Abstract
Purpose: We attempt to deepen the understanding of innovation management from the attention and everyday life. Design/methodology/approach: Following a micro-sociological approach along with social constructivism, qualitative and inductive methods are used. The methodological design responds to the Grounded theory. Focusing on organizational units of innovation management, the empirical sample consists of a central case study coupled with six satellite case studies. For all cases, an in-depth review of corporate documentation is carried out. During 2016, an in-depth ethnography had been carried out in the case of a central study, including interviews with each participant; at the end of the year, qualitative interviews were carried out in satellite study cases. Findings: The research results on an emerging theory establish a transverse movement crisscrossing an organization, which in turn diffuses organizational attention as regards the inputs of innovation, largely contributing to the fact that innovation management units experience multifocality, and that the agenda of their agents become volatile. In addition, the micro-sociological positioning offers a new vision in managing innovation, regardless of linear or schematic representations. Research limitations/implications: [The empirical sample includes Spain-based organizations from different sectors. The data structuration and the derived conclusions could vary according to the chosen nation. Practical implications: Far from abstractions, the paper offers results that enable understanding on innovation management from a realistic perspective. The knowledge of praxis allows a better understanding of innovation management carried out by these organizational units, which are the main nodes of promotion, stimulation and execution of innovation in modern organizations. Social implications: From the micro-sociology perspective, our focus remains on the importance of agents and the everyday life in the process of building an organization as a collective representation. Originality/value: The originality of the present study is in two sense: the conceptual framework explores innovation management for the first time through attention; under the methodological framework, we leave aside the hegemonic quantitative-structural approach, to focus the study in the everyday life of Innovation Project Managers (the organizational agents), who actually go on to implement innovation management. Thus, we elude the discursive rhetoric of innovation to cling to the real praxis , that by which organizations will get results and survive.
Highlights
In order to deepen our exploration of everyday innovation management in relation to attention, we focus on the study of those organizational units in charge of innovation management; these units, depending on organization, have names such as ‘Innovation Department’, ‘Innovation Management Division’, ‘R&D&I Office’, etc
Taking into account what happened during the year of ethnography, and ratified by the interviews, we verified the existence of a cascade movement, from level 1 to level 3: when attention is to diffuse at the organizational level in relation to innovation issues –i.e. strategic orientation towards innovation, networking with partners, speculative opportunities, risk assessment– the focus of innovation management units is multifocal and, at the participant level, agendas become volatile
The emergent theory shows us, and we repeat it, in this cascade movement: the diffuse attention of an organization promote that the innovation management units experience the multifocality and, at personal level, the agendas become volatile
Summary
Innovation critically influences in the viability of an organization, thereby justifying its degree of durability over time (Damanpour & Gopalakrishnan, 1998; Allen, Adomza & Meyer, 2015), and in the mobilizations of their social and economic structures (Cheng, Chang & Li., 2013). (Tidd et al, 2011); holistically put, innovation management, which is usually carried out by a particular organizational unit, in reality should connect –and must be connected right from the Executive President to the last employee in an organizational hierarchy (Hamel, 2007). This core competence is carried out by individuals in an organization. There is no innovation without management (Hamel, 2007; Tidd et al, 2011; Alter, 2013)
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