Driving Innovation by Enhancing Employee Roles: The Balancing Act of Employee-Driven Innovation
Our purpose is to investigate how the relationship
between employees and innovation management processes can drive
organizations to successful innovations. This research is deeply
related to a new way of thinking about human resources management
practices. It’s not simply about improving the employees’
engagement, but rather about a different and more radical
commitment: the employee can take on the role traditionally played
by the customer, namely to become the first tester of an innovative
product or service, the first user/customer and eventually the first
investor in the innovation. This new perception of employees could
create the basis of a novelty in the innovation process where
innovation is taken to a next level when the problems with customer
driven innovation on the one hand, and employees driven innovation
on the other can be balanced. This research identifies an effective
approach to innovation where the employees will participate
throughout the whole innovation process, not only in the idea
creation but also in the idea definition and development by giving
feedback in parallel to that provided by customers and lead-users.
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[2] A. W. Ulwick, What Customers Want: Using Outcome-driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services, New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2005.
[3] P. Kesting, and J. P. Ulhøi, “Employee Driven Innovation: The Discovery of the Hidden Treasure”, draft co-sponsored by The Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, 2008.
[4] P. Kesting, and J. P. Ulhøi, John, "Employee-driven innovation: Extending the License to Foster Innovation", Management Decision, 2010, 48(1), pp. 65-84.
[5] S. Høyrup, M. Bonnafous-Boucher, Maria, C. Hasse, M. Lotz, and K. Møller, Employee-Driven Innovation: A New Approach. UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
[6] M. Beer, "The Transformation of the Human Resource Function: Resolving the Tension Between a Traditional Administrative and a New Strategic Role", Human Resource Management, 1997, 36 (I), pp. 49-56.
[7] A.G. Robinson, and S. Stern, Corporate Creativity, Berret-Koehler, 1998.
[8] M. D. Mumford, G. M. Scott, B. Gaddis, and J. M. Strange, “Leading creative people: Orchestrating expertise and relationships”, The Leadership Quarterly, 2002, 13 (6), pp. 705–750.
[9] C. Sandstrom, and J. Bjork, “Idea management systems for a changing innovation landscape”, International Journal of Product Development, 2010, 11(3), pp. 310–324.
[10] C. Van Dijk, and J. Van den Ende, “Suggestion systems: transferring employee creativity into practicable ideas”, R&D Management, 2002, 32(5), pp. 387–395.
[11] N. Bhuiyan, and A. Baghel, “An overview of continuous improvement: from the past to the present”, Management Decision, 2005, 43(5), pp. 761–771.
[12] J. Birkinshaw, and L. Duke, “Employer-Led Innovation”, Business Strategy Review, 2013, 24 (2): 46-51.
[13] B. Meridatta, “The Google way: give engineers room”, New York Times, 2007, October 21. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/jobs/21pre.html?_r=0
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[18] S. Parise, R. Cross, and T.H. Davenport, “Strategies for Preventing a Knowledge-Loss Crisis”, MIT Sloan Management Review, 2006, 47(4), pp. 31-38.
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[39] M. A. Cusumano, “Software Development: Management and Business Concepts,” in Computing Handbook edited by T. Gonzalez, J. Diaz-Herrera , and A. Tucker, Third Edition, CRC Press. 2013, pp. 1-16
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[53] C. Zibreg, “Apple dogfooding iWork for iCloud Beta to all employees” iDownloadBlog, June 26, 2013. http://www.idownloadblog.com/2013/ 06/26/iwork-for-icloud-all-apple-employees
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[55] S. Mlot, “Apple Launches Employee Discounts, Mountain Lion Testing”. PC Magazine, June 22, 2012. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406184,00.asp
[56] M. Gurman, “Apple asks retail staff to test OS X Mountain Lion ahead of July launch” 9to5mac.com, June, 21, 2012. http://9to5mac.com/ 2012/06/21/apple-asks-retail-staff-to-test-os-x-mountain-lion-ahead-of-july-launch/
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[62] J. West, and K. Lakhani, “Getting Clear About Communities in Open Innovation”, Industry & Innovation, 2008, 15(2), pp. 223-231.
