Common Principles and Practices Used to Successfully Manage the 21st Century

Valve software has crafted a remarkable organization that has a unique organizational structure; in fact the company has literally no management. A flat organizational structure has been shown to improve communication among team members, enhance job satisfaction, and reduce the cost of management that middle-management layers can add to the organization (La Rooy, 2012). Organizational members have complete freedom to design their own projects, teams, work environment, and virtually every aspect of their daily job function. The Valve organization represents an extreme example of a move towards "self-management" and employee "empowerment" that originated several decades ago (Shipper & Manz, 1992). Such structures have shown to assist research and development teams to solve problems and accomplish creative tasks (Misra, 2011). Much research is dedicated to understanding and studying the factors that are associated with the complex notion of the "innovation culture" that can be found within progressive organizations such as Valve (Jucevicius, 2010). Even though the success of the Valve structure is undeniable when its accomplishments are considered through its history one problem that existing in researching such an organization is whether the model (or lack thereof) is sustainable and reproducible. This research will consider if innovation can cascade or build in organizations in different industries and different organizational structures by

A wise man once said, “The only permanent thing in the world is change,” an adage that rings especially true for organizations in this fast-changing era of technology and communication. Daft very deftly puts the inescapable need for change in three simple words, “Innovate or Perish” in his book “Understanding the Theory & Design of Organizations” [2].

No matter the business to goal is to profit with little cost of attaining the profit. Technology has the most dramatic effect on business. A newer faster operating system can improve the efficiency to the company. New technology almost always offers way to make things run smoother with less chance or error and stay ahead of the competition. Not being caught up the newest technology can lead the competitor to have the upper hand. Employees will feel more confident and less likely to question the progress of the company if technology is something that isn’t lacking. The first step of the four function of management is planning. Planning cannot be done if there is not technology, much less up to date technology. Planning is a never ending step in the process, it is necessary for a company to sustain. Organizing the next step. Management must organize the structure of the business and evenly distribute the resources. Technology helps setting up and distributing the right information to the right departments. Directing, step number three requires never ending communication. This allows managers to allocate tasks to fix areas of weakness to improve and strengthen a company. Controlling is the last of the four functions. Technology helps companies establish standards, and help show ones job performance. Having this as a tool helps with areas of improvement for lower level members of a company as well as on up to the big dogs. Controlling is

Notwithstanding, Collins alerts that technology ought not to be viewed as a potential panacea for every one of that afflicts an organization. The habit of this sort of believing was uncovered in the repercussions of the crash of the technology rise in the early 2000s. The market remedy tossed into sharp relief the contrasts between sustainable uses of the Internet to extend established businesses and ill-planned, unviable online new companies. Collins contends that the good-to-great companies approach the possibility of new and developing advancements with a similar prudence and careful deliberation that describes the greater part of their different business choices. Further, these organizations have a tendency to apply innovation in a way that is intelligent of their "hedgehog ideas" - ordinarily by choosing and centering exclusively upon the improvement of a couple of advancements that are on a very basic level perfect with their set up qualities and goals.

Over the past few years technology has caused significant changes in the way enterprises conduct business.

Over the years, technology has become a major part for a business and for an individual as well. Technology has become so advance that it has made a major effect for the staff as well as for the customers. New technology has helped in many areas such as data and information storage, advertising, transportation and communication.

Technological change is a fundamental driver of economic development and performance, not only at the level of firms and industries but also economies. Innovation is the organizational process through which new

The world has changed over the last ten years, technology has created a new world, where we have become more dependent on it. In his article, “The Eight Net Gen Norms”, Don Tapscott, discusses what he believes the “net generation” is and how they are defined by eight norms: Freedom, customization, scrutiny, integrity, collaboration, entertainment, speed, and innovation. (132) Tapscott makes some very unique observations, but there was one norm, I felt was more important, innovation. There are many reasons why, but the one main reason is the creation of new ideas. Without the innovated ideas, we wouldn’t have the advanced technology we possess today. Think about the world without cell phones, no web, or no medical tools? We know for a fact this era couldn’t survive without them. The workplace is starting to turn from the traditional way by allowing the employees to be heard, but there is still a gap between generations. The power of innovation helps people with everyday life, changing the way jobs are running, but also has created a rift between the old and new generations.

Tidd and Bessant (2009) argued that “Unless an organization is able to move into further innovation, it risks being left behind as others take the lead in changing their offerings, their operational processes or the underlying models that drive their business”.

As the term suggests, User Innovation describes innovation created by any form of user, in contrast to the “traditional” innovation approach which focuses on the producer only. It forms a major part of the current trend of Open Innovation, which is expected to become an essential part and standard in most companies’ innovation management within the next 10 years. Open Innovation in this context means “the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and to expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively” (Chesbrough, 2006). In general, Open Innovation is a comparably new field of study defined in the late 1980`s, and research focuses still mostly on case studies

Innovation refers to finding new ways to improve the existing products, services, processes, technologies, and employee performance in an organizational setup. In today's competitive business environment, organizations have to focus on bringing innovation in each and every aspect of their business operations; like products or service offerings, enterprise resource planning systems, marketing and promotional efforts, and organizational structure. The market challenges and competitive pressures also force organizations to use a blend of all these innovation processes in their business activities. Therefore, it is vital to give an equal focus on product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, and organizational innovation within the limited organizational resources and capabilities.

In modern society, technology has affected in every area and industries, and helped develop more advantage than tradition industries without technology. E-commerce, Customer Relationships Management (CRM) and online sales etc. are widespread use in many organisations around the word (Philip Kotler., 2013).

The technology management of business benefit requires utilizing technological resources and systems for the needs of the company now and later. Technological roadmapping is being used increasingly in companies for supporting the development, communication and implementation of technology and business strategy. European Institute of Technology and Innovation Management (EITIM) defines technology management as “Technology Management addresses the effective identification, selection, acquisition, development, exploitation and protection of technologies (product, process and infrastructural) needed to achieve, maintain [and grow] a market position and business performance in accordance with the company’s objectives” [3].

The four management themes are intriguing and challenging to current and future managers. People, especially those in leadership positions should always be looking for way to improve. One such method as suggested by the readings includes looking to other countries for new strategies, particularly those countries that are stable and relatively progressive. Such examples would include Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan. No matter what though, professionals should keep in mind that there is no one country that has all the answers in any field, whether the topic is management or otherwise.

In the era of information and technology, new technologies are generated very fast. Thus, effective management of technology has become more and more important. Driven by the competitive business environment, a new word was born: Technology management tools. Technology management tools is “Effective Systems for managing technology in complex business environments require integrated sets of management tools and processes, underpinned by well-founded conceptual networks ” (Phaal et al, 2006). There are a huge number of technology management tools, but generally it is divided into four major types: Technology Scan, Technology Foresight, Technology Roadmapping and Knowledge Management.