Managing paradoxes of innovation in an Indonesian TV group

Abstract

The biggest challenge faced by TMTs (top management teams) is the management of paradoxes between the exploitation of existing products in pursuit of incremental innovation and the exploration of more radical innovation opportunities. Lessons on paradox management can be learned from a group of Indonesian TV stations in which levels of innovation and high financial performance have been maintained from the group’s beginning. A grounded, interpretive approach was selected to answer the research question, with findings offering an alternative framework to examine tensions between the exploitation and exploration options and how choices between the two are made in the course of day-to-day operations. Our approach was to present nested paradoxes of innovation: in programme management between the idealistic and the commercial extremes and in talent management between bringing in the old and bringing in the new. A battery model of innovation was conceived to create an organisational culture that would equip an organisation to manage the paradox(es) it faces. The model provides greater understanding of how organisational culture provides the context for solutions to the innovative paradox.