[1] A. Hesseldahl, “The Return of Iridium.” Forbes, November 30, 2001. http://www.forbes.com/2001/11/30/1130tentech.html.
[2] A. W. Ulwick, What Customers Want: Using Outcome-driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services, New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2005.
[3] P. Kesting, and J. P. Ulhøi, “Employee Driven Innovation: The Discovery of the Hidden Treasure”, draft co-sponsored by The Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, 2008.
[4] P. Kesting, and J. P. Ulhøi, John, "Employee-driven innovation: Extending the License to Foster Innovation", Management Decision, 2010, 48(1), pp. 65-84.
[5] S. Høyrup, M. Bonnafous-Boucher, Maria, C. Hasse, M. Lotz, and K. Møller, Employee-Driven Innovation: A New Approach. UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
[6] M. Beer, "The Transformation of the Human Resource Function: Resolving the Tension Between a Traditional Administrative and a New Strategic Role", Human Resource Management, 1997, 36 (I), pp. 49-56.
[7] A.G. Robinson, and S. Stern, Corporate Creativity, Berret-Koehler, 1998.
[8] M. D. Mumford, G. M. Scott, B. Gaddis, and J. M. Strange, “Leading creative people: Orchestrating expertise and relationships”, The Leadership Quarterly, 2002, 13 (6), pp. 705–750.
[9] C. Sandstrom, and J. Bjork, “Idea management systems for a changing innovation landscape”, International Journal of Product Development, 2010, 11(3), pp. 310–324.
[10] C. Van Dijk, and J. Van den Ende, “Suggestion systems: transferring employee creativity into practicable ideas”, R&D Management, 2002, 32(5), pp. 387–395.
[11] N. Bhuiyan, and A. Baghel, “An overview of continuous improvement: from the past to the present”, Management Decision, 2005, 43(5), pp. 761–771.
[12] J. Birkinshaw, and L. Duke, “Employer-Led Innovation”, Business Strategy Review, 2013, 24 (2): 46-51.
[13] B. Meridatta, “The Google way: give engineers room”, New York Times, 2007, October 21. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/jobs/21pre.html?_r=0
[14] F. J. D. Nightingale, and P. Girija Swaraj, P., “Google’s HR practices: a strategic edge?” Case study 408-057-1. IBS Research Center, 2008, http://www.thecasecentre.org/educators/products/view?id=81201
[15] H.W. Chesbrough, Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Harvard: Harvard Business School Press, 2003.
[16] H.W. Chesbrough, and M. Bogers, "Explicating Open Innovation: Clarifying an Emerging Paradigm for Understanding Innovation", In New Frontiers in Open Innovation, edited by Henry W. Chesbrough, W. Vanhaverbeke, and J. West, pp. 3-28. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
[17] E. Whelan, S. Parise, J. de Valk, and R. Aalbers, “Creating Employee Networks That Deliver Open Innovation”, MIT Sloan Management Review, 2011, 53(1), pp. 37-44.
[18] S. Parise, R. Cross, and T.H. Davenport, “Strategies for Preventing a Knowledge-Loss Crisis”, MIT Sloan Management Review, 2006, 47(4), pp. 31-38.
[19] L. Zejnilovic, P. Oliveira, F.M. Veloso, “Employees as user innovators: An Empirical Investigation of an Idea Management System.” project CMU-PT/OUT/0014/2009. Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) and the CMU Portugal Program, 2012.
[20] B. G. Glaser, and A. L. Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1967.
[21] R. K. Yin, Case study research: Design and methods. Third Edition, Applied Social Research Methods Series, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 2002.
[22] K. M. Eisenhardt, “Building theories from case study research”, The Academy of Management Review, 1989, 14 (4), pp. 532-550.
[23] K. M. Eisenhardt, and M. E. Graebner, “Theory Building from Cases: Opportunities and Challenges”, The Academy of Management Journal, 2007, 50(1): 25-32.
[24] J. Seawright, and J. Gerring, “Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research: A menu of Qualitative and Quantitative Options”, Political Research Quarterly, 2008, 61(2), pp. 294-308.
