Key Words: Creativity, Innovation, Human Resource Management, Human Talent Management, External Context, Macroscope, Competitive Intelligence.
Summary:
The management of innovation; as well as organizations in general, public and private, deserve a continuous analysis and monitoring of the variables of the external context that impact them. In this sense, it should be noted that people are the ones who make the innovation and hence their management and direction play a key role. Professionals in Industrial Relations and Human Resources, more than ever, need to know how to come to understand and understand the complexity of what external means and its impact. Here are some models and methods for monitoring them. It is an invitation to know and position oneself as agents of change in instilling creativity and innovation without neglecting the impact of the external context at any time.
“I did not come to make an inventory of what there is…. I came to find the things that there are not that live like me, on the edge of desire. "
Presentation
The following is the product of an idea, a concern that was identified from the need of the participants of the Innovation and Human Resources Management Seminar of the Specialty of Industrial Relations of UCAB based on their expectations and the newness of the subject. With that requirement in hand, the author of this series of documents of successive deliveries, articulated personal experience and best practices; as well as the conceptual investigation and the Venezuelan reality and directed his activity of reflection and action in investigating,interpret and shape a conceptual approach that would serve as a guide and orientation, the purpose of which is for the participant to build a frame of reference for their performance in the context of understanding and implementing transformational processes such as the development of creativity and innovation in institutions.
To this end, the Integrative Model of Innovation and Human Talent Management was determined; From there, all its dimensions are developed, incorporating the concepts and approaches of the different authors and documentary sources. For this reason, the document aims to enrich the commitments of results agreed at the beginning of the seminar: Field Work and the selected Debates. In the same way, have elements of judgments to understand a little more the special guests invited to the seminar; as well as visits to institutions oriented to research, development and application.
An invitation with this document is to visualize in each dimension of the model, a topic that could serve as a basis to explore and deepen in order to develop an investigation leading to a degree thesis, from the academic and professional practice, a pattern of reference and consultation for the design and deployment of HR policies that support creativity and innovation processes in organizations; whether public or private.
In this sense, the claim of the seminar is materialized as a line of research. A beta of useful information and knowledge, which is why it is proposed at the end, the lines of research that guide the work of reflection of the action and the role of the industriologist in his contribution to the processes of creativity and innovation in organizations.
It should be noted that this initiative is far from being a finished product, it will be nurtured and enriched by the contribution of the participants through the Field Work, as well as the investigations of the labor reality that is carried out by the Fundación Innovación y Human Resources Management "Innovarrh". (see www.innovarrh.com), of the graduate theses associated with the research lines of the seminar and finally, of the information and knowledge modules of the seminar.
This series of deliveries then begins, starting with the impact of the external context on the processes of creativity and innovation.
It will also be available, free of charge, in the Thesaurus module of the Foundation for Innovation and Resource Management website.
Welcome to this adventure of creativity and innovation…
Introduction
Innovation. A managerial fad, a prestigious term or an organizational imperative in the context of the new economy? For the purposes of this conceptual and practical approach, it is argued that it is one of the key business prerequisites in the framework of international competition and even more so in the national context. From the economic perspective, the author David Ricardo expressed in his work "The Wealth of Nations", its importance in the generation of national well-being; In the organizational perspective, authors such as Theodore Levitt (1965), Peter Drucker (1986), Tushman Michael and O'reily Charles (1998) and more recently, Porter Michael (2002), Hamel Gary (2003),, Affuah Allan (1999) and Valdes Luigi (2003) have explained their concepts,techniques and methodologies to clarify and promote the innovation process in organizations.
However, from the perspective of human resource management or in its most up-to-date trend: human capital, human or talent management, there is a long way to go. In this document, the term talent management will be assumed to refer to the management and direction of people. In this sense, what lies ahead are challenges, understanding and execution of talent management practices that leverage and support creativity and innovation processes in organizations.
Given this, the decision to choose the action from talent management is one that, from the point of view of Savater Fernando (2003. p.19), invites us to assume the action of man linked to foresight, but in the same way, to the unforeseen: "it is trying to foresee by playing with the unpredictable and counting on its uncertainty". The contribution from talent management goes through the combination of knowledge, imagination, decision and action. Innovation does not come by chance, it does.
