The Influence of Organizational Culture on Innovation - Research Proposal

Introduction

Organizational culture can be described as the concealed beliefs, norms, and values of firms that lead to the unique social and psychological atmosphere. Corporate culture is a substantial issue that has a significant influence on transformation in any company (Anderson, Potocnik & Zhou, 2014). In the current economy, there are performance differences between different companies, and many of them devise ways to sustain competitive advantage. With innovation, it is easy for businesses to differentiate their products and services from the rest thus making them have superior performance outcomes. Therefore, innovativeness is a crucial element required to reach competitive advantage (Tian, Deng, Zhang & Salmador, 2018). The primary goal of this essay is to comprehensively discuss the influence that organizational culture has on innovation for sustainable economic development as well as enhancing competitive advantage.

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Problem Statement/Research Questions

Every organization should create a conducive environment for the employees to grow and become more creative with the aim of getting better and being competitive in the industry and the market at large. The research questions include: What are the various control variables or factors that define organizations cultures? Do these variables lead to innovation and how?

Some of the dimensions of organizational cultures that have a direct impact on innovation include the working environment, customer orientation and satisfaction, leadership, strategic vision and mission, and management support (Auernhammer & Hall, 2013). On the other hand, various factors like trust, behavior, and purposefulness encourage innovation in any business environment. First, management support is one of the most significant factors that promote innovation. Therefore, companies should encourage the development of teambuilding and other external activities and offer various training courses for employees in all departments. Management support also includes giving rewards, incentives, and promotions to the best performing members to encourage the rest to be innovative and competitive (Elsbach & Stigliani, 2018). The management should also ensure that there is the availability of internet technology and other equipment that are necessary for innovation activities.

The working environment is one of the most significant factors that influence innovation and creativity in any organization because it primarily focuses on the employees (Hogan & Coote, 2014). Every company wishing to be creative should establish a talent incubator for both the top executives and the operational staff. Due to the increased competition for top talent among organizations, it is crucial to move people across various departments and to assign them different roles and responsibilities with the aim of assisting them in gaining new skills. Talent mobility is increasingly becoming critical in all businesses since it facilitates the ability of employees to take on new projects (Ax & Greve, 2017). In most cases, attracting talent is difficult, and once an ideal candidate is on board, everything possible must be done to retain them. The existing workforce is the best source of talent and keeping them is critical especially when others begin to retire. Currently, most employees are not staying in the same position since everyone is aspiring to build their careers further, therefore looking for opportunities (Pedersen, Gwozdz & Hvass, 2018). For the reason explained above, internal mobility is critical, and with a good program, the employees are retained and engage in various creative activities.

On the other hand, when a firm is faced with a difficult economic climate, the implementation of an innovation culture is inhibited (Naranjo-Valencia, Jimenez-Jimenez & Sanz-Valle, 2016). Most organizations implement the method of bracing when faced with financial issues and in the process, the businesses use strategies such as cost-saving, budget cuts, and layoffs with the aim of sustaining the company (Chen & Hou, 2016). However, although such procedures may seem useful in the beginning, they cause failure in the long-run. In such cases, a business must not fear a weak economy. Instead, they should devise other ways of dealing with these problematic climates, for instance, by adjusting their business models. Innovations, in this case, are critical since the people in charge come up with ways to prevent such economic problems in the future.

According to (Alimuddin & Sukoco, 2017) culture is the leading and most common cause of failures of initiatives in any business. Firms lacking an appropriate culture that encourages and supports new ideas from its employees as well as risk-taking has a higher probability of generating new innovative ideas. In the same way, managers and owners of firms who do not fully support the implementation of new ideas involving innovative initiatives often lead to the failure of these organizations. Additionally, the resources allocated towards creative ideas play a critical role in the failure or success of organizations (Bowers, Hall & Srinivasan, 2017). Therefore, organizations must allocate the required finances and time to employees who have innovative initiatives as a means of offering them the required support

It is critical to note that businesses which try to improve their conditions with what is already present in the market are unlikely to prosper in the long-run. Therefore, it is crucial for all organizations to embrace the innovative culture (Driskill, 2018). For firms to accomplish such a strategy, they must recognize both the internal and external factors especially people who are potential innovators.

