Managing Innovation And Continuous Improvements

Question: Discuss about the innovation management and continuous improvement of an organization. Answer: Introduction This paper is primarily concerned with the innovation management and continuous improvement of an organization. Innovation is the integral part of every organization and in order to retain the position of the organization in the global competitive market, it is necessary for the management of the organization to implement several innovative strategies (Dodgson, Gann and Phillips, 2015). Management of every organization has to understand that the demands of the customers are ever changing so it is necessary to implement the strategies in accordance with the demand of the customers. The role of the management does not end after just implementing strategies; it is the sole responsibility of the management of the organization to look after the continuous improvements to satisfy the need of the customer, the management of the organization has to implement new ways to organize things (Burns and Stalker, 2001). Leading and coordination are playing major role to undertake several new innovat ive strategies. Innovation in the management generates a long lasting impact on the mind of the customers and it helps to make them loyal. Every organization on this planet is working on development of new products. Task 1: Review Programs, Systems and Processes After thoroughly understating the case study, it has been observed that A.C Gilbert was one of the toy making companies in USA and the original name of the company was Mysto Manufacturing Company, which founded in 1909 as the Erector Set. At the very beginning period, the period was great success (Honey, 2007). They were known as the best toy maker in USA and the company was renowned for making top quality products. The problem of this company was the price is not low as they are maintaining the quality of the products. Supply Chain: A.C Gilbert had strong supply chain management, which helped the company to circulate the product at the doorstep of the customers. Supply chain management was a whole system that incorporates the raw products into a product. Supply chain management was a long and complex process, which helped to send the products from inventory to the consumers (Hubner, 2006). Supply Chain Management includes designing of the products and development of the concept of the products. In the planning process, the organization was working on using resources efficiently. At the third step, the organization was concentrating on purchasing of raw material and later manufactures toys by using raw materials. In the fourth step, the organization is focusing on the manufacturing of the products. After packaging, the product is sent for distribution. Operation System: Operation System of the organization is strong enough; it helps to maintain the day-to-day transaction process of the organization. With the help of the model, it can be demonstrated that management of the organization is maintaining the transactions. Operation System of A. C. Gilbert helped to keep the records of daily business transactions (Hutchins, 2008). Operation system of the organization was entirely different from Data Warehousing. With the help of the operation system, the management of the organization was able to take orders, keep contact with the new customers, sign up with the new customers and identify the feedbacks. The specialty of the organization was that the management is dealing with one record at a particular time. Product and service delivery: From the analysis of the case study, it can be depicted that the product quality of the company is always good. The company was known for producing high quality products. After taking over by Wrather from junior A.C Gilbert, the organization was trying to introduce 50 new toy lines and raising the product line up to 307. At the beginning, the organization was mainly concentrating on the toys of the boys. Recently, at the time of Wrather, the company was focusing on the girls toys also. Wrather has tried to diversify the range of toys so the company has decided to make toys for the pre-school children and aims at girls between the ages of 6-14. For the Quality Management Theory, the researcher is concentrating on the Total Quality Management. For the better analysis of the paper, researcher is taking help of the Joseph Jurans Theory (Improvements in or relating to continuous carbon fibre tapes, 2002). Joseph Jurans Theory is about the Quality Trilogy; quality planning, quality improvement and quality control are the quality trilogy. This theory helps to improve the quality of the products. Statistical process control is the integral part of the continuous improvement. The Continuous Improvement Model includes several processes, Plan Do Check and Act The managers should use tools and technologies to evaluate the effectiveness of the Continuous improvement models and quality management theories. On the other hand, Key Result Area helps to depict the crucial outcome of the paper. Key Result Area is not the result but identifying the important process where the outcome is assisted by the objectives of the company (Improvements in the simple distillation of fatty acids by continuous methods, 2003). The objective of Wrather is to develop high quality products and for this the organization is concentrating on the several key factors like Wide range of innovative toys Toys for girls and Change the packaging of the products With the help of the key system and processes, the management of the organization should understand which the Key Performance Indicators are. The prime Key Performance Indicator is developing wide range of products in less than 12 months and improving the quality of products as the company is known for their quality of products. Along with the innovative strategies, the organization should also concentrate on collection of feedbacks. The collection of feedbacks from the customers helps the management of the organization to understand their choices (Improvements in vacuum reactor for vapour deposition on continuous filaments, 2000). The feedbacks are helping the customers to understand the demand of the customers and this feedback helps to gather information regarding the performance review process. Service Level Agreement helps to play an important role in identifying the relationship. Service Level Agreement is maintaining the service quality. Service Level Agreement helps to maintain the standard of the products and service quality (Keffler, 2005). Along with that, the organization is concentrating on the relationship between the suppliers and management. The quality of the product is depending on the raw materials and if the suppliers are failed to deliver products, in that case production of the company will definitely suffers. From the sales figure of the organization, it can be determined that the organization is able to maintain the key elements of the organization. Gilbert has strong brand image of developing quality products but the price range is high. The supply chain system helps to deliver the products at the doorstep of the customers (Kostevc, 2014). After surveying the market, it can determined that the in 1966, the company has adopted several strategies for making the company a successful one. Jack Wrather has purchased 52% of share of Gilbert. If Gilbert would have strong supply