After organizations decide upon innovations these innovations must be implemented. The likelihood and the ease of getting an adoption unit (the segment of the organization responsible for translating decisions into action) to implement an innovation desired by a decision unit depend upon a number of factors: (1) the adoption unit's perception of the risk involved, (2) the complexity of the innovation, and (3) the power and communication costs required to overcome the adoption unit's resistance. The decision unit has three types of power available to it--sanction, authority, and influence--and each of these types has associated costs and demands a different level of involvement. The interaction of these various factors can be charted and the costs of various combinations assessed. Organizations must be alert to situations that might overload their communication channels and thereby prevent successful innovation implementation. (JL)