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E x c e l l e n c e i n p u b l i c s e r v i c e : D e l i v e r y a n d r e f o rm Leadership and innovation Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2014/15 46 types of networks might be important for specific innovation processes, but it is unlikely to be the case that there is a ‘one size fits all’ ideal type that supports innovation of all types and in all circumstances. Conclusion The LIPSE analysis from Copenhagen provides a first cut at the task of uncovering the relationships between innovation capacity, networks and leadership, and structures. The results have been used to build on this theory and establish a framework for the future comparative analysis, which will link innovation environments (governance structures, social networks and leadership qualities) to innovation capacity and innovativeness. The comparative analysis planned to follow this foundational work will utilise some fairly well-established, as well as some emergent hypotheses, about the links between innovation, networks and leadership, and structure. These will be added to as the analysis progresses for each of structures, networks and leadership in relation to each other, and in relation to innovation capacity. At present there are some well-accepted links between governance structures and innovation capacity in the literature, so it is possible to put forward a hypothesis that: • Municipalities located in states that are decentralised, have corporatist governance traditions and have a strong civil society also have greater innovation capacity Similarly, there is widespread agreement in the literature that being outward looking and open to new ideas is linked to innovation, so it is reasonable to hypothesise that: • Municipalities with greater levels of external contact have greater innovation capacity • Municipalities with more connections across the internal administrative boundaries have greater innovation capacity More speculatively, the preliminary work on networks suggests that: • A mixture of different types of brokers (with different levels of redundancy in their networks) is related to innovation capacity Finally, some examples of hypotheses that could be used to examine the relationship between leadership and networks, and leadership and self-rated innovativeness (respectively), are: • Views on leadership qualities are related to ego-network positions • Municipalities with more ‘motivator’ leaders have higher levels of self-rated innovativeness These and other hypotheses will be tested empirically against the existing data. The ultimate aim is to gain an understanding of how the innovation capacity of public organisations is related to innovation environments, based on the framework outlined here, which consists of governance structures, social networks and leadership qualities. Endnotes 1 See: www.innovation-cities.com/indexes. Accessed 9 December 2014. Much of the focus on innovation through the lens of new public management has been on individual entrepreneurship to drive change, while the network governance or new public governance version emphasises ‘co-creation’ as producing innovation through new government–society interactions. Innovation in the public sector is related to the leadership qualities of both politicians and senior administrators. Transformational leadership New public management included the concept of transformational leadership (Burns, 1978), which focused on managers leading change through creating visions, managing complex change and goal setting. It was established in contrast to the traditional administrative and rule-bound role for public managers, casting them instead as inspirational leaders that help employees to reach their potential by focusing on their performance. Interpersonal skills Beinicke (2009) highlights interpersonal skills as important to innovation and change management. His list covers communicating, teamwork, coaching, and negotiating and conflict resolution. Entrepreneurship An entrepreneur is usually a maverick, somewhat of a risk taker and typically a ‘lone rider’. Entrepreneurs are generally regarded as being more likely to be found in the private sector. Collaborative skills Network public governance might be characterised as changing the focus from the individual to the organisation. When such a move is made, consideration must be paid to the motivational and efficiency forces of the organisation; to facilitating processes that include external collaborators as well as internal employees; and on handling intractable problems. Taking complexity into consideration in aspects of implementation at an early stage of the innovation process may contribute to the creation of more robust solutions. New public governance is said to entail a new perspective on citizens as associates in the innovation process rather than service-receivers. Dynamic capabilities Public sector environments change rapidly due to frequent changes in policy. The dynamic capability framework has been applied to private organisations to understand how firms stay competitive by adapting to changing environments. Dynamic capabilities differ from and supplement a resource-based view in that they are distinctive processes that facilitate not only the ability to recognise changes in the strategic environment, but also the processes of changing and shaping the company’s asset position, and protecting the intangible assets that support the business in the long run. In the LIPSE study, these five concepts were used to generate a list of 21 sub-questions for the survey.


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