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Leadership and Innovation of IDEO Organization: Shopping Cart

Westcliff University

Presidential Business School

Professor Hari Om Sharma

BUS 540 Organization Behaviors

Nilisha Nyachhyon

30th May,2021
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IDEO Organization

IDEO, situated in California, is one of the most important product development firms in the

world. It a multinational design firm dedicated to making a positive difference in the world. It

collaborates all across the world to solve complicated problems. The company is likely to

believe in the process rather the specific items or services. Its design is based from a wide

group of people with a focus on human experience. What makes IDEO different from other

companies is the diversity in the employees and hiring procedure. It highly concentrates in

people from different background like psychologist, IT & Engineering, medical teams,

anthropologist who works combinedly to bring out the innovation considering other factors.

IDEO has a playful culture where everyone has their own workplace and where everyone is

treating equally to bring out the ideas out of the box and present it.

IDEO Shopping Cart

This video demonstrates how the IDEO Company was able to find the best in its people,

motivate them to perform better and give their all, collaborate effectively, resolve

disagreements, and all generate a successful outcome. It demonstrates that a team leader who

is skilled in dealing with employees is more important to the team than a leader who has

worked for the organization for a longer period of time.

IDEO Studio attributes that promotes innovation

The movie on IDEO shopping cart projects attempts to reflect on some of the major

characteristics of IDEO working environment and culture that have enabled them to build a

distinctive working culture. All of the characteristics depicted in the video assisted us in

determining how the organization has been able to promote and motivate their employees to

be creative and innovative.

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The organization believes that “more failure leads to success sooner”, demonstrating the

organization’s beliefs and interest in team’s creativity in coming up with ideas, even if they

do not have the potential to produce beneficial outcomes. Similarly, rather than relying on

individual efforts, the organizational thinks in team efforts.

Diversity in workforce that leads to creative new ideas

The team members came from different backgrounds, but they got together to reinvent the

cart project by combining their skills, experience, and knowledge. The diversity will result in

a variety of perspectives, ideas, and knowledge about the design process, which will aid in

finding out in innovation (Parveen, S., Senin, A., & Umar, A., 2015) The team came up with

the suggestions and solutions such as scanner for speed and efficiency, metal frame baskets

for safety, communication tools, space to keep babies, and so on. The team’s different

background aided them in achieving the goals. They were able to accomplish their shopping

cart project on schedule thanks to their diverse imagination, extensive industries expertise,

determination, and intelligence. The MARS model’s ability aspect may be shown here, since

the team has distinctive competences, taught capabilities, and some innate aptitude for

figuring out the problem’s solution. By embracing the advantage of multigenerational

workforce, management can take deliberate steps to build a workplace that promotes

successful knowledge sharing behaviors and hence improve customer service. (Flinchbaugh

et.al,2016).

Despite the fact that the team had a varied background, it’s remarkable that the workforce

diversity has such a wide range of discipline, with the some coming from arts background,

others from engineering and yet others from marketing. This can genuinely assist any

company in viewing any problem or issue from numerous views and aspects.

Team value and organizational Culture

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We can see from the video that the team members ideas and thoughts are scrutinized, and

honest opinions are shared. The way in which an individual’s ideas are recognized and valued

is one of the most powerful motivation. Despite the fact that the team had a varied

background, it’s remarkable that the workforce diversity has such a wide range of disciplines.

Also, workforce diversity can improve productivity, promotes creativity and enhance

effectiveness in decision making. The team is able to work on their primary areas of

improvement thanks to their regular meetings and discussions, as well as constructive

criticisms. All of those elements, such as teamwork, independence, and creativity are

important. The combination of culture and work environment has an impact on innovation

and creativity (Gasper, Moura, &Wegner,2020)

Leadership

IDEO does not follow a hierarchy, instead it is a team that comes up with fresh ideas which

encourages employees to consider other things from a variety of perspectives. Employees are

hired based on their decision making and group management skills because Peter Skillman, a

lead engineer and team leader of the shopping cart project, is shown in the video. An

effective leader persuades his people to direct and achieve organizational goals. (Ahmet

2016).

Team Motivation

We can see from the video that the team members ideas and thoughts are scruntized, and

honest opinions are shared. The way in which an individual’s ideas are recognized and valued

is one of the most powerful motivators. Flexible working styles, an open work atmosphere, a

lack of status, and autonomy are all important drivers of team motivation.

Furthermore, their unique thoughts are perspectives are acknowledged, debated, and valued,

implying that such actions and behaviors can drive individuals to worker harder and achieve
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their objectives. The teams were spilt into several groups, but they all agreed on the final

proposal, in which the greatest aspects from several shopping cart designs were extracted and

attached.

I’m confident in the way the organization encourages its employees to come up with their

own unique ideas every day, even if they cannot be implemented.

Decision Making

In the company with no hierarchy and a wide range of personnel, decision making is critical.

Different points of views and strong opinions might make it difficult to make a conclusion.

This might create a communication barrier and harm an individual’s ego. Usually, while

making a decision, intitutive decision might lead to undesirable outcomes.

Analysis and feedback on Ideas

Another admirable features of the IDEO team are everyone recognizes and respects each

other ideas and respect other opinions and perspective. They have found it even easier to

comment on each other’s ideas because of open communication and lack of hierarchy. The

groups also provide helpful comments on the ideas without passing judgement on anyone’s

ability or viewpoints. They believe in collaborative work rather than competing with each

other’s.

The following are the most essential aspects of this case: -

1. Human capital is one of the important sources of innovation, and such, it needs

ongoing motivation and organizational commitment, depending on its type and

qualities.

2. There are three major components to organizational commitment: normative,

affective, and continuous.

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3. Increasing organizational innovativeness can be aided by the selection and recruiting

of a varied staff.

4. Priority should be given to motivation.

Conclusion

From the example of IDEO, it can be seen those innovations dies not come from an

organization, but rather than from individuals or employees who put the effort, ingenuity, and

passion to develop marketable goods. It should be emphasized that the individual employee

behavior and qualities might be combined. It can be combined with the work environment to

excite employees and help them attain higher levels of productivity. The above-mentioned

characteristics, such as an understanding of individual behavior, a natural hierarchy, a diverse

workforce, an innovating culture and work environment, all work together to create a synergy

in the workplace, allowing for open communication and the emergence of ideas regardless of

one’s background or experience. Individual behavior and procedures, on the other hand, are

recognized as having a significant impact on organizational innovation. All of these lessons

have undoubtedly aided me in better understanding individual behavior and developing and

maintaining great team relationships. Organizational behavior’s helps to look at the effects of

individuals, groups, and systems on company behaviors in order to apply what they learn to

employee growth and performance. (Ojha A.,1998).

Even while the shopping cart was not initially a major feature of the mall, it played a

significant role in the shopper’s shopping experience and added value to customer care,

teaching us the value of good customer care.

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References

Ahmet, A., (2016). Effect of Leadership Styles of School Principles on Organizational

Citizenship Behavior’s. Educational Research and Reviews,11(11),1008-1024.

Flinchbaugh, C. Valenzuela, M.and Li, P., (2016) Developing employee socio-technical

flexibility multigenerational workforce. Journal of Management &

Organization,24(4).517-532.

Gaspary, E. Moura, G. L, & Wegner, D. (2002). How does the organizational structure

influence a work environment for innovation? International Journal of

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management,24(2/3).

Ojha, A., (1998) Measures of effectiveness: The Impact of External &Organizational

Beliefs, Values and Interests’ Electronic Journal.

Parveen, S., Senin, A.A, & Umar, A. (2015). Organization culture and open innovation: A

quadruple helix open innovation model approach. International Journal of

Economics and Financial Issues.5(1) Retrieved from

https://search.proquest.com/docview/1753603590?accountid=158986

Stevenson, R., (2001). Shared decision making and core school values: A case study of

organizational learning. International Journal of Educational Management, 15 (2),

pp.103-121.

https://www.ideo.com/about