Progress is impossible without change. Change is faster than ever, and the period between 2015 and 2020 is poised to redefine virtually every facet of how we live and work. Thus, company recruiters seek employees with the skill of adaptability to change. In this section, we discuss the innovation and change interrelationship and risk, the forces for change, and types and forms of change.


Creativity is a way of thinking that generates new ideas and that creativity can lead to innovation. Innovation is the implementation of a new idea. But creativity doesn’t count until it is implemented through innovation. Two important types of innovation are product innovation (new things goods/services) and process innovation (new ways of doing things). Thus, all innovations require some changes to be made in the organization.


Organizational change is alterations of existing work routines and strategies that affect the whole organization. Innovation requires risks, and successfully fast-growing companies are greater innovative risk takers, as they take advantage of opportunities. Unfortunately, failing to take risks and change with the environment can lead to a decline.


Formal organizational structures are needed to coordinate internal activities. Organizations that stimulate innovation are commonly structured as flat organizations with limited bureaucracy, have a generalist division of labor, coordinate with cross-functional teams, and are flexible. They use small team structures. Use of informal authority is common, and authority is decentralized.



Many innovative organizations set up skunkworks projects. A skunkworks project is one typically developed by a small and loosely structured group of people who research and develop a project primarily for the sake of radical innovation. Employees need to take ownership in pride in being part of an innovative culture. The successful organizations encourage creativity and innovation. A method of encouraging risk taking is through encouraging intrapreneurs, people who start a new line of business for an existing company.