Managing Innovation: Lessons From World Class Organizations

This paper presents a model of innovation based on both theory and research that provides a framework for facilitating this important activity within organizations. One of the model's unique features is that it prescribes a series of behaviours found to be prominently manifested by R&D scientists and engineers employed by our sample of highly successful innovative companies. The model further postulates how the individual behaviours are propagated by management practices that, in time, alter the behavioural expectations of employees regarding these critical behaviors and lead to an "innovative culture". The research suggests that an organization's culture can be modified to encourage innovative behaviours through specific management practices.