Networks & Innovation:The innovative capacity of governments

ANZSOG Annual Conference6-8 August 2013

Professor Jenny M Lewisjmlewis@unimelb.edu.au

Innovation

• "All innovation begins with creative ideas. [...] We define innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. In this view, creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the second".

(Amabile, T. M., et al. "Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity." Academy of Management Journal 39(5) October 1996.

Ideas + supportive environments = innovation

Innovation relates to:

• Political/organizational level support for individuals to innovate

• Culture that permits staff to engage in risk taking – orientations towards innovation

• Space to work across formal, structural silos, include users, outward looking focus

• Informal as well as formal relationships between individuals – networks

• Innovation is socially constructed

Study of public sector innovation

• 11 municipal governments in Victoria• Mix of inner/outer metro & rural, wealthy/poor,

left/right politically• From 24,000 to 130,000 population• Surveyed politicians & top 4 levels of

administration• 765 responses (from 935 people identified) -

response rate of 81%

See: Mark Considine, Jenny M Lewis & Damon Alexander (2009) Networks, innovation and public policy. Palgrave Macmillan.

What is innovation?

• Orientations to innovation within an organization construct a culture - more/less supportive of innovation & of particular views of ‘innovation’

• No definition provided in study

• Agree/disagree statements (exploratory, empirical question)

• ‘Innovation’ is what those in the study think it is

5 views of innovation

Institutional

‘Innovation relates to organizational factors’

Structural ‘Innovation is about large external changes’

Sceptical ‘Uncertain if government has a role in innovation’

Incremental ‘Innovation is about small, planned improvements’

Adaptive ‘Innovation means adapting things from elsewhere’

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

Mean

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Council

Innovation means large external changes

What helps/hinders innovation?

Political Budget, committee meetings and municipal meetings

Managerial Corporate plan, structure, systems and municipal bureaucrats

Electoral Elections, state government and municipal politicians

Elections & politicians help/hinder innovation

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

Mean

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Council

Innovation orientations

• Views of what innovation is & what helps/hinders it vary significantly between the 11 governments

• Views of what innovation is & what helps/hinders also vary significantly between positions (more senior, more positive)

• It matters where you work (which city)• It matters where you sit (what role)

From orientations to structures

Innovation capacity relates to:

Formal structures:• Political & administrative triggers - crises, competition (+)• Decentralized, corporatist governance traditions, strong

civil society (+) V. Centralized, rule-bound, silo-bound legal culture (-)

Networks (informal structures):• Organizational slack• Network diversity• External/customer focus• Recognition of dependency, distributed costs & benefits• Higher trust & openness

Level of external contact

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

Bankv

iew

Bilstow

n

Kilbou

rne

Lassite

r

Melv

ille

Mills

ide

Nethert

on

Oberon

Parks

ide

Wall

erstru

m

Yarwoo

d

(mea

n)

Residents Group

Trade Union

CommunitySectorNon-profitOrganisation

Networks of CEOs & Mayors

Integrated leadership Disconnected leadership

Supporting an innovation culture

Orientations:• receptive internal culture – positive view of innovation• acceptance that innovation is risky - permission to fail• sympathetic culture – swimming with the tide• supportive procedures – smoothing the path to changeNetworks:• good external connections – to gather information &

learn from others• solid links between politicians & bureaucrats – for public

policy change• ‘go to’ people - central in networks, brokers with cross

organizational reach• access to embedded resources (including trust)

Learning from Innovation in Public Sector Environments – EU funded research project:

• Map, analyse and compare the innovation capacity of 4 cities - Barcelona, Copenhagen, Edinburgh & Rotterdam

• Identify the formal arrangements & informal network structures of these cities & link these to their innovation capacities

• Provide policy recommendations & guidelines on how structures can be created that exploit the embedded resources of networks, & the type of leadership that is needed to stimulate innovation

• Disseminate the research results & policy recommendations

• For more information see: http://www.lipse.org/home