Innovation is increasingly being considered as a core competency that organisations must develop. Companies that consistently innovate don't rely on chance; they address innovation in a systematic way.
Your task is as follows:
• Drawing on a wide range of literature on innovation develop a framework that you could use to assess an organisation in terms of innovation. Describe your framework and justify the critical elements (with reference to the literature).
• The next step is to apply this framework to a particular organisation of your own choice. Where are the gaps? What is being done well, what areas need to be improved? Note: This organisation may be your own workplace, or an organisation you would like to work for.
• Finally, develop a plan to address areas of weakness. You may choose to focus on a few key areas and discuss them in detail.
Your work must be referenced by using APA Style.
Note: If you chosen organisation has a focus on services make sure that you choose literature that is appropriate for service innovation.
Rationale:
This assessment task is designed so that you can utilise your work experience in conjunction with your critical literature work on innovation to design a theoretical framework to conduct an audit of your workplace and make recommendations for change.
This task aligns with subject learning outcomes 1 and 2:
• To be able to critically reflect on the role of innovation in organisations and the challenges companies face in new product development.
• To be able to synthesise innovation literature to develop a theoretical framework for use in an audit of innovation practices of a specific organisation and make recommendations for improvement.