User:Waynayne

'''Hindrances to Innovation in an Organization '''

Introduction

Barrick Gold Corporation refers to the largest gold mining organization in the world, which has its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario in Canada. The company at the moment undertaking mining projects in Australia, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Chile, Canada, Papua New Guinea, USA, Zambia, as well as Saudi Arabia and Peru. The company has experienced a significant breakthrough in the mining industry; the company has enjoyed enormous profits and has also made important acquisitions of all time. Though stated as a Canadian company, Barrick Gold Company has currently grown to an international company, where it leads the Gold mining industry all over the globe (Adams et.al, 2012). However, the mining industry is a very competitive industry with both new and already existing organizations threatening to take the top position in the industry. Having this in mind, Barrick Gold Corporation, therefore, needs to adopt competitive strategies that will help it retain its position in the market; this is however not easy since other competitors are also adopting varying competitive strategies. The company needs to ensure that it is always a step ahead to retain its competitive advantages. Among different other competitive strategies, innovation and creativity are the best competitive strategies; this is the best way that Barrick Gold Company would manage to keep its competitors a step behind (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). Considering that people all over the world have become technology savvy, innovation is nowadays the best way to go while organizations need to acquire competitive strategies. In most cases, companies survive and continue their constructive roles and need ideas, as well as positive thoughts; innovation is brought about by new ideas and positive thoughts. Innovation can, therefore, be termed as exploitation of new ideas of creativity; this is also a new way of doing things. Innovation has continuously become an inevitable necessity since the competitive environment needs companies to develop as well as strengthen the processes of innovation and creativity (Brown & Osborne, 2012). Innovation can bring change to an organization’s culture; in most cases, the basis of any change in a company’s culture is usually to overcome obstacles as well as limitations f group creative thinking. Competition is continuously growing particularly due to advancement in technology; organizations, therefore, require adopting new technology and innovations continuously, or else they will lose the competitive advantages that they already possess. Barrick Gold Corporation is hence facing stiff competition from other international mining companies because the company has difficulties in managing innovation (Adams et.al, 2012). The company does not have a real innovation culture as most of the innovations in the company face massive barriers; this is becoming a threat to the company since it seems to start losing its competitive advantages. Most companies have barriers or hindrances to ideas, creativity, and innovation. Some of these hindrances are obvious while others are more subtle; some emerge from attitudes as well as perceptions of corporations’ leadership while others barriers come from an organizational structure or even from the workers themselves. Identifying and removing barriers to creativity and innovation is crucial since the barriers have a tendency to eliminate creative responsibilities from an organization (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). By recognizing, pinpointing, and acknowledging that hindrances to innovation exist, a company can bypass many common barriers and become more idea-oriented through employing simple strategies. In this focus, Barrick should, therefore, deal with the barriers to innovation through taking the first step, which is acknowledging that there exist hindrances to creativity and innovation within the company (Smith, 2010). There is no way a company will solve an issue that it fails to acknowledge; consequently, no way Barrick Gold Company would address the issue about barriers to creativity and innovation without first acknowledging and pinpointing the source or the specific barriers. Importance of Creativity and Innovation in an Organization Some individuals would wonder why innovation, which refers to the exploitation of new ideas leading to the creation or development of a new process, product or service. However, there are a handful reasons why innovation is important for an organization or for business, which is discussed below. Various studies have confirmed that all organizations and businesses want to be more innovative; innovation has in the current day become a significant factor influencing strategic planning (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). Different organizations have acknowledged that innovation leads to the creation of wealth. Though research indicates that that competition together with high demand is a primary driver of innovation, acquiring competitive advantages is not the only importance of innovation. For both new and established organizations, change and innovation are important in a dynamic or changing environment. According to Smith (2010), when an organization fails to innovate r even change as needed, its customers, workers and the community as a whole are usually on the verge of suffering; this is because innovation brings about lots of advantages to an organization, some of which include solutions to different problems. One of the major importance of innovation is problem-solving, considering that the business world is full of problems, which are not easy to solve; these problems will always be there and hence need to be tackled with (Adams et.al, 2012). Innovation enables people to generate ideas on how to solve a specific issue, and the best solution ideas are captured and used. Another importance of innovation is helping organizations such as Barrick Gold Corporation to adapt to black swan events; this refers to random as well as unpredictable events that cannot be anticipated. They require people to find new ways or techniques of responding and adapting to them when they occur, which can only happen through innovation (Brown & Osborne, 2012). Being innovative therefore constitutes knowing both how to think laterally and analytically as well as critically and at associative and creative levels. Innovation is as well important in taking advantage of the global entrepreneurship movement; entrepreneurship is growing especially in the emerging or upcoming markets. According to Rowley