6.1.4.3
Capability Requirement Practice lookup table
Basically, this table (Appendix D) is one of the outputs generated through the activities of Chapter 5. In short, it relates the manually summarised innovation capabilities of the analysed corpus of literature (discussed in Section 5.3.2) to the LDA-based innovation capability topics identified from the same corpus. This was achieved by listing each of the relevant inter- and intra-run relations (as discussed in Section 5.3.4.4) between topics for each of the documents, where relevance is defined as one of those topics having twice the average mixing ratio for a specific document (where the average mixing ratio for a 5 topic run is 1/5 = 0.2 for instance).9
The idea is that an organisation, having completed the Innovation Capability Improvement Methodology to the point that a set of prioritised Innovation Capability Requirements have been identified, uses the lookup table to identify the literature-based best-practices for fulfilling those requirements. This would be the first step in identifying the organisation-specific practices, tools, techniques, policies, etc. to fulfil the prioritised requirements. While the best-practices from the literature would not necessarily fulfil these requirements as- is, they do provide a basis from which to launch an identification and/or development process.
6.2 Innovation Capability Improvement Methodology
The development of an Innovation Capability Improvement Methodology was proposed on completion of the first case study with the ICMM v1. For this model to be beneficial to organisations, a method would be required to improve the innovation capability of an organisation using the model‟s framework and components as a generic reference of organisational innovation capability. This method should describe the basic activities and their associated inputs and outputs, to take an organisation from one level of innovation capability maturity to the next. The so called Innovation Capability Improvement Methodology presented in this section is intended to fulfil this mandate.
9 Note that this table is not sorted for effectiveness as a lookup table, but it can be used to identify highly relevant
literature relating to specific innovation capabilities and topics.
Participants Roles Parameter Set 1 Capability Requirements Constructs Parameter Set 2 Parameter Set 3
process. Basically, it is a guideline for using the ICMM v2 to improve the innovation capability of an organisation.
The methodology is a basic, 3 stage process that utilises various components and sub-components of the ICMM v2 (discussed in this chapter), and certain aspects used in the development of the model (discussed in Chapter 5). The stages represent the high-level activities of the case studies presented in Chapter 7. Therefore, the case studies proved fundamental in the development and refinement of the basic methodological framework that evolved throughout the execution thereof. The three stages of the methodology are Evaluate, Plan and Improve, as depicted in Figure 34.
The first observation from Figure 34 is the cyclical nature of the process, represented by each of the stages leading onto the next – including the final stage (Improve) leading onto the first stage (Evaluate). This implies that the methodology is a continuous improvement-type approach, i.e., the conclusion of one improvement cycle signifies the commencement of the next. Thus, any improvement in innovation capability derived from improvement cycle X, is intended to be measured and accounted for during the Evaluate stage of cycle X+1. Then, the Plan stage of cycle X+1 takes into consideration the planned improvements of cycle X as well as the results from the evaluation X+1 to develop the new improvement plan. The 3 stages of the methodology will now be discussed in more detail.
6.2.1 Evaluate
The Evaluate stage of the methodology serves as the kick-off for an innovation capability improvement initiative. Basically, the organisation‟s innovation capability is assessed against the Capability Requirements of the ICMM v2.
Individuals from the organisation (or business unit) being assessed are asked to complete a questionnaire that is intended to reveal the potential innovation capability improvement areas. These improvement areas are identified during the interpretation of the completed questionnaires and the gap analysis of the organisation‟s innovation capability maturity results. The high-level activities of this stage include evaluation planning, an evaluation workshop in which the questionnaires are completed, processing of the responses, interpretation of the results and a gap analysis. These activities are depicted in Figure 34.
6.2.1.1
Evaluation planning
The first activity of the methodology is a meeting in which the basic activities are discussed with the management of the organisation and/or the instigators of the evaluation. In addition to this, certain aspect should be clarified, including:
Specific organisational objectives for the evaluation – apart from the general objectives of performing such an evaluation, the organisation may have specific aspects that they would like to address.
business unit therein. The importance of this should be emphasised with the individuals. (The reason why it is important is discussed in Section 6.2.1.2.1.)
Specific perspectives on the results – various views may be taken on the responses and results from the questionnaire. This is, however, subject to the relevant data (such as years in business unit, team, etc.) being captured in the questionnaire.
This meeting need not be a lengthy one. Basically, it is used to determine the specific reason(s) for performing the evaluation and to inform the relevant stakeholders of what to expect.