,+1st+Edition.jpg)
Taking a critical look at major perspectives on innovation, this book suggests that innovation is not a designed functional activity of a firm or an intentional process through which firms anticipate changes in conditions. Jose Fonseca proposes that the concepts behind the innovation experiences cannot be traced to any particular time, space or individual, even if one person has figured prominently.
The innovative ideas in the examples considered did not occur as a direct product of a purposeful search triggered by the perception of some problem to solve, nor did they result from a sequential process that was laid out in advance. Instead, innovative ideas were a product of streams of conversations that extended over long periods of time and were characterized by critical degrees of misunderstanding and redundancy. Fonseca's book presents innovation as new meaning potentially emerging in ongoing, every-day conversations.
Drawing on the theory of complex responsive process, developed in the first two volumes of this series, Fonseca presents a particular way of understanding innovation. The experiences of innovation studied in this book suggest that innovations do not start with a match between a need to be satisfied and a set of competencies and tools purposefully brought together to meet the need. On the contrary, identification of need is a consequence of success, rather than a pre-condition. The innovations studied in this book (a selection of innovation experiences from Portugal are considered) were subject to constant and never ending redefinition.
About the Author
Jose Fonseca is Associate Professor of Management at the Universidade Lusiada in Lisbon, invited Professor at the MBA programme of the Universidade Nova and fellow of the Complexity and Management Centre at the University of Hertfordshire.
This book is part of a series of books related to complexity and management. The "core" book in the series is Complexity and Management by Stacey, Griffin and Shaw. I think this book by Jose Fonseca is more about the emergence of meaning from conversation than it is about innovation. But perhaps that is what innovation is. An organization is a pattern of relationships among people. People have conversations.
A conversation is a pattern of thoughts out of which meaning can emerge. Conversations are fractal in that we have conversations within our own heads, and with others, and in a sense departments have conversations with other departments and organizatons have relationships (and therefore conversations) with one another. Fonseca believes that misunderstandings and redundancy contribute to the discovery of new meanings and to innovation. There is enough "meat" in this book to make it worth my while.
Product Details :
- Series: Complexity and Emergence in Organizations
- Paperback: 144 pages
- Publisher: Routledge; 1st edition (January 13, 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0415250307
- ISBN-13: 978-0415250306
- Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 6.6 x 8.5 inches
More Details about Complexity and Innovation in Organizations (Complexity and Emergence in Organizations), 1st Edition
No comments:
Post a Comment