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For the attention of: news and business editors
Tuesday, March 15 2005 [PR4979]
Managers get the innovation they deserve
Investment in innovation is likely to be wasteful unless the agenda to innovate is driven
from the very top of the organisation, according to research from the Open University
Business School.
Writing in the latest edition of Open Business (the magazine of the School’s MBA Alumni
Association), Professor John Storey and Professor Graeme Salaman argue that
investments to encourage innovation will have minimal impact unless there is more
effective understanding as to why firms fail to innovate.
They draw on a three-year research programme to show that it is the attitudes and
behaviours of the most senior teams of managers that set the agenda for innovation in
organisations. They write: “While the benefits of innovation are clear, the incidence of
innovation remains unacceptably low. CEOs frequently claim innovation as a strategic
priority and yet their businesses often fail to achieve it. What the literature prescribes and
what most firms do about innovation are miles apart.”
The research focused on the views and theories of researchers and senior managers in
innovation-focused organisations. It found that while boards stressed the value of
innovation, this masked differences in how innovation was defined and valued in reality,
and in everyday business behaviour.
“Clarity and consensus about the direction and strategy of the organisation are among
the most important factors in encouraging innovation. The starting point for a successful
innovating organisation is to adopt a wide-ranging and ambitious definition of innovation
and to be genuinely committed to achieving it.”
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The authors also highlight the tension that exists between innovation and existing
organisational strengths and structures. Reaction to this tension differed among senior
managers.
“When innovation was seen as a threat, which must be controlled, they designed
procedures to regulate it. But radical forms of innovation require that senior managers
are willing to question and critique the existing order.
“When organisations fail to innovate effectively, it isn’t accidental. Often it is because
senior players achieve what they want – to block serious innovations that will threaten
existing business models and arrangements. Organisations actually get the sort and
level of innovation they deserve and want. You can’t maintain the status quo and
innovate.”
The authors conclude: “Our findings suggest that the answer to an organisation’s
innovation difficulties often rests within an organisation itself. However, encouraging and
surfacing these views requires skill and a robust and tested methodology. Where
management teams can be brought to acknowledge and make transparent their
competing beliefs, perceptions and expectations concerning innovation, they can put the
findings to practical use.”
The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The new book,
Managers of Innovation: Insights into Making Innovation Happen by Prof John Storey
and Prof Graeme Salaman is published by Blackwell (2005).
Editor’s Notes
The full article by Prof Storey and Prof Salaman is published in the latest edition of Open Business.
Journalists who would like a copy of Open Business are asked to contact Neil Coaten in the Open University
media relations team on 01908 652580 or at n.d.coaten@open.ac.uk
The Open University Business School is Europe’s leading business school and the major provider of
management development programmes delivered by supported distance learning. It is one of an elite group
of UK and European business schools to hold the prestigious triple of:
 accreditation from the US-based AACSB International;
 the EQUIS quality kitemark from the European Foundation for Management Development (efmd);
 and accreditation from the Association of MBAs (AMBA) for its MBA.
The OU Business School has 30,000 students in the UK and more than 40 countries. Since its inception in
1983, more than 150,000 managers have studied an OUBS course at Certificate, Diploma or MBA level; of
those, 15,000 have successfully completed their MBA. For course information, visit www.open.ac.uk/oubs
Resources
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OU Business School website: http://www.open.ac.uk/oubs
Media contact
Neil Coaten OU Media Relations +44 (0)1908 652580 n.d.coaten@open.ac.uk
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