Abstract
Having an innovation culture within an organization is very critical for a firm to achieve success in the current competitive business environment. In this study, the focus was to determine how training can be used as a moderator to promote innovation culture within a firm’s organizational culture. The researcher used both primary and secondary data sources. It was established that training is very critical when it comes to promoting innovation culture.
Introduction
Background
The United Arab Emirates is increasingly becoming a major global business hub as firms from various parts of the world move to set up branches in its major cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi (Sharifirad & Ataei, 2012). The government has made massive investment in the infrastructure to ensure that businesses can operate efficiently. Companies in this country find themselves operating in a highly competitive business environment. Both the local and foreign firms in the country have to ensure that they remain innovative to ensure that they can manage stiff market competition in major cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The government has issued its commitment to support both local and foreign firms that play significant roles in the development of the country’s economy in various sectors.
The government has created an environment where local business players can flourish in their business operations despite the challenges brought about by stiff competition. However, Dobni (2008) warns that only innovative firms can achieve success in such a highly competitive business environment. Such a firm must understand the changing needs in the market and then come up with innovative strategies of meeting such needs. According to Cavalluzzoa and Ittner (2004), integrating innovation in organizational culture has become a critical practice that firms in the United Arab Emirates can no longer ignore. Employees and other stakeholders should be trained to be creative in their respective places of work within the organization. In this paper, the researcher seeks to determine how training can be used as a moderator to promote innovation culture within a firm’s organizational culture.
Problem Statement
In 2015, HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid announced that the government had set a goal of transforming the United Arab Emirates into world’s number one innovation center within the next seven years. This was an ambitious undertaking and the government put in place systems and structures to ensure that it is achieved. However, the ambitious plan meant that individual companies had to put in place proper strategies that can enable them survive in such a competitive environment. Achieving success through implementation of new ideas in design, processes, and technology has become so critical that firms are now coming up with ways of promoting innovation culture within their organization culture. In this country, it is becoming evident that only those firms which are creative enough can manage the pressure brought about by stiff competition. As O’Reilly et al. (2014) state, promoting innovation can sometimes be a costly process as a firm will have to invest in employee training and in improving the system and structures within the firm.
Aim and Objectives
In the current competitive business environment, companies are finding themselves in scenarios where they have to embrace creativity and innovation to ensure that they remain relevant in their operations. The primary aim of this research project is to determine how a company can use training as a moderator to promote innovation culture within its organizational culture. The following are the specific objectives that this study seeks to achieve by the end of the study:
- To determine the level of innovation in the selected organization.
- To determine how the management of an organization can use training to promote innovation culture among employees.
- To determine how a firm can achieve success through promotion of innovation culture.
Scope
According to Wang and Rafiq (2014), when conducting a research, it is important to define the scope of the study. The scope defines what the study looked at and the area within which data was collected. The research focused on determining how innovation culture can be inculcated within organizational culture through the use of training as a moderator. Data used in the study was collected from two main sources. The first source of data was the journal articles published in the recent past. The second source was primary data collected from the sampled respondents. The scope of primary data collection was limited to the city of Dubai. All those who were interviewed reside in the city.
Research Questions
The concept of innovation culture has attracted attention of many scholars over the recent past as it become increasingly relevant in the modern society. When conducting a research on such a topic, it becomes necessary to narrow down data collection process to a specific area of interest (Zyphur, Zammuto, & Zhang, 2016). As such, research questions become relevant. They help a researcher to collect data that is specific to the research goals and objectives. The following are the specific research questions that guided the process of data collection
- How can the management of an organization use training to promote innovation culture among employees?
- How can a firm achieve success through promotion of innovation culture?
- What other practices (other than training) can the management embrace to promote innovation culture within an organization?
The researcher will use both primary and secondary data sources to answer these research questions in order to achieve the set goals and objectives in the study.
