企业内部创新竞赛的推动策略:一项案例研究

A case study of the promoting strategies for innovation contest within a company

创新竞赛已成为企业获取创意的重要手段,如何激发参与者热情从而产生大量高质量的新想法是竞赛成功运作的关键。本文采用嵌入式案例研究方法,针对沃尔沃汽车中国有限公司研发中心的年度创新竞赛活动,对比分析该研发中心两个部门的推动策略,发现多层面因素如竞赛流程设置、创新推动者权力基础、竞赛重视程度感知、成员知识基础等影响推动者领导行为和创意产生方式。两部门采用不同的推动策略均圆满完成竞赛任务,参与型领导方式和多轮互动群体的头脑风暴法所形成的开放激发策略有利于营造自由宽松的创新氛围,而命令型领导方式和分组名义群体的头脑书面法作为闭合汇聚策略则强化竞争高效的部门文化。从长期来看,两种策略面临不同挑战。

Innovation contest has become a practice adopted by many companies to collect new ideas. How to stimulate participa- tion so as to generate numerous ideas of high quality is the key to the success of innovation contest. Using embedded case study method, we analyze and compare the promoting strategies of two units within the R＆D center of Volvo Car China for an annual in- novation contest. It is found that multilevel factors, including contest routine, power base of innovation champions, perception of the importance of contest, knowledge base of members, influenced the champions＇ leadership and the ways of idea generation. We find that both units with different promoting strategies successfully completed the task of innovation contest. One unit applied opening inspiration strategy by combining participative leadership and multi - round brainstorming of interactive group, while the other unit adopted closing convergence strategy by combining directive leadership and brainstorming of nominal groups. The for- mer generated relaxed innovative climate, whereas the latter reinforced competition and efficiency culture. Both units might face different challenges in the long run.