Cultures Institutions and Capacities

Leaders create either “enabling” or “inhibiting” environments through their words, intent, actions, or patterns. In some cases, leaders advocate innovation in their speeches (words) while their actions point to the opposite. The patterns of rewards also may depict lip service to innovation, while behaviors that inhibit innovation are rewarded. Innovation is leadership-driven and must run from the top leadership to the lower ranks within the university.

Innovation is an inherently risky process, and the chances of failure are high. This requires that the researchers/innovators are assured that failure will not necessarily attract punishment but will be treated as a learning opportunity and that the financial risks associated with this process can be absorbed by the university.

People are at the center of innovation, and they must possess the requisite skills/capabilities to engage in innovation. In a continuously changing and competitive environment, this calls for continuous skills upgrading. It is essential, therefore, that universities provide their staff with opportunities for such skills development. These may be organized and paid for by third parties, but the University could also tap in the resources/expertise in the different disciplines to train its staff. It could also set up a budget to send its staff or specialized training.

People routinely do what they are measured and rewarded for. Rewarding innovation-promoting behavior reinforces such behavior within the organization. If team effort, risk-taking, networking, and other innovation-enhancing characteristics are recognized in career progression and remuneration, organizations tend to get more of the same from their staff.

Career progression in the universities has been based on publication outputs and guided by publishing or perish mindset. However, to promote innovation, universities have begun to include inventions, patents, trademarks, and community outreach as part of their performance evaluation plans.

It is widely agreed that “you get what you reward.” The existence of various awards and prizes demonstrate what the university values and may influence the focus/emphasis of researchers and staff. It is also a signal of where the university emphasizes in terms of research. Such awards and prizes could be instituted by the university administration but could also be sponsored by the private sector (companies) or even individuals.

It has been argued that most universities emphasize on teaching and that large student numbers put a heavy workload on staff leaving very little time for research and community outreach activities. To solve this, many universities have devised a workload policy that defines the proportion of time staff should spend on various events (teaching, research, and outreach).