Applications: In order to promote organizational innovation, a coach should encourage and guide her leader client in the management of growth and size within their organization (recognizing that most organizational problems can’t be solved simply by growing larger). She should also encourage her client to consider growth not in the size of their organization, but in the number and diversity of cooperative and strategically collaborative agreements they have with other organizations. (Bergquist, Betwee and Meuel, 1995; Kanter, 1997, Chapter 20)
Preferences and Distinctive Contributions
There will be little evolution if mating within a specific species is random. If members of a species show preferences for specific characteristics in those of the opposite sex, then evolution is more likely to occur.
Implications: Life in an innovative organization isn’t fair. Some people seem to be doing a better job and are coming up with more ideas than other people. In his assessment of diversity and complexity, Scott Page proposes that: “systems need competition to flourish and diversity increases competition.” (Page, 2011, p. 217) “Absent competition” concludes Page, “entities—be they firms, species, political parties, or ideas –may lack pressure to improve or respond to changes on the landscape. . . .[D]iversity provides the seeds for innovation and thus . . . pulls toward more pressure.” (Page, 2011, p. 216) This emphasis on competition and preference for the fittest certainly doesn’t appeal to our sense of fair play and may even contradict the societal values of democracy. However, it might be critical to the promotion of innovation and organizational change.
What is the distinctive contribution to be made by each member of the organization and by each functioning unit of the organization? How do we take full advantage of the distinctive strengths of each member and unit – while also recognizing that these distinctive strengths can get the member, unit (and overall organization) in trouble if overused or used inappropriately. The answer to these questions in part resides in the analysis of the fifth assumption in the Hardy-Weinberg Model—with specific emphasis being placed on an organizational culture of appreciation (Srivasta, Cooperrider and Associates, 1990; Bergquist, 2003; Cooperrider and Whitney, 2005; Bushe, 2010).
Applications: In order to promote organizational innovation, a coach should guide her leader client in the identification of leverage points (internal strengths) within their organization and strategic advantages (external opportunities) they hold with regard to other organizations in their same market. The coach should also help her client identify the individual strengths they hold in the organization, as well as ways in which these strengths may be over-used or used in an inappropriate manner by themselves.