[25] N. Siggelkow, "Persuasion with case studies”, Academy of Management Journal, 2007, 50 (1), pp. 20–24.
[26] M. A. Cusumano, and R. W. Selby, Microsoft secrets: How the world's most powerful software company creates technology, shapes markets, and manages people. New York: The Free Press, 1995.
[27] C. Müller, Apple's approach towards innovation and creativity, Munich: GRIN Publishing GmbH, 2010.
[28] Associate Consultant, Consulting Services at Microsoft. February 1, 2012. http://ec2-46-51-172-200.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com/ employer/microsoft/reviews/associate-consultant-consulting-services-at-microsoft-0?sort_by=created&sort_order=DESC&employer=All&career=2702&page=career
[29] Project Manager, Microsoft Consulting Services at Microsoft. April 4, 2014. http://www.thejobcrowd.com/employer/microsoft/reviews/project-manager-microsoft-consulting-services-at-microsoft?sort_by=created&sort_order=DESC&career=All&employer=2020&page=employer
[30] R. A. Guth, “In Secret Hideaway, Bill Gates Ponders Microsoft’s Future”, The World Street Journal, March 28, 2005. http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB111196625830690477
[31] Microsoft. “Think Week”, 2014 http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/thinkweek/
[32] J. C. Dvorak, “The Problem with Eating Your Own Dog Food” PC Magazine, November 15, 2007. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2217007,00.asp
[33] S. O’ Neill, Shane “Microsoft Eats Its Own SharePoint 2010 Dog Food: 7 Lessons.” CIO.com. June 17, 2010. http://www.cio.com/article /2417467/social-media/microsoft-eats-its-own-sharepoint-2010-dog-food--7-lessons.html
[34] J. Williams, “Microsoft CIO Talks Innovation, Career Growth, and Dogfooding”, IT Pro IEEE Computer Society, 2014, July/August, pp. 60-63. http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/it/2014/04/mit2014040064.pdf
[35] Microsoft, “About Early Technology Adoption (Dogfooding)”, 2014, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc627315.aspx
[36] Technical Solutions Professional, Windows Phone Team at Microsoft. March 28, 2013. http://www.thejobcrowd.com/employer/microsoft/ reviews/technical-solutions-professional-windows-phone-team-at-microsoft
[37] P. G. Smith, and D. G. Reinertsen, Developing products in half the time. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991.
[38] M. A. Cusumano, “How Microsoft makes large teams work like small teams”, MIT Sloan Management Review, 1997, 39(1), pp. 9–20.
[39] M. A. Cusumano, “Software Development: Management and Business Concepts,” in Computing Handbook edited by T. Gonzalez, J. Diaz-Herrera , and A. Tucker, Third Edition, CRC Press. 2013, pp. 1-16
[40] Brundage, M., Software Design Engineer at Microsoft, http://www.qbrundage.com/michaelb/pubs/essays/working_at_microsoft.html
[41] Premier Field Engineer, Global Business Support at Microsoft. March 28, 2013, http://www.thejobcrowd.com/employer/microsoft/reviews/ premier-field-engineer-global-business-support-at-microsoft
[42] O. Raymundo, “5 Reasons Googlers think It’s the Best Place to Work”. Inc. December, 10. 2014 http://www.inc.com/oscar-raymundo/google-employees-best-place-to-work.html
[43] “Inside Google workplaces, from perks to nap pods.”, CBS News, January 22, 2013. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/inside-google-workplaces-from-perks-to-nap-pods/
[44] J. Strickland, "How the Googleplex Works” HowStuffWorks.com. August, 4, 2008 http://computer.howstuffworks.com/googleplex.htm
[45] M. Cutts, Google Software Engineer. October 22, 2007. https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/engineering-grouplets-at-google/
[46] A. Vallone, Software Engineering Manager, January 21, 2014. http://googletesting.blogspot.gr/2014/01/the-google-test-and-development_21.html
[47] M. Bland, Google Software Engineer, February 5, 2014. http://autotestcentral.com/changing-google-testing-culture-from-the-bottom-up/53
[48] B. Edwards, “The birth of the iPod”, Macworld, October, 23, 2011 http://www.macworld.com/article/1163181/the_birth_of_the_ipod.html
