Most leaders of healthcare delivery organizations have increased their rate of technological innovation, but some still struggle to keep pace with other industries. The problem addressed in this study was that senior leaders in some rural ambulatory healthcare facilities failed to innovate, even with recent healthcare technological innovations, which could lead to increased medical errors and a loss of efficiency. The purpose of the study was to examine if a relationship exists between the avoidance of technology threats by senior leaders in ambulatory healthcare organizations and the innovation propensity of the organization. Technology threat avoidance theory served as the theoretical basis for this correlational study. The research questions were used to investigate the relationship between technology threat avoidance by senior leaders and the ways avoidance affects an organization's level of technological innovation. Data were collected from 90 respondents via an anonymous online survey, developed from the innovation culture measurement and the COPE measurement, and analyzed using multiple regression and Spearman's correlation. Organizations with senior leaders who actively avoided technology threats had significantly higher innovation propensity (β = .51, p = .001). The analysis also showed that rural healthcare delivery organizations tended to have lower innovation propensity (β = -.18, p = .05). The study social change implications enable the leaders of more health care delivery organizations to actively mitigate technology threats, rather than passively avoiding them. Properly handling these threats could allow management to make more informed decisions about technology implementations and thus increase their ability to provide meaningful, innovative care and to avoid one of the leading causes of death-medical errors.

O propósito desta tese é investigar de que forma ocorre a interveniência de quatro fatores críticos no trabalho de equipes de projeto de inovação tecnológica, na medida em que estas criam conhecimento. São admitidos como fatores críticos a competência individual, a competência informacional, a cultura de inovação e a comunicação. Como principal contribuição, objetiva-se propor um modelo de quatro dimensões com as relações resultantes entre o conhecimento criado pelas equipes e os fatores críticos que influenciam a sua criação. Essas dimensões destinam-se a auxiliar o processo de formação de equipes, mais especificamente na escolha dos membros. As equipes de projetos selecionadas para compor o estudo fazem parte do programa Pesquisa em Parceria para Inovação Tecnológica (PITE) da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). A escolha do tema se justifica pela carência de pesquisas empíricas com tratamento particular a cada um dos processos de conversão de conhecimento, bem como pelo fato de que a chave para o entendimento de sucessos e falhas na criação de conhecimento por equipes inovadoras está na identificação e avaliação das condições prévias, aqui denominadas fatores críticos, necessárias para que o esforço prospere. Preservando-se o ineditismo característico de teses de doutorado, as equipes do programa PITE da FAPESP são estudadas pela primeira vez, de forma exploratória. Como técnica qualitativa de análise de dados, utiliza-se da análise de conteúdo categorial. Os principais resultados apontaram fortes relacionamentos entre o fator crítico 1 (competência individual) e a externalização do conhecimento; o fator crítico 2 (competência informacional) e a combinação do conhecimento; o fator crítico 3 (cultura de inovação) e a internalização do conhecimento; e o fator crítico 4 (comunicação) e a socialização do conhecimento. Advindos destas relações, foram encontrados doze padrões de comportamento nas equipes estudadas. / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the intervention of four critical factors in the work of project teams for technological innovation occurs, while they create knowledge. Critical factors admitted are individual competence, informational competence, innovation culture and communication. As the main contribution, the research aims to propose a model of four dimensions of the resulting relationships between the knowledge created by the teams and the critical factors that influence its creation. These dimensions are intended to assist the process of team formation, more specifically in the selection of members. Project teams selected to comprise the study are part of the Research Partnership for Technological Innovation (PITE), from the Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo (FAPESP). The choice of this subject is justified by the lack of empirical research with particular treatment to each of the processes of knowledge conversion, as well as by the fact that the key to understanding the successes and failures in knowledge creation by innovative teams is the identification and evaluation of preconditions, here called the critical factors, necessary for the effort to flourish. As a way to preserve the originality, characteristic of doctoral thesis, the project teams of the program PITE-FAPESP are studied for the first time, in an exploratory approach. As a qualitative technique of data analysis, the categorical content analysis is used. The main results showed strong relationships between the critical factor 1 (individual competence) and externalization of knowledge; the critical factor 2 (information literacy) and the combination of knowledge; the critical factor 3 (innovation culture) and internalization of knowledge; and the critical factor 4 (communication) and socialization of knowledge. Moreover, deriving of these relations, twelve patterns of behavior were found in the studied teams.