It is the same purpose. Therefore, the objective of this first work role is to contribute to the clarification of a framework of action for HR professionals in the innovation process through the identification and description of a model in which talent management and HR professionals have something to say and do with regard to creativity and innovation processes in organizations; be these public, private, large, small and even your own company.
In this first document, the dimensions of the model are outlined in a summarized way, accounting, in a general and guiding way, the nine (9) factors to consider in the innovation process:
1.- The external context in which opportunities for new ideas, new products or services are identified. In the context of a corporate innovation process, it is one of the first elements to consider. Its study is key to the impact on the organization.
2.- The strategy as the target of strategic action contains innovation as the north. By virtue of the requirements of its key players.
3.- The organizational culture that offers the conditions in a work environment that facilitates the generation of ideas, trust and learning is key as a fertile ground for creativity and innovation.
4.- Organizational Technology, taking into account the research and development activity, as well as the sub-processes of human capital management.
5.- Organizational Architecture and Innovation as the expression of the strategy and processes that best combine the resources and competencies that mitigate innovation: Organizational structure, control scheme, career planning and the position structure.
6.- Innovation Management from its creation, storage, depression and application both in products and services and in the improvement of the process.
7.- The Leadership required for an organization based on learning or as described by Peter Senge (1995) in his book “the fifth discipline”: the intelligent organization.
8.- Management and Direction of Human Talent, which refers to the planning, organization, direction, coordination and control of human talent with the competences that materialize and account for the coherence with the values of creativity and innovation and the processes of business.
9.- The relational dynamics between the mentioned dimensions; it is a continuous opening and closing of processes that trigger and contribute to innovation in organizations. It also implies the interaction of the organization with the organizations and institutions that make up the country's national innovation system, its clients, the study and management of competitive intelligence (competitive market); consumers in general (marketing innovation) and information about the cycle of your current products and services (whether to improve or replace them).
Here is its graphic representation:
1.- The External Context. Auditing the Environment in Search of Innovation Opportunities
A look at the dynamics of the external context in which organizations operate refers to the basic presence of two (2) tendencies that seem to dominate economic, political, social and cultural life. These are: globalization and acceleration. Regnosco Maria. (1999). From these two trends, elements appear that exert even more pressure and impact on the workforce. Let's see: greater competitiveness in the market by attracting customers, emphasis on cost management, adjusting and directing change processes, impact of information technology in the workplace and in telecommunications, in knowledge management and others.
This accumulation of processes and events in the environment that simultaneously interact and impact on the strategies and operations of organizations leads to consider as a basic requirement, identify them, grasp them, analyze them, interpret them and turn them into knowledge that illuminate decision-making. In this sense Oren Harari. (2003), affirms that the situation determines or changes the strategy; on the other hand, the author Hicks Herbet. (1984), provides the following graphic model of the organization and the environment with its key variables:
- EnvironmentLegal / LaborTechnological
A guiding framework proposed by Ventocilla Eleodoro. (1997), considers that when capturing a message from the environment, it is itself a data; But by itself it does not tell us much, it must be given a meaning when relating it to other data or other reference information. Once this is done, then the data becomes information. Furthermore, if the consequences of said information are identified according to what is sought or the proposed objective, then it is no longer information to become knowledge that impacts decision-making. The decisions to turn them into reality must be taken or put into action (conduct) and those actions derive in results (R1) that when analyzing the Results in a second period (2) vs. Results (1) we can determine a gap that impacts the environment again.This guiding framework can be considered as the journey from data to action and graphically it would be:
The members of the organizations can formulate quality strategies, when they have developed the capacity to:
- Obtain quality data from the relevant environment Give quality meanings to the data obtained from the environment Develop a visibility of future consequences of decisions and actions (based on the meanings they give to the data) that are executed in the present; and learn from ongoing strategies and outside experience.
One of the pioneering studies of the impact of the environment is due to the authors Lawrence and Lorsch. (1987), who went a little beyond the observations of the management classics regarding the concepts of integration and differentiation. Specifically, they specified that integration is the quality of the state of collaboration between departments required to achieve the unity demanded by the demands of the environment.
