How Public Administration Restructuring Can Contribute to Greek Educational Reform - Information and Communication Technologies in Public Administration - page 302

To flourish, the idea must rely on two major factors, preparation and discipline
(Laperche, Uzunidis, & Von Tunzelmann, 2008). What people call “inspiration,”
“serendipity,” “brilliant idea,” or “intangible essence” is usually nothing more than
the expected outcome of a well-prepared mind that took place at the right moment.
That is why another factor must be introduced, called “momentum.” Most ideas are
actually “under our nose,” but it is too difficult for a naive eye to recognize.
Innovation is not a privilege of large countries. Small countries such as Norway,
Finland, Switzerland, and Taiwan claim international supremacy. Achievements of
small countries show that a Greek vision for innovation is not impossible, at the
beginning. But it cannot be founded solely on dry fiscal data, without taking into
account mainly the human factor. In this area, the situation in Greece today is
rather disappointing—Turbulent economic phenomena have progressively caused a
moral and deeply ideological malady: crisis of values, depreciation of elites, mitiga-
tion of the sense of responsibility, disruption on social issues, and lack of vision and
spiritual values (Matsaganis & Leventi, 2013). Those principles and values should
be restored as soon as possible. New strategies based on the country's comparative
strengths and opportunities should be formulated.
The development of innovation ecosystems in education requires government
support and intervention to create infrastructures and to establish adequate legal
frameworks. Sufficient funding is also important for the development of start-up
businesses. This process requires continuous and steady effort to bloom and to
achieve harmonious results (Von Stamm, 2008).
What are the characteristics of people who are able to create high rates of growth
and innovation inside their organizations? These people have the ability to think
“outside the frame,” which means that although they understand the importance of
standard managerial factors (like efficiency and effectiveness), they embrace uncer-
tainty, ambiguous research, and unorthodox methods. They realize that innova-
tion follows its own rules, which do not coincide with the conventional strategy of
rewards and reprimands that most organizations follow (Osborne & Brown, 2005).
Generally summarized, we conclude that innovation
◾ Does not necessarily rely on a great idea, but it can be a refined or small
improvement of a trivial everyday routine (with possible future impact)
◾ Is a leap to the future, so no previous or past organizational records can fore-
cast advancement of the next day
◾ Can canonically arise from the adaptability to change, something that most
organization cannot achieve because they need to protect their status quo,
which is a normal reaction for every organized system
The third factor is critical. Resilience to change is one of the most difficult attri-
butes to evade. Most managing directors and principals would reject that dilemma
in favor of stagnation because they feel threatened and out of their comfort zones
(Berkun, 2010). It is, after all, quite difficult to adopt an ever-changing way of