MUNHUMUTAPA SCHOOL OF COMMERCE
GRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOL
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
STUDENT
GODWILL MUGADZA
REG NUMBER
M215725
COHORT
HARARE WEEKEND SCHOOL
MODULE CODE
MBA 715
TITLE
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
TUTOR
DR E. MURESHERWA
SEMESTER
2.1
YEAR
2022
ASSIGNMENT 1
EXAMINE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN, CHANGE AND INNNOVATION, CLEARLY
SHOWING WHY BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS IN ZIMBABWE, INCLUDING
INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING ARE ENCOURAGED TO EMBRACE
INNOVATION AS A KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR.
LECTURER’S COMMENTS
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INTRODUCTION
Organizational change and innovation are essential for an organization’s growth and development. An
organization needs to constantly innovate to succeed. Innovation can include making things
better, faster, or cheaper than your competition. It can also include improving your internal
operations, such as how your teams communicate or giving your sales team new incentives. It
drives ongoing improvements and may help unleash a new idea that changes the rules.
Companies need to approach innovation and change effectively and proactively. This essay
therefore seeks to examine the relationship between change and innovation, clearly showing why
business organizations in Zimbabwe, including institutions of higher learning are encouraged to
embrace innovation as a key performance indicator. The essay opens up by definition of key
terms. The terms that are defined at this early stage into the essay are Change, Innovation and
Key performance indicator. Any other term that is found incidental to specific sections of the
essay are defined as the paper continues to unfold. The definition of terms is then followed by
the discussion in question, before the paper winds down with a summary of the major issues
raised.
DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS
This section focuses on the definitions of key terms, beginning with the term change as presented below:
CHANGE:
(Keth, 2015), defined change as the difference in a state of affairs related to different points of time. (Poole
& Van de ven, 2004) also defined organizational change as a difference in form, quality, or state over time
in an organizational entity.
INNOVATION:
Innovation can be defined as something original and new being introduced to the world, (Keth, 2015).
(Keth, 2015), further posits that, innovation can be new ideas, new devices or new processes. According to
(Seaden and Manseau, 2001) as cited in (Taylor, 2017), innovation was defined as the creative process
whereby new or improved ideas are successfully developed and applied to produce outcomes that are
practical and of value. (Fagerberg, 2003) further supported the above assertions by defining innovation as
the first commercialization of the idea. For example in July 2021, the University of Zimbabwe hub came up
with two inventions targeting social protection after producing a smart blind stick and a pharmacy locator
application, (Gora, 2021). The smart blind stick was based on obstacle detection and object avoidance
technologies, thus providing efficient navigation for the visually impaired. The pharmacy locator application
is integrated with GIS and Google maps to locate medication at the nearest pharmacy.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:
Key performance indicators (KPIs) refer to a set of quantifiable measurements used to gauge a company’s
overall long-term performance, (Twin, 2022). KPI’s were also defined by another scholar as the critical
(key) quantifiable indicators of progress toward an intended result, (KPI.ORG, n.d.). According to,
(KPI.ORG, n.d.), KPI can be categorized into several types including Inputs, process, outputs, outcomes and
project.
CONTENT/ THEORY
1.1
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHANGE AND INNOVATION
According to (Keth, 2015); for a change to happen, previous knowledge and resources are required whereas
for innovation to happen, previous knowledge is not necessary. Change is comparable with a previous
situation or product and is relative in nature whereas innovation is not easily comparable as it does not have
near factors compared with as it’s unrelated in, (Keth, 2015). (Keth, 2015) further posits that change will
only improve on the ability to satisfy a need which already has a solution and that change will not assist in
answering an unsatisfied need whereas innovation will be the answer to satisfy an unsatisfied need which
did not have a solution earlier. Finally, it was postulated that, change is a continuous and natural process of
adoption and efficiency improvement whereas innovation is continuous in nature and usually originates
from perceptional change, (Keth, 2015).
RATIONALE FOR INNOVATION BY COMPANIES
Innovation is of paramount importance to companies for various reasons. The following points explain the
importance of innovation in a company.
o Companies need to innovate to harmonize with the advancing technology. Fast changes in technology
demand that the products are more and more sophisticated, (Course Hero, n.d.).
o Evolving needs advanced products. The customers’ needs advanced products. The customers demand
the best possible things for the day and the latest products are in demand. Thus the factor “customer
satisfaction” is vital and it relates to innovation.
o The company’s products and processes as well as services have to be more advanced than those of
competitors, or else the company loses it all, (Course Hero, n.d.).
o Companies achieve superior corporate positioning. And boosted market value as well as expeditious
expansion in the company.
o If the company does not innovate, the customers will stop buying the products, the sales volume
decline, revenue plunges, price of stock plunges, shareholder returns also plunges, resulting in skills
flight and ultimately the company crumble, (Course Hero, n.d.).
Innovation hubs at universities and colleges will revolutionize the education system by making tertiary
Centre’s vehicles of finding solutions to Zimbabwe’s challenges and spur economic growth in line with
second republic’s vision 2030 anchored on national strategy development, (The Herald, 2021).
Industrialization and modernization are premised on the Government of Zimbabwe’s higher education
policy Education 5.0, (Kwandayi). This policy puts emphasis on innovation and industrialization. The first
three are the traditional functions of universities which are teaching, research, and community service. The
remaining new functions of universities that were added by the Zimbabwean Government were innovation
and industrialization. The innovation component expects universities to be innovative and generate
inventions that support industries.
o
o
References
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Gora, P. (2021, September 30). Retrieved from University World News:
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Keth. (2015, September 26). Retrieved from differencebetween.com:
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