When a Thousand Flowers Bloom: Structural, Collective, and Social Conditions for Innovation in Organization

Abstract

Abstract Innovation consists of a set of tasks carried out at the micro-level by individuals and groups of individuals within an organization. These microprocesses are in turn stimulated, facilitated, and enhanced-or the opposite-by a set of macro-level conditions. Some of these structural and social factors are more important at certain stages than at others. This paper suggests that a dynamic model of innovation is needed which connects the major tasks in the innovation process to those structural arrangements and social patterns which facilitates each. Four major innovation tasks are discussed: (1) idea generation; (2) coalition building; (3) ideal realization; and (4) transfer, or diffusion. The importance of flexibility, breadth or reach, and, particularly, integration are emphasized.

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