Tarun's Blog

Which contextual, behavioural & social factors are responsible for producing technically efficient innovations?

Project Paper

MSc. iBusiness – Smurfit UCD – Tarun Rattan

First I would like to thank our course co-coordinator Prof. Donncha Kavanagh who introduced the class to so many of these new concepts around business & research enquiry. I found all the readings introduced during the module quite interesting and thought provoking. This was the first time I attended a seminar based module and I really enjoyed the format and discourses during the class.

Week 1

The first class went pretty quickly but after discussing the syllabus & project paper requirements, Donncha was able to bring some sense into the course. He explained that the objective here was to develop the skills of enquiry in the students and journal reading and critique will be used for this throughout the module.

Week 2

I found the first presentations on the readings on Geertz & Gursky very thought provoking. The readings were a good introduction on how to frame research question and what skill sets are required to answer these questions. The Balinese cockfight article was in particular helpful to understand how interconnections between social norms & game play work and how researching game play can make evident the underlying societal customs & hierarchical structures.

Week 3

In the next class Brannick’s & Huff’s readings introduced me for the first time into the interplay & disconnect between academicians & practitioners. The articles were a good introduction into different research paradigms and highlighted the challenges in bringing the academics & practitioners together to solve common contextual issues. Particularly the interference to Plato’s cave made by Donncha brought the clarity around disconnect between the two worlds.

Week 4

Abrahamson & Pfeffer’s readings were for the defining moment of the module and I was in particular fascinated by the arguments raised by Abrahamson on diffusion & rejection of innovations. The readings were a great introduction to the art of collecting & analysing evidences as well as acted as a primer for critical thinking. As this was our turn for presentation, so we were driving the discussion and I felt afterwards that we did a good job at it.

Week 5

Levy’s reading on effective literature review was very helpful in understanding the literature review process and how IO based simple approach can be used to review the journal articles. Rosenzweig’s article on Halo effect introduced me to challenges of dealing with rhetoric & fallacies while answering research questions.

Week 6

Stern’s article on history of happiness was an enjoyable read. I felt it was US focused but is none the less an interesting insight into the epicurean school of philosophy in an approachable societal / magazine format. Sutton paper, particularly around the implicit social agreements that guide behavior make also for interesting reading. I found it admirable that when the hypothesis they set out to confirm was debunked that they utilized the quantitative / qualitative data gathered to develop a revised position.

Week 7

I found Wacker’s definition of theory around Operation management a bit out of focus. The article lacked any framework on the measurement and analysis of internal processes while building the theories on Operations Management. Dahlander’s artcile on open innovation raised the question on if open source technologies in software, a fair & accurate representation of open innovation? Later Donncha’s discourse on theory & theorizing and reflection on the articles brought a new insight into the discussions.

Week 8, 9 & 10

Unfortunately I had a personal grievance at home and had to rush to India and could not attend the classes on these weeks. But I did read the articles for the weeks and found in particular Scherer’s article on Innovation Lottery interesting.

Week 11

Ghosal & Stein’s articles brought the important topic of ethics in corporate culture to the fore and the class had a passionate discussions around it. One of the conclusions was that defining ethical choices are difficult and that there cannot be any compromise with ethics.

Week 12

On Gordon’s article, I’m not sure if his basic premise is right i.e. that innovation does not have the same potential to create growth in the future and in the past. Who after all can predict future? Perhaps the next big innovation is round the corner. Parker’s article introduced me for the first time to the challenges faced by journal editors and how commercialization of knowledge is putting all of us at a disadvantage.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the module.

1.   Gordon, R. (2012) Is U.S. Economic growth over? Faltering innovation confronts the six headwinds. Cambridge MA. National Bureau of Economic Research.

1.Gordon2012 – Is US growth over?

2.   Parker, M. (2013) Becoming Editor: Or, Pinocchio finally notices the Strings.  Unpublished work, due to be published in Organization.

