Molecular Fluorescence Analysis of Proteins Lab Report

Molecular Fluorescence Analysis of Proteins - Lab Report Example As the electron returns from the lowest triplet state to the singlet ground state, a photon is released. The high sensitivity and specificity of fluorescence techniques facilitates the study of individual protein molecules. Therefore, this experiment sought to determine the source of fluorescence in serum albumin by first establishing the fluorescence of two key amino acids that make up serum albumin. Such a study would enable a detailed study of serum albumin as a protein. The experiment also aimed at establishing the concentration of riboflavin using the absorption of known concentrations of riboflavin. Solutions of 10 Â µM tyrosine and tryptophan were made to volumes of 100Â µL each by first preparing 100 mL of 1mM solutions and diluting them to 10 Â µM. The applications software of the fluorescent instrument was loaded after which the condition parameters were set. An emission scan range of between 290 and 380 nm was set alongside slits of 5nm. The emission wavelength was set to 280 nm, and the emission tab was clicked to obtain the emission spectrum of the buffer solution. The spectrum was saved after which the same procedure was repeated for tryptophan. Thereafter, an excitation spectrum for tryptophan was prepared by choosing the optimal emission wavelength according to the results of the emission spectrum. A tyrosine spectrum was obtained using similar conditions as those of the buffer. The tyrosine band was then obtained by subtracting the buffer spectrum from the tyrosine spectrum. All these steps were repeated for serum albumin making sure to save all the spectra. 1.0 mL of 10 ppm riboflavin solution was measured into a 100 mL volumetric flask and diluted using the buffer to make a 100 ppb stock solution. Standard solutions were then prepared using clean volumetric pipettes rinsed with HPLC water. The final concentrations of the standard solutions were

Bretton Woods Institutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bretton Woods Institutions - Essay Example Many people regard these post-colonial institutions to help the developing countries. According to Anghie (2002), these institutions define the ‘unique’ relationship, which exists between international organizations and the Third World. These institutions have been developed, in order for technological advancement of different countries from the developing world, and to refine, reinforce, reproduce and manage the statehood of countries from the Third World (Tan, pp. 31, 2011). Although, established with the aim of reconstructing Europe, the World Bank has taken part in many development projects that have occurred in the Third World. World Bank has also provided different loans to these countries, in order for them to establish themselves properly (Chebucto, n.p, n.d). Although these organizations have been created under the UN charter; in practice, they are largely autonomous (Willis, pp. 36, 2005). These institutions, developed some 60 years ago were developed to put an end to the depression, caused by economic problems, as well as the war, and were a beacon of light for many, especially for the development countries. For this purpose, the paper seeks to examine the ways that the institutions have helped the poor countries (Daly, Farley, pp. 318, 2004). However, since there is large criticism surrounding these Bretton Woods Institutions, it is also imperative to discuss the extent that these organizations have been pro-poor over the years. Nonetheless, it is important to discuss the roles of these two sister organizations, before judging their actions. Although, they had been developed for different purposes, their roles have changed dramatically over the ensuing years. The World Bank seeks to provide development assistance. On the other hand, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) promotes monetary cooperation on an international level through surveying the countries, and lends to those countries, which have a negative position in Balance of Payme nts (BOP). However, their roles often overlap with each other, since they both seek to provide financial assistance, through one way or the other. For example, considering the actions of World Bank and IMF after the economic crisis in Latin America, one would notice that both these organizations help each other in their respective goals (Weiss, Daws, pp. 1, 2006). One can recognize that they have been active in working for the development for the poor through the ways that they have rapidly changed their roles. Aside from maintaining a fixed exchange rate system, which helped poor countries develop economically, the IMF also gave loans to countries, which had balance of payments problems. Most of these problems are experienced by countries, belonging to the Third World, and the repercussions of negative balance of payments are quite magnificent. Hence, in order to correct this situation, short-term loans were provided, during the 1950s. The World Bank sought to develop different cou ntries, by encouraging private investment to flow into the Third World, so that more development could occur in these countries (Weiss, Dawas, pp.5, 2006). Throughout the years, they kept adding more problems to their agenda, so that these problems could be solved. In 1988, the Multilateral Investment

How Motivation Influences The Job Satisfaction Level Management Essay

