Knowledge, Innovation and Development

The KID Written by Kuropatkina Serafima Saint-Petersburg1998 Kuropatkina S.N.1. Moving into the futureKnowledge is the thing that makes adifference. It is matter of being better informed than the others, gettingideas before the others these are the things that allow some companies totake off and remain leaders for a long time. In the past knowledge andinnovations didn t play an important role in company management. The impact ofthese factors on the competition wasn t very big and obvious.

From the secondhalf of 19th century industries and management started to develop rapidly andby the end of 20th century inventions have penetrated all spheres ofproduction, business and human life in general. Competition has dramaticallyincreased, creating the necessity for each company to improve and developconstantly. We are moving into the future where it is not possible to win thegame using traditional methods.This proves a need of a separate structure withineach company that would deal with existing knowledge, innovative ideas,development of production process and working life. It is essential to design acompletely new department.

Let s call it - the department of Knowledge,Innovation and Development KID . This system also will allow the company toavoid high opportunity costs of not doing some improvements which could reducecosts and give rise to profits.Let s take a close look on the KID department,its functions and structure.2. The department of Knowledge,Innovation and Development KID 2.1 KID s functionsThe general functions of the KID are to solve different problemsthat come up in a company using known methods or new ideas of the employees to constantly develop company sproduction cycle and products to give aid to all departmentsconcerning possible improvement and elimination of drawbacksIn order to fulfill its general functionsKID will carry out the following subfunctions receiving fresh ideas orproblems from staff of different departments selecting the most useful andrelevant ideas and checking the existence of the problem developing ideas and problemsolutions if needed to level required for implementation making the final decision incooperation with the department s involved implementing the developed idea controlling the implementationprocess, altering if necessary evaluating the outcome,calculating financial results rewarding the idea maker changing the corporate cultureand working environment towards creativity and innovation values.2.2 Structure of the KID departmentIn correspondence with its main activitiesthe KID should consist of the following departments 1 gathering and filteringdepartment organizes research, selects ideas, checks the relevance ofproblems, responds to idea proposers and customers 2 developing department worksout solutions to problems pointed out by employees or customers, invitesauthors of good ideas for closer cooperation 3 executive department plans,runs, controls implementation process, negotiates with other departments 4 social relations department deals with motivation, awards, customer relations and different socialactivities At first the department 2 should closelycooperate with present R amp D. In the future R amp D can become subject to 2 .3. How to create a KID?Creation of KID must be supported on thehighest level of management. Without this nothing can happen.3.1 Preliminary activitiesFirst we must analyze how innovative is thecompany. How often changes take place.

Who proposes them. How do workers feelabout sharing the ideas.

Do their ideas get attention? This will show thepresent situation and allow us to estimate the how much time and resources KINext step is to introduce to everyone inthe company the new department, to explain its purpose and functions, to showhow the company and every single employee will benefit from it.Then allocate the people and resources andcreate the department itself.

For the beginning KID can be formed with existingmanagers and experts. But when many companies are going to be using similarsystems they will need specially trained workers. Faculties should be designedin universities and colleges teaching students to deal with new ideas and touse existing theories and experience of preceding generations in order to solve problems and develop theircompany. 3.2 Designing information flows As apart of organization s information system we must work out a mechanism of ideaand problem flow from the employees and customers to the KID. Among thenumerous motivation theories there are theory X and theory Y. X suggests thatthe worker is passive and needs to be closely controlled and forced in order toget results.

Y - the worker is creative and eager to work. He just needs properconditions to show himself.

I went further.

I believe that there are two typesof workers in the company - X and Y, active and passive.

That s why the KID needstwo approaches. For example open entry -every worker can come to the gathering department directly or put his ideas inwritten form into special bins that would be available at his working place.This way the employees will be able to express their thoughts at any desiredtime obligatory interviewing - from time to time KID will give out to workers questioners whichthey must fill. These could consist of the following questions - Have you noticed anyproblems concerning the work of your department? Have you any suggestions onhow to solve them Is there anything you dlike to improve in your department and in the whole company? How yoursuggestions How do you feel about ourcompany s products services ? How can they be developed or improved? Etc. The interviewing should be carried out atall departments, but not at the same time. This will allow to avoid conjunctionat the gathering and filtering department. 3.3 MotivationMotivation of the workers.

We must estimatethe level of actual needs of employees and develop a mechanism of motivationuniversal for every worker.

There can be many motivating factors.

They dependon the economic conditions in the country, standards of living and financialsituation in the company.Money, job promotion, board of honor, competition ofideas with prizes, etc. Motivation through corporate culture is also required.

We can put posters in often visited places. Posters may say - By participating theKID s activities you will help your company, improve your work and life Be companypatriotic Be a perfectionist.Spota problem - tell the KID about it Give us ideas becausenobody knows your work better then you etc.3.4 Cooperation with expertsWe need to organize cooperation withspecialists. It isn t useful to have our own staff of experts because they will not always be loggedwith work and this will produce extra costs they will soon become uselessbecause they will be drawn away from current work of their departments.We also must investigate whom we can relyon.

Not all experts innovative and understand the necessity of change.Cooperation with KID will be part of responsibilities of those experts who workwith it. Organize cooperation with management ofdifferent departments.An order to implement any idea must come directly fromthe management of the department involved. 3.5 KID s position within thecompanyThe scheme of KID s position in the companycan look like this Kid provides each department with itsservices.

Department in return provide KID with some information, resourcesetc. The connections are 1. Marketing department providesinformation received from different marketing research. Specifies the situationon the market.Gives feedback on KID s activities have the sales increased?how much? 2. Production department givesfeedback on KID s activities hasproductivity increased? how much? 3. Human resource administration cooperates with KID closely.

Helps it with motivation.4. Financial department providesKID with money for all activities within the budget of course . Gives feedbackon KID s activities financial results figures, information about changes incosts and revenues .5. Customers give KID valuablefeedback about products and services.6. Employees give KID ideas,cooperate with it and receive rewards for their work.7. Experts work with KID onspecific problems.3.6 Control functions of the KIDIf the innovation is complex we mustmonitor closely the field of implementation and if problems occur - take careof them immediately.Collect feedback from all people relatedconcerning the results.

Taking action if necessary. Remember that no changecomes without negative response.Calculate results based on financialinformation, information about productivity and costs, etc Reward the ideaauthor depending on these figures.

Tell everyone about this great man,who helped to the company so much .3.7 Customer relationsCustomer feedback must also come to theKID, not marketing department. Marketing department doesn t have directstimulus to analyze information related to other departments. It might havedifficulties making changes in other departments due to lack of power.The KID system is not of course ideal.Itis just a draft, an idea of what could be developed into a universal model.

Butas I see it - every company that wants to succeed in the coming high-techfuture must start to develop such a system as soon as possible.