Literature Review
Innovation has increasingly been seen as an instrument that enables organization to come up with something different and unique. The cut-throat competition in the market today has forced firms to consider coming up with unique ways of doing business to acquire and protect their market share. According to Alexander, Cleland, and Nicholson (2017), in an environment where market rivalry is high, creativity is the only tool that can enable a firm to gain competitive edge over its rivals. In this section of the paper, the researcher will conduct a comprehensive review of literature to find out what previous scholars found out about the topic. The review of literature will help in ensuring that this study does not duplicate existing information and instead introduces new information that will enhance knowledge in this field. The researcher used peer-reviewed journals in this section.
Organizational Culture
According to Campbell and Go¨ritz (2013), successful organizations knows how to develop an internal culture that defines how stakeholders act and approach different activities. In the modern competitive business environment, the top managers may not have time to monitor every action and movements of the junior employees. Time is a very precious resource that must be spent carefully for the benefit of the organization. As such, firms are currently keen on promoting a culture that makes it easy to predict how employees would address a given issue. It makes it easy to supervise the employees because they have embraced a culture that defines what they do, how they do it, and why it is important for them to act in a given manner. However, Azanzaa, Morianob, and Molerob (2013) say that inculcating such a culture may not be easy. It requires commitment from the top management unit. The top managers must define a culture that is suitable to its business environment. It must then convince all other stakeholders, without the use of coercion, to embrace the culture by making them understand its benefits. The top managers should also help the stakeholders to work effectively under the new culture through training.
Organizational culture also defines how junior employees interact with top managers (Huhtala et al. 2015). For a long time, many organizations embraced a culture where top managers rarely interacted with junior employees. This was justified by the argument that the top managers often have limited time to spare as they have to develop strategies and interact with external stakeholders for the success of their firms. Hana (2015) says that so many firms still embrace this culture where junior employees have to pass their ideas and suggestions through their immediate supervisors. However, a new trend has been emerging- especially in the western countries- that is popularly known as an open-door policy. In such an organizational culture, junior employees have the liberty of engaging top managers directly in case they feel there is an issue that requires their attention. The top managers can also by-pass mid-managers to talk directly to the junior employees when there is need to do so. This culture, according to Cavalluzzoa and Ittner (2004), is important when it comes to promoting creativity and innovation among employees.
Innovation Culture within Organizational Culture
According to Wang and Rafiq (2014), the market place is increasingly becoming competitive for many firms as new local and foreign companies emerge to compete for the market share. It is true that competition can sometimes be a destructive force that can drive a firm from the market. However, Dobni (2008) says that for a firm that understands the needs of its customers and is keen on meeting them, competition is a positive force that can enable it offer better products in a better manner than it did before. Competition is a constant reminder that a firm must always move away from the comfort zone by finding ways of outsmarting the rivals. Through such tough working environment, a firm learns how to offer the best quality at the least price possible. This is attributed to the fact that in a highly competitive business environment, there is always the pressure to offer the best products to the customers at the best prices. That can only be done if a firm is able to constantly improve its products’ qualities and cut costs as much as possible. As Hana (2015) notes, stiff market competition is the main driver of creativity and innovation within the workplace. Firms come to realize that they cannot succeed unless they embrace an innovation culture.
Innovation is defined by Sharifirad and Ataei (2012, p. 495) as “a marked departure from traditional management principles, processes, and practices, or a departure from customary organizational forms that significantly alter the way the work of management is performed.” As seen in this definition, innovation entails a major shift from what has been the norm to a new system that is better. Most often innovation is disruptive. It completely changes the common practices and introduces new ones which are less costly, more efficient, and more productive than the current practices and systems. Dobni (2008) says that that successful firms such as Emirates Airlines and Apple Inc. have achieved their current levels of achievement because of innovation. They know that their rivals are offering similar products in the market. The only way of staying ahead of the competitors is to offer customer something unique that supersedes their expectations. As such, firms are now keen on promoting innovation culture.
