Where to Position Innovation in the Organization

Innovation is integral to organizations aspiring to beat the hustle and bustle of the world. Nonetheless, when striving to outshine others one primary questionnaire remains most pertinent for the (organizational) heads: How do I place innovation in the organization? Should innovation be fully integrated into the organization’s headquarter or should it be done on a country-by-country basis? Should it be encapsulated within the first diseconomies-of-scale Picture framed in the organization’s strategy/HR/marketing/IT section.

These are crucial steps that determine, in no small extent, the success of a firm’s innovation strategy. This article will go into details about this. We shall try to find out whether decentralisation is better than centralisation in innovation and appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of different departments’ strategic placement.

We will also review Accept Mission’s innovative mode, which promotes systematic integration and efficient communications among the various departments in the organization, and finally focus on how creative processes in the organization are managed in the most efficient way.

The Corporate Landscape Affects the Adoption of Innovation in the Organization

Before examining where the provocatively placed act of innovation should go, a major question begs the answer: ‘why’.

It must be noted that the notion of innovation is, by nature, connected with some structure, requisite resources and investigative efforts. Innovation may not happen if given a due place in the structure of an organization as it might not work in tune with the rest of the business functions or it might not receive enough emphasis and funding. In fact, even if the level of innovation is well paris in the organizational chart, a bad position might arise where conflicts begin, and different sections see innovation as a threat, more so when it is centralized and curbs the happening of new ideas.

In reality, the answer to this question is simple: how innovation is arranged in an organization can either support the daily activities or hinder them and impact long-term performance.

Centralized and Decentralized Innovation: A Middle Ground

An important point of difference in the company structure that many institutions need to answer is whether innovation should be centralized or decentralized.

• Centralized innovation is the model where there is a team or unit or a specific department that deals with innovation. This unit creates goals, deals with resources, creates plans, and monitors these changes.
• Decentralized innovation however, is where the responsibility for innovation is outsourced to various departments or teams. The idea of every department having its own innovations researched out and developed while still keeping in mind the organization’s strategic aims.

Read more: Best examples of applicable innovation strategy in business

Advantages of Centralisation

Centralizing innovation holds several benefits which make it a good strategy to implement:

• Coordination of initiatives: A centralised innovation team allows effective coordination of all innovation activities with the main goals and strategy of the company.
• Resource Optimization: A centralized structure especially in the case of innovation ensures that resources are put in place without much hassle and people, funds and tools are moved to areas where they are needed the most.
• Harmonious Operations of a Process: The benefits of the leadership with the total process are the rights of each company that can be ordered to standardize innovation for every project, track it, get rid of overlaps, and monitor and improve all the work and results of all the innovations.

Centralization as a concept though offers benefits that are equally compromised by risks of bureaucracy and slow decision making in top management. For example, central business strategic decision making might not be agile enough to adapt to the unique issues emerging within different departments or sectors of the market.

The Strengths of Decentralization

Whereas, decentralized innovation permits each department to take charge of its innovation projects hence very responsive to the specific customer complaints, feedback, and market changes.

• Delays in implementation are minimized: Given that each department is allowed to act on brings about the to-do list rather than waiting for that long centralized process or permission.
• More depth within the department: Because a department only focuses on its field of operations on its particular market and consumers, it is better positioned to make innovations that are not only desirable but also relevant to its consumers.

The issue with decentralization is that propensity helps –or may be a lack of inclination — with respect to disintegration, which may result in sectional innovation projects that are incompatible with company objectives.

The Accept Mission’s Way: Striking a Fine Balance of the Two Extremes

We at Accept Mission, approach it from a balanced perspective, which is the best way to go: combining centralization and decentralization in this regard.

• Centralized approach: We create a top-notch unit where strategy, objectives, resources and performance are laid down in matters of innovation. These ensure that all such activities are guided by the company’s objectives and that there are well defined and followed regulations.
• Decentralized approach: Conversely, we do not centralize all processes within this unit. We rather prefer that each department is encouraged to take control over its own innovation programming. They will have priorities and operate on projects that are specific to them but the central innovation unit will provide any tech or anything else if necessary.

This hybridization of centralization and decentralization makes it possible to bring innovation within corals as departments can have a hotel hall to develop initiatives and yet still observe the company’s general vision.

Read the full article here: https://www.acceptmission.com/blog/where-to-position-innovation-in-the-organization-effective-innovation-management/

This includes the full description for position options:

• HR
• Strategy
• Project management
• Marketing
• Finance
• ICT