Adapting to the changing needs of managing innovative projects

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the changes in managerial activities and challenges at different phases of innovative projects. Design/methodology/approach – Six NPD project managers were interviewed in three different project phases in a qualitative, longitudinal design. The resulting 18 semi-structured face-to-face interviews were content analyzed and categorized according to thematic similarity. Findings – Altogether 19 categories describing managerial concerns in managing innovative projects were recognized. Task-oriented, rather than people-oriented, approaches were dominant throughout the projects, although the reported concerns clearly varied at each phase. The early development phase emerged as a transition point, where managers had to transform their roles, reported activities decreased, and reported challenges increased. Research limitations/implications – Although based on a small number of participants in a single setting, the results highlight the need for longitudinal studies and differentiating between the various phases of the innovation process, as there was great variance in the concerns of each phase. Furthermore, domain expertise seemed to have a large impact on how the managers reformulated their role in transitioning from the front-end to the development phases. Practical implications – The present study emphasizes the need to support managers in transitioning between different innovation phases and to recognize the need to adjust managerial roles. Further, it seemed crucial to establish the practices supporting successful teamwork in the front-end phase before the first phase transition. Originality/value – The study is a rare example of a longitudinal research design examining the implications and transition between different phases of the innovation process within the same projects for project managers.

Data-driven innovation: switching the perspective on Big Data

“…Furthermore, scholars explore different fields and perspectives and the topics, such as their implementation process and related challenges (e.g., Gastaldi et al, 2017) or their unveiled opportunities (e.g., Buganza et al, 2015). Nevertheless, digital technologies have such a broad impact that makes them a particular complex and hot topic, that still need further development from a research perspective (e.g., Appio et al, 2016;Brem et al, 2016;Ganzaroli et al, 2016;Rekonen and Björklund, 2016). Nevertheless, this research aims to dig into the role of Big Data for the innovation process, showing a different perspective on the topic.…”

“…Nevertheless, digital technologies have such a broad impact that makes them a particular complex and hot topic that still needs further development from a research perspective (e.g. Appio et al, 2016;Brem et al, 2016;Ganzaroli et al, 2016;Rekonen and Björklund, 2016).…”

The digitalization of the innovation process

“…On top of this, the innovation process is still an iterative, uncertain, interactive, path-dependent, context-specific and multi-tasking undertaking (Hüsig and Kohn, 2009;Pinna et al, 2018). It, therefore, remains the case that a key topic in business is to identify the right solutions for implementing a process of innovation, from the initial phase of ideation to market diffusion (Brem et al, 2016;Ganzaroli et al, 2016;Rekonen and Björklund, 2016).…”

Varying involvement in digitally enhanced employee-driven innovation

“…Over time, various practices have been adopted by organizations to capitalize more intensively and extensively on employees’ ideas, knowledge and competencies. Traditional innovation research, however, tends to focus on the initial phases of creativity and idea generation, while neglecting the later phases of implementation and market diffusion (Amabile et al , 1996; Brem et al , 2016; Ganzaroli et al , 2016; Mumford et al , 2002; Rekonen and Björklund, 2016). The recently expanded research stream of EDI directs scholarly attention to the later phases of idea development, promotion and implementation as a way of conceptualizing the entire innovation process (Hiltunen and Henttonen, 2016; Høyrup, 2012; Kesting and Ulhøi).…”