Harvard professor inspires managemen,t executives in Pune

Michael Tushman, an internationally recognised instructor in corporate executive education programmes and faculty chair for the advanced management programme at Harvard Business School, was in the city recently. He conducted an exclusive workshop for senior management executives.

At the workshop organised by Europe Asia Business School, Tushman discussed the what, why and how of institutionalising innovation in organisations.

alking about the need for organisations to understand and drive innovation, Tushman said, “Streams of innovations are central to the dynamic capabilities of an organisation, but spinouts are possible only when non-incremental innovations are initiated within ambidextrous organisational designs. Total Quality Management (TQM), non-incremental innovations together with multiple types of innovation portfolios, enhance and provide the necessary platform for infusing innovation in organisations. Though the method leads to contradictions, building multiple alignments helps in organisational evolution.”

On whether the process of institutionalising innovation should be a continuous one, Tushman said, “Though it is easy to say and difficult to do, if we have a team to work on the process, there will always be a breakthrough within the failures. The exploratory staff being backed by research — bolting together innovations for a continuous stream of new products and new services — is part of an organisation. Accept no failures and learn from them rapidly to strive over time.”

Tushman also discussed how innovation helps create a competitive advantage. “Thinking in advance, getting products in the market lead to more confidence. Constantly being innovative about maintaining class, quality and service is more challenging, but it ensures that you don’t get clobbered in the market place,” he said.