each Question should be 300-500 words
Management at Work An Open Invitation to Innovation "Any five-year-old has no trouble turning And that's how PepsiCo developed a way to reduce the an old blanket and a couple of chairs intori sodium content of Lay's Classic potato chips without sac- rificing the flavor that consumers were used to. This ap- an impenetrable fort." proach to an expanded search for solutions is sometimes called open innovation, which Zynga defines as the pro- --NINESIGMA CEO ANDY ZYNGA cess of reaching beyond your team, company, or industry for technologies, solutions, ideas, and knowledge avail n 2006, a well-known multinational company hired an able through global solution provider networks. ... The innovation consulting firm called NineSigma to draw up rationale," he explains, "is that partnering with outside a request for proposal (RFP) entitled "Nanoparticle la innovators may lead to something even better and will lide Salt: Formulation and Delivery. According to Nine- undoubtedly accelerate the process if a more advanced so- Sigma CEO Andy Zynga, providing an RFP means "crafting lution exists elsewhere." a very precise written needs statement for vetted solution in a very real sense, although it's a "process of reach- providers who have klown expertise in specific areas" lning bevond your team." open innovation is also an ex. this case, the client was in the market for a chemically de tension of the principle of building teams with a greater signed salt with specific properties - a compound for which diversity of inspuit. David Feitler, senior program manager its own R&D department didn't have the necessary esper NineSigma, points to a parallel between team building tise. So Nine Sigma, reports Ziga. "marketed its RFP to as a means of breaking down internal barriers to problem a broad audience of technical experts Proposals came in soling and open innovation as a means of breaking down from a variety of industries and organization types, including external barriers. Feitler explains that another NineSigma enery and fuels, pharma and enpreet Services. The_client, the Dutch-based inaltinational Damt mannfachirer winning propocal was submitted by a team of orthopedics vkolobel, was a practicing Op t ions researchers who rad create o r of Salt for studies_meats of breaching external harries when it approached of osteoporosis Vine Sigma about improving internal collaboration. The cillum d EL LU Case Questions . 1. How good are you at thinking outside the box"? Are you 4. Gratton and Erickson describe two leadership styles fixated on functionality? Try solving the following prob- lem before googling the solution. among leaders of multidisciplinary teams: You have the three items pictured here: a book of relationship-oriented leaders tend to foster "an envi- matches, a box of thumbtacks, and a candle ronment of trust and goodwill in which people are more likely to share knowledge"; task-oriented leaders help to make objectives clear, to create a shared awareness of the dimensions of the task, and to provide monitoring and feedback." First of all, ask yourself which of these two leadership styles you're more comfortable with. In other words, if you were assigned to lead a team, which leadership style would you probably bring to the task? Now assume that you have been assigned to lead a team of fellow students in drafting a proposed curriculum of required courses for freshmen and sophomores at your college. Nat- urally, the team consists of students with a broad range of majors. What will probably be your strengths as leader of How can you attach the candle to a wall so that, your group? What will probably be your weaknesses? when it's lit, wax doesn't drip on the floor?! Finally, in trying to determine which style-relationship 2. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of open inno- or task oriented-was most effective in leading collaborative vation and multidisciplinary collaboration in terms of teams, Cratton and Erickson concluded that team cohesion. What aspects of such teams, for example, an emphasis throughoul a project on one style at the may increase cohesiveness? Which aspects may reduce expense of the other inevitably hindered the long-term cohesiveness? performance of the team... The most productive, inno 3. Consider teams found for multidisciplinary collabora vative teams were typically led by people who were both tion or as a result of open innovation in terms of role task and relationship oriented. What's more, these lead- structure. Is role structure, for example, likely to be sct e rs changed their style during the project or to evolve differently tham it usually does in internal functional or task groups? How might the transmission Under what circumstances will you most likely have to of sent roles be more complicated? Is role ambiguity change your leadership style in order to keep the group working likely to be more prevalent? How about role conflict incllcctively? Try to be specific in identifying circumstances that particular, intrarole conflicti? might arise over the course of your team project. What do yon need to do in order to adjust your style to