Rosemary Exton

Defining workplace innovation

Purpose – This paper aims to introduce the ‘Fifth Element’ as ‘joint intelligence’ shared by all stakeholders in the workplace and at the wider economic and social level, and aimed at closing the evidence-practice gap. Design/methodology/approach – The mutually reinforcing impact of practices based on employee involvement and participation at all levels of an organisation can create a tangible effect in workplaces, which is hard to quantify but which is often described in terms of “culture” and “employee engagement”. Findings – The first four elements comprise Job Design and Work Organisation; Structures and Systems; Learning, Reflection and Innovation; and Workplace Partnership. When these combine successfully, the outcome can be remarkable producing a tangible and sustainable change in the day-to-day culture of an organization, which includes across the board improvements in communications, leadership and employee engagement, higher performance, enhanced customer care and a self-perpetuating regime of innovation. Originality/value – The metaphor of the Fifth Element is a useful way of capturing this essence, describing an alchemic transformation that can only take place when the other four elements combine.

Social Innovation at Work: Workplace Innovation as a Social Process

What happens in the workplace has enormous social as well as economic implications. Workplace innovation is the process through which “win-win” approaches to work organisation are formulated – good for the sustainable competitiveness of the enterprise and good for the well-being of employees. Workplace innovation is also an inherently social process involving knowledge sharing and dialogue between stakeholders.

Workplace innovation: bridging knowledge and practice

The article draws on a decade of work in the UK by the UK Work Organisation Network (UKWON), and recommends a systematic approach. Taking cases in the National Health Service, the focus is on employee involvement, partnership and the development of social capital. High and low road approaches are compared, in an evaluation of the Improving Working Lives programme.

Trade unions as knowledgeable participants in workplace innovation

Purpose – This article aims to demonstrate that trade unions possess unique knowledge of how organisations really work and that they are repositories of experience embracing many different situations and stretching over many years. Closing the gap between best practice and common practice needs knowledgeable advocates to actively demonstrate what workplace innovation is and how it benefits organisations and individuals. Design/methodology/approach – This article demonstrates that trade unions possess unique knowledge of how organisations really work and that they are repositories of experience embracing many different situations and stretching over many years. Yet, this experience and understanding is often an underused resource in workplaces. Findings – At the frontline, union representatives can release their members’ tacit knowledge and ideas for improvement and innovation. At strategic level, unions can deliver robust advice and consultancy, securing trust from employees and employers alike. Actively ...

Work and organisations in 2020: The future we want?

Purpose – The report aims to make the case for workplace innovation in an increasingly volatile global environment and outlines the opportunities for the creative and rewarding work that it affords. Work and Organisations in 2020 argues that workplace innovation has a major impact on both the performance of the enterprise and on national economic competitiveness. It boosts productivity, quality and innovation, by making better use of workforce talent and has a profound effect on employees’ learning and development, health, well-being, ageing and wider roles as citizens. Design/methodology/approach – Keys issues include: the intrinsic value of work; sustainable workplaces; harmonising technological innovation and human potential; entrepreneurship and developing and utilising skills. Findings – The paper considers challenges to sustainable and effective change, and key issues concerning the way forward including responsible globalisation, new roles for public policy, new roles for trade unions and employers’ organisations, a new labour market perspective, listening to the voice of employees and realising the promise of employee ownership. Originality/value – The report concludes that there is a way towards a more coherent UK approach to renewing the employment agenda in the UK: an agenda that has often been somewhat fragmented and lacking in a strategic focus capable of guiding the efforts of different actors. At the heart of these values is a commitment to sustainable improvement in economic performance and social well-being, and an explicit rejection of short-termism.

Creating the Bottom-up Organisation from the Top: Leaders as Enablers of Workplace Innovation

Workplace innovation enhances economic performance and quality of working life simultaneously. Yet successive surveys show that its adoption rate is slow. In many European countries there is little infrastructure to support the adoption of workplace innovation, often despite a long history of poor productivity and skills utilisation. Enterprise leadership therefore plays a critical role in determining whether or not workplace innovation practices are adopted. Three selected case studies illustrate journeys towards workplace innovation from different starting points. They demonstrate how a consistent approach to shared and distributed leadership can stimulate employee empowerment and initiative from the bottom up, as well as the cumulative impact of small incremental changes.

