Organizational Behavior And Contemporary Strategy Analysis

Classical organization theory evolved during the first half of this century. It represents the merger of scientific management, bureaucratic theory, and administrative theory.

The environment of an individual including culture of the company, management style, level of stress at work, etc…are also very important factors.

The study of Organizational Behavior (OB) is related to individuals, group of people working together in teams. The study becomes more challenging when situational factors interact. No two individuals are likely to behave in the same manner in a particular work situation. It is the predictability of a manager about the expected behavior of an individual. There are no absolutes in human behavior. It is the human factor that is contributory to the productivity hence the study of human behavior is important. Great importance therefore must be attached to the study.

This research intends to explore innovation at an individual level, but in a context, where the roles and functions of an organization appear eminent either as a promoter or an inhibitor of innovation.

A recent survey of the nation's top CEO's concludes that innovation remains the lifeblood of business. "For CEO's today, it's all about achieving growth and efficiency through innovation. It's not about product innovation so much anymore as about innovating business models, process, culture and management." (April, 2006).

For an organization to continually grow, innovation must be embedded in its culture. Innovation is a behavior that is required to be a part of every employee’s job. This necessitates an organization to present its employees with platforms wherein they can express their ideas such as the LIG program, as in the case of General Electric, to deliberate organic growth day in and day out. Innovation is effectively advertized in an organization where managers individually and collectively lead by example by way of their behavior, their

Organizations pursuing this type of business strategy try to develop a competitive advantage based on product innovation. The strategy requires employees to continually develop new products and services to create an organization’s advantage in the market. These companies create and maintain an environment that encourages employees to bring new ideas into the company.

With few exceptions, the field has largely neglected important micro aspects of strategy innovation in light of employee motivation. As Cardwallader et al (2009) opined, employees often “are the service” in the service contexts, as such, service innovations will succeed only insofar as the employees embrace, execute, and promote them. This research will provide the management of BFS with a fresh approach to marketing hence giving them a competitive advantage over its

“Innovation usually discusses the altering or generating more effective developments, products and ideas, and can rise the possibility of a business get to the top. Businesses that innovate produce more effective work methods and have better output and performance. Innovation can be a promoter for the progression and success of your business, and help you adjust and grow in the marketplace. Being innovative does not mean inventing; innovation can mean changing your business model and adapting to changes in your environment to deliver better products or services. Successful innovation should be an in-built part of your business strategy, where you create a culture of innovation and lead the way in innovative thinking and creative problem solving.”

To integrate innovation at General Mills Canada, and ultimately increase sales, Brad Taylor needs to implement at least four changes. One solution is to set a mandatory time outside of the workday so that members of different departments can meet and share ideas, such as corporate sponsored events. According to Professors John Bessant and Joe Tidd, innovation tends to come from “bottom up team initiatives,” as seen from IBM’s success during Lou Gerstner’s tenure. , If low-level employees can associate, they can construct better ideas. A second solution to General Mills Canada’s problem is to “exploit their resources.” The idea is for employees to increase the efficiency of what they already do. They can increase innovation in this area by implementing new software to speed up any processes, or use the data from software to forecast demand and sales in a better way. , If they make their processes better than their competitors, they can gain a competitive advantage. A third solution is to create a balance between risk taking and stability. General Mills Canada must encourage employees to speak up in meetings when they have ideas or spot potential business opportunities. When upper level management encourages these initiatives, it will drive the employees’ risk aversion down and hopefully promote innovative thinking. Finally, General Mills Canada needs to increase the size of their prototype division.

From many of these examples and articles, we can gather much information over the relationship between innovation and strategic management. Although, some areas may not be proven in its fullest capacity, there are undoubtedly ways that innovation improved business operations and practices, which can be seen in examples such as Apple, Microsoft, Dominos, and Samsung. On the other hand, not every business incorporating innovation is a success story. In the dynamic days we find ourselves in today, business and organizations are digging deeper into the wells of innovation. We have all come to enjoy the benefits and I am not sure of anyone that would want to

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”.

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.

Innovation is the process by which ideas are created, selected and implemented to bring about profitable change to organisations. Innovations come as a result of an identified need for organisations to change their current processes, activities or operations. Andriopoulos and Dawson (2009) explain that organisational change is ‘new ways of organizing and working’. They explain that change occur in two dimensions – movement of state and scope of change.

Companies live and breathe innovation; or, at the terribly least, notice it basic to their success. Such companies are those that others ought to emulate for they recognize that to do business, as Peter Drucker prompt in an exceedingly recent Harvard Business review article, “Every firm—not simply businesses—needs one core competence: innovation.”