How Motivation Influences The Job Satisfaction Level Management Essay 1.0 Introduction This study is carried out the important of motivation to influence job satisfaction in an organization, to understand the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction in an organization. In this chapter, will be focusing on research background, research objective, problem statement, and research question. 1.1 Research background The purpose of this study was to find out the impact of motivation on job satisfaction of employee in a organization. Motivation is a basic psychological process. A recent data-based comprehensive analysis concluded that competitiveness problems appear to be largely motivational in nature (Mine, Ebrahimi, and Wachtel, 1995). The management dilemma in many organizations and how they can improve the motivation of employees in the fast paced technological environment. Motives are expression of persons need. Hence they are personal and internal. They also can be incentive on the other hand are external to the person. Motivations are made part of work environment by management in order to satisfy the employees to accomplish task. Job satisfaction is positively affects individual performance. Job satisfaction positively affects individual performance (Petty et al. 1984; Judge et al. 2001; Kim 2005) and this make it highly relevant to investigate the cause of job satisfaction. According to Luthans (1998), motivation is the process of arouses, energizes, direct, and sustains behavior and performance. That is a process to influence people action and to achieve a desired task. There is also one of the way to influence people is to employ effective motivation which make the employee more satisfied and committed to their job. Money is a motivator but is not the only motivator. There is still having other incentives which can also serve as motivator. Employee attitudes relating to job satisfaction and organizational commitment are based on the field of organizational behavior and the practice of human resources management. Attitude has direct impact on job satisfaction. On the other hand, organizational commitment is focuses on their attitudes towards the entire organization. Although the relationship between satisfaction and commitment are strong, but there are more recent research shows that commitment cause satisfaction. 1.2 Problem statement There are many reasons why managers are keep facing the problem in organization. Resources, human and material, technology are a few issues confronting managers daily. The more important is the human aspect has question that has confused managers for a long time such as how can they make some employees perform better with satisfied in their job. According to Schofield (1998), an authoritative study conducted by the Sheffield Effectiveness Programme (a joint research project between the Centre for Economic Performance at the London Stock Exchange and the Institute for Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield) has shown that the way people are managed or motivated has a powerful impact on both productivity and profitability. The study which included measurement of levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees of 67 firms, found that 5% of the profitability variance, and 16% of the productivity variance between companies may be the different variance in job satisfaction levels between their employees. This study is demonstrated the important of job satisfaction, employees motivation and commitment in an organizational capability and effectiveness. According to Watson (1994) business has come to realize that motivated and satisfied workforces can deliver powerful to the bottom line. There are still many employees all over the world do not enjoy the level of job satisfaction and work motivation, because of that they keep seeking alternative employment to experience a higher degree of job satisfaction. Such action will influence an organizations ability to be profitable and successful over n extended period of time. According to Finck, Timmers and Mennes(1998) employees are excited and motivated by what they do will help business be achieve. 1.3 Research objective To find out the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction To determine the impact of motivation towards the employees job satisfaction. To analyze the way to improve the job satisfaction by using work motivation. 1.4 Research question What are the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction? What determine the impact of motivation towards the employees job satisfaction? How work motivation can improve job satisfaction? 2.0 Literature review 2.1 The relationship between motivation and job satisfaction 2.1.1 Motivation According to Pinder(1998 in Ambrose Kulik, 1999) work motivation may be regarded as a set of internal and external forces that initiate work-related behavior, and determine its form, direction, intensity and duration. The concept related to the work and influence on work behavior of both environmental forces. In workplace, work motivation are invisible, it is depends on personal behavior and responsibility of the job. Snell (1999) says that motivation is everything. Without motivation people will not deliver to their potential even the talented people. People that are motivated will perform well and improve the personal ability. He further asserts that company staff are very important in a business due to they are the image of the company that customer see. They have the potential to enhance the quality of service and have the power to influence or reduce the company profits. According to a model developed by Herzberg, motivation is influenced by maintenance and motivational factors. The important motivational factors are the work itself, achievement, growth, responsibility, advancement and recognition. There are basic internal motivators rather than external. The Maslow and Herzberg models are similar due to its focus on needs, but the difference can be seen from the point of views. Nel, Gerber, Van Dyk, Haasbroek, Schultz, Sono and Werner(2001) describe motivation as intentional and directional. Intentional is mean to personal choice and committed of action, and directional indicates being of a driving force aimed at achieving a specific goal. A people who get motivated will know they must achieve the specific goal even in the face of adversity. 