Abstract
The ideas generation within the organization plays a key role not only in the success of
the managers but also for the organization at large. The managers should create conducive
environment where ideas are shared freely. According to the research that has being carried out
indicates that the success of the organization entirely depends on the ideas generated from
different sectors of the organization. The people who play key role in generating ideas for the
organization include employees, customers, suppliers and competitors. Employees should be
motivated to give their ideas freely without fear of intimidation and rejection of their ideas.
There should also be clear communication channels where the ideas are shared within the
organization. The communication channels also help managers to communicate to their
subordinates of what is required of them.
Statement of the problem
The research is meant to investigate the role of ideas in the workplace and whether the ideas play
a crucial role in the success of managers in the organizations. The research will be carried out to
determine whether ideas play crucial role in the success of the organization. The research also
will be used to determine whether ideas contribute to the success of managers in the
organization. The role of managers is to make decisions and thus they have to collect ideas so as
to make an informed one. The research will gather data from various organizations to determine
the role of ideas in those organizations. The data will be analyzed and the conclusion drawn to
make the assertion that the statement is true or not.
Introduction
The ideas are important in the success of the organization. The managers therefore should
give clear channels of how ideas should flow in the organization. The managers success and to
some extent the success of the organization mostly depends on the quality of ideas that are
generated in the organizations. To succeed in the organization therefore the managers should
motivate the people in the organization to give ideas that would forge the organization to great
heights. The employees should be motivated to give ideas without fear of them being
reprimanded by those in management.
The management should also give rewards to those who
have played a key role in ideas generation. The reward comes either in monetary or non-
monetary forms. The monetary rewards include paid holidays and cash bonus as a way of
acknowledging employees for having given ideas that have seen the organization meet its
objectives. Non monetary rewards include promotions and acknowledging the employee as
having played a crucial role for the generation of the particular idea (Stacey, 1993).
According to Rothberg (2004), ideas in the workplace ensure that the organizations achieve
its goals effectively at the same time have competitive niche in the industry it operates.
For the organizations to meet these desired outcomes, the managers should be aware of how mindset
affect the ideas generation in the organization. The mindset of the employees in the organization
and thus generation of quality ideas depend on how the managers handle the ideas generated in
the organization. The managers have a role of ensuring that the employees have the right attitude
and thus generate ideas that are beneficial to the whole organization and thus the success of the
management. Historically, the managers were sole initiators of the ideas and the role of employees was to implement the ideas given by the managers.
However, this has changed as a result of the change in the environment in which organizations operate. Today, any person can offer his ideas regardless of his position in the organization hierarchy. The research therefore is important to the organization as it will help it design ways in which ideas flow in the
organization. It will also ensure that employees who have come with important ideas are
rewarded as a way of motivating them to generate ideas for the organizations they serve.
Some of the questions that would be answered by this research are that are ideas generated
ensure success of the organizations? Are managers’ successes determined by ideas generated in
the organizations? Do employees’ mindsets have an effect in ideas generation in the
organization? What are ways in which employees are motivated to give ideas for the
organizations’ successes?
Objective of the research
To investigate the role of ideas in the workplace.
To investigate whether ideas play a part in success of managers in workplace.
To exam employees’ motivation that help in ideas generation in the organization.
To investigate the channels in which ideas flow within the organization.
To investigate where ideas emancipate within the organization.
Significance of the research
Since time immemorial, numerous researches have being conducted to determine weather
ideas contribute to the success of managers and consequently the entire organization. Thus the
research will offer numerous advantages to the organization that would adopt it. The research
identifies the advantages that would be accrued by the organizations when it implements the
ideas that are generated by the people in the organization who include the employees, customers,
suppliers and the competitors. The research would also show how the mindset of the employees
will affect the quality of the ideas generated in the organization. The research will determine the
importance of team-work among the people who work for the organizations. The research will also determine whether the support accorded to employees by their colleagues helps in
motivating the employees in giving their ideas in the organization. The aim of the research would
also help in determining whether employees’ motivation plays a part in encouraging employees
to give ideas in the organization. The importance of clear channels of flow of ideas in the
organization will also be identified in this research.
Statement of hypotheses
Are ideas generated in the organization likely to be implemented?
Are the colleagues likely to support the ideas of their peers?
Are the people within the organization motivated to give ideas?
Are there well defined channels in which ideas flow within the organization?
Is there a reward system for employees who generate important ideas within the organization?
Literature review
According to Rothberg (2000), ideas are associated with the advancement of human kind.
The ideas generation has seen innovations and inventions realized throughout the history of
human beings. In a nutshell, the managers who are aware of the ideas in their workplace are
placed in better positions to benefit from them. Ideas are seen as interface between the existing
process, existing mindset and the organization’s culture (Rothberg, 2000).
