An exploration into new forms of organizing: Building a theory and process model to enhance understanding of innovating firms and organizations

There is growing consensus among many scholars in the fields of strategic management and organizational science that the current economic and organizational theories are not sufficient to explain or predict the behavior of many innovating firms and organizations in today's dynamic, knowledge-based environment. The complexity and imprecise nature of innovation make it difficult to comprehend what it is about the concept that is of strategic value to the firm or organization. This research systematically identifies and then examines the characteristics common to innovating firms and organizations for the purpose of beginning to build the theoretical underpinnings of new forms of organizing for innovation. A new theoretical framework is proposed that helps to explain the structure and processes common to innovating firms and organizations in the post-industrial age.; This study is qualitative in nature and uses an inductive methodology to develop grounded theory. Using environmental scanning techniques, multiple stages of data collection are conducted in order to identify and describe an initial set of conceptual categories or characteristics that are common to innovating firms and organizations. Then, semi-structured interviews are conducted of 55 firm and organization leaders, or individuals in senior leadership positions, across a broad spectrum of US and international industries in order to obtain data to support, refute, iterate, or add to those categories. A final conceptual model is developed that depicts the categories and their relationship to each other. The findings indicate that innovating firms and organizations have seven distinct characteristics: a team-based/hierarchy balance; extensive use of collaborative practices, processes for knowledge management, information integration; enterprising employees; guiding/creative/bold leadership; and over time, an innovative culture and history.; While a guiding/creative/bold leader is found to be the most important characteristic to creating an innovating organization, this individual must be accompanied by some number of enterprising employees in order to sustain the innovating nature. In fact, it is the enterprising characteristics inherent in both the leader and the employees that are considered necessary to gaining and sustaining innovation. Extant economic and organization theories do not adequately explain these results; therefore a new theory is proposed called, “Human Enterprise Theory.”...