Submitted by Carlos Eduardo Franco Azevedo (francoazevedo@globo.com) on 2013-10-25T14:06:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE FGV Franco Azevedo 2013.pdf: 12408402 bytes, checksum: a1ff8d197c9caff0298d6e9ef4fffcc6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2013-10-29T19:16:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE FGV Franco Azevedo 2013.pdf: 12408402 bytes, checksum: a1ff8d197c9caff0298d6e9ef4fffcc6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2013-11-04T11:27:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE FGV Franco Azevedo 2013.pdf: 12408402 bytes, checksum: a1ff8d197c9caff0298d6e9ef4fffcc6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-11-04T11:27:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE FGV Franco Azevedo 2013.pdf: 12408402 bytes, checksum: a1ff8d197c9caff0298d6e9ef4fffcc6 (MD5) / Capes e Ministério da Defesa / With the end of the Cold War and the events that took place on 'September 11', new threats have emerged, negatively impacting the perception of collective security, and imposing profound changes in the structure and mode of action of the Military of various nations. The social marginalization, drug trafficking, organized crime, environmental degradation and many other threats, have made some nations found themselves motivated to employ its armed forces primarily to combat these ills, i.e., in the 'Operations Others Than The War' (OOTW). This phenomenon has caused a up-sege in military science, as reflected in the social, political and economic, triggering a process known as 'Defense Transformation or Revolution of Military Affairs (RMA)', which is only feasible with the rupture of some traditional management models and the introduction of a new organizational culture that promotes an environment suited to the process of innovation in the Defense sector. To manage this process, there should be a sectorial innovation system of defense, which, as pointed research is fragmented and disjointed, which produces fundamentally incremental innovations and rarely disruptive ones. It is a virtual system that does not formally exist as such, but it has all the necessary infrastructure to operate as a formal system and manageable. The research, of epistemological structuralism similarities, aimed to develop a conceptual model for managing the innovation system of the Defense sector (OOTW segment), based on an subjacent structure unveiled that, covertly, support the current system. The unveiling of this structure allowed us to conclude that, in the studied field, the agents of the innovation system, acting in accordance with their interests, mobilize, consciously or unconsciously, the evaluative factors of innovation present in their organizational culture, which, along with the influence of support factors (Capital), are essential for the formation of alliances and, consequently, to the process of innovation for Defense sector (OOTW segment). As expected, the unveiling of the subjacent structure led to the realization of an accurate diagnosis of the studied system, allowing the researcher to launch a critical eye on it, which contributes to the proposition of a safe intervention in the current model. The proposed model sought to encourage also the creation, advancement and dissemination of non-technological innovations, in contrast to the current, which focuses primarily technological approach. Additionally, some measures have been suggested, in order to increase the interactions between the main actors of the system. / Com o fim da Guerra Fria e os acontecimentos que marcaram o 'onze de setembro', novas ameaças surgiram, impactando negativamente a percepção de segurança coletiva, e impondo profundas modificações nas estruturas e no modo de atuação do Poder Militar de diversas nações. A marginalidade social, o narcotráfico, o crime organizado, a degradação do meio ambiente e outras tantas ameaças, fizeram com que algumas nações se vissem motivadas a empregar suas Forças Armadas, prioritariamente, no combate a estas mazelas, ou seja, nas operações de não-guerra. Este fenômeno vem causando uma ebulição nas ciências militares, com reflexo no campo social, político e econômico, provocando um processo conhecido como 'Transformação da Defesa', que só é viável com a ruptura de alguns modelos tradicionais de administração e com a introdução de uma nova cultura organizacional que promova um ambi-ente adequado ao processo de inovações no setor de Defesa. Para fazer gestão deste processo, deve haver um sistema de inovação setorial de Defesa, já que o atual modelo, conforme apon-tou a investigação, é fragmentado e desarticulado, que produz, fundamentalmente, inovações incrementais e, raramente as de ruptura. Trata-se de um sistema virtual, que não existe for-malmente como tal, mas que possui toda a infraestrutura necessária para funcionar como um sistema formal e gerenciável. A pesquisa, de caráter epistemológico estruturalista, teve por objetivo desenvolver um modelo conceitual para gestão do sistema de inovação do setor de Defesa (segmento de não-guerra), com base em uma estrutura subjacente desvelada, que, de forma oculta, dá suporte ao sistema atual. O desvelamento desta estrutura permitiu concluir que, no campo estudado, os agentes do sistema de inovação, agindo de acordo com seus inte-resses, mobilizam, de forma consciente ou inconsciente, os fatores valorativos da inovação presentes na cultura organizacional em que estão imersos, os quais, juntamente com a influên-cia dos fatores de suporte (o Capital), são fundamentais para a formação de alianças e, em consequência, para o processo de inovação no segmento de não-guerra do setor de Defesa. Como era esperado, o desvelamento da estrutura subjacente propiciou a realização de um di-agnóstico preciso do sistema estudado, permitindo ao pesquisador o lançamento de um olhar crítico sobre o mesmo, o que contribui para a proposição de uma intervenção segura no modelo vigente. O modelo proposto buscou incentivar, também, a criação, o avanço e a difusão das inovações não-tecnológicas, contrapondo-se ao atual, que privilegia fundamentalmente a abordagem tecnológica. Adicionalmente, foram sugeridas algumas medidas, no sentido de incrementar as interações entre os principais agentes do sistema.