Organizational culture empowers employees to put to practice their creativity and innovativeness within the workplace. As Hana (2015) observes, creativity is not a preserve of the top managers or the most learned individuals within an organization. The more a person works in a given environment, the better that person is placed to come up with a unique idea of delivering better services to the organization. Such a person only needs proper motivation and systems that will enable him or her to test the new idea for practicality within the organization. Having an innovation culture means that employees will constantly be motivated to think creatively whenever they are presented with a challenge in their workplace. They know that the top management will support their innovative ideas and as such they do not fear making mistakes in the process of being innovative. All they have to ensure is that such mistakes are justified.
Conceptual Framework
Innovation cultures must be inculcated among the stakeholders within an organization for it to exist. A number of factors may help promote innovation culture within an organization. In the conceptual framework developed below, three major forces have been identified. The framework explains how these forces together influence innovation culture.
As shown in the framework above, regular training, proper structures and systems, and regular assurance from the top management unit are the main factors that define innovation culture. Regular training of the employees is necessary to equip them with new skills that can make them think creatively. The training will help them understand how they can address the challenges they face in their workplace but in a unique way. The training will also help them know how they can develop their new ideas into practical actions that can help their firm achieve success. Having proper systems and structures is also critical in promoting innovation culture. When employees come up with ideas, they need a platform through which that idea can be tested before it can be turned into a practical strategy. The idea can only be transformed into actionable plans if the employees are able to test it in a proper way. The employees also need constant assurance from the top managers for them to be creative. The top managers must assure them that they will not be subjected to any punitive measures if they make understandable mistakes when trying to be innovative. They also need to be reassured that their innovative minds will be appropriately rewarded and that their new ideas will be used for their own benefit and the benefit of the entire firm.
Methodology
In this study, the researcher used quantitative methods to analyze primary data from the respondents. This methodology was found to be most appropriate because of the goal that the researcher intended to achieve in this study. The primary goal of this research was to determine how a company can use training as a moderator to promote innovation culture within organizational culture. To achieve this goal, quantitative research methods was considered the most appropriate.
Sampling and Sample Size
According to Wang and Rafiq (2014), when planning to collect primary data from respondents, it is always critical to put into consideration constraints such as time and financial resources. In this research, time was of essence because it was an academic project that had to be completed within a specified period. That is why the researcher decided to use a sample of the entire population because the limited time could not allow the researcher to collect data from the entire population. Simple random sampling of the entire population was considered appropriate. A sample of 50 participants was identified to take part in this study.
Data Collection
Data used in this study was collected from two main sources. The first source of data came from journal articles. The researcher opted to use secondary data sources to help gain understanding of what other scholars have found out in this field of research. It was also important to avoid duplication of information that is already made available through previous studies. The second source of data was collected through survey that was conducted among the sampled participants. The participants were informed about the study and a questionnaire was sent to them through the e-mail. They sent back the answered questionnaires through the e-mail.
Data Analysis Method
Data collected from the participants was analyzed quantitatively. The researcher used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyze the primary data that was collected from the respondents. The mathematical analysis of the data was important to help in answering the set research questions. The findings made from the analysis were presented in the form of graphs and charts for the purposes of interpretations.
Data Analysis, Main Findings, and Interpretation
In this section, the researcher will present the findings of the study based on the questions that were asked and the interpretation of the findings. The table below shows descriptive statistics of respondents’ profile:
Table 1: Data set
Table 2: Respondents’ age
Table 3: Respondents’ gender
Table 4: Respondents’ academic qualification
Table 5: Respondents’ Experience
The first question below focused on determining the commitment of the management towards promotion of innovation culture.
Do you believe the management of your organization is committed towards promoting innovation culture?
Table 6: Commitment towards promoting innovation culture
As shown in the table above, majority of the respondents (58%) are in agreement that the management of their organization is committed towards promoting innovation culture. Another 12% strongly agree with that argument. Only 10% had a contrary opinion. Another 20% of the respondents stated that they were not sure about that issue. The next question focused on determining if management approach in the organization impedes innovation culture.
Does the management approach in your organization impede innovation culture?
Table 7: Management approach
The next question focused on determining whether the employees in this organization are motivated enough to embrace innovative culture.
Are employees in your organization motivated to embrace innovative culture?