chain management, operation system and product quality then it would have been easier to run the business. After implementation of the Continuous Improvement Theory, the management of the organization can able to understand the performance of the organization (Larson, 2003). In 1962, the company had increased the numbers of sales staffs and put stress on the promotion of the business; later in 1963, the company had been suffering from heavy loss due to the declination of quality of service. Isaacson was the new CEO of the company and he fired most of the staffs and reduced the cost of the company to improve the profit percentage. Due to lack of staffs and heavy promotional activities, the company had suffered a lot. After analyzing the Quality Management and Continuous Development Theory, there are many faults in strategy (Mallick, et al, 2013). If the company had not reduced the numbers of staffs then it would have been easier for the company to run the business. The quality of the products was also deteriorated so it is difficult for the company to sustain. Previously, the quality of the product was very good and company had god growth in the market. Therefore, it can be said that the company has good profit market (Meifort, 2015). On the other hand, the company had no good staff management system and employee turnover rate is high. The result of the 1966 helped to determine the Key Result Area. Gilbert was the leading toy making company of USA and annual sales regularly topping $17 million. From the SWOT analysis of the company, the strength and weakness of the company can be determined. The strengths of the company were: The company had good Market Share Renowned company High Quality products Sales rate high High profit margin The weaknesses of the company were: No ability to change organizational change Standard of customers is not good Lack of innovative ideas Low employee engagement If the company is still running their business, the organization has to adopt changes and make innovative strategies. The company is specially dealing in toymakers, chemistry sets, microscopes and Meccano like Erector Engineering sets. Due to technological advancement, the demands for the technological products are increasing. In order to sustain the business, it is necessary to develop long lasting products with low cost (Mellor, 2003). They have to develop top-quality and highly regarded products. Apart from products, the company should concentrate on the employees also as employees are the key stakeholder. Concentration should lies on the employees. Several internal and external staffs are needed for implementing technologies in production of toys. Task 2: Develop Options for Continuous Improvement The company has not even developed a new strategy for years and the operations of the company are following the same path for years. In the team briefing of 30 minutes, with the help of the Continuous Improvement Theories and Performance Management Strategies, several ideas can be developed for the betterment of the organization (Obo j, et al, 2005). Employees are the key stakeholder of the organization and management of the organization is entitled to manage the employees in the organization. Gilbert has been suffering from heavy employee turnover due to misleading decision of Wrather and CEO. To sustain the position in the global competitive market, it is necessary for the management to focus on development of strategies and incorporate those strategies in the market. The perspectives of the kids are changing due to the technological development. Kids are mainly focusing on the racing cars rather than the trains (Pinchard, 2004). On the other hand, girls are not in love with the simple dolls any more. They want to have such dolls, which can be moved or changed. Innovative ways of development of toys help the organization to win the competitive advantages (Zmuda, et al, 2004). There are three key research areas, on which the company is focusing and development of three key research areas are helping to generate good competition. From the result of 1961-1966, it can be understood that employee turnover is the main problem of the organization. Due to lack of team management skills and team leaders, the team members are unaware of the organizational goals (Rothwell and Kazanas, 2009). It is the sole responsibility of the Human Resource Management of Gilbert to provide training to the employees so that they can meet the organizational goals. After implementing innovative strategies, the management of the organization has to bring significant changes. The advantage of the teamwork is that the work can be done easily as the employees can able to take help of the other employees or seniors. Team leaders or HR department of the organization should use creative and new techniques to generate new ideas. Training is the best process that can be provided to the employees to meet the organizational goals but there are several risk factors associated with it. Team leaders should understand the appropriate team management strategy for motivating the employees (Training for continuous improvement, 2006). Due to lack of knowledge regarding the teams, the process of management can be hampered. On the other hand, management should understand that all the strategies should be cost benefitted otherwise it can raise the cost of the organization (Valenkevich, 2008). Task 3: Implement Innovative Processes After analyzing several theories, KRAs and KPIs, it can be understood that the best process of maintaining the profit percentage and competitive advantages, it is important to develop an action plans (Trauffler and Tschirky, 2007). Before developing action plan for the organization, the management of the organization should concentrate on the Contingency Plans. The Contingency Plans help to predict the underlying risk factors. In accordance with the contingency plans, the risk factors are: Threat of new entries Threat of substitute Shift in customer demand (Trott, 2008) High employee turnover Low cash flow Low profit margin and Low skilled staffs Based on the risk factors, the action plan can be determined: Conclusion From the above analysis of the paper, it can be understood that here in this research paper, the researcher is trying to depict that the skills and knowledge are require for reviewing the programs, process and system. For the better analysis of the paper, this paper is going to take help of the key systems and processes of the paper. This paper is trying to excavate the role of innovation in A.C Gilbert, this is a toy making and previously, the company had good grab in the market but due to lack of innovative strategies the company is often failed and closed in 1957. Here, innovative strategies are discussed. References Burns, T. and Stalker, G. (2001).The management of innovation. [London]: Tavistock Publications. Dodgson, M., Gann, D. and Phillips, N. (2015).The Oxford Handbook of Innovation Management. Honey, P. (2007).Continuous improvement. Maidenhead: P. Honey. Hubner, H. (2006).The art and science of innovation management. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Hutchins, D. (2008).Hoshin Kanri. Aldershot, England: Gower. Improvements in or relating to continuous carbon fibre tapes. (2002).Composites, 3(4), p.188. Improvements in the simple distillation of fatty acids by continuous methods. 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