Знание, новшество и развитие (english)

The KIDWritten by Kuropatkina SerafimaSaint-Petersburg19981.Moving into the futureKnowledge is thething that makes a difference. It is matter of being better informed than theothers, getting ideas before the others these are the things that allow somecompanies to take off and remain leaders for a long time. In the past knowledgeand innovations didn t play an important role in company management. The impactof these factors on the competition wasn t very big and obvious.

From thesecond half of 19th century industries and management started to developrapidly and by the end of 20th century inventions have penetrated all spheresof production, business and human life in general. Competition has dramaticallyincreased, creating the necessity for each company to improve and developconstantly. We are moving into the future where it is not possible to win thegame using traditional methods. This proves a need of a separate structure withineach company that would deal with existing

knowledge, innovative ideas,development of production process and working life. It is essential to design acompletely new department. Let s call it - the department of Knowledge,Innovation and Development KID . This system also will allow the company toavoid high opportunity costs of not doing some improvements which could reducecosts and give rise to profits.

Let s take a close look on the KID department,its functions and structure. 2. The department ofKnowledge, Innovation and Development KID 2.1. KID s functionsThe generalfunctions of the KID are tosolve different problems that come up in a company using known methods or newideas of the employees toconstantly develop company s production cycle and products togive aid to all departments

concerning possible improvement and elimination ofdrawbacksIn order tofulfill its general functions KID will carry out the following subfunctions receivingfresh ideas or problems from staff of different departments selectingthe most useful and relevant ideas and checking the existence of the problem developingideas and problem solutions if needed to level required for implementation makingthe final decision in cooperation with the department s involved implementingthe developed idea controllingthe implementation process,

altering if necessary evaluatingthe outcome, calculating financial results rewardingthe idea maker changingthe corporate culture and working environment towards creativity and innovationvalues.2. Structure of theKID departmentIn correspondencewith its main activities the KID should consist of the followingdepartments 1 gathering and filtering department organizes research, selects ideas, checks the relevance of problems, respondsto idea proposers and customers 2 developing

department works out solutionsto problems pointed out by employees or customers, invites authors of goodideas for closer cooperation 3 executive department plans, runs, controlsimplementation process, negotiates with other departments 4 social relations department deals withmotivation, awards, customer relations and different social activities At first thedepartment 2 should closely cooperate with present R amp D. In the futureR amp D can become subject to 2 .

2.3. How to create aKID?Creation of KIDmust be supported on the highest level of management. Without this nothing canhappen.4. PreliminaryactivitiesFirst we mustanalyze how innovative is the company. How often changes take place. Whoproposes them. How do workers feel about sharing the ideas. Do their ideas getattention? This will show the present situation and allow us to estimate thehow much time and resources

KINext step is tointroduce to everyone in the company the new department, to explain its purposeand functions, to show how the company and every single employee will benefitfrom it.Then allocate thepeople and resources and create the department itself. For the beginning KIDcan be formed with existing managers and experts. But when many companies aregoing to be using similar systems they will need specially trained workers.

Faculties should be designed in universities and colleges teaching students todeal with new ideas and to use existing theories and experience of preceding generations in order to solveproblems and develop their company. 5. Designinginformation flows As a part of organization s information systemwe must work out a mechanism of idea and problem flow from the employees andcustomers to the KID. Among the numerous motivation theories there are theory

Xand theory Y. X suggests that the worker is passive and needs to be closelycontrolled and forced in order to get results. Y - the worker is creative andeager to work. He just needs proper conditions to show himself. I went further.I believe that there are two types of workers in the company - X and Y, activeand passive. That s why the KID needs two approaches.

For example open entry - every worker can come to the gatheringdepartment directly or put his ideas in written form into special bins thatwould be available at his working place. This way the employees will be able toexpress their thoughts at any desired time obligatoryinterviewing - from timeto time KID will give out to workers questioners which they must fill. Thesecould consist of the following questions - Haveyou noticed any problems concerning the work of

your department? Have you anysuggestions on how to solve them Isthere anything you d like to improve in your department and in the wholecompany? How your suggestions Howdo you feel about our company s products services ? How can they be developedor improved? Etc. The interviewingshould be carried out at all departments, but not at the same time. This willallow to avoid conjunction at the gathering and filtering department.

2.6. MotivationMotivation of theworkers. We must estimate the level of actual needs of employees and develop amechanism of motivation universal for every worker. There can be manymotivating factors. They depend on the economic conditions in the country,standards of living and financial situation in the company. Money, jobpromotion, board of honor, competition of ideas with prizes, etc. Motivationthrough corporate culture is also required.

We can put posters in often visitedplaces. Posters may say - Byparticipating the KID s activities you will help your company, improve yourwork and life Becompany patriotic Bea perfectionist. Spot a problem - tell the KID about it Giveus ideas because nobody knows your work better then you etc.2.7. Cooperation withexpertsWe need toorganize cooperation with specialists.

It isn t useful to have our own staff ofexperts because theywill not always be logged with work and this will produce extra costs theywill soon become useless because they will be drawn away from current work oftheir departments.We also mustinvestigate whom we can rely on. Not all experts innovative and understand thenecessity of change. Cooperation with KID will be part of responsibilities ofthose experts who work with it.

Organizecooperation with management of different departments. An order to implement anyidea must come directly from the management of the department involved. 2.8. KID s positionwithin the companyThe scheme ofKID s position in the company can look like this Kid provides eachdepartment with its services. Department in return provide KID with someinformation, resources etc. The connections are 1.

Marketing department provides informationreceived from different marketing research. Specifies the situation on themarket. Gives feedback on KID s activities have the sales increased? howmuch? 2. Production department gives feedback onKID s activities has productivityincreased? how much? 3. Human resource administration cooperates with KID closely.

Helps it with motivation.4. Financial department provides KID withmoney for all activities within the budget of course . Gives feedback on KID sactivities financial results figures, information about changes in costs andrevenues .5. Customers give KID valuable feedback aboutproducts and services.6. Employees give KID ideas, cooperate with itand receive rewards for their work.7.

Experts work with KID on specific problems. 2.9. Control functionsof the KIDIf the innovationis complex we must monitor closely the field of implementation and if problemsoccur - take care of them immediately.Collect feedbackfrom all people related concerning the results. Taking action if necessary.Remember that no change comes without negative response. Calculate results based on financial information, information about productivity and costs,etc

Reward the idea author depending on these figures. Tell everyone aboutthis great man, who helped to the company so much . 2.10. CustomerrelationsCustomer feedbackmust also come to the KID, not marketing department. Marketing departmentdoesn t have direct stimulus to analyze information related to otherdepartments. It might have difficulties making changes in other departments dueto lack

of power.The KID system isnot of course ideal. It is just a draft, an idea of what could be developedinto a universal model. But as I see it - every company that wants to succeedin the coming high-tech future must start to develop such a system as soon aspossible.