For the ideas to be beneficial to the organization, there should be clear channels of how
these ideas are conveyed to who need them most; the managers.
Managers are decision makers in any enterprise and thus they should be well informed for them to make sound decisions. For the ideas to be transmitted effectively within the organization there should be proper communication
channels. Communication therefore is crucial for the success of any organization. Managers and
the employees should communicate to ensure that the work is done within the stipulated time frame. Effective communication also fosters good relationship among the employees of the
organization. The challenges within the organization are well solved when ideas are shared
among the employees of the organization (Schumpeter, 1954).
The ideas in the organizations are generated by the people working in the environment in
which the organization operates. The business environment is divided into two namely; the
internal and external environment. The internal environment comprises of employees, customers
and the suppliers. On the other hand, the eternal environment comprises of suppliers and the
industry’s regulators. It is important noting the difference between these two business
environments. The internal business environment refers to the environment in which the
organization has power to change while external business environment refers to the environment
which the organization cannot change. In case of external business environment, the organization
can only comply with the ideas floated in the industry (Schein, 1985).
To begin with, the employees of the organization are the main contributors of ideas.
Therefore they should be motivated to give their ideas freely without the fear of being
reprimanded by the management. The organization should establish channels in which ideas flow
in the organization from the managers to the employees and vice versa. The managers should
harness the ideas generation in the organization by motivating employees to give ideas. This is
through establishment of a reward system to acknowledge those employees who have played a
key role in ensuring a great idea has become a reality in the organization. The reward should be
appealing to the employees for it to motivate them to give ideas (Schultz, 1975).
Suppliers are also crucial in giving ideas in the organization. The suppliers serve more
than one organization and therefore they can give best practices that are adopted by the
competitors in the industry. The suppliers are constantly in search of ideas that would help them become more competitive in the market. These ideas are sometimes helpful to the organization.
Customers are also very instrumental in ideas generation in the organization. Customers’
feedback as per services they receive from the organization helps the organization to make
improvements in the services and products they offer in the market and thus help achieve a
competitive advantage over their competitors (Schaffer, 1988).
Competitors also play a role in ideas generation in the organization. No organization can
exist in isolation.
Competitors
The organizations need each other for their success. It is a common phenomenon for the organizations to share ideas and adopt the best practice in the market. In competitive markets, the information is readily available in the market and therefore the managers use the information in making decisions. In oligopolistic markets, the firms share ideas and information for the benefits of all the firms in the market. The industry’s regulators are
another source of ideas for the organization. The regulators come with guidelines that govern the
operations of the organizations. The regulators are either the government or other bodies formed
to oversee the operations of the organizations and ensure that the stipulated guidelines are
adhered to.
The rules that are authored by the regulators are sources of ideas that can be used to steer the organizations to greater heights (Smircich & Morgan, 1982).
Ideally, ideas are generated to make improvement of current situations in the organization
and thus help the organization achieve competitive advantage. According to Porter (1985), the
organizations are faced with five forces that organization needs to take into consideration for it to
achieve competitive advantage. Thus the name Porter’s-five model as postulated by Porter in the
year 1975. The five competitive forces as stipulated by Porter include new entrants, substitutes,
sellers, buyers and the traditional competitors. The manager should take into consideration the
availability of substitutes to come with ideas that would help them come with more superior products than those currently offered at the market.
The new entrants are also important in providing ideas to managers in making their organizations compete effectively in the industry.
The new entrants may have great ideas that were not currently available in the market. These
ideas will be used to compete with the organizations that have being in business for quit a long
time. Another competitive force as stipulated by Porter is the bargaining power of suppliers or
sellers. The bargaining power of the suppliers is derived by the organization depending on one
supplier for all its products. To reduce the bargaining power of suppliers, the organizations
should get it suppliers from multiple suppliers.
The suppliers are another important source of
ideas for the organization that managers should take into consideration for ideas generation.
Another competitive force postulated by Porter in his model is the bargaining power of
customers. The customers’ bargaining power increases when there are few customers for the
services and goods produced by the organization. These few buyers demand for better terms
from the organization which sometimes is unrealistic and thus unattainable.
The customers generate ideas especially from the feedbacks they give to the organization from the use of the
products offered by the organization (Porter, 1985). The managers therefore should establish
channels in which the customers offer feedback to the organization. It is important for the
management to assure the customers that their feedback would be considered in confidentiality.
For the customers to feel obliged to give feedback, they should be assured that their complaints
would be considered and that they will see an improvement in terms of products’ quality and
service delivery. Traditional competitors are also source of ideas to the organization. These are
competitors that have being in the industry for a long period of time and hence have a wealth of
knowledge in matters regarding the industries they operate in (Porter, 1980).
