Organization and Ideas - Why Are Big Ideas Often Squelched Within Organizations?

Organization and Ideas

Why are big ideas often squelched within organizations?

Big Ideas are often squelched when the top management structure is unwilling to take risks hence avoiding radical new products and other innovations. Ideas are also squelched if they don’t yield high profits to the firm. In some situations, Ideas get smashed as they do not even get a chance to be heard and evaluated by the decision makers.

What processes, if any, are in place at your organization to encourage creativity and/or innovativeness?

One of the best examples that I have is when I started working for Xerox. The vice president told me that I would pretty much be a mini CEO, in that I would have to handle every aspect of my portfolios (be the face and voice of the portfolios’ I was handling). I have come to notice that this is actually part of the Xerox culture. The company believes that all workers must adopt a CEO mindset. This way employees have the ability to focus on big ideas regardless positions. Xerox also allows failure once in a while and I believe this raises a philosophy that rewards and nurtures innovation. My department takes advantage of cross functional teams whenever there is a request for proposal that needs to be completed. During this meetings or calls management urges all the participants to join in the conversation as equals. I believe all tis encourages creativity and innovativeness.

What commonly accepted objectives are appropriate for different phases of the product life cycle?

The product life cycle has four stages as detailed in our text. They include the introduction phase, the growth phase, the maturity phase and the decline phase. Below are the commonly accepted objectives.

a) Introduction phase- Establish a market for the product and persuade early adopters to buy.

b) Growth phase- Build sales and market share and develop preference for brand.

c) Maturity phase-