et.al (2011), innovation or generation and capturing or exploitation of ideas is important in utilizing the global entrepreneurship movement, to the organization’s advantage. Innovation is in other words useful in boosting an organization's revenue or profit through utilization of global entrepreneurship movement (Adams et.al, 2012). Business is currently becoming globalized which is requiring companies to improve how they conduct their business. Innovation also enables corporations to flow with advances in technology; technology is continually changing the way companies operate or do their business. However, not all organizations are technologically savvy since some lack the necessary technological skills. In other organizations, only a few of the employees are technologically savvy, and hence they are the only force gearing the entire organization to change technology wise. According to Birkinshaw et.al (2011), their ideas bring about innovation which enables the organization as a whole to flow with advances in technology, without being left behind by the competitors. More so, the more innovative an organization, the more likely a company can flow with advances in technology. Assisting organizations in adapting to changing workplace trends and dynamics is yet another importance of innovation. As the baby boomer generation retires, workplaces continue becoming more and more dynamic; the only way to cope with this change is through innovation where new ideas are exploited to ensure that the organizations do not shake during the transition (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). Instability of a company during the transition as a result of workplace dynamic is the best chance for competitors to take the competitive position of a particular organization; this means that innovation indirectly prevents competitors from taking up the competitive advantages of an individual company. Innovation is as well important in responding to increasing customer expectations as well as choice; customers’ tastes are becoming more and more diverse hence almost impossible to satisfy. According to Phills et.al (2008), however, innovation and creativity help companies to deal with this challenge since there are significant changes required as to how corporations perceive and sense customers’ needs. Innovation promotes the use of human-centered design to enhance the users' experience and hence keep them satisfied. So that to ensure that all individuals despite their differences have their needs met, an organization requires exploiting quality new ideas (Adams et.al, 2012). Innovation also maximizes the globalization connectivity since ideas on how to globalize a business are exploited leading to enhanced connectivity between the different role players in the business sector. Barriers or Hindrances to Innovation There are lots of barriers to creativity and innovation, most of which apply to almost every organization. Barrack Gold Corporation, for instance, is affected by almost each of these hindrances. According to Phills et.al (2008), the hindrances could be divided into various classes including personalities, emotional barriers, and workplace barriers among others. Each of these categories has several specific restrictions under it, which limits the level of innovation in an organization. The fundamental difference that exists between different organizations’ innovation is brought about by how well a company or an organization can cope or deal with the barriers; the more a corporation can fight obstacles to innovation, the more innovative is a corporation (Brown & Osborne, 2012). Some of the management officials, as well as most of the employees, agree that Barrick Gold Corporation is being threatened by other upcoming international mining companies due to lack of adequate innovation; they state that the company has a poor innovation culture. Under personality, some of the barriers include; negative attitude, which refers to the tendency to focus on the negative aspects of issues or problems and expend energy on worry. Considering that people working in an organization could be from different backgrounds, some of the individuals are from less fortunate backgrounds and hence have higher chances of low self-esteem; such individuals consequently develop a negative attitude and might not feel comfortable giving ideas (Adams et.al, 2012). Due to this negative attitude, they withhold their ideas, and an organization consequently suffers through lack of quality, innovative ideas; this is the case at Barrick Gold Corporation. Personal or executive stress is yet another barrier under the personality hindrances to innovation. Overstressed individuals lack enough time to think creatively; they find it difficult to think objectively at all as the stressful situation occupies their mind. Similarly, unwanted stress reduces the quality of most of the mental processes; the individuals fail to come up with quality ideas consequently. Making assumptions is also another significant factor that hinders innovation within an organization (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). Both conscious and unconscious assumptions usually restrict creative thinking and consequently innovation; this lowers the competitive advantages that an organization has over its competitors. Different employees from Barrick Gold Corporation identify executive stress and negative attitude as some of the major personality barriers to innovation within the company. Emotional barriers are also significant factors that prevent an organization from acquiring more competitive advantages; psychological barriers include feelings that the employees’ have and which consequently make them resist or become reluctant to giving ideas. According to Brown & Osborne (2012), emotional barriers include such feelings as “I am not creative,” which is due to lack of opportunities, tools, and encouragement. Another feeling is that of “no one cares about my ideas,” which comes in when people look down upon themselves and think that they do not match the rest of the employees in an organization probably due to their social class. A feeling of “it’s not worth ridicule or humiliation to share my idea,” is also classified under the emotional barriers, where individuals in an organization fear giving their ideas since they will be ridiculed and humiliated (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). In an interview with some of the Barrick employees from various regions in Canada, Peru, and Saudi Arabia; the mental and emotional barriers play a significant role in inhibiting innovation in the company. Most of the emotional barriers are related to trust – whether trust in oneself