The present dissertation provided an insight of the organizational culture and the innovative behavior of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the early stages of the innovation process. The method Culture Types of Organizations certified that the investigated SMEs possessed a distinctive family culture, and in addition an innovation cul-ture at the company headquarters. By using the social research method Grounded Theory the so called theory "Innovation kultivieren" was developed. This theory consists of three process stages. The first process stage "Mindset geben" is about defining and anchoring new innovative company's values. The second process stage "Innovation organisieren" defines the organizational responsibilities and last but not least, the third process stage "Innovation strukturieren" delivers various accompanying soft skill factors to improve the innovation culture of companies.

Innovation has increasingly become a crucial factor in the development of contemporary societies, to such an extent that Innovation has now come to be regarded as a key issue for the achievement of sustainable economic growth and resilient social welfare systems. Therefore, the phenomenon of Innovation has been extensively analysed during the past century; and analyses have been carried out from a wide range of approaches: Economics, Technical Studies, and Cultural Studies, amongst others. However, practically none of those works tried to deepen the link between Innovation and Foresight (especially with its more integrative approaches: Images of the Future and Participatory Foresight). The aim of this research is to contribute to theoretical development within the cross-disciplinary field of Foresight and Innovation through the analysis of the links existing between these two aspects and the proposal of new ways to approach their study (based on the use of social media communication tools). This doctoral dissertation comprises a total of 5 essays (2 articles, 2 book chapters and 1 paper at an international congress) plus 4 annexes (2 articles, 1 book chapter and 1 paper at a national congress). All these essays and annexes are the result of the work that the candidate carried out as a researcher of FUTURLAB – The Foresight Laboratory (University of Alicante), with the invaluable help of the researchers from the Finland Futures Research Centre (Finland).

