BSBINN801 Lead Innovative Thinking and Practice Sample Assignment

The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay.

To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need. Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination and initiative in deriving greater or different values from resources , and includes all processes by which new ideas are generated and converted into useful products. In business, innovation often results when ideas are applied by the company in order to further satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers.

• What is the difference between creativity and innovation?
• Creativity is the ability to combine ideas in a unique way or to make unusual association between ideas
• Creativity in itself is not enough.
• The outcomes of creativity need to be turned into useful products, services or work methods, which is defined as innovation
• Innovation is the process of taking a creative idea and turning it into a useful product, service or work method

Discussions about innovation are often made difficult because people are unclear about the exact meanings of some key terms. In particular there is confusion about the difference between creativity, innovation and invention. Let us start with some definitions: Creativity is the capability or act of conceiving something original or unusual Innovation is the implementation of something new.

Invention is the creation of something that has never been made before and is recognized as the product of some unique insight.

Explain the three types of organisational variables that affect innovation. Give examples.

• Structural variables
  • Organic structures
  • Abundant resources
  • High inter unit communication
• Cultural variables
  • Acceptance of ambiguity
  • Tolerance of the impractical
  • Low external controls
  • Tolerance of risk
  • Focus on ends
  • Open systems focus
• Human resource variables
  • High commitment to training and development
  • High job security
  • Creative people
• What are some of the impediments that prevent innovation in Australian workplaces?
• Lack of systemic support
• Not enough local investment
• Brain drain
• Risk-averse and insurance-driven mentality
• Political and social conservatism
• Putting the government at the centre of innovation
• The tall poppy syndrome
• Lack of leadership and communication in business
• Short-termism and economic fundamentalism
• Lack of creative and rewarding jobs
• Excessive regulation.
• What are the nine characteristics of innovative organisations?
• Innovative organisations create learning cultures.
• They make innovation a core capability.
• Innovative organisations identify their innovators.
• People are rewarded for bringing forward innovative ideas.
• They use partnerships to bring in new knowledge to drive further innovation.
• The leader’s attitude about failure is a key to innovation.
• They develop teams and cross-functional teams.
• They create communities of practice which meet regularly to discuss common interests.
• Innovative enterprises provide places to be innovative.
• Explain De Bono’s concept of the six thinking hats in your own words?

White Hat: with this thinking hat, you focus on the available data. Look at the information that you have, analyze past trends, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and try to either fill them or take account of them.

Red Hat: "wearing" the Red Hat, you look at problems using your intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also, think how others could react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.

• Black Hat:using Black Hat thinking, look at a decision's potentially negative outcomes. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to counter them. Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans "tougher" and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a Assignment of action. It's one of the real benefits of this model, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that they often cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.
• Yellow Hat: this hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.
• Green Hat: the Green Hat represents creativity. This is where you develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. (You can explore a range of creativity tools to help you.)
• Blue Hat: this hat represents process control. It's the hat worn by people chairing meetings, for example. When facing difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking.

Complete Column B to indicate whether the person in Column A is shows an adaptor or innovator characteristics?

Part B: Workplace related activity

To prepare for this assessment:

• Identify an organisation that you can use to think about innovation drivers and their implications. This may be your practice environment or another organisation or workplace to which you have access.
• If you cannot think of any organization, use ACTB as the organization. You may need to interview ACTB staff to collect information about innovation at ACTB
• In responding to these questions you must refer to the ‘readings’ for this unit at least 5 times.

Complete the following tasks in relation to your selected organisation:

• Describe your selected organisation briefly
• Do you think your selected organisation shows characteristics of an innovative organisation? Explain your response with examples.
• What are global and local innovation drivers, both internal and external to your selected organisation
• Which aspects of the three types of organisational variables are visible in your organisation? Justify your response with examples
• What are the specific conditions required for innovation in your selected organisation
• What are the current issues that impact on individual and collective innovative thinking and creativity?
• Think of ideas that exist for implementing an innovative project in the organisation. Select any ONE innovative idea for your organisation and describe it below
• Discuss the rationale you would use to promote your innovative idea within the organisation.
• Outline the specific tools and techniques you would use to get others involved in the process.

ASSESSMENT 2- Leading innovative environments

To complete this assessment you need to review:

• Assignment Guide: Topic 2
• Reading 2: ‘Fostering Enterprise Innovation Exploring Further the Leadership of Innovation’

This assessment has TWO parts

Part A: Theory questions

Answer the following questions by referring to the research and applying your own ideas. You must reference the research using the Harvard referencing style.

