Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 4.1
Benefi cial program design features in grassroots innovation programs
Grassroots innovation
program mechanisms
Suggested program design
features
Benefi t according to SDT
Idea sourcing
An inspiring call for ideas
Selecting employees who are
intrinsically
motivated
for innovation
Team formation
Allowing participants to
voluntarily join in
self-assembled teams
Promoting participant and team
autonomy
. Facilitating
relatedness
and effi cient
networking
Team/idea selection
Setting meetings outside
normal working hours.
Carefully selecting the
ideas which proceed to
the next stages of the
program
Guaranteeing that the teams which
continue in the program to further
develop their ideas are the most
promising ones (select those with high
competence
). Promoting
intrinsic
motivation
through “hard-won”
victory
Training and coaching Collaborating with external
organizations for training
and coaching of
participating employees
Complementing internal knowledge and
improving employees' perceived
competence
to bring new ideas to
market
While competence is a necessary condition for intrinsic motivation, it is not
suffi cient. According to SDT, participants also need to perceive their innovation
efforts to be driven by their own volition, i.e., they need to have a sense of
autonomy
(Deci and Ryan
2000
; Fisher
1978
). The idea call, participant/idea selection, and
reliance on self-assembled teams play an important role here. Firms can use these
mechanisms to attract intrinsically motivated employees and increase their per-
ceived autonomy.
Finally, if the members of a grassroots innovation team enjoy higher levels of
relatedness
, intrinsic motivation will also be reinforced. Relatedness means that
employees get along with their colleagues (e.g., other team members) and fi nd it
easy to establish mutually benefi cial ties with like-minded colleagues. Certain pro-
gram mechanisms, such as networking events and reliance on self-assembled team
formation, help promote relatedness. Recent research proposes that a fi rm's ability
to promote relatedness and new networks actually plays a more important role in
promoting corporate entrepreneurship than participants' individual networks
(Kelley et al.
2009
).
In sum, successful grassroots innovation programs need to be able to promote
employees' perceived autonomy (e.g., employee participation should be supported
by their supervisors, but completely voluntary instead of delegated by management
into a project), competence (e.g., through delivery of necessary training and coach-
ing for employees to transform their ideas into business plans), and relatedness/
networking (e.g., by promoting interaction with colleagues from different divisions,
hierarchical levels, regions, etc.). In Table
4.1
, above, we give examples of desirable
design features, organized according to the mechanisms behind grassroots innova-
tion programs (see also Fig.
4.1
).
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