Don't Blame the Tools: The Adoption and Implementation of Managerial Innovations

Abstract

This book presents the findings of a study undertaken for the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) as part of their 2005 research initiative—“The Organization and Adoption of Management Ideas, Tools, and Practices,” commenced in April 2006 and completed in July 2007. The objective of this initiative was to “consider the origins of management ideas and practices, motives for their adoption, longevity, process of legitimacy, recognition and success.” Four in-depth case studies of organizations were undertaken where three organizations adopted a BSC and one organization had adopted a PMO: Hospital Trust (HT) implemented and used a BSC; County Council (CC) implementing a BSC; Retail Bank (RB) has implemented and used a BSC and now discontinued its use; Police Force (PF) implemented and used a PMO. The well-established balanced scorecard (BSC) as one idea or innovation to study and the relatively newer idea of a Programme Management Office (PMO) to provide a comparison were selected. Extant studies have suggested that managerial innovations, like other innovations, follow a life-cycle model with the following stages: Invention, Acceptance, Disenchantment, and Decline. The aim of the study can therefore be summarized as “To identify the significant influences on the decisions made by organizations to adopt a management innovation and how these are related to the subsequent implementation of that innovation.” Finally, approaches to adoption that appear to be linked to more rapid implementation identified are as follows: adapting the innovation to fit the organization; training of staff, including tailored training to meet their particular needs; pilot, stress testing and a business case that includes how the innovation will be implemented in addition to the benefits that are expected; link to wider initiatives that are easily understood by staff.