• Briefly explain the key characteristics of following leadership styles:
• Authoritarian leadership

Authoritarian leadership, also known as autocratic leadership, is a management style in which an individual has total decision-making power and absolute control over his subordinates. An authoritarian leader makes decisions on policies, procedures and group objectives with little or no input from his or her team members or followers.Authoritarian leadership is beneficial in industries and organizations where decisions need to be made urgently and efficiently, and where it's critical that certain tasks are performed in a specific way and there is very little room for mistakes, such as in construction, manufacturing and the military. Using this type of leadershipprevents the chances of projects getting sidelined by a lack of organization or solid deadlines, and allows team members to concentrate on particular tasks without having to participate in the complex decision-making process. Authoritarian leadership can also be advantageous in cases where the leader is the most knowledgeable person in an organization.

• Democratic leadership

Democratic leadership, also known as participative leadership or shared leadership, is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process. This type of leadership can apply to any organization, from private businesses to schools to government. Everyone is given the opportunity to participate, ideas are exchanged freely, and discussion is encouraged. While the democratic process tends to focus on group equality and the free flow of ideas, the leader of the group is still there to offer guidance and control. The democratic leader is charged with deciding who is in the group and who gets to contribute to the decisions that are made.

Researchers have found that the democratic leadership style is one of the most effective types and leads to higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased group morale.

• Laissez-faire leadership
• Laissez-faire leadership, also known as delegative leadership, is a type of leadership stylein which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. Researchers have found that this is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among group members.
• However, it is important to realize that this leadership style can have both benefits and possible pitfalls. There are also certain settings and situations where a laissez-faire leadership style might be the most appropriate. Knowing your dominant leadership stylecan be helpful for understanding your own strengths and potential weakness.
• Transactional leadership
• A transactional leader is someone who values order and structure. They are likely to command military operations, manage large corporations, or lead international projects that require rules and regulations to complete objectives on time or move people and supplies in an organized way. Transactional leaders are not a good fit for places where creativity and innovative ideas are valued.

Transactional leadership is most often compared to transformational leadership. Transactional leadership depends on self-motivated people who work well in a structured, directed environment. By contrast, transformational leadership seeks to motivate and inspire workers, choosing to influence rather than direct others. Transactional leadership focuses on results, conforms to the existing structure of an organization and measures success according to that organization’s system of rewards and penalties. Transactional leaders have formal authority and positions of responsibility in an organization. This type of leader is responsible for maintaining routine by managing individual performance and facilitating group performance.

• Transformational leadership
• Transformational leadership inspires people to achieve unexpected or remarkable results. It gives workers autonomy over specific jobs, as well as the authority to make decisions once they have been trained.

Some of the basic characteristics of transformational leadership are inspirational, in that the leader can inspire workers to find better ways of achieving a goal; mobilization, because leadership can mobilize people into groups that can get work done, and morale, in that transformational leaders raise the well-being and motivation level of a group through excellent rapport. They are also good at conflict resolution.

• Which of the above leadership styles would be conducive to creating an environment that fosters innovation? Give reasons for your answer
• Complete the following activity:

• Identify the specific Federal legislation (name of the Act) that applies to most business in relation to the following:
• Privacy:
• Copyright:
• Trademarks:
• Workplace Health and Safety

Part B: Workplace related activity

To prepare for this assessment:

• Identify an organisation that you can use to think about innovation drivers and their implications. This may be your practice environment or another organisation or workplace to which you have access.
• If you cannot think of any organization, use ACTB as the organization. You may need to interview ACTB staff to collect information about innovation at ACTB
• In responding to these questions you must refer to the ‘readings’ for this unit at least 5 times.

Complete the following tasks in relation to your selected organisation:

• Complete the following activity in relation to your selected workplace

• Workplace bases research task

ASSESSMENT 3- Creating a culture of innovation

To complete this assessment you need to review:

• Assignment Guide: Topic 3
• Reading 2: ‘Fostering Enterprise Innovation Exploring Further the Leadership of Innovation’
• Reading 3: ‘Changing the organisational culture’

Answer the following questions by referring to the research and applying your own ideas. You must reference the research using the Harvard referencing style.

• Workplace-based research task

• Workplace-based research task

ASSESSMENT 4- Maintaining an innovative environment

To complete this assessment you need to review:

• Assignment Guide: Topic 4
• Reading 2: ‘Fostering Enterprise Innovation Exploring Further the Leadership of Innovation’

This assessment has TWO parts

Part A: Theory questions

Answer the following questions by referring to the research and applying your own ideas. You must reference the research using the Harvard referencing style.

• What is meant by the term ‘business model’?
• What does the business model of an organisation tell you about the organisation?
• How would you describe the business model of your organisation?
• Develop a table that identifies gaps in your organisation in the following areas

PART B: Competency conversation with your assessor (Oral assessment- if relevant)

Your assessor will conduct an oral assessment with you. During the oral assessment, your assessor will ask you to reflect on:

• relationships between theory and thinking on innovation and creativity and the reality of introducing innovative practices in the target organisation
• the effectiveness and impact of risk assessment and management strategies in the context of innovation
• processes for promoting innovative thinking and practices in an organisational context
• the effectiveness of your own leadership style and practices for modelling and supporting innovation.