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ERIC Number: ED578464
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 132
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 978-0-3551-3185-7
ISSN: EISSN-
EISSN: N/A
A Qualitative Examination of the Relationship between Organizational Culture and Innovation in a Global Engineering Company
Sandler, Heidi J.
ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Aurora University
The purpose of this grounded theory study was to examine the relationship between corporate culture (artifacts, values, and assumptions) and the creative endeavor of innovation in the software development industry. Innovation, the active implementation of creative ideas, is a widespread enterprise in the corporate world, especially in the areas of research and development (R&D), engineering, and design (Hattori & Wycoff, 2002). Through incremental or radical innovation, small companies can move to the forefront of their industries, while larger corporations that fail to innovate move further from the top, regardless of past successes (Tellis, Prabhu, & Chandy, 2009). Manimala, Jose, and Thomas (2006) state that innovation in organizations is crucial to the advancement of corporations. Organizations too often stop at brainstorming, with little to no movement toward changing the culture of the organization with regard to employees' use of time, the physical arrangement of workspace, an intrinsic desire to be creative, or the management of fiscal and human resources. While every organization differs in their business model, market, product, age, location, and other factors, every organization has a culture. The connection between culture and innovation warrants examination to identify barriers that hinder successful innovation as well as behaviors and systems that nurture it. Through qualitative data-gathering methods and grounded theory analysis techniques, I explored whether members of product development teams experience a relationship between various elements of corporate culture and the success or failure of innovation within the organization. The intended outcome was that this research would add to the existing literature (both corporate and academic) about innovation in the corporate world and perhaps influence any necessary changes to accelerate movement toward more successful innovation in the workplace. The outcome of this research suggests that employees do in fact experience elements of corporate culture--specifically time, resources, collaboration, and management buy-in and follow-through--as having a direct effect on their ability to be innovative in the workplace, and that practical implementation of workplace changes could increase the success of innovative efforts. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web site: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml
Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A