Innovation is limitless

i hope that this blog has help you in understanding a little bit more about innovation. Overall other factors must be identify and analyses for which to contribute the future success of the organisation. 

Marks and Spencer innovative ideas

Marks & Spencer is one of the UK’s leading retailers, which sells high quality clothing, home products and food. Innovation of new ideas and thoughts are very important for the long term success of the organisation in terms of attractive new customers and satisfying existing customers.

In recent economic climates, global recession had cause many industry to collapse but for the case of Marks & Spencer, demands for its high quality products decreased because consumers have less disposal income. The change of consumer taste/ preference to a cheaper substitute could be brought else where, such as Tesco, Sainsbury's or Asda.

To Increase its profit marks & Spencer had though up a new innovative ideas (to purse a green supply chain )which had successes of the first three years of operation

• All raw materials should be purchased from an on sustainability program. 
• All 10,000 farms to produce fresh meat, dairy, produce and flowers involved in the Sustainable  Agricultural program by 2012. 
• 35 percent reduction in energy use, refrigeration carbon footprint down 50 percent. 
• Logistics and Transportation to be 35 percent more efficient. 
• Reduce clothing warehouses from 100 to 4 and make those four at least 35 percent more efficient.

Employment engagement

Employee engagement is where an employee would commit to the organisation by his/her values and the ability to get involved, this includes sharing knowledge with colleagues and contributing in decision making whereby satisfaction and motivational level of employee would increase due to the work load or targets they had achieve.

The Institute for Employment Studies define engagement  as "a positive attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and its values. An engaged employee is aware of business context, and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organisation. The organisation must work to develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between employer and employee.’"

Behaviours illustrated by the engaged employees

• desire to work to make things better
• belief in the organisation
• respectful of, and helpful to, colleagues
• willingness to ‘go the extra mile’
• understanding of business context and the ‘bigger picture’
• keeping up to date with developments in the field.

Engagement is about creating opportunities for employees to connect with their colleagues, managers and wider organisation’… ‘It is a concept that places flexibility, change and continuous improvement at the heart of what it means too be an employee and an employer in a 21st century workplace’ (Prof. Katie Truss)

Innovation and changes

Empowerment 


Empowerment is a very important factor in the process of producing innovation. Innovation is a key to successful knowledge management implementation as this will benefit the organisational survival and growth in the future.

 

In any organisation, innovation is driven by empowerment, decision making and risk taking. Without any trust, empowerment would not occur so lack of empowerment would mean that subordinates would have less opportunity to have scenarios like “learning by doing”    

lack of trust = lack or empowerment = lack of experimentation/risk = lack of innovation. 

  The Octopus Card 

The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless smart card used in an electronic payment system in Hong Kong. It is used in Transportation, Self-service, Retail Leisure facilities access control, parking and many more. You can even use it for access control in many commercial and residential buildings

What can Octopus use for:

Buses                         Apparel shops          car parks                      Swimming pools

Ferries                          Cake shops            On-street parking       Private club houses

Public light buses         Department stores          Photocopiers               Sport facilities

Taxis                               fast-food outlets              Vending machines     Theme parks

Coaches                         personal care stores        Self service kiosks     Hospitals

Peak Tram                    Supermarkets                     Cinemas                 Public services

Railways                       Wet markets                      Racecourses               schools

Tramways 

By operation with octopus cards limited it will improves the organisation efficiency level by providing a secure, efficient flexible and reliable means to collect revenue and shorten transaction time.

Another benefit of being partnership with octopus cards limited is it contributes to the organisation financial growth in terms of increases usage, reduces maintenance costs and improves revenue protection.

Till present dates the octopus card limited had successfully in spreading this innovative services around the world, countries such as: The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates- Dubai, New Zealand- Auckland and the United kingdom. However this technology were not used to full potential where it is only used in the transportation industry of the country .

Steve Jobs: 10 innovation lessons

1-      Don’t worry about the cost

If there is anything that steve jobs proved over the years it’s that when it comes to innovation getting it right doesn’t come with a cost. Jobs invested millions of dollars in products with the eventual hope of seeing a return on that investment. And just about every time he did. We realize you may have trouble convincing your CFO that this is the right approach but remember that Apple was all the more successful because of it

2-      Give Customers what they don’t know they want

Steven Jobs believed that consumers didn’t know what they really needed. Instead it was his job he believed to show them what they needed. Try shaping your own IT innovation strategy with this philosophy. Sure user involment is important, but you may find that your users don’t know what they need until you put it under their noses. And then they won’t be able to live without it.

3-      Don’t be afraid to create new markets

Jobs understood when it was time to innovate in such a way that it created a new market. For example, with the ipod the transformed the music industry business model. Think about what “new markets” you can create by using technology within your enterprise

      4-      Design Matters Most

Jobs understood the importance of elegant industrial design and graphical user interfaces. Today’s technology user expects all interfaces to work like Apple’s. As you develop or procure devices and applications for your users remember to put design and user interface at the top of your priority list

      5-      It’s a Marathon not a sprint

Nowhere is this philosophy more evident than with the ongoing improvements to the Mac OS. Instead of accepting that windows would dominate indefinitely, Apple continued to innovate on software until Mac OS X became a viable Widows contender. Persistence is the lesson here- and faith in a good project worthy of your time and investment.

6-      Roll it out slowly

Jobs is a master of planned obsolescence ( one of the qualities tha drove most CIOs crazy). With each product iteration, Apple gives people enough to make them want to buy that product now, but not enough to make them not want to buy the next device. The lesson here is that it’s good business sense to give your users just enough to get them excited about new features each time you upgrade. Engaged users equal happy users.

7-      Strive to do more than seems possible

Jobs always wanted to deliver more tha what his customers thought was possible. And he was right almost every time. Learning to think in terms of limitless possibilities is the hallmark of a tue innovator in any industry.

8-      Every last detail counts

Jobs examined all the minute details of Apple’s products to ensure that they were on target. In the process, he delivered some of the most innovative ( and sough-after) products in the world. The lesson here is that minding the details is just as important as dreaming up the lofty ideas.

9-      The Value of surprise

Part of Jobs’ innovation strategy was to change the way in which people learn about products. At Apple, the longer it takes for details to emerge, the better. In an era in which the business side is demanading more and more transparency from IT this may be a challenge. But there’s value in holding back some elements of your projects that you know will delight ad engage your users.

10-   Think you’re better, prove you’re better

Some observers criticize the corporate culture at Apple, saying that jobs created an environment in which employees are encouraged to believe that they are better than average. But Jobs proved that a leader who can make employees believe they’re better than the rest is one who can drive true innovation.


http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/IT-Management/The-Legacy-of-Steve-Jobs-10-Innovation-Lessons-438632/

The importance of leadership

Leadership in context of innovation 

Leaders are very important in terms of thinking and creating innovative ideas as leaders would often challenge old particular ways and look for new approaches for improvements. A good leader consists of many attributes i.e. influential, motivating and enables others to work in a manner where it is acceptable in the working environment of the organisation. By having strong communication skills with their subordinates, a strong team can be developed to a point where clear goals are set consequently leading to  the future success of the organisation..    

Cognitive Factors that affecting innovation thought up by Guildford (1983), Carrol (1985)

·         Associative fluency

·         Fluency of expression

·         Practical ideation fluency

·         Word fluency

·         Originality

·         Figural fluency

·         Ideational fluency

·         Speech Fluency

·         Flexibility

·         Fluency

·         Elaboration