or others, in the company or perhaps trust in the situation. According to Chiaroni et.al (2011), employees will be reluctant of giving their ideas once they lack trust in either themselves, in others or even in the system or organization. Individuals with a higher level of trust are willing to live with the risk inherent in the relationship, as well as in the skills of other person or organizations. At Barrick Gold Corporation, people are from different races, backgrounds as well as social classes, which make some of them lack trust in others as well as in themselves which becomes a significant barrier to innovation (Adams et.al, 2012). Emotional barriers are mostly ignored while dealing with hindrances to innovation, but however, they have a significant impact on the success of an organization; for the case of Barrick Gold Corporation, ignoring these barriers would only give its competitors a chance to edge out the company. The other classification of the barriers to innovation includes the common workplace barriers, which refer to the hindrances that occur basically at the workplace. Following rules is one of the factors that hinder creativity and innovation under common workplace barriers. The tendency to conform to specifically accepted patterns of thought or belief, which can, in other words, be referred to as the limitations and rules of the status quo; they similarly hamper innovation as well as creative breakthrough. Barrack Gold company is mostly affected by this barriers since the employees just conform to the set limitations; they fail to give their opinions so that to avoid being at loggerheads with the administration for breaking the rules (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). As per the interview with some of the Barrick Gold employees from the United States and Australia, the company’s rules are very rigid which consequently hamper creative thinking as well as innovation. Over-reliance on logic; this becomes a limitation or hindrance to innovation in that an individual investing all their capital into analytical or logical thinking, which is a step by step approach, excludes intuition, humor or feeling, as well as imagination. According to Pot (2011), consequently, through the exclusion of these components over-reliance on logic becomes a significant hindrance to innovation and creativity. In most cases, this is not identified as a factor that hinders innovation and hence it continuous to impact negatively on the success of an organization despite alleviation of all other barriers; this is quite important for Barrick Gold Corporation to note (Adams et.al, 2012). According to most employees from Barrick Gold Corporation, the management insists so much on logic which makes it one of the major factors that hinder innovation. Feeling overwhelmed, Directionless, and without focus, which is a direct result of relying on different traditional brainstorming techniques. According to Chiaroni et.al (2011), the problem is that these ancient brainstorming has ignored the big difference between generating capturing quality ideas and generating lots of ideas; most organizations’ administration uses traditional brainstorming approaches which just focus on generating many ideas but not obtaining quality ideas. Due to these traditional techniques, organizations are left feeling overwhelmed as well as directionless – a state that is also referred to as “paralyzed by possibility.” Barrick Gold Corporation is partially affected by this factor also, though it does not have a significant effect the barrier should not, however, be ignored (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). Most of the employees interviewed from Barrick Gold Company did not identify this as a significant barrier; though they admitted that it exist within the company. Uncertainty and other immovable forces are also significant barriers to creative thinking and innovation; these are hindrances that are as a result of resistance to new ideas as well as processes due to the human nature to become rigid while confronting potential change events (Brown & Osborne, 2012). In most cases, people get used to old habits, assumptions, and beliefs that favor them since they are already familiar; however, new ideas could be holding better success chances for an organization and hence failure to capture such ideas hinder the success of an organization. Fear of new ideas or else known as judgment is yet another barrier to creative thinking and innovation under the workplace classification of hindrances to innovation; fear of new ideas is in most cases manifested as criticism and sometimes harsh judgment. Individuals ridicule and mock new ideas, which they often think might complicate the already existing system. Consequently, employees with great ideas that would yield success to the company become reluctant to share since they are aware of the rejection that they might face (Pot, 2011). The judgment barrier could also be explained regarding the initiator of the idea fearing being ridiculed after the ideas that they give have failed. Hard work is also another factor that hampers innovation, in that, most employees and managers are not willing to dedicate most of their time and effort to the development and implementation of new innovative ideas. As it is obvious, taking ideas from development through implementation, usually take a lot of time as well as effort to produce results. The barrier has a significant impact on the success and competitiveness of an organization since it brings about negativity even before the commencement of a project (Chiaroni et.al, 2011). When negativity comes even before a project has started, such a project is usually meant to fail. The effect is very significant at Barrick Gold Corporation, which is according to most of the company’s employees who were interviewed. According to Serrat (2010), lack of a process or a path through which employees can present their ideas is another barrier to innovation not only in Barrick Gold Corporation but also in most other international and local organizations around the globe. Lack of a systematic innovation process is termed as one of the significant hindrances to innovation; though employees could be motivated and creative thinkers, lack of a process would prevent their ideas from reaching to the management (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). According to some individuals working with Barrick Gold Company in various regions, the company lacks systematic innovation process, which hampers innovation and consequently threatens the company from being edged out by the competitors. According to Chiaroni et.al (2011), lack of a shared vision is also another