Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2024-06-01T08:16:37.425Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early-Career Engineers’ Perceptions of Support for Innovation at the Workplace - What Seems to Matter

Part of: Human Behaviour in Design and Design Cognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2019

Patrick Simon ,
Tua A. Björklund  and
Sheri Sheppard
Patrick Simon
Affiliation:
School of Management, Technical University of Munich;
Tua A. Björklund*
Affiliation:
Design Factory, School of Engineering, Aalto University;
Sheri Sheppard
Affiliation:
School of Engineering, Stanford University
*
Contact: Björklund, Tua A., Aalto University, Design Factory, Finland, tua.bjorklund@aalto.fi

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Previous research has shown the importance of contextual factors for increasing employee innovativeness, but to effectively support innovative behavior, we need to also understand what forms of support are perceived as meaningful by the employees themselves. The current study investigated the experiences of 35 early-career engineers in creating, championing and implementing new ideas at the workplace. They reported relatively few instances of support that had been experienced as helpful, and nearly all of these were related to either managerial or co-worker support. This support ranged from encouragement and positive feedback to tangible help in troubleshooting and finding resources, and, in the case of managers, providing sufficient autonomy and responsibility to enable the interviewees to pursue their ideas. Managerial support was most frequently reported by those working in self-described innovative positions, whereas co-worker support was more commonly reported by those working in self- described innovative environments. Formal processes and incentives were less likely to have been perceived as helpful than informal interactions with managers and co-workers.

Keywords

InnovationSupportProject managementColleaguesTraining
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , July 2019 , pp. 1753 - 1762
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019

