work they carry out. The organizations should look after the

employees as they play an important role in bringing out innovation.

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Innovation in an organization is everyone’s responsibility, but employees can’t innovate

unless their leaders empower them to do so in an environment that values and rewards their

contributions. The leaders should create a climate that helps the employees to innovate and even

they are allocated accountability for a particular idea. Company can create a center of innovation

expertise in corporate headquarters or diversifies ownership of innovation across business units

depending on company’s market focus and on its organizational structure.

For bringing out innovation the employees must be involved, motivated and engaged

with the leaders. If they do the same things each day, they’re not going to get inspired by new

things. To get more than ideas for continuous improvement, people’s minds should be flooded

with a lot of new information – and this is where Design Thinking can play a great role.

Building innovation architecture:

Successful innovators in an organization share traits in three critical areas:

Leadership: Creating a climate for innovation

Leadership competencies for creating a climate for innovation focus more on how to instill

values than on traditional management skills. Successful innovators have leaders who establish a

climate for innovation. They create a compelling vision for their people, challenge the status quo,

explore unconventional ways of solving big problems and become champions for innovation.

Values and culture: Instilling the right principles

Changes to the corporate culture are necessary to improve a company’s innovation capacity. A

culture that encourages innovation includes challenging the status quo, freedom of expression

and values of risk taking. Successful innovators believe innovation is a business priority, and

employees are expected to develop new ideas or create new ways of doing things. The

employees are recognized and rewarded for innovation.

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Organizational structures and processes: Aligning crucial systems

Successful innovators report that their organizational structures facilitate cross-functional or

cross-business collaboration, that they include diverse networks of external organizations that

share ideas, and that their companies are skilled in collaborating and managing external

partnerships.

The leaders should also keep the aspect of innovation into consideration at time of hiring

the employees. The ability of employees to innovate should be checked during interview.

Transparency along the pipeline is essential for Innovative companies, because seeing the

process work is a big part of what motivates people to think creatively – whether or not their

ideas are implemented. Organizations that implement innovation architecture should develop a

system that assesses leaders not only according to what was accomplished, but also by how it

was accomplished. The Performance-management systems provide essential crosswalks between

values, behaviors, and performance. The Performance-management system should be updated

when a company elevates innovation to a top priority; for instance, short-term business results

may suffer, and a certain amount of failure is guaranteed. This means that performance-

management systems must assess whether business challenges are being addressed in line with

the company’s values, regardless of the short-term outcome. The innovation must be integrated

into performance management. In performance assessment system leaders should challenge the

process about innovation.

Failing to innovate can put global organizations at risk and diminish their ability to

sustain or gain a competitive advantage. Ability of companies to innovate is inextricably linked

to leaders, culture, and organizational design.

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Some challenges can be managed largely by building leadership bench strength, but

sustained innovation depends on developing whole leaders who can create the right climate.

Inculcating certain values – such as risk taking, challenging the status quo, and freedom of

expression – into the corporate culture is key to innovation. Leaders must also take responsibility

for designing and building the right organizational structure and processes to support the

development and implementation of ideas that create value – the essence of effective innovation.

The conditions that promote innovation must be supported by leaders across the company and

the innovation process must start at the highest levels. The leaders must think about the three key

drivers – leadership, culture, and organizational structure and processes for effective innovation

architecture. Only then can senior leadership build an adaptive and sustainable organization that

is truly an innovation engine.

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Interview Summary

Name of the person interviewed: Mr. Todd Goodwin

Number of years he has been a manager: 5 years

Name of the company at which he is currently employed: American Express

How long the person has been employed at the current company: 8 years

Date of the interview: 2nd July’2014

Mode of interview: Telephonic Interview

Contact information for the person:

4315 South 2700 West

Salt Lake City, Utah 84184

Interview Questionnaire

1. What is business innovation and who owns it in an organization?

2. What are the biggest misconceptions when it comes to innovation?

3. How can organizations be more innovative?

4. How does innovation affect the hiring process in an organization?

5. How are employees motivated for incorporating innovation in their daily tasks?

6. Can you describe a time you were involved in implementing a company-wide policy

change? What was your strategy, what tactics did you use, and what was the outcome?

7. What are the major challenges faced across the organization for driving innovation?
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Invitation for an interview

Date: 30th June ’2014

Dear Todd,

This letter is an invitation to consider participating in a study I am conducting to create

“innovation architecture” to support a culture of innovation within organizations. I would like to

provide you with more information about this project and what your involvement would entail if

you decide to take part.

This study will focus on innovation in organizations whose ongoing purpose is to learn more

about the techniques organizations utilize or fail to utilize to encourage and support the

implementation of innovations.

Participation in this study is voluntary. It will involve a telephonic interview of approximately

10minutes in length. You may decline to answer any of the interview questions if you so wish.

Further, you may decide to withdraw from this study at any time without any negative

consequences. With your permission, the interview will be tape-recorded to facilitate collection

of information, and later transcribed for analysis. All information you provide is considered

completely confidential. Your name will not appear in any thesis or report resulting from this

study, however, with your permission anonymous quotations may be used.

I very much look forward to speaking with you and thank you in advance for your assistance in

this project.

Sincerely,

<Your Name>

<Date>
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Consent Form

I have read the information presented in the information letter about a study being conducted for

“innovation architecture” in an organization. I have had the opportunity to ask any questions

related to this study, to receive satisfactory answers to my questions, and any additional details I

wanted.

I am aware that I have the option of allowing my interview to be tape recorded to ensure an

accurate recording of my responses.

I am also aware that excerpts from the interview may be included in the dissertation and/or

publications to come from this research, with the understanding that the quotations will be

anonymous.

I was informed that I may withdraw my consent at any time without penalty by advising the

researcher.

With full knowledge of all foregoing, I agree, of my own free will, to participate in this study.
X

YES NO
I agree to have my interview tape recorded.
____
X

YES NO
I agree to the use of anonymous quotations in any thesis or publication that comes of this
research.
____
X

YES NO

Participant’s Name: Mr. Todd Goodwin

Date: 1st July’2014

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REFERENCES

1. Elliott, T., Interview: What’s Required For Real Business Innovation? , (Feb, 2014) retrieved

from http://timoelliott.com/blog/2014/02/interview-whats-required-for-real-business-

innovation.html

2. France, C., Mott, C., & Wagner, D., How Leaders Can Build an Innovation Engine, (2014)

retrieved from

http://www.mmc.com/knowledgecenter/viewpoint/The_Innovation_Imperative.php