1. 1
The Role of the Organizational Leader
in Promoting and Sustaining Innovation
Paul Greasley
Timely Leadership Consulting
West Palm Beach, FL

2. 2
Introduction
• Individual leaders influence corporate innovative practice
• Innovation at the organizational level requires effective leaders
who apply leadership best practices in working with
organizational members
• The focus of the corporate leader is on maximizing the inherent
power of the innovative process by:
• Building interrelationships and interactions among people
• Fostering communicative practices among components of the
organization
• Enabling the diverse perspectives that emerge from different
operating environments

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Definition of Creativity and Innovation
Creativity ≠ Innovation
•Creativity – individual focus
•Ability to produce work that is both novel (original,
unexpected) and appropriate (useful, adaptive concerning
task constraints)
•Concepts include ideas, inventions, and breakthroughs
•Innovation – Group focus
•Process of developing and implementing new ideas
•Process of bringing original problem solving ideas into
practical application
Leaders influence both creativity and innovation

4. 4
Organizational Impediment to
Creativity and Innovation
Impediment = Over Control
• Single most significant factor that impedes organizational
innovation is over control
• An organizational culture that supports and encourages
control results in diminished creativity and innovation
• Principal reason for this impediment is that over control
negatively influences intrinsic motivation

5. 5
Propositions Related to Organizational
Culture and Innovation
9 Propositions about Innovation
• Much has been researched and written about innovation
as influenced by organizational culture that is directly
shaped by leaders
• Based on scholarly research, nine propositions are
presented and are intended to serve as the stimulus for
dialogue about innovation and innovative practice within
organizations
Amabile, T.M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J. & Herron, M. Assessing the work
environment for creativity. Academy of Management Journal. 39(5), p. 1154-
1185.

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Propositions Related to Organizational
Culture and Innovation
Proposition 1:
Organization innovation occurs in organizations that
provide a context that contains both enabling and
motivating conditions for innovation; innovation will
not occur where either factor is missing.

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Propositions Related to Organizational
Culture and Innovation
Proposition 2:
Innovation effectiveness is positively associated with
frequency of communication among persons having
dissimilar frames of reference.

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Propositions Related to Organizational
Culture and Innovation
Proposition 3:
Competition with peer units in the organization for
scarce resources is associated with reduced
innovation effectiveness.

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Propositions Related to Organizational
Culture and Innovation
Proposition 4:
Innovation effectiveness is positively related to the
extent to which the organization is able to integrate
creative personalities into the organizational
mainstream.

10. 10
Propositions Related to Organizational
Culture and Innovation
Proposition 5:
The level of organizational innovation is higher in
organic organizations than in mechanistic
organizations, particularly under conditions of
environmental change and uncertainty.

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Propositions Related to Organizational
Culture and Innovation
Proposition 6:
The level of innovative activity in an organization is
positively associated with the availability of innovation
role models or mentors who enjoy high status in the
organization and who are appropriately rewarded for
their innovative contributions.

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Propositions Related to Organizational
Culture and Innovation
Proposition 7:
The level of innovative activity in an organization is
higher in an organization where there is a consensus
between the organization and members that
spontaneous, innovative behaviors are a legitimate part
of the psychological contract that represents the
mutual beliefs, perceptions, and informal obligations
that exist between a leader and an organizational
member.

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Propositions Related to Organizational
Culture and Innovation
Proposition 8:
Innovation success is positively related to the
leaders ability to balance team members’
commitment to the innovation and to the larger
organization.

14. 14
Propositions Related to Organizational
Culture and Innovation
Proposition 9:
Innovation effectiveness is positively associated with
group cohesiveness, provided that an open, confrontive
climate for conflict resolution exists within the
innovation team. Absent such a climate, cohesiveness
is negatively related to the level of innovation in the
team.

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Summary and Conclusion
Role of a Leader in Promoting and Sustaining Innovation
•Fundamentally, leadership is contextual and is exercised
in relationship with others
•The leader has a significant role in shaping an
organizational culture that either promotes or impedes
innovation
•The most distinguishing characteristic of the leadership
process is change which is directly influenced by leaders
•Organizational innovative practice is primarily concerned
with change as an outcome achieved as a result of
intentional action toward a preferred future reality