Methodology

The research methods that will be used are questionnaires and interviews that will be conducted in two organizations to compare them since the study is descriptive in nature. One of the companies in which the research will be done will be a renowned and well-established firm like Wal-Mart while the other one will be a smaller business. Three managers from each company who are well conversant with the business environment will be chosen to be the sample, and they will be asked questions in separate interviews regarding how their respective firms' culture influences innovation. The process by which the sample size is derived will be dependent on the amount of time that they have been in a particular firm.

The questions in the questionnaires will include; What types of innovations have you witnessed since you began working in the company? How does your fir differentiate its products and services from the rest that make them unique? Does your firm offer training services to the employees? How is the training process conducted? Do you think that the act of training employees influences their innovation? How are employees who perform best rewarded? How often does the rewarding happen? What kind of incentives are they offered? Do you think rewarding such employees increases their creativity and innovation? How would you describe the working environment in your firm? How is talent nurtured? For instance, are employees moved to different departments and given different roles and responsibilities? Do you think talent mobility is essential in the effort to increase creativity? In your opinion, what do you think is the most significant barrier to innovation in your firm?

The information obtained from the interviews and the questionnaires will be gathered and analyzed. In this case, tables will be drawn indicating all the variables to be studied in the research study regarding the various cultures in the organizations and how they have influenced different kinds of innovations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the issue that will be studied in the research proposal is how organizational culture influences innovation. The two research questions in the study include: What are the various control variables or factors that define organizations cultures? Do these variables lead to change and how? The multiple factors that will be studied include the working environment, trust, behavior, purposefulness, availability of internet technology, and economic hardships. Since the study is descriptive and entirely relies on qualitative data, information will be gathered from interviews and questionnaires. Two managers from two different organizations will be interviewed at separate times and will be asked the same questions in the polls. The questions to be asked include What types of innovations have you witnessed since you began working in the company? How does your fir differentiate its products and services from the rest that make them unique? Does your firm offer training services to the employees? How is the training process conducted? After the data is collected, it will be analyzed using tables and charts, and after that, it will be compared. The results from the interviews and questionnaires will be used to discuss the effect that organizational culture has on innovation.

References

Alimuddin, A., & Sukoco, A. (2017). The Leadership Style Model That Builds Work Behavior Through Organizational Culture. JURNAL LENTERA: Kajian Keagamaan, Keilmuan Dan Teknologi, 3(2).

Anderson, N., Potocnik, K., & Zhou, J. (2014). Innovation and creativity in organizations: A state-of-the-science review, prospective commentary, and guiding framework. Journal of management, 40(5), 1297-1333.

Auernhammer, J. & Hall, H. (2013). Organisational culture in knowledge creation, creativity and innovation: towards the Freiraum model. Journal of Information Science. Vol 40, No 2, 156-166.

Ax, C., & Greve, J. (2017). Adoption of management accounting innovations: Organizational culture compatibility and perceived outcomes. Management Accounting Research, 34, 59-74.

Bowers, M. R., Hall, J. R., & Srinivasan, M. M. (2017). Organizational culture and leadership style: The missing combination for selecting the right leader for effective crisis management. Business Horizons, 60(4), 551-563.

Chen, A. S. Y., & Hou, Y. H. (2016). The effects of ethical leadership, voice behavior and climates for innovation on creativity: A moderated mediation examination. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(1), 1-13.

Driskill, G. W. (2018). Organizational culture in action: A cultural analysis workbook. Routledge.

Elsbach, K. D., & Stigliani, I. (2018). Design thinking and organizational culture: A review and framework for future research. Journal of Management, 44(6), 2274-2306.

Hogan, S. J., & Coote, L. V. (2014). Organizational culture, innovation, and performance: A test of Schein's model. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), 1609-1621.

Naranjo-Valencia, J. C., Jimenez-Jimenez, D., & Sanz-Valle, R. (2016). Studying the links between organizational culture, innovation, and performance in Spanish companies. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicologia, 48(1), 30-41.

Pedersen, E. R. G., Gwozdz, W., & Hvass, K. K. (2018). Exploring the relationship between business model innovation, corporate sustainability, and organisational values within the fashion industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 149(2), 267-284.

Tian, M., Deng, P., Zhang, Y., & Salmador, M. P. (2018). How does culture influence innovation? A systematic literature review. Management Decision, 56(5), 1088-1107.