Rethinking tomorrow: A case study of Danish company Novozymes

– This case study aims to describe Novozymes’ strongly embedded improvement culture and its tradition of employee inclusion. Novozymes is a biotech-based company, headquartered in Denmark and employing approximately 6,000 people in 30 countries. Innovation and sustainability are core to Novozymes’ business values and objectives. The business is also very open in its relations with others in its field with partnering seen as a key competency in the drive towards sustainability and to “effectively create and build businesses that can help change the world.” , – Novozymes also acknowledges the importance of driving innovation from the bottom up and understands that engaging with the shop floor is good for employees and good for productivity. , – This case study describes Novozymes’ strongly embedded improvement culture and its tradition of employee inclusion. This evolves round the key elements of engagement, communications, feedback, acknowledgment, training and self-steering teams. , – The company acknowledges workplace innovation as an important idea and sees it evolving from their everyday activity. Where there is a constraint or a problem to solve and that calls for a change in the way that they operate or a new training requirement, they do not theorise about it but get on and do it.

Enterprising behaviour in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS)

Purpose – This study by Rosemary Exton aims to examine the Improving Working Lives (IWL) programme and finds significant variation in outcomes between 11 National Health Service (NHS) Trusts. Each Trust was required to reach identical standards in improving HR practice over a set period. Achievement of the standards was validated by external peer review, and outcomes contributed significantly to overall performance ratings. Design/methodology/approach – In each organisation, implementation was driven by a “lead” from line management, and three of these individuals form the focus of the study. Findings – When visited 18 months after the end of the IWL initiative, most Trusts had failed to demonstrate any sustained change despite more than four years’ effort. The ability to achieve effective and sustainable outcomes varies considerably even between NHS Trusts faced with comparable challenges in implementing nationally prescribed targets. This variance is explained in terms of an organisation’s ability to ge...

Closing the gap: There is a gap, and it is not going away

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the vast and growing body of evidence which shows that workplace innovation, practices which empower employees to make day-to-day-decisions, challenge established practices and contribute ideas, which are heard at the most senior levels of an organisation lead to better business results as well as enhanced workforce health and engagement. Design/methodology/approach – As European businesses struggle to emerge from recession, this evidence offers an important resource for enhanced competitiveness, increasing productivity and the rate of innovation. Findings – However, the article also looks at why most businesses are either unaware of this evidence, or that they are unable or unwilling to act on it. Successive surveys demonstrate a substantial gap between research evidence of “what works” and common workplace practice. Originality/value – The practical challenge is to build the conditions at European, national and local levels which stimulate, resource and sustain workplace innovation on a large scale. This is vital for European competitiveness as well as for the well-being of Europe’s workers, but it means nothing less than redefining the “common sense” view of the world experienced by managers and others who influence the nature of the workplace. It also implies the creation of a public sphere of shared knowledge and experience, freely available to those instigating or informing change.

Interactive Theatre: Liberating employee-driven innovation

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss how Interactive Theatre can be implemented and it also gives examples of it in action with feedback from clients. Unlocking employee creativity is one of the key challenges of implementing organisational change to improve performance and enhance working life. Design/methodology/approach – Interactive Theatre is a dynamic event that helps to release employee inhibitions that prevent them from expressing their views while engaging them in critical reflection and creative thinking through facilitated dialogue and collaboration. Findings – Using theatre to dramatise the issues and situations created by poor work organisation, inadequate skills and ineffective management practice encourages employers and employees alike to take action. Drama reveals all the tensions and problems that can exist in the business, while at the same time being fun and captivating. As a result, people are more likely to have an open mind about the need for change and to become actively involved in its design and implementation. Originality/value – This paper discusses how Interactive Theatre can be implemented and gives examples of it in action with feedback from clients.