Diffusion of innovation is summarized as the spread of abstract ideas and concepts within the organization. Furthermore, innovation diffusion is considered as foundation for any change in the organization. The origins of the word “innovation” emphasize this relationship between change and innovation where it originates from the Latin word “innovare” or “novous” leading to the same meaning: to review, to make new or to alter. Due to the importance of innovation diffusion; Meirc created an innovation culture that lead to changes in its employees’ thoughts and behaviors.
This section suggests a practical model for the successful diffusion of innovation in Meirc. The discussion includes analysis of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for the successful diffusion of innovations in Meirc. The impact of these CSFs on the success of projects will be analyzed using two selected projects from Meirc. As for innovation drivers; they were discussed thoroughly in a previous article.
Figure 1. Practical Framework for Innovation Diffusion in Meirc Training and Consulting.
The critical success factors for innovation diffusion in Meirc were organized under four clusters: Innovation, Communication, Social System and Time.
Innovation: relates for planning the innovative idea launching and the uniqueness of this idea. It also covers the benefits of the ideas from customers’ perspective. The CSFs for this cluster include
Communication: relates for maintaining open communication with all levels of the organization and using different communication channels. The CSFs for this cluster include:
Social System: relates for disseminating positive attitude among organization employees and towards entrepreneurship. It also includes choosing the right organizational structure for innovation. The CSFs for this cluster include:
Time: relates for choosing the right timing for diffusing the innovation and forecasting adoption rates. The CSFs for this cluster include:
Other Critical Success Factors:
This section discusses the analysis of Meirc critical success factors (CSFs) related to the diffusion of innovation in two projects. Face-to-Face interviews with the innovations taskforces members were conducted to relate the CSFs to the success of these projects. One project is related to product innovation; referred to as Meirc Professional Certification (MPC). The other project is related to process innovation; referred to as Category Champion (CC).
Product innovation: Meirc Professional Certification (MPC):
Introducing professional certifications recognized by international bodies in sixteen training categories. The professional certifications were earned by participants after passing an exam and submitting a project that links between theories discussed during the training workshop and the participant workplace. In discussing some CSFs; direct quotations from the interviews were used for emphasis purposes. (placed between double quotations)
Innovation:
Introducing professional certifications recognized by international bodies in sixteen training categories. The professional certifications were earned by participants after passing an exam and submitting a project that links between theories discussed during the training workshop and the participant workplace. In discussing some CSFs; direct quotations from the interviews were used for emphasis purposes. (placed between double quotations)
Communication:
Social System:
Time:
Process Innovation: Category Champion (CC):
Creating a category champion role for each of the sixteen training and consulting categories listed in the directory of services. The category champion is responsible to maintain the quality of all courses and services offered within his category. Every course within the category will have a champion but the role of the category champion will be to supervise the following: topics, material updates, updated research, courses frequencies and locations.
Innovation:
Detailed planning: a “directory of services” taskforce was formed to plan this innovation in the process by having a clear vision of “avoiding diluting existing specialists and creating subject matter experts that act as category champions of relevant areas of their expertise.” Distinctiveness: it is a unique process innovation unlike competition which depends on hiring “free- lancers to deliver assignments and not fully employed consultants and trainers as the case with our organization.” Compatibility: the initiative was triggered by customers demand to allocate subject matter experts for any training and consulting assignment. “This innovation satisfied a customer value of having the best specialized person to deliver a course or a consulting job.” Benefits: the internal process became smoother where every category champion was responsible for handling all customers’ requests and queries related to his category. It also increased the quality of the final products (such as material quality, better selection of topics and locations). Furthermore, the category champions assisted in increasing their category products as well as their billing days.
Communication:
Continuous communication: the “directory of services” taskforce met regularly with category champions who acted as representatives of all other champions within their category. Involvement: all consultants and trainers were involved in the innovation since it affected their workload and responsibilities. Communication methods: two-way communication channels were used for implementation of the innovation and one-way channels for follow-up.
Social System:
Positive Attitude: the team showed extreme positive attitude about the innovation because it empowered them to be responsible of their categories. Reaching Channels: category champions conducted presentations, show cases, and webinars to reach to different stakeholders.
Time:
Timing: the innovation was introduced after building the knowledge base for every category champion by sending them to formal training sessions and getting them certified in areas relevant to their categories. The innovation took place “after making sure of the following: flagging specialty of trainers and consultants and making sure that there is someone who can be assigned as category champion based on their specialty.”
Adoption Rates: the adoption rates were very high to the extent that many consultants wanted to create new categories and champion them. As stated by the Managing Director: “when you integrate innovation within performance and you design performance indicators that track it and measure it, you make innovation part of everyone’s job. And when you reward such initiative, you elevate the importance of innovation across the organization.”
In summary, the article suggested four clusters for organizing critical success factors for the diffusion of innovation: innovation, communication, social systems and time. Critical Success factors related to innovation cluster can be summarized in: detailed planning, distinctiveness, compatibility, benefits, customers’ expectations, definition, practicality and support. The critical success factors related to communication cluster are: continuous communication, involvement, and communication methods. As for the social system cluster; it included the following critical success factors: positive attitude, reaching channels, exploration, relationships and structure. Lastly, the critical success factors related to time cluster are: timing, frequency prediction and adoption rates. The advantage of the above suggested model for innovation diffusion is in giving more flexibility for training and consulting organization to develop its own critical success factors under the four suggested clusters.
It is still important for further research to be conducted in the area of successful diffusion of innovation in training and consulting organizations to analyze the relationship between the critical success factors suggested above, specifically: the sequential relationship between the factors and the weight each factor plays in the success of diffusing innovation in the organization.
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