shifting circumstances Management at Work An Open Invitation to Innovation "Any five-year-old has no trouble turning And that's how PepsiCo developed a way to reduce the an old blanket and a couple of chairs intori sodium content of Lay's Classic potato chips without sac- rificing the flavor that consumers were used to. This ap- an impenetrable fort." proach to an expanded search for solutions is sometimes called open innovation, which Zynga defines as the pro- --NINESIGMA CEO ANDY ZYNGA cess of reaching beyond your team, company, or industry for technologies, solutions, ideas, and knowledge avail n 2006, a well-known multinational company hired an able through global solution provider networks. ... The innovation consulting firm called NineSigma to draw up rationale," he explains, "is that partnering with outside a request for proposal (RFP) entitled "Nanoparticle la innovators may lead to something even better and will lide Salt: Formulation and Delivery. According to Nine- undoubtedly accelerate the process if a more advanced so- Sigma CEO Andy Zynga, providing an RFP means "crafting lution exists elsewhere." a very precise written needs statement for vetted solution in a very real sense, although it's a "process of reach- providers who have klown expertise in specific areas" lning bevond your team." open innovation is also an ex. this case, the client was in the market for a chemically de tension of the principle of building teams with a greater signed salt with specific properties - a compound for which diversity of inspuit. David Feitler, senior program manager its own R&D department didn't have the necessary esper NineSigma, points to a parallel between team building tise. So Nine Sigma, reports Ziga. "marketed its RFP to as a means of breaking down internal barriers to problem a broad audience of technical experts Proposals came in soling and open innovation as a means of breaking down from a variety of industries and organization types, including external barriers. Feitler explains that another NineSigma enery and fuels, pharma and enpreet Services. The_client, the Dutch-based inaltinational Damt mannfachirer winning propocal was submitted by a team of orthopedics vkolobel, was a practicing Op t ions researchers who rad create o r of Salt for studies_meats of breaching external harries when it approached of osteoporosis Vine Sigma about improving internal collaboration. The cillum d EL LU Case Questions . 1. How good are you at thinking outside the box"? Are you 4. Gratton and Erickson describe two leadership styles fixated on functionality? Try solving the following prob- lem before googling the solution. among leaders of multidisciplinary teams: You have the three items pictured here: a book of relationship-oriented leaders tend to foster "an envi- matches, a box of thumbtacks, and a candle ronment of trust and goodwill in which people are more likely to share knowledge"; task-oriented leaders help to make objectives clear, to create a shared awareness of the dimensions of the task, and to provide monitoring and feedback." First of all, ask yourself which of these two leadership styles you're more comfortable with. In other words, if you were assigned to lead a team, which leadership style would you probably bring to the task? Now assume that you have been assigned to lead a team of fellow students in drafting a proposed curriculum of required courses for freshmen and sophomores at your college. Nat- urally, the team consists of students with a broad range of majors. What will probably be your strengths as leader of How can you attach the candle to a wall so that, your group? What will probably be your weaknesses? when it's lit, wax doesn't drip on the floor?! Finally, in trying to determine which style-relationship 2. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of open inno- or task oriented-was most effective in leading collaborative vation and multidisciplinary collaboration in terms of teams, Cratton and Erickson concluded that team cohesion. What aspects of such teams, for example, an emphasis throughoul a project on one style at the may increase cohesiveness? Which aspects may reduce expense of the other inevitably hindered the long-term cohesiveness? performance of the team... The most productive, inno 3. Consider teams found for multidisciplinary collabora vative teams were typically led by people who were both tion or as a result of open innovation in terms of role task and relationship oriented. What's more, these lead- structure. Is role structure, for example, likely to be sct e rs changed their style during the project or to evolve differently tham it usually does in internal functional or task groups? How might the transmission Under what circumstances will you most likely have to of sent roles be more complicated? Is role ambiguity change your leadership style in order to keep the group working likely to be more prevalent? How about role conflict incllcctively? Try to be specific in identifying circumstances that particular, intrarole conflicti? might arise over the course of your team project. What do yon need to do in order to adjust your style to shifting circumstances