Organizational Theory and Design Dersi 6. Ünite Sorularla Öğrenelim

Innovation can be defined as “the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process...or a new organizational method”.

There are three types of innovation: process innovation, product innovation, and organizational innovation.

The degree to which it involves a change in technical competencies and the degree to which it involves a change in business model.

Product innovation refers to the new or recombined knowledge incarnated in a new product.

Routine (incremental) innovation is based on having the existing business model, exploiting the existing knowledge base and small improvements of existing products.

Innovation process has three stages: invention, development, and implementation.

The elaboration of the idea takes place at the development stage.

Implementation means the widespread acceptance of the innovation. The central mechanism of implementation is exploitation, which contains such things as refinement, choice, production, efficiency, selection, and execution.

Structural change means any change in the patterned or regularized aspects of the relationships among participants in the organization.

Structural change refers to any change in the patterned or regularized aspects of the relationships among participants in the organization.

Technological change means changing the hardware (equipment, machines, and instruments) used in performing work and skills and knowledge of employees.

Nowadays, technological changes usually include the introduction of new equipment or methods such as using 3-D printing, automation, and computerization.

There are nine different ways in which culture evolves:

Prescribed change includes a non-arbitrary sequence of stages and activities over time, and it is gradual and incremental.

Top-down change is implemented by managers at a high level in the company, while bottom-up change is implemented by employees at low levels in the company and gradually rises until it is felt throughout the organization.

The final step in the change process is to evaluate how successful the change effort has been. Using measures such as changes in market share, in profits, or the ability of scientists to innovate new drugs, managers compare how well an organization is performing after the change with how well it was performing before.

The steps of change management are assessing the need for change, deciding on the change to make, implementing the change, and evaluating the change.

There are two types of organizational change: prescribed change and planned change.

Why does a company periodically needs to change its structure?

A company periodically needs to change its structure disregarding the external environment because the structural change gets people to start forming new networks, it disrupts the routines that dampen innovation and adaptability, and it disrupts harmful power structures.

Strategic change includes alterations in a company’s corporate, business-level, and/or functional strategies.