Promotors or Champions? Pros and Cons of Role Specialisation for Economic Process

Understanding champion behaviour in a health-care information system development project – how multiple champions and champion behaviours build a coherent whole

“…Promotor theory stresses that it is not necessary for the different specialised promotor roles to be played by different individuals. These roles can also be combined in one person, the 'universal promotor', which is then similar to the champion concept of one heroic individual (Rost et al, 2007;Fichter, 2009). Even in the literature on the individual all-round champion, there has been some attention on the fact that champions do not operate alone, but interact with project teams, executives, and other stakeholders (Howell & Shea, 2006).…”

“…Witte's Promotor Theory was initially a two-centre theory of power, where two specialists cooperate; the expert promotor contributes through expert knowledge and the power promotor through hierarchical power (Witte, 1977;Rost et al, 2007;Fichter, 2009). Later, other promotor roles have been added (Rost et al, 2007;Fichter, 2009), for instance, a process promotor, a relationship promotor, and technological gatekeepers. Promotor theory stresses that it is not necessary for the different specialised promotor roles to be played by different individuals.…”

“…Rost et al (2007) suggest that the findings of both perspectives can be integrated, in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of championing or promoting innovations. Both research streams have put much effort into respectively identifying unique champion behaviours and unique champion roles.…”

“…• a heroic, individualistic perspective of one person acting as an all-round champion (Schön, 1963;Howell et al, 2005;Walter et al, 2011), • an interactive perspective where several specialised individuals cooperate, each serving a distinctive role (Witte, 1973;Witte, 1977;Rost et al, 2007;Fichter, 2009). …”

Frugal Innovation in Healthcare

“…Almost in parallel to Schon and Chakrabarti, a new strain of research emerged in the German scholarly community through , where he described the existence of promoters in the innovation process (Rost et al 2007). Witte's research identifies a dyad of promoters: the power promoter, who uses his hierarchical power to gain support for the innovation and to remove hindrances within the organization and the technology promoter who contributes with his technological expertise to the project.…”