2.Parker2014 – Becoming Editor

1.   Gordon, R. (2012) Is U.S. Economic growth over? Faltering innovation confronts the six headwinds. Cambridge MA. National Bureau of Economic Research
Gordon’s paper establishes a strong causal link between innovation and economic growth in the US. However when discussing the six headwinds that are lowering long-term growth, it is strange that he does not mention military spending. The US consistently spends 4-5% of it’s GDP on military budgets. Only countries in the troubled areas of the middle-east and Africa have a bigger percentage. This strange situation where the world’s largest debtor has the largest military budget is surely something which must be resolved before other economic concerns such as education, inequality and environmental are ever successfully resolved. Is it this that the author has in mind when conceding that a Canadian or Swedish economist would not be so alarmed when looking at their own respective countries?

On Gordon’s article, I’m not sure if his basic premise is right i.e. that innovation does not have the same potential to create growth in the future and in the past.

Who after all can predict future? perhaps the next big innovation is round the corner.

For example recent developments in genetics are very promising to provide singularity by the middle of this century, which means we might be able to live healthy for almost double the life span human’s have ever lived in history. In Japan lot of work is going on in robotics to provide each & everybody with a robotic servant to do household chores and other mundane work. That would be a development which might change the way we live. Also organisations have already explored plans to extract resources from meteors & other planets etc..

2.   Parker, M. (2013) Becoming Editor: Or, Pinocchio finally notices the Strings.  Unpublished work, due to be published in Organization.
“The Wire is really about the American city, and about how we live together. It’s about how institutions have an effect on individuals, and how … you are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution you’ve committed to.”
David Simon
It is interesting that the author references Foucault in his paper. Foucault put forward the idea that institutions are a way of freezing particular relations of power so that a certain number of people are advantaged. In the same way that David Simon so successfully explored these themes looking at American society in The Wire, is Parker’s paper just an extension of this work focussing on academic journals and how as a journal editor you are similarly compromised? By being clear on the diagnosis of the problem but only briefly summarising potential sources of resistance is the author conceding that Academic publications have no reason to expect to be different?

1.  Ghoshal, S. (2005) ‘Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices’, Academy Of Management Learning & Education, 4(1): 75-91.

1.Ghoshal2005-Bad Management Theories

2.  Stein, M. & Pinto, J. (2011) The Dark Side of Groups: A “Gang at Work” in Enron. Group & Organization Management, 36, 692–721.

2.Stein2011-Dark Side of Groups

1.  Ghoshal, S. (2005) ‘Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices’, Academy Of Management Learning & Education, 4(1): 75-91.
Ghoshal’s paper is very firm on putting the onus of responsibility on academia, but is it overly so? Those not obeying the rules will always prosper when left unchecked and unrestrained whereas the moral well intentioned company will get left behind in comparison. The travelling expedition who ruthlessly abandons struggling companions will get there faster than more compassionate rivals. In addition the question should be asked if the situation as it is now is actually reversible. Friedman influenced politicians such as Thatcher and Reagan have surely opened the stable door so wide that the horse has well and truly bolted. Would a change in academic teachings and publications, however dramatic, really see a comprehensive re-introduction of the systematic checks and balances, regulatory bodies, trade unions and trade barriers which have now all but been dismantled by successive governments?
2.  Stein, M. & Pinto, J. (2011) The Dark Side of Groups: A “Gang at Work” in Enron. Group & Organization Management, 36, 692–721.
The Stein and Pinto paper introduces us to some interesting topics around psychoanalysis but is there a feeling that all we having explained to us is an elaborate explanation of what is simply peer pressure? Also, the discussions on Enron and Lehman Bros seem to be very much a reverse of the Halo theory. The line from that paper that if we were to discuss what characteristics these companies have in common you might conclude that they all reside in buildings seems particularly apt. In the same way that Rosenzweig compellingly argues that we tend to prefer simple notions and that complexities are set aside in our desire to tell a satisfying story when describing success, surely the same charge can be levelled at Stein and Pinto when discussing failings. After all there are surely companies out there who share some or possibly all of the listed traits who have not gone to ruin in the same way.