reason why most organizations fail to develop an innovation culture; this usually translates to a lack of a shared purpose and strategy, which consequently brings about divided interests in the organization despite the existence of brilliant minds. People with a common goal will in most cases generate quality ideas that will help an organization to operate and be successful (Brown & Osborne, 2012). All the same, lack of common purpose can be attributed to leaders who expect payoff sooner than is realistic; this makes the employees get stressed, and the mounting pressure renders them reluctant to offer great ideas that they have. How to Deal with Barriers to Innovation Considering that barriers to innovation will always be there, organizations need to prepare on how to address these obstacles or hindrances; they need to understand the various ways through which an organization can overcome the barriers (Serrat, 2010). However, like mentioned earlier, the first and the foremost is acknowledging that there exist barriers or hindrances to innovation; they should also pinpoint the particular obstacles or barriers. Being aware of the roadblocks to new ideas usually help make the management, the employees and the entire organization stronger (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). Barrick Gold Company would make the first step through ensuring that it acknowledges that there exist various hindrances to effective innovation and hence pinpoint the exact barriers. The first way that an organization can overcome obstacles to effective innovation is through making people part of the required change; in this case, emotion and motivation are the key factors. When people are made part of the required change, they feel the need to contribute ideas since they are aware that their ideas are recognized; this is important in eliminating the emotional barriers that had been discoursed earlier. One of the primary barriers to innovation includes politics, where people are motivated by a combination of maintaining momentum, saving face, as well as recognized as a hero (Nanda & Singh, 2009). Barrack Gold Company needs to ensure that all people are part of the change that is intended; only this way can the company achieve developing an innovative culture. Rally support with purpose driven stories is yet another way through which organizations would overcome the barriers to effective communication. Organizations should endorse channels of communications, which allow workers to share stories and ideas about the organization’s purpose. According to Nanda & Singh (2009), progressive companies often recognize that other organizations, as well as individuals, are in pursuit of similar goals. Rally reporting would, therefore, help individual employees to share ideas that would enable an organization to become more innovative; this helps overcome innovation through developing or presenting a systematic innovation channel through which employees present and exchange innovative or creative ideas (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). In this focus, Barrick Gold Company, therefore, needs to rally support with purpose driven stories; this will entice employees to generate more and more innovative ideas. Empowering middle managers is yet another significant way of overcoming barriers to effective innovation. According to Brown & Osborne (2012), middle managers are the lower level managers who interact with other employees closely compared to the rest of the executive managers; in most companies, middle managers require being selected, empowered, and trained to drive innovation strategies. Having leaders who incentivize, prioritize, and develop an inspiring vision or goal for innovation is not enough, leaders also need to defer power; they require the power to go to good managers who can execute on the innovative strategies as well as systems. In this case, the factor or solution works through having managers who incentivize employees to generate ideas; they also reduce the fear that employees usually have about their ideas being rejected by the management (Nanda & Singh, 2009). Barrick Gold Corporation, therefore, needs to empower middle managers so that to improve innovation within the company. Rewarding innovation is also another way an organization would overcome the barriers to effective innovation; in most cases, people feel unsafe with experiment especially without sponsorship. According to Chiaroni et.al (2011), the issue becomes even worse when an individual’s goals do not align with an organization’s goals; this creates a feeling of “it is not worth the risk” for a person to contribute their ideas about anything within a company. The best way to eradicate this feeling is through the rewarding ideas or innovation; this challenges the employees to always be at toe generating quality ideas. The intervention would similarly involve developing adequate techniques that would replace the traditional brainstorming approaches that bring about a sense of directionless and lack of focus (Nanda & Singh, 2009). Barrick Gold Company should, therefore, develop a rewarding system that would see its employees work hard to generate innovative ideas. Embracing constraints is yet another way in which organizations would overcome barriers to effective innovation. According to Pot (2011), though constraints can create clarity, it is counterintuitive to some individuals; constraints bring great success for individuals engaged in innovation work. Organizations should, therefore, be able to embrace constraints, which would help them to create clarity as well as achieve great success. Barrick Gold Company should, therefore, embrace constraints as well; this would help the individuals engaged in innovation work to achieve great success (Birkinshaw et.al, 2011). The company would consequently develop an innovative culture, which it currently lacks. In conclusion, organizations should understand the importance of innovation; they should be aware of the role that innovation and change play in competition as well as solving problems. As a result, various organizations including Barrick Gold Company should adopt an innovative culture; they should effectively make use of innovation to enjoy the handful of benefits that comes as a result of innovation. However, companies should be aware of the different barriers or hindrances to effective innovation; they should overcome the barriers through the use of either one or multiple techniques discussed above (Chiaroni et.al, 2011). Corporations, however, need to understand that the first and most basic step in overcoming these barriers is acknowledging that the obstacles exist and pinpointing what they are.