[49] Apple Manager, September 13, 2014. http://www.glassdoor.com/ Reviews/Employee-Review-Apple-RVW4961947.htm
[50] Software Engineer, September 11, 2014, http://www.glassdoor.com/ Reviews/Employee-Review-Apple-RVW4951401.htm
[51] S. Ditlea, “Inc.'s 1981 Cover Story: Steve Jobs, the Man Who Changed Business Forever. How Apple Computer has inaugurated the workplace of the future”, Inc. Magazine, 1981, October
[52] Mac Specialist, September 15, 2014 http://www.glassdoor.com /Reviews/Employee-Review-Apple-RVW4972833.htm
[53] C. Zibreg, “Apple dogfooding iWork for iCloud Beta to all employees” iDownloadBlog, June 26, 2013. http://www.idownloadblog.com/2013/ 06/26/iwork-for-icloud-all-apple-employees
[54] M. Gurman, “Apple expands iWork for iCloud beta testing to its employees” 9to5Mac.com, June 26, 2013. http://9to5mac.com/2013/ 06/26/apple-expands-iwork-for-icloud-beta-testing-to-apple-employees/
[55] S. Mlot, “Apple Launches Employee Discounts, Mountain Lion Testing”. PC Magazine, June 22, 2012. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406184,00.asp
[56] M. Gurman, “Apple asks retail staff to test OS X Mountain Lion ahead of July launch” 9to5mac.com, June, 21, 2012. http://9to5mac.com/ 2012/06/21/apple-asks-retail-staff-to-test-os-x-mountain-lion-ahead-of-july-launch/
[57] M. Gurman, “Apple expands OS X Mavericks testing to Retail, iOS 7 to Cupertino locals for feedback”, 9to5mac.com, June, 18, 2013. http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/18/apple-expands-os-x-mavericks-testing-to-retail-ios-7-to-cupertino-locals-for-feedback/
[58] Apple Retail Specialist, September 12, 2014. http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Apple-RVW4957929.htm
[59] Anonymous Employee, September 10, 2014. http://www.glassdoor.com /Reviews/Employee-Review-Apple-RVW4941443.htm
[60] M. Gurman, “Tim Cook at today’s Town Hall: Starting in June, Apple employees get $500 off Macs, $250 off iPads”, 9to5mac, January 25, 2012. http://9to5mac.com/2012/01/25/tim-cook-at-todays-town-hall-starting-in-june-apple-employees-get-500-off-macs-250-off-ipads/
[61] M. Gurman, “Apple starts $500 off Macs, $250 off iPads employee discount program.”, 9to5mac, June 20, 2012. http://9to5mac.com/2012/06/20/apple-starts-500-off-macs-250-off-ipads-employee-discount-program/
[62] J. West, and K. Lakhani, “Getting Clear About Communities in Open Innovation”, Industry & Innovation, 2008, 15(2), pp. 223-231.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:71893", author = "L. Tirabeni and K. E. Soderquist and P. Pisano", title = "Driving Innovation by Enhancing Employee Roles: The Balancing Act of Employee-Driven Innovation", abstract = "Our purpose is to investigate how the relationship
between employees and innovation management processes can drive
organizations to successful innovations. This research is deeply
related to a new way of thinking about human resources management
practices. It’s not simply about improving the employees’
engagement, but rather about a different and more radical
commitment: the employee can take on the role traditionally played
by the customer, namely to become the first tester of an innovative
product or service, the first user/customer and eventually the first
investor in the innovation. This new perception of employees could
create the basis of a novelty in the innovation process where
innovation is taken to a next level when the problems with customer
driven innovation on the one hand, and employees driven innovation
on the other can be balanced. This research identifies an effective
approach to innovation where the employees will participate
throughout the whole innovation process, not only in the idea
creation but also in the idea definition and development by giving
feedback in parallel to that provided by customers and lead-users.", keywords = "Employee-Driven Innovation, engagement, human
resource management, innovative companies.", volume = "10", number = "1", pages = "143-9", }
