Employee-driven innovation into practice: managing the tension between organisation and innovation

Abstract

This research empirically examines three cases of employee-driven innovation (EDI) to assess the tension it creates in a large bureaucratic organisation and discusses the nature and potential resolution of such tension. We contribute to the literature on the tension between the organisation and innovation by mobilising the concept of practice. We propose that EDI is inspired by everyday practice, which comes in the form of a situated, informal type of knowledge individuals widely and casually rely on to perform their daily tasks and professional duties. Driven by the search for improvement, practice not only reproduces existing knowledge but also creates new knowledge at all levels of the organisation. Thus, we investigate the link among innovation, specific positions in the organisation, and hierarchy. Specifically, how can a large bureaucratic organisation integrate a collective, diffuse, flowing-from-practice form of innovation?