THE INNOVATION PROCESS

Phuoc D. Nguyen

The innovation process requires the participation of many professionals with a variety of skills and expertise. In addition to the knowledge interdisciplinarity, it requires the transfer of skills and knowledge. The knowledge of these soft skills and the goodwill of cooperation are also important to any creativity and innovation process. Oster (2009) defined, “One well-placed innovation antibody can quietly reinterpret corporate strategies to co-workers and ultimately wreak havoc on the corporation’s future. Typically, the more radical the innovation and the more it challenges the status quo, the more and stronger are the antibodies.” (p. 42). Only very few people who have open minds have no prejudice and often have a broad vision, know how to put the interests of the organization first, and can accept new ideas. For that reason, educating people with an open and unbiased mind plays a vital role in cultivating the community’s sense.

Davila (2013) suggested, “To innovate, senior management must create a culture that has the capability and the courage to change, explore, and innovate, while at the same time remaining stable enough to deliver on its innovations.” (Loc. 1104). In addition to mental inertia and cultural inertia, the impediments of colleagues may come from other causes, such as conflicts of interest or jealousy. If innovation affects the interests of someone in the organization has an interest in it, some people with an interest in it will find ways to counter it. Oster (2011) proposed, “Innovation feels dangerous and unsettling because it can overturn earlier hard-fought ideologies. New insights quickly call into question every comfortable prior assumption. Fresh ideas seem to increase risk, threaten security, and open innovators to disapproval and rejection from their peers.” (Loc. 2831). To neutralize innovation antibodies, there is no other way to reform the organization itself, first and foremost, through structural change and its operating mechanism. Structural change can be by eliminating ineffective parts, heavy control instead of promoting; or setting up a test space for new ideas. With the change in the mechanism, it is necessary to focus on eliminating bureaucratic barriers, administrative procedures, and distance from reality; or set a new mechanism, allowing new tests to be conducted as a standard practice.