Table 8: Employees’ motivation towards innovation culture
According to the response obtained from the participants, it is clear that the majority (70%) of them feel that the employees of this organization are motivated towards innovation culture. 18% of them had a different opinion while 12% stated that they were not sure about the issue under investigation. The following question focused on determining if the organization has systems and structures that promote innovation culture.
Are there systems and structures put in place within your organization to promote innovation culture?
Table 9: Systems and structures that promote innovation
The table above shows that 74% of the respondents feel that their organization has put in place systems and structures that are meant to promote innovation. 12% of them were not sure about it, while 24% felt that the systems and structures are lacking. The question that follows focused on determining whether stakeholders of this organization are willing to take risks associated with innovation.
Do you believe that stakeholders are willing in taking the risks associated with innovation culture?
Table 10: Willingness of stakeholders to take innovation risks
The majority of the respondents (64%) feel that the stakeholders in this organization are willing to take innovation-related risks. 18% had a contrary opinion while another 18% stated that they are uncertain about the issue. The next question focused on investigating the relationship between the organizational culture and innovation culture.
Do you believe there is a relationship between organizational culture and innovation culture?
Table 11: Relationship between organizational culture and innovation culture
As shown in the table above, an overwhelming majority (76%) of the respondents stated that the relationship exists. Only 8% of the respondents had a contrary opinion. Another 16% were uncertain about this issue. The next question focused on determining whether training can help promote innovation culture within an organization.
Do you believe that training can promote innovation culture in your organization?
Table 12: Promoting innovation culture through training
It is clear that 78% of the respondents felt that training plays a critical role in promoting innovation culture within an organization. Only 12% of the respondents had a contrary opinion. Another 10% stated that they were not certain about the issue. The question below focused on determining whether the management is doing enough to promote regular training.
Do you believe the management of your organization is doing enough to promote regular employee training?
Table 13: Management’s commitment in promoting training
As shown in the table above, 70% of the respondents believe that the management of their organization is doing enough to promote regular training of the employees. 18% were not certain over the issue, while 12% felt that the management is not doing enough on this issue.
Discussion
The findings made from the analysis of primary data and the review of literature clearly shows that innovation culture is critical for firms operating in the modern competitive business environment. As competition become stiff in the market, firms are finding themselves in tight spots where they have to deliver high quality products to the customers at competitive prices. Charging high prices or offering substandard products may significantly reduce a firm’s market share. Wang and Rafiq (2014) say that sometimes companies are forced to lower their products’ prices even at times when the cost of production is increasing. The data analyzed in this paper shows that there is a close relationship between organizational culture and innovation culture. A firm must learn to integrate innovation culture within its organizational culture. It must learn how to motivate and encourage all its stakeholders to embrace innovation. The stakeholders must be willing and ready to take risks whenever it is necessary for the sake of promoting innovation. Both the primary and secondary data shows that training plays a critical role in promoting innovation culture. It is the role of the management unit to ensure that employees are empowered enough to understand how to be creative in the workplace. They should have basic skills that can enable them think creatively when faced with challenges in their workplaces. They must appreciate that it is their role to ensure that the firm overcomes stiff market competition through delivery of quality products to the customers at the best prices possible. They will get to understand that they have to remain creative in their workplaces to enable them offer unique value to their customers.
Conclusion and Recommendations
In the current competitive business environment, firms are finding themselves in situations where they have to offer unique value to their customers, at the most competitive prices possible in the market. The stiff market competition has forced firms to resort to innovation as the only means of gaining a competitive edge over market rivals. Successful firms have learnt how to integrate innovation into their organizational culture. They have learnt how to motivate their employees to be creative in the workplace. The findings of the study show that training is critical when it comes to promoting innovation culture within an organization. The following recommendations should be observed by a firm keen on promoting innovation culture:
- Employees should be taken through regular training to enable them be creative in their workplaces.
- The managers should put in place systems and structures that support innovation.
- Employees should not be punished when they make mistakes trying to be innovative in the workplace.
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