IMPLEMENTATION
Specific action plans for bringing the innovation to the market, or
for incorporating the innovation into the organizational process
must be determined.
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Just to note:
Implementation
is the seventh (7th) stage
out of the Eight Stages in the
Creative Problem Solving process.
We’re going to learn the Techniques for Effective Implementation…
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HAVING AN IDEA IS NOT ENOUGH.
Resources must be obtained to complete these action
plans. Often, other members of the organization must
be convinced of the merits of that idea.
Selling an idea requires different behavior than creating one.
You must master both creative and selling processes if your idea is to reach
fruition.
Implementation therefore is largely a matter of
working within the organization's culture.
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THIS CHAPTER EXAMINES CREATIVITY TECHNIQUES DESIGNED
TO HELP THE MANAGER WITHIN THAT CONTEXT.
¡ How-How Diagram
¡ Be a Warrior When Selling Your ideas
¡ Force Field Analysis
Read all of them, but for the assessment, use both How-How Diagram and
Force-Field Analysis for the Creativity Techniques.
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¡The how-how diagram is similar to the why-
why diagram described in chapter 3.6
¡It seeks to identify the steps necessary to
implement a solution. Instead of asking "why?"
The problem solver(s) ask "how?"
¡The agreed-upon solution is stated on the left
HOW-HOW side of a piece of paper, with more detailed
action plans placed on the right in a decision
tree format.
DIAGRAM ¡(See figure 6.4 for an abbreviated how-how
diagram.)
¡Each time a solution is listed, the question
"how?" Is asked.
¡Problem solvers answer with a more detailed
action plan.
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¡ Using the problem suggested in Chapter 3 for the
why-why diagram as an example, the first solution
mentioned is "improve product."
¡ Asking "how” results in four principal ways of
improving the product: "improve packaging, improve
product quality, lengthen shelf life, and shorten
delivery time."
¡ For each of these the question "how" is asked,
resulting in more detailed actions for each. For
example, the second-level solution of improving
quality consists of three more detailed actions: use
cross-functional work teams during design, use quality
circles for manufacturing, use TQM in manufacturing.
¡ Once a diagram has been completed, the final details
for all implementation plans may he agreed upon.
¡ This is an excellent technique for forcing problem
solvers to think about the details of implementation.
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¡ Organizational development is but one
type of change management.
¡ Regardless of which program is used to
manage change, the manager making the
changes will invariably be faced with
FORCE FIELD ¡
resistance.
To better manage change, the problem
ANALYSIS solver needs to understand force-field
analysis, a concept developed by Kurt
Lewin, a pioneer in the study of change.
¡ Lewin suggests that change results from
the relative strengths of competing
driving and restraining forces.
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¡ The driving forces push the organization toward change; the restraining forces
push against change.
¡ The actual change that emerges is a consequence of the interaction of the two
sets of forces.
FORCE
¡ If youFIELD
want change, you should push. But the natural tendency of those you are
ANALYSIS
pushing is to resist the change, to push back.
¡ According to Lewin, the driving forces activate the restraining forces. He
suggests that decreasing the restraining forces is a more effective way of
encouraging change than increasing the driving forces.
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FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS
Figure 6.5 portrays the use of force-field analysis
to reduce resistance to a change from using a
single computer vendor, UNISYS, to using multiple
computer vendors—IBM, Digital Equipment
Company (DEC), and UNISYS—for the
information division of a major entertainment
company.
This is a partial analysis of the situation as viewed
by that division’s managers." As you can see, the
managers determined that the best way to move
toward the change was to reduce employee fears
by providing job guarantees and training, and to
provide more open communication.
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ADDITIONAL ADVICE ON IMPLEMENTATION
Figure 6.6 is a story board created by a group of twenty upper- and
middle-level managers from a cross section of firms, industries, and
functional specialties.
This story board indicates the key issues in making a sale, that is, being an
effective champion of your creative ideas. Add to it or create your own.
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ADDITIONAL ADVICE ON
IMPLEMENTATION
The Innovative Edge in Action 6.1 (pp199 on e-book, pp213 on
Adobe Reader), on the politics of innovation (pp199-204), does not
describe a creativity technique per se. However, it provides some
guidance that can be used creatively.
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ADDITIONAL ADVICE ON
IMPLEMENTATION
A typical idea approval
situation is described in The
Innovative
Edge in Action 6.2.
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