Innovation in the organization is a complex and organized process. Since innovation and development processes are so complicated, the managers become uncertain about what to do.
Innovation becomes a broad, social cooperation process in which many parties participate. The employees and managers participate in different ways (Hakansson 128). The organization can be more or less tight or loosely-coupled.Therefore, innovation and development processes can be carried out by special departments such as an Innovation and Development Department. Many employees and managers who are not experts can be involved. This paper presents a new perspective on innovation and importance of Innovation and Development Department for Emirates Marketing & Promotions (EMP). It considers innovation as a strategic response to change-processes in the market and society that are characterized by uncertainties. Importance of the Innovation and Development Department Innovation and Development Department increasingly becomes crucial for the EMP’s possibilities for growth and survival.
Market and social developments are specifically important.These include new aspects of behavior and ethical norms, political procedures and new knowledge. As markets become more developed and made up of various interconnected parts, consumers become more demanding and critical. Consumers do not just accept innovations.
Innovations have to be transferred. EMP cannot merely adapt to markets as stable environments. Such services as direct mailing, call centers, promotions EMP is offering need to be more reflexive and strategic.
By reflexive is meant that services must be delivered with consideration of the changing manifestations of their actions on the market and in society.By strategic is meant that EMP must consciously negotiate its role in the division of labor and in relation to customers. The Innovation and Development Department will be relevant to an understanding of innovation in the contemporary economy and will be characterized by knowledge, services and flexibility. Much more attention could be devoted to services considering innovation under conditions of reflexivity.
The sub-components of the Innovation and Development Department are interaction, roles, complementarity and innovation management.Briefly, innovation is not a smooth social interaction process inside a well-ordered, rule-governed EMP. Instead, it is a reflexive and often fragmented and conflict-based process. In order to ensure successful results, EMP should formulate the Innovation and Development Department that relate to the expectations of others. Reflexivity is strategic when it involves systematic negotiations. A driving force behind strategic reflexivity is the effort to establish a role for the employees in the division of labor. Roles have to correspond with each other.
Complementarity between them is crucial, in particular in the service sector. Furthermore, the Innovation and Development Department managers can ‘direct’ personnel through transformations and changes, helping them to identify their ‘roles’, like theatre or movie directors direct actors. Innovation as an Interaction Process The innovation process has many phases. In a first main ‘idea’ phase, common entrepreneurship from all employees plays a critical role (Czerniawska 69). However, the following phases take place is the Innovation and Development Department (Czerniawska 72).Also, the activity of external parties is widely used. The Innovation and Development Department managers cooperate with external parties and use external knowledge. Innovation and Development Strategy Since innovation and development are assumed here to be determined within a strategic framework of the Innovation and Development Department that gives general development guidelines the process of getting ideas and developing innovations within the department may be organized in different ways, according to the situation.
However, the view of the innovation behavior as a complex process of small changes in a strategic framework leads to a certain central model of the way of organizing the innovation process. It is called the dual organization. The regulations are made by a series of individuals in interaction processes. Ideas may often come from individuals, but they will soon be formulated and organized in the way that other people will react to them and the idea maker needs sponsor that normally is the Innovation and Development Department.
Often the idea will have been born from the collaboration with other people inside or outside the organization or the idea may be presented by a group. Then, the development of the idea demands that more individuals are involved. Generally, the development process will be carried out in the Innovation and Development Department. Also, the development of the innovation that includes solving a lot of problems on the way and decision making demands interaction between many people. The Innovation and Development Department is the guideline for the birth of ideas and further development into realized innovations.
The top management of the Innovation and Development Department is the guide who makes decisions. Clearly, the Innovation and Development Department managers can not get all the ideas themselves. Therefore, they are dependent on ideas coming broadly from throughout the organization.
Involvement of all or many employees and managers in the innovation process is necessary (Hakansson 25). The Innovation and Development Department proposes the strategy that can function as an inspiration for the employees to get ideas. All this process needs some regulation (Hakansson 69). This leads to the strategy of the dual organization of innovation.
It is an interactive structure in which ideas and development of innovations are realized in continuous two-way transfer of information between employees and the c Innovation and Development Department. Furthermore, the Innovation and Development Department is a hierarchical managerial structure that regulates the innovation process.The interaction is as follows: • Ideas appear in the loosely coupled two-way structure. • The Innovation and Development Department creates incentives for innovation thus inducing innovation. • The ideas are developed within the interactive structure.
The Innovation and Development Department makes successive decisions whether to go on with the innovation. • The employees in the interactive structure may attempt to influence the management’s decisions. • Thus, an interaction process between the Innovation and Development Department and other structures is created. • The Innovation and Development Department is the decision framework because it is the guideline for the organization’s development.
In addition, it has been empirically indicated that the dual innovation organisation is widespread in service firms (Volberda 26).Sometimes employees from below may carry the innovation process the whole way through to market realization. However, this may be indicated to be rare. So many problems will appear in the decision making process and so much knowledge must be provided that it is currently very problematic without professional knowledge to carry through such a process. Therefore, people from the Innovation and Development Department should be engaged in the innovation development. They play crucial roles in the interactive innovation process. One crucial role is that of an analyst. The analyst has an important function in the process of strategy formulation.
Other roles develop and implement the innovations. Innovations in EMP must be top planned, long-term activities that are carried out in institutionalized organizational setting, the Innovation and Development Department. EMP can take its point of departure in the market and the future wants and problems that the customers may have.
For example, it may create a strategy that not only focuses on distribution of messages and product samples, promotional postmarks for corporate clients, call centre management for companies, but also on the daily behavior of the potential clients.The circumstances (for example side effects, the daily life routines etc. ) are also of great importance, besides carrying out the core tasks. Then the Innovation and Development Department will set up a complex structure of project teams, informal interaction processes etc. to find information and get ideas. The Innovation and Development Department will be mainly involved in the process because a lot of technical research and development is involved. However, this process should not be completely left to that department.
The Innovation and Development Department may break the strategy by getting an idea outside the strategic lines and policy. The Innovation and Development Department is also a political actor within the organization. Trajectory The Innovation and Development Department follows a certain developmental process, a paradigm or trajectory (Volberda 98). It has certain logic and continuous growing of knowledge. This logic and developing knowledge lead to a series of new innovative elements that can be the basis for future innovations. EMP may relate to several developmental trajectories.EMP can become establishment of professional teams or departments, particularly an R;D department. Innovation and Change EMP should adopt innovations through small changes.
EMP’ development, and hence the dynamism in the economy, will be improved by many small changes in many dimensions. Examples are: innovative approaches to Direct Mail – design, templates etc. New technological possibilities can also be a determinant.
The ideas can be determined by different factors: special customers desires, new technological possibilities, the organisation can not carry out a new task etc.The Innovation and Development Department makes some small changes that, combined, develop the organization so it can keep its competitive position. Organization must take into consideration the users’ aspect (practical life of the users), market image etc. The Innovation and Development Department will transform EMP into a highly flexible one where each employee is supposed to get new ideas of many kinds. Innovations and changes are crucial to EMP development.
Conclusion The market is where organizations compete; they must consider innovation and development processes if they wish to be successful.Moreover, creativity is basic to innovation and its hindrance should be addressed. The Innovation and Development Department activity can provide a valuable contribution to the development of innovative services. The conceptual framework outlined in this paper should help understand the importance of the department. Some service modifications may keep a brand competitive in the short period of time, but if continuous growth is planned then more free-thinking and creativity needs to be afforded to the Innovation and Development Department.