Talking About Organizations Podcast 73: Organizing Innovation -- Michael Tushman (Part 2)
Feb 23, 2021
Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, a former student of Michael Tushman and a researcher in open innovation, joins the discussion to delve into Tushman's seminal work on innovation processes. They highlight how his 1977 ideas on boundary roles apply to current challenges like remote collaboration. Topics include the impact of open innovation on professional identities at NASA, the importance of boundary spanning for effective communication in R&D, and the balance between formal structures and informal interactions, especially in a post-pandemic world.
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NASA Crowdsourcing Identity Shift
- Hila Lifshitz-Assaf studied how NASA projects adopted open innovation via crowdsourcing and found distinct reactions from different labs.
- The key challenge was dismantling knowledge boundaries and redefining professional identity to embrace open collaboration.
Trust Challenges in Open Innovation
- Open innovation disrupts traditional boundary trust because collaborators from crowdsourcing platforms are unknown.
- This requires new ways to evaluate external knowledge since status or familiarity no longer apply.
Evolving Innovation Coordination
- Innovation coordination evolved from simple information exchange to complex collaborative problem solving across disciplines.
- The explosion of ideas through open innovation demands organizing processes to integrate diverse knowledge streams effectively.