From the point of view of human resources, it is worth highlighting the contributions of the authors Guerin W.; Wils T.; Le Lourain J. (1992), in relation to the connection of the external environment and the human resources strategy. The environment can be classified considering the type of environment (general, immediate and specific); the content (economic, political, social, technological, labor, cultural and others); with characteristics of complex, dynamic, homogeneous and speed. The graphic model presents below:
For the formulation of a macroscope, the technique proposed by the author Olivera Ángel is used. (1997), this is not more than a practical tool to identify trends or behavior patterns of economic, political, social, labor, cultural and other variables that have an impact on the organization in relation to its general purpose. For this, a matrix is prepared with the following categories: Processes (events or trends); scope (International. Latin American, national and company) and the institutions or companies that generate said event or process. Then the connections and interactions are identified and interpreted and options are determined that serve as a reference for the formulation of the strategy. Here is an example of a macroscope generated in the seminar:
In practice, the trend is that this basic input process is carried out by specialized supplier companies that are in charge of collecting and analyzing data and information on the dimensions of the environment and its link and impact on the management and direction of the human component of organizations.
The main objective offered by this service is to present a system for collecting and analyzing information on Human Resources registered in the national and international social media, which allows the HR team to identify trends, evaluate opportunities and threats, which can in turn serve to generate human resource strategies, according to the requirements of the company.
In summary, the methodology used is the following see: www.hemerodia.com:
1.- Monitoring and digital clip ping of the process or functional unit of Human Resources.
2.- Press synthesis of the area.
3.- Monthly report on the area's environment analysis.
As can be seen, this process is part of the practice called competitive intelligence; which focuses said analysis towards the company's competitors. Additionally, there is the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals that is in charge of guiding its support to organizations in this matter. See. Www.scip.org
In the next installment, the subject of Organizational Culture as a supporter and facilitator of creativity and innovation processes in the management of human talent will be addressed.
2.- Conclusions and Recommendations
Multiple are the conclusions of this brief conceptual and methodological approach in the consideration of the study, analysis and monitoring of the dimensions of the external context; however, it is useful to emphasize the following:
a.- Analysis of the organization's environment; as well as for the design, testing and execution of creativity processes in innovation, it is a prerequisite for taking advantage of opportunities and capacity to respond to threats that can be identified in a monitoring effort.
b.- The collection of data and events in the environment; as well as the processing of the consequences of the analysis of the external context, they lead to an understanding and understanding of the internal dynamics of the management of human talent and its possibility of strengthening their creativity and innovation programs within the organization.
c.- The analysis of the external context benefits the management and direction of the people; as well as the professionals of Industrial Relations and Human Resources; as it refines the acuity of smell and experience in identifying trends, patterns and behavior that will impact management programs, including creativity and innovation
Recommendations:
Considering the aforementioned aspects, the following recommendations are tentative guides for action:
a.- Both the organizations and the functional units or Human Management processes aimed at supporting and intervening in the instillation of a culture of creativity and innovation, must have a methodology for analysis and monitoring of the external context.
b.- The compilation, identification of meaning and visualization of competences of the data and knowledge detected must be part of the demands or competency requirements of the people; as well as a set of guidelines sustained over time with the support and validation of senior management.
c.- It is advisable to evaluate providers of information and knowledge specialized in people management; since they already have the procedures in place in electronic form, feasible to be adjusted according to the information requirements of the Industrial Relations and Human Resources units.
Consulted Bibliography
Introduction
-Savater Fernando (2003). The Decision to Choose. Edit. Ariel
-Peter Senge (1995). The Fifth Discipline. The Smart Organization. Edit. Granica
1. External Context
- Regnosco Maria. "Complexity". In Relea Magazine. Vol. 2. Year 1999.
- Oren Harari. (2003). Collin Powell's Leadership Secrets. Edit. MacGraw Hill.
- Hicks Herbet. (1984). Organization Administration from a Systems and Human Resources Point of View. Edit. CECSA.
- Windy Eleodoro. (1997). Advanced Consulting Program (PAG). Ed. ILOS.
- Lawrence Paul; Lorsch Jay. (1987). The Company and its Environment. Edit. Janes Square.
- Guerin W.; Wils T.; Le Lourain J. (1992). Strategic Planning of Human Resources. Edit. Legis.
- Olivera Angel. (1997). Impact Analysis Model (MAI). EDC Consulting Program
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