References

Amabile, T.M. (1988), “A model of creativity and innovation in organizations”, Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 123–167.Google Scholar
Baer, M. and Frese, M. (2003), “Innovation is not enough: climates for initiative and psychological safety, process innovations, and firm performance”, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 45–68.Google Scholar
Björklund, T.A., Bhatli, D. and Laakso, M. (2013), “Understanding idea advancement efforts in innovation through proactive behavior”, Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 124–142.Google Scholar
Brunhaver, S.R., Korte, R.F., Barley, S.R. and Sheppard, S.D. (2018), “Bridging the gaps between engineering education and practice”, In: Freedman, R. and Salzman, H. (Ed.), U.S. Engineering in a Global Economy, National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Collyer, S. and Warren, C. (2009), “Project management approaches for dynamic environments”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 355–264.Google Scholar
Cope, J. and Watts, G. (2000), “Learning by doing – an exploration of critical incidents and reflection in entrepreneurial learning”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 104–124.Google Scholar
Daly, S.R., Adams, R.S. and Bodner, G.M. (2012), “What does it mean to design? A qualitative investigation of design professionals’ experiences”, Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 101 No. 2, pp. 187–219.Google Scholar
DEL,(n.d), Engineering Majors Survey. https://del.stanford.edu/research-projects/engineering-majors-surveyGoogle Scholar
Detert, J.R. and Edmondson, A.C. (2011), “Implicit voice theories: Taken-for-granted rules of self-censorship at work”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 54, pp. 461–488.Google Scholar
Dougherty, D. and Heller, T. (1994), “The illegitimacy of successful product innovation in established firms”, Organization Science, Vol. 5, pp. 200–218.Google Scholar
Edmondson, A. (1999), “Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 44, pp. 350–383.Google Scholar
Elkins, T. and Keller, R.T. (2003), “Leadership in research and development organizations: A literature review and conceptual framework”, Leadership, Vol. 14, pp. 587–606.Google Scholar
Emery, C.R., Summers, T.P. and Surak, J.G. (1996), “The role of organizational climate in the implementation of total quality management”, Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol. 8, pp. 484–496.Google Scholar
Farr, J. and Ford, C. (1990), “Individual Innovation”, In: West, M. and Farr, J. (Ed.), Managing Innovation, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Fila, N.D. and Hess, J.L. (2018), “Critical incidents in engineering students’ development of more comprehensive ways of experiencing innovation”, 2018 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Salt Lake City, Utah, American Society for Engineering Education.Google Scholar
Flanagan, J.C. (1954), “Critical incident technique”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 51 No. 4, pp. 327–358.Google Scholar
Frese, M., Kring, W., Soose, A. and Zemper, J. (1996), “Personal initiative at work: differences between East and West Germany”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 39, pp. 37–63.Google Scholar
Gong, Y., Huang, J.C. and Farh, J.L. (2009), “Employee learning orientation, transformational leadership, and employee creativity: The mediating role of employee creative self-efficacy”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp. 765–778.Google Scholar
Janssen, O. (2003), “Innovative behaviour and job involvement at the price of conflict and less satisfactory relations with co-workers”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 76, pp. 347–364.Google Scholar
Kanter, R., Staw, B.M. and Cummings, L.L. (1988), “When a thousand flowers bloom: Structural, collective, and social conditions for innovation in organizations”, Research in Organizational Behavior, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, Vol. 10, pp. 169–211.Google Scholar
Kim, J. and Wilemon, D. (2002), “Strategic issues in managing innovation's fuzzy front-end”, European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 27–30.Google Scholar
Klenk, M., Björklund, T., Gilmartin, S. and Sheppard, S.D. (2018), “Early-career Engineers at the Workplace: Meaningful Highs, Lows and Innovative Work Efforts”, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference 2018, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Koen, P., Ajamin, G., Burkart, R., Clamen, A., Davidson, J., D'Amore, R., Elkins, C., Herald, K., Incorvia, M., Johnson, A., Karol, R., Seibert, R., Slavejkov, A. and Wagner, K. (2001), “Providing clarity and common language to the fuzzy front end”, Research Technology Management, Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 46–55.Google Scholar
Kvale, S. (1983), “The quantification of knowledge in education: On resistance toward qualitative evaluation and research”, The sociogenesis of language and human conduct, Springer, Boston, MA, pp. 433–447.Google Scholar
Lenfle, S. and Loch, C. (2010), “Lost roots: how project management came to emphasize control over flexibility and novelty”, California Management Review, Vol. 53 No. 1, pp. 1–24.Google Scholar
Madjar, N., Oldham, G.R. and Pratt, M.G. (2002), “There's no place like home? The contributions of work and nonwork creativity support to employees’ creative performance”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 45 No. 4, pp. 757–767.Google Scholar
Morrison, E.W. and Phelps, C. (1999), “Taking charge: Extra-role efforts to initiate workplace change”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 403–419.Google Scholar
Mumford, M.D., Scott, G.M., Gaddis, B. and Strange, J.M. (2002), “Leading creative people: Orchestrating expertise and relationships”, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 13 No. 6, pp. 705–750.Google Scholar
Oldham, G.R. and Cummings, A. (1996), “Employee creativity: Personal and contextual factors at work”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 607–634.Google Scholar
Perry-Smith, J.E. and Shalley, C.E. (2003), “The social side of creativity: A static and dynamic social network perspective”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 89–106.Google Scholar
Scott, S.G. and Bruce, R.A. (1994), “Determinants of innovative behavior: A path model of individual innovation in the workplace”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 580–607.Google Scholar
Shalley, C.E., Zhou, J. and Oldham, G.R. (2004), “The effects of personal and contextual characteristics on creativity: Where should we go from here?”, Journal of Management, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 933–958.Google Scholar
Sheppard, S.D., Antonio, A.L., Brunhaver, S.R. and Gilmartin, S.K. (2014), “Studying the career pathways of engineers: An illustration with two datasets”, In: Johri, A. and Olds, B. M. (Ed.), Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, pp. 283–309.Google Scholar
Simon, H.A. (1969), The sciences of the artificial, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Tierney, P., Farmer, S.M. and Graen, G.B. (1999), “An examination of leadership and employee creativity: The relevance of traits and relationships”, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 52 No. 3, pp. 591–620.Google Scholar
Wang, P. and Rode, J.C. (2010), “Transformational leadership and follower creativity: the moderating effects of identification with leader and organizational climate”, Human Relations, Vol. 63 No. 8, pp. 1105–1128.Google Scholar
Woodman, R.W., Sawyer, J.E. and Griffin, R.W. (1993), “Toward a theory of organizational creativity”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 293–321.Google Scholar
Yuan, F. and Woodman, R.W. (2010), “Innovative behavior in the workplace: The role of performance and image outcome expectations”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 53 No. 2, pp. 323–342.Google Scholar