2.1.2 Job satisfaction The concept of job satisfaction will be very important now a day. Managers feel that if they responsible for maintaining high levels of job satisfaction among their staff will helps to increase the productivity, absenteeism and staff turnover (Arnold Feldman, 1986). According to Locke (1976), job satisfaction was already significant since the first part of 20th century, for example, there are over 3000 related studies were published between 1935 and 1976 which an average of on publication every five days. Job satisfaction is regarded a s related to important employee and organizational outcomes, ranging from job performance to health and longevity (Spector, 2003). According to Gibson et al (2000) job satisfaction may be defined as an individuals expression of personal well-being associated with doing the job assigned. Job satisfaction depends on the level of internal and external and how the employees view those outcomes. The outcomes of job satisfaction have different values for different people. For some people, responsible and challenging work is negative value and depending on the education level and prior experience with work providing the internal outcomes. For other people, such work outcomes may have high positive values. Those differences would influence the level of jab satisfaction on the same job tasks. Bateman and Snell(1999) say if people feel fairly treated from the outcomes they receive, or the processes used, they will be satisfied. These authors mention that a satisfied worker is not necessarily more productive than a dissatisfied one due to sometimes people are happy with their jobs which dont have to work hard. 2.2 The impact of motivation towards the employees job satisfaction All employers want their workers to perform well of their abilities and they try to provide all the necessary resources and a good working environment in order to keep their employees motivated. However, motivation is a difficult factor to manage due to every employees wants or target does not always match with what the employers provide. Motivation and job satisfaction reinforce each other and work together, if the employee is satisfied on job performance he tend to be motivated. So that understand the employee needs can give better insight to managing human motivation. Frankl(1984) suggested that, motivation reflects peoples search for meaning and that job satisfaction may reflect the degree to which people have found meaning in their work. According to Sylvia and Hutchinson (1985), true job satisfaction is derived from the gratification of higher order needs such as social relations, esteem, and self actualization rather than lower- order needs 2.3 The way to improve the job satisfaction by using work motivation Motivation is very important in an organization nowadays, but not everyone satisfy when the motivation in processes. May be that is because the employers make the wrong way to motivate their employees. Because of that, there are few strategies helps to improve the job satisfaction such as salary, wages and conditions of service, money, staff training, information availability and communication. 2.3.1 Salary, Wages and Conditions of Service To use salaries as a motivator effectively, managers which are motivator must consider four major components of a salary structures such as job rate, payment, personal or special allowances, associated with factors and side benefit. Job rate is relates to the importance the organization attached to each job. Payment is to encourage workers or group by rewarding them according to their performance. Personal or special allowances, associated with factors are the scarcity of particular skills or certain categories of information professionals or with long service. Last but not least, side benefit represent holiday with pay, pensions, and so on. It is also important to ensure the salary structure of the organization will retained the same level of the market salary structure. 2.3.2 Money According to Akintoye(2000), money remains the most significant motivational strategy. Money is the major factor which able to motivate employee to increase the productivity of the company (Taylor, 1911). Incentive system will be able to improve job satisfaction, high performance, commitment. Katz, in Sinclair, et al. (2005) emphasizes the motivational power of money through the process of job choice. He explains that money has a very strong power to attract or motivate individually to achieve higher performance. For example, a employee will simple shift company for the greater financial reward of the job, if the differences of the workload of the job is similar with the current job. Banjoko(1996) mentions that many managers use money to reward or punish workers. 2.3.3 Staff Training No matter how computerized an organization, high productivity depends on the level of motivation and the effectiveness of the workforce. Staff training is an essential strategy for motivating workers. An organization must have good training programme. This will give the employee opportunities for self-improvement and development to meet the challenges and requirements of new equipment and new techniques of performing a task. 2.3.4 Information Availability and Communication One way managers can stimulate motivation is to give relevant information on the consequences of their actions on others (Olajide, 2000). According the researcher, there is no known organizations in which people do not usually feel there should be improvement in the way department communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with one another. Information availability brings a powerful pressure between the employees, where two or more people running together will run faster than when running alone. By sharing information, subordinates compete with one another. 2.4 Theoretical framework Motivation n Salary, Wages and Condition of Service Job Satisfaction Money Staff Training Information Availability and Communication Dependent variable Independent variable 2.4.1 Analysis path The framework shows that the two variables in the research proposal, motivation is the independent variable. From this research I have identify that salary, wages and condition of service, money, staff training, information availability and communication are the motivational factors that affect job satisfaction level. The dependent variable in this research would be job satisfaction. From the framework, we will understand the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction will be interrupt by the motivation method or strategies. On the other hand, motivation strategy is also able to enhance the job satisfaction level. 3.0 Methodology 3.1 