Many are Called but Few are Chosen: Modeling the Selection Process for the Innovations in American Government Awards (original) (raw)

Encouraging innovation in the public sector

Journal of Intellectual Capital, 2001

The public sector has traditionally been considered inhospitable to innovation, particularly innovations initiated by middle managers and front‐line staff. Unlike the private sector, the public sector is characterized by asymmetric incentives that punish unsuccessful innovations much more severely than they reward successful ones, by the absence of venture capital to seed creative problem solving, and by adverse selection by innovative individuals against public service careers. A growing body of evidence based on applications to innovation awards reveals that, despite this inhospitable environment, frontline public servants and middle managers are responsible for many innovations. In addition, some public sector organizations have consistently produced a large number of innovations. Draws on this evidence to suggest ways of enhancing public sector organizations’ capacity for innovation.

International Quality Award Models: Innovation Enablers or Inhibitors?

European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Historical development of models and criteria supporting major international quality awards is driven more by continuous or incremental improvement than by breakthrough improvement. This has been the case in particular relative the most enduring such awards - the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Business Excellence Award, America’s Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence (MBNQA), and the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence. In possible contrast are initiatives such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and the imputed urgency for improvement, innovation and change associated with these, due in large to the sheer scope and magnitude of change needed – especially with respect to societal or environmental challenges. While sufficiently rapid iteration across a large enough number of cycles has the potential of rivaling the magnitude of innovation attained through a focus on breakthrough improvement, such an approach is unl...

In two decades of awards, how many for innovation? The role of diffusion within the Enap Awards

Cadernos EBAPE.BR, 2019

Resumo Este estudo mapeia dimensões e variáveis explicativas da difusão da inovação em serviços públicos e testa sua aplicação ao caso do Prêmio Enap. Por meio de revisão de literatura, compõe-se um modelo teórico conceitual explicativo da difusão da inovação aplicável a serviços públicos para posterior teste empírico. Esse modelo tem 10 variáveis, distribuídas em 2 dimensões: 1) Características da organização - composta por a) sobra organizacional, b) flexibilidade e descentralização, c) alinhamento entre alta administração, gerências e líderes, d) comunicação inter e intraorganizacional, e) capacidade de assumir riscos e f) aprendizagem/conhecimento organizacional; e 2) Características da inovação - composta por a) adaptação/reinvenção, b) complexidade, c) vantagem relativa e d) compatibilidade. Testa-se a manifestação das dimensões e suas variáveis na percepção de 5 membros da avaliação externa do Prêmio Enap, aqui denominados especialistas. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestru...