RMIT UNIVERSITY VIETNAM

Subject Code: BUSM4553

Subject Name: Innovation Management

Location & Campus (SGS or HN) SGS

where you study:

Title of Assignment:

Assessment 1: Argumentative Essay

Student name:

Le Tuan Minh

Student Number: S3878437

Teachers Name: Todd Rogers

Group Number: 1

Assignment due date: 1 April 2022

Date of Submission: 1 April 2022

Number of pages including this 7

one:

Word Count: 1617

ASSIGNMENT 1: ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

I. Introduction
 Have you ever wondered why the world we live in today is much more
efficient compared to 50 years ago in many aspects from economic growth to
various new inventions in our life? It is the result of human education and
innovation, which serve as a foundation for further human progress. To support
this view, Confucius stated that: “Learning without thought is labour lost, thought
without learning is perilous”. Therefore, the establishment of a learning culture
and the ability to innovate is crucial for every business looking for competitive
advantage (Gilbert & Cordey-Hayes 1996). Under this circumstance, it is critical
to identify the concepts that encourage creativity and innovation.
The scope of this paper will initially define the main terms: “creativity” and
“innovation”, followed by the analysis of theories used to stimulate creativity and
innovation such as the La Salle Innovation Matrix, the Tuckman’s team stages,
the Componential Theory of Creativity, and the innovation typologies. After that,
some real-world examples will be provided to strengthen the arguments
regarding these concepts.

II. Body paragraph

a) What are creativity and innovation?
Creativity is “the generation of new or novel ideas or associations between
existing concepts”, and innovation is “the implementation of these ideas or
concepts in some specific context” (Plucker 2016). Innovation and creativity drive
enterprises to operate differently, meaning to do existing things in a remarkable
manner (Friday 2007).

b) La Salle Matrix Thinking

Today’s businesses usually focus on improving the efficiency of their new
product development (NPD) process. Therefore, modern NPD initiatives require a
strategy that can be organised, optimised, and validated (Leenders, Van Engelen
& Kratzer 2007). Through the application of La Salle Innovation Matrix, not only
innovators can benefit from the usefulness of these structured design methods,
but if applied correctly, can foster more significant product concepts and
developments (Bhargava 2013). Specifically, the tools in the La Salle Matrix
include four seeds and eleven catalysts, acting as certain “boxes'' for each
specific circumstance and their application in business. The result of applying
these systematic strategies is that it instantly guides our thinking to the ideal
place to find actual value-added change (Salle 2012). Furthermore, breakthrough
thinking may be achieved through “unlocking people’s minds'' by providing them
a structured approach to identifying issues and coming up with creative solutions
(Taylor 2004). By creating certain boxes to think within, innovators have a
foundation to provide their ideas and don’t get lost in the universe during the
brainstorm session, thus extracting great ideas eventually (Coyne, Clifford & Dye
2007).
Lipton was a company that successfully implemented Matrix Thinking into
their products. Realising that the typical tea bags were filled with indistinguishable
bits that makes the beverage taste bitter, Lipton created the pyramidal nylon
mesh bags, allowing the long leaves to be contained in the bag without grinding
up the leaves. This approach was able to get the best flavour out of the tea,
without having to brew it in a pot (Kiesling 2006).

c) Tuckman’s team stages

Organisations are increasingly relying on teamwork, hence understanding
the mechanisms that make teamwork more effective is crucial for improving team
performance and attitudes (Miller 2003). According to Tuckman’s notion (1965),
all teams move through a series of phases in terms of development and
associated behaviour. Those stages are as follows: forming - people get
together for the first time and start to define their purpose as a team, storming -
conflicts and disagreements arise due to individual differences, norming - team
cohesiveness increases, people start to work together comfortably, and establish
an understanding of their roles, performing – the highest performing stage is
recorded, and people are delivering high quality work in an efficient manner,
adjourning – the team’s goal has been completed and group members start to
disband (Cordell & Thompson 2019). It is believed that teams pursuing a group
development model enjoy the process of working in groups, which aids in the
acquisition of deeper thinking, and exposes them to pleasant group experiences
(Guttenberg 2020). Because innovation in organisations rely on creativity in
project teams to combine inputs from various team members, hence studying the
social interactions and discussion process can assist team members in producing
more creative outputs, which leads to product success (Chen 2006)
Junto Institute, a 9-month educational program designed for start-up
leaders to become more effective leaders, is based on group dynamics and
teamwork among different leaders and entrepreneurs. The first stage of the
program is when members get acquainted with each other, ask questions, and
get comfortable. Then, in the second stage, individuals start questioning the
program’s potential, and disagreeing with certain practices of the program.
Following this, the third stage demonstrates team cohesiveness, and people start
to adopt their roles in the group. The final stage is when people take actions
through supporting each other using the experiences they have accommodated
from the program to complete their task (Chadha 2015). This shows that Junto
implements Tuckman's theory in their program (adjourning is not discussed
because it is not important).

d) Amabile’s Componential Theory of Creativity

The organisation’s creativity and innovation mainly rely on the
management practices and individual employees. To explain, the componential
theory of creativity identifies four elements that impact creativity at both the
individual and organisational level: knowledge, creative thinking, task motivation,
and work environment.
 According to Ferrari, Cachia, & Punie (2009), previous knowledge is
essential to the creative process in terms of domain expertise and understanding
how to be creative. Moreover, adopting knowledge can help experts analyse
requirements like what the abstract task characteristics are, what knowledge the
work necessitates, and what kind of model to construct (Steels 1990).
Creative thinking largely depends on individual qualities such as
independence, risk taking, and new views on issues, as well as trained work
style, and ability in creating thoughts (Amabile 2012). Moreover, the
componential theory of creativity states that individual’s creative performance can
be influenced by social contexts such as management style, leadership
characteristics, and work environment as well (Thuan 2020)
Intrinsic task motivation is the motivation to carry out a task or solve an
issue because individuals crave challenges, self - growth, or satisfactions from
the work itself, rather than for external rewards (Amabile 2012). Furthermore,
intrinsic motivation can enhance creativity through positive emotions, cognitive
control, proactiveness, and persistence (Auger & Woodman 2016).
The work environment is critical for idea development, creativity, and
innovation. Therefore, organisations should consider multiple approaches in
management to create a supportive - innovative environment such as complying
with employees’ needs, collaborative colleagues, freedom to share new ideas,
recognition of creative work, and providing appropriate resources (Doran & Ryan
2017).
The invention of the E-reader is a fascinating example of the
Componential theory. Firstly, Jacobson’s physics domain expertise is
complemented by the skills of Comiskey and Albert in the field of mechanical
engineering & electronics in the product development process. Secondly, after
Jacobson’s incubation of ideas, Comiskey and Albert used their creativity –
relevant skills to undertake various approaches for experimentation to find the
correct formulas. Thirdly, the three are intrinsically motivated to improve the
product after coming up with the first prototype. Finally, the lab’s environment is
conducive to fostering new ideas, psychological safety, and appropriate
equipment for experimentation (Amabile 2012).

e) Innovation typologies
It is only through classifying types of innovation that we may increase our
understanding of innovation regarding the NPD process (Garcia & Calantone
2002). Thus, a number of different innovation typologies are developed to help
experts focus on specific business aspects through differentiation and examine
their impacts on organisation’s performance (Taran, Boer & Lindgren 2015)
The first zone of innovation typology is product leadership which includes
disruptive innovation, product innovation, platform innovation, and application
innovation. Product leadership pushes companies to innovate in terms of being
creative with idea generation, quickly commercialising these ideas, and finding
new solutions to solve problems. For example, in 1983, Johnson & Johnson Inc.
found a new way to produce disposable contact lens inexpensively. Then, the
company quickly formed a team to develop the product and by 1987, it rolled out
the products in the US market. Although J&J has obtained a large market share
after a few years, it continued to search for new materials to increase the
wearability of contact lenses (Treacy & Wiersema 1993)
The second zone of innovation typology is customer intimacy zone which
includes line extension innovation, enhancement innovation, marketing
innovation, and experiential innovation. The main objective of customer intimacy
is to meet with the consumer’s needs and cultivate intimate relationships with
them to satisfy economic goals. Furthermore, firms must deliver consumer values
to enhance customer loyalty for a long term (Anantadjaya et al. 2015). For
example, Home Depot employees take as much time with clients as necessary to
consult which is the right product for their home-repair issue. Their priority serves
around customer’s needs for information and satisfaction (Treacy & Wiersema
1993)
The third zone of innovation typology is the operational excellence zone
which includes value-engineering innovation, integration innovation, process
innovation, and value migration. Operational excellence refers to the greatest
quality and performance in all aspects of the business (Found et al. 2018).
Moreover, the aim is to lower overhead expenses, improve business processes,
and offer products at competitive prices with minimal inconvenience. In 1980, Dell
Computer was able to outperform its rivals with a different business model for
operational excellence. For its delivery system, it eliminated the distribution
process by selling directly to consumers, creating a low-cost structure, while still
providing high quality products (Treacy & Wiersema 1993).

III. Conclusion
To conclude, creativity and learning are key elements of human
experience. The process of creating and constructing new things necessitates the
acquisition of new skills and knowledge. Thus, people are always learning
through their experiences, imagination, and environment. As a result,
organisation leaders should apply the concepts above into real management
practices to enhance the creativity and innovation within their employees and
business.
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