Research methodology
Both primary and secondary data will be analyzed in order to draw conclusion for this
research. To collect primary data, personal interviews and questionnaires methods will be used.
The cluster sampling method of sampling will be applied to determine the sample for this
research. The organizations in the industry will be grouped according to their size that is small,
medium and large organization. In every group or cluster, simple random sampling will be used
to come up with the sample that would be analyzed and conclusion drawn (Miles & Huberman,
2010).
After coming with the samples, three different questionnaires will be designed. One
questionnaire will be designed specifically to those in management levels in the organization, the
other one to the subordinate employees. The third questionnaires will be designed for people
outside the organization who include the customers and the suppliers. The question in the
questionnaires will be formulated from gaps created by researchers previously on the same topic.
The questions will try to cover the gaps created by previous research.
The sample is suitable since it is determined randomly and thus it represents the whole population. Primary data will also be collected through the help of personal interviews (Moustakas, 2007). Respondents for
various organizations will be determined through the application of simple random sampling.
The interviewers will approach the managers and employees identified by use of simple random
sampling to seek information on how ideas are generated in their organizations.
For the sake of this research, two ways of reasoning will be applied. These ways are
inductive and deductive.
In deductive reasoning, the researcher deals with a broad spectrum of ideas and narrows down to confirm his observation by way of applying statistical tools. Loosely speaking, this approach is referred to as top-down approach. In deductive approach of research, the researcher begins with a theory that interests him which is narrowed down to hypothesis. The hypothesis is narrowed down to observations that the researcher uses to draw his findings and recommendations. In case of the research, theories that explain the role of ideas in workplace
will be reviewed.
These theories will be narrowed down to hypotheses that have being
formulated which are then tested to confirm or refute the observations made (Strauss, 2007).
On the other hand, the inductive approach is the reverse of deductive approach of
research. The researcher moves from the observation to broader theories on the topic being
researched. Loosely speaking, inductive research is referred to as bottom-up approach. In case of
inductive approach, the researcher starts with specific observations made, and then he constructs
hypotheses and finally coming up with theories.
In case of the research being carried out the observations made are narrowed down to the hypotheses formulated. In a nutshell, deductive approach of research is narrow as compared to inductive approach of research which is broad. The research on the role of ideas in workplace and whether ideas contribute to the success of
managers will apply both approaches to come up with more conclusive observations.
Methods of data analysis
The research will be both qualitative and quantitative. In qualitative research, the
researcher will consider the behavior of the respondents in drawing conclusion. Qualitative data
do not require statistical tools in drawing the conclusion. The researcher however use the
observed behavior to analyze the data collected (Manen, 2009). On the other hand, the research
will apply the statistical tools to analyze the quantitative data. Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) would be used to analyze qualitative data. This computer package would give
variables such as standard error, coefficient of correlation, coefficient of determination and
standard deviation. The variable that depicts standard error shows the deviation of the data from
the standard deviation. On the other hand, coefficient of correlation shows the relationship between two variables. The variable can either be strongly correlated, weakly correlated or not
correlated. The coefficient of determination is used to show whether one variable can be used to
determine other variables (Strauss, 2007).
Ethical issues
In course of conducting this research, there are ethical issues that exist. One of the ethical
issues that would come about is confidentiality. The researcher should ensure that all information
that is received in course of conducting the research is kept confidential. Some of the information
that is received from the organizations is sensitive. This information can be used by the outsiders
to the detriment of the organization. The competitor may use the information they receive from
the researchers to compete unfairly with the organization. The employee who gives such crucial
information risks being victimized for his action. The research should ensure anonymity of the
person or the organization where the information is coming from. This not only protects the
organization but also motivate the respondents to give information freely without worrying about
their identity being disclosed. Voluntary participation is yet another ethical issue the researcher
has to contend with for the research to be acceptable. The researcher should inform the
respondents their intention of carrying out the research and the purpose of the research. The
respondent thus should agree with the researcher for them to go ahead and carry out the research
(Moustakas, 2006).
Limitations of the research
There were various limitations that are likely to be faced in the course of carrying out the
research. The first limitation pertain the selection of the sample design. The sample selected is
not representative of the whole population. This in turn will lead to the researchers drawing
wrong conclusions. Another limitation of the research is that of accessing the information (Spradley, 2009). Many organizations keep their information confidential to protect it from
landing to wrong hands. Thus the information is not readily available to the researcher. The
resources that are necessary in carrying out an effective research are sometimes not readily
available. These include qualified researchers, funds and the tools to analyze the data collected
such as computers.
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