VUCA är ett begrepp, som används för att beskriva den komplexa, oförutsägbara och snabbrörliga omvärld vi lever i idag. Det talas ofta om ett paradigmskifte och att det kommer krävas nya managementmodeller för att framgångsrikt leda organisationer. Det ställs ökade krav på organisationer att snabbt kunna ställa om, ständigt arbeta med förbättring och utveckling för att öka sin innovationskraft. Psykologisk trygghet är ett fenomen som fått ökat utrymme i näringslivet och i forskning under senare år, då det starkt korrelerar med individers och teams förmåga att möta förändring och vara högpresterande. Psykologisk trygghet är en gemensam övertygelse hos medlemmarna i ett team om att teamet är tryggt för interpersonellt risktagande. Syftet med denna uppsats var att bidra med kunskap kring hur företag arbetar för att vara i ständig förnyelse och bygga kapacitet i organisationen för att möta kraven i VUCA, samt förstå hur psykologisk trygghet kan vara en motor i det arbetet. En kvalitativ intervjustudie genomfördes med sex intervjuer på två större organisationer. Studiens resultat pekar på sex viktiga fokusområden för att vara och leda i ständig förnyelse och framgångsrikt kunna möta de nya kraven. Dessa sex fokusområden beskrivs på följande sätt: Storytelling -”varför” som möjliggörare för motivation och mening, Förmåga att lära - nyfikenhet som möjliggörare för nytänkande och innovation, Ledarbeteenden - vara förebild som möjliggörare för beteendeförändring, Individen i centrum - självkännedom som möjliggörare för  självledarskap, Ägandeskap - autonomi som möjliggörare för ansvarskänsla och empowerment och Arbetssätt - lita på processen som möjliggörare för struktur och uthållighet. Studien visar vidare att det finns stark koppling mellan psykologisk trygghet och de sex fokusområdena för att vara i ständig förnyelse och kunna möta kraven i omvärlden. Psykologisk trygghet är en möjliggörare för att bygga kapacitet genom dessa fokusområden. Fokusområdena bidrar i sin tur till ökad psykologisk trygghet, samtidigt som de möjliggör att vara i ständig förnyelse. / VUCA is the term used to describe the complex, uncertain and rapid changing world we live in today. Often it is described as a new paradigm with needs for new management models to continue to be successful. In order to be able to meet the new requirements, organizations need to develop ability to smoothly adapt to change, constantly work with improvement and development to increase their power to innovate. Psychological safety is a phenomenon that got more attention in business and research in recent years, due to its high correlation to the ability of individuals and teams to face change and to be high performance units. Psychological safety is a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. The purpose of this thesis was to contribute with knowledge about how companies work to build capacity in organizations to meet the requirements of VUCA, as well as understanding how psychological safety can be an enabler in this work. A qualitative interview study was conducted with six interviews at two larger organizations. The result of the study highlights six important focus areas for being in continuous renewal and successfully meeting the new requirements. These six focus areas are described as follows: Storytelling - “why” as an enabler for motivation and meaning, Ability to learn - curiosity as an enabler for innovation, Leadership behaviours - to be a role model as an enabler for behaviour change, People centric approach - self-awareness as an enabler for self-leadership, Ownership - autonomy as an enabler for responsibility and empowerment and “Way of working” - trust the process as an enabler for structure and endurance. The study further shows that there is a strong link between psychological safety and the six focus areas. Psychological safety is an enabler to build capacity in these areas. The focus areas contribute in return to increase psychological safety and at the same time support the ability to meet the complex, uncertain and rapidly changing world. / <p>2020-11-26</p>

This thesis examines dynamic capabilities and leadership in a Swedish social sustainability-oriented housing project during the unprecedented 2020-2021 COVID-19 business disruption. It employs a descriptive case study approach, investigating the organization’s ability to innovate in the face of the pandemic. Sweden’s related health regulations required adaptations through digital transformation, the adoption of social and physical distancing policies and program testing and measurement delays. Dynamic capabilities literature emphasizes the role of innovation amid disruption, offering a useful analytical framework for examining organizations’ evolutionary fitness. Organizations whose core business incorporates societal needs to promote social sustainability are unusually challenged to deliver services and social programs during a pandemic that limits or extinguishes physical and social interactions. To meet this extraordinary disruption, social sustainability-oriented organizations such as the object of the study must rapidly innovate. Adapting an existing dynamic capabilities framework to analyze the housing organization, this study finds leadership to be crucial to identify, build, and deploy organizational dynamic capabilities for innovation to address such challenges. The study contributes to the existing literature by developing a framework that provides clear connections between leaders, external micro and macro environments, customer value creation and organizational dynamic capabilities. Leaders who can adapt and help their organizations evolve are demonstrated to be an essential capability when dealing with disruptions to social innovations.

Innovation and creativity are regarded as key drivers for organisational innovative success. Organisations that do not have a strategic focus on innovation and creativity and do not have a culture fostering innovative behaviour, will find it difficult to survive in these turbulent times. The innovative ability of organisations depends heavily on all employees at all levels of the organisation. Innovations driven by employees are known as EDI and creativity. Even though organisations understand the importance of EDI, a significant number of barriers within organisations still hamper EDI and creativity. The study was exploratory in nature and provided valuable insights into determining whether supervisory behaviour and the internal work environment had an impact on EDI and creativity in an ODeL institution in South Africa. A quantitative survey design was selected for this study. A census approach was followed, and primary quantitative data were collected from a subgroup within the identified institution, using self-administered electronic questionnaires. Through the process of exploratory factor analysis, five supervisory behaviour/management factors and five internal work environment factors were identified. The supervisory behaviour/management factors included supervisory support, management support, innovation management, innovative leadership, and team innovation. The internal work environment factors included organisational innovation culture, innovation mechanisms, innovative opportunities, risk-taking tolerance, and dedication to innovation. Correlation and structural equation modelling were conducted. The results indicate a relationship between supervisory behaviour and the internal work environment with regard to EDI and creativity. Recommendations regarding supervisory behaviour and creating enabling work environments to enhance and support EDI and creativity are made. / Human Resource Management / M. Com. (Human Resource Management)