Enabling Creativity and Innovation

[Excerpt] The capacity to harness intellectual and social capital and to convert it into novel and useful things has become the critical organizational requirement of the age. Organizations need to frame tools, methods, and approaches that boost creativity and innovation, particularly in the public sector. Creativity is as scarce as it is important—many organizations are simply short of it. In tandem with innovation, which creates unexpected value, creativity is now recognized as central to organizational performance. Creativity does not materialize exclusively in a person’s head but in interaction with a social context. It flourishes in organizations that support open ideas; the rest stifle creativity with rules and provide no slack for change. To be sure, most managers do not suppress creativity on purpose. Yet, in the pursuit of productivity, efficiency, and control, they frequently undermine it. The agenda for change is great

Towards a reference framework for open source software adoption

Nowadays, the use of Open Source Software (OSS) components has become a driver for the primary and secondary information technology (IT) sector, among other factors, by the openness and innovation benefits that can give to the organizations, regardless of its business model and activities' nature. Nevertheless, IT companies and organizations still face numerous difficulties and challenges when making the strategic move to OSS. OSS is aligned with new challenges, which mainly derive from the way OSS is produced and the culture and values of OSS communities. In fact, OSS adoption impacts far beyond technology, because it requires a change in the organizational culture and reshaping IT decision-makers mindset. Therefore, this research work proposes a framework to support OSS adopters (i.e., software-related organizations that develop software and/or offer services relate to software) to analyze and evaluate the impact of adopting OSS as part of their software products and/or services offered to their customers/users, mainly in terms of their software related activities.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A Primer on Talent Management

{Excerpt} Critical talent is scarce (and about to become scarcer) because of three trends: the ongoing retirement of the Baby Boom Generation , a widening skills gap, and large-scale social integration (driving rapidly changing lifestyles). Talent management has become one of the most pressing topics in organizations (even if very few have strategies and operational programs in place with which to identify, recruit, develop, deploy, and retain the best). The competition for talent will define organizational milieus for a couple of decades to come. Springing from the three trends, several drivers fuel the emphasis: • Workforce demographics are evolving. • The context in which organizations conduct their operations is increasingly complex and dynamic. • More efficient capital markets have enabled the rise of small and medium-sized organizations that offer opportunities few large organizations can match, exerting a pull across the talent spectrum. • In knowledge economies, talent is a rapidly increasing source of value creation. • A demonstrated correlation between talent and organizational performance exists: talented individuals drive a disproportionate share of organizational effectiveness. (Value creation extends beyond individual performance differentials.) • Financial markets and boards of directors demand more. • The mobility of personnel is quickening on a par with changing expectations. If talent is hard to find, it is becoming harder to keep

Introduction to Special Issue on the Rhetoric of Entrepreneurship

Introduction to a special issue of the Journal of Business and Technical Communication on the rhetoric of entrepreneurship. The author introduces basic definitions and concepts from the field of entrepreneurship, then identifies three issues linking rhetoric to entrepreneurship: rhetoric and identity; rhetoric, culture, and community; and rhetoric and persuasion.IC2 Institut

Making Adaptive Resilience Real

This publication focuses on developing understanding and debate about adaptive resilience, and increasing sectoral understanding of its importance through experimentation and sharing of best practice

Knowledge management and innovation: How are they related?

Companies in today’s globalised world must innovate to compete. Many successful companies have found that knowledge management strategies and practices are central to ongoing innovation (Boutellier et al., 1999; David & Foray, 2001; ADLittle, 2001; Tidd et al., 1997). This paper brings together research regarding knowledge management processes and practices that are found in R&D organisations and in other innovative firms. The paper contends that such practices could be employed across a range of firms to enable and enhance the potential for innovation within firms in multiple sectors

Striking a Balance Between Physical and Digital Resources

In various configurations—be they academic, archival, county, juvenile, monastic, national, personal, public, reference, or research, the library has been a fixture in human affairs for a long time. Digital — meaning, content or communication that is delivered through the internet, is 20 years old (but younger in parts). Basically, both approaches to organizing serve to structure information for access. However, digital is multiplying very fast and libraries all-round contemplate an existential crisis; the more hopeful librarians fret about physical and digital space. Yet, the crux of the matter is not about physical vs. digital: without doubt, the digital space of content or communication transmogrifies all walks of life and cannot be wished away; but, the physical space of libraries is time-tested, extremely valuable, and can surely offer more than currently meets the eye. Except for entirely virtual libraries, the symbiotic relationship between the physical and the digital is innately powerful: for superior outcomes, it must be recognized, nurtured, and leveraged; striking a balance between physical and digital resources can be accomplished. This paper examines the subject of delivering digital from macro, meso, and micro perspectives: it looks into complexity theory, digital strategy, and digitization

Is Canada Really All That Bad At Innovation?: A Tale of Two Industries

This commentary raises questions about the degree to which global innovation indicators enable us to understand the historical dynamics of innovation in Canada, and about future directions for Canadian innovation policy. By focusing on the automotive and telecommunications sectors, two currently troubled Canadian industries with completely different histories, some of the major successes and mistakes of Canadian industrial policy are assessed critically. The conclusion is that the innovation problem in Canada has less to do with capabilities or opportunities, than with recent tendencies not to follow through when ambitious innovation initiatives in specific industries could be transformed into new national "engines of growth".Review, Innovation, productivity, telecommunications industry, automotive industry, research and development,

Sparking Innovations in Management

{Excerpt} Gary Hamel defines management innovation as a marked departure from traditional management principles, processes, and practices (or a departure from customary organizational forms that significantly alters the way the work of management is performed). He deems it the prime driver of sustainable competitive advantage in the 21st century