New Ways of Working Network

This White Paper considers the interaction of two major forces in the world of work today: New Ways of Working and Innovation. To position the two forces: many of the New Ways of Working (New WoW) are driven and facilitated by technical developments, which in turn accelerate and support globalization; New Ways of Working, often associated primarily with virtuality, are considered to have the following characteristics: (1) Geographic dispersion, (2) Electronic dependence, (3) Dynamic structure, and (4) National diversity (Gibson & Gibbs, 2006). While virtuality is a fairly dominant aspect of NewWoW, it includes other forms of ‘working away from the place of work’, such as teleworking and mobile work. Innovation is considered by industry, government and the third sector as the means through which to achieve economic growth as well as address todays environmental and societal challenges. While many organizations focus on processes and structures to improve innovativeness, research and experience increasingly point to culture as main enabler, particularly when it comes to radical innovation (e.g. Tellis et al, 2009). In fact, Tellis et al found that most of the traditional variables from the literature, such as percentage of employees in R&D, R&D spending as percentage of sales, willingness to cannibalize, future market orientation and risk tolerance, have little effect on radical innovation after corporate culture is accounted for.

Both New Ways of Working and Innovation have great potential - if properly understood and if used in alignment with the desired outcomes, and consideration of the specific context. This paper will focus on the organizational rather than the team level. A NewWoW paper on ‘Innovation in Teams’ is developed in parallel by Jim Creighton.

After introducing key requirements for and characteristics of innovation as well as the main aspects of New Ways of Working, we will take a closer look at what aspects of New Ways of Working help and which ones hinder innovation, and under what circumstances this holds true. Insights from literature and practice will be supplemented with insights from interviews conducted with companies in the UK (Diago, GSK) and the US (Genetech, Microsoft, Nokia).

The White Paper will be used as the basis for a discussion of innovation at NewWOW’s semi-annual symposium which will be held in Utrecht, Netherlands, on Sept. 25-28.