Management Behavior

According to Yukl (2008) the management's behavior and the climate the management supports are factors with high impact on the staff's creativity and innovation. It is very important when we look at the implementation and institutionalization of new products and processes:

Management programs and systems can enhance the effects of direct leadership behaviors. For example, encouraging innovative thinking (called “intellectual stimulation” in transformational leadership theory) is much more likely to increase innovation when an organization has a program to facilitate innovation, a climate of psychological safety for risk taking, and appropriate rewards for creative ideas about improving products and processes. In their absence, employees may doubt that innovative ideas about products or processes will be supported and eventually adopted by the organization (p.713)

It is essential to facilitate innovation with reward systems as well as a support the learning of all employees. No organization can be stronger than its weakest part. However, the management and the collaboration within the management is the most important part in a learning organization:

First, organizational learning occurs through shared insights, knowledge, and mental models. Thus organizations can learn only as fast as the slowest link learns. Change is blocked unless all of the major decision makers learn together, come to share beliefs and goals, and are committed to take the actions necessary to change (Stata, 1996, p. 318)

As consultant in many projects about organizational learning and educational changes in colleges and higher education, I have seen that collaboration within the group of decision makers is depending on the CEO's capability to motivate and support changes. Ethical and visionary CEO's set the learning climate of the organization.

In my own unit, Research & Development (R&D) we have just initiated a project to enhance and improve our collaboration. It is designed with inspiration from action learning tools and methods - and will be based on a design-based approach as fare as we will adjust the initiatives and activities through out the processes.

Our first seminar is on March 30th. The process has been designed by a team of two members of the staff and me. All members of the staff has been invited to comment and adjust. Last friday our plan was discussed in the group and afterwards the plan was re-designed according to the comments.  Why do I mention this project here? Because managemental behavior, shared goals and belief are also important in changing processes like this.

References:
Stata, R. (1996). Organizational learing. The key to management innovation. In K. Starkey (Ed), How organizations learn. London: International Thomson Business Press.

Yukl, G. (2008). How leaders influence organizational effectiveness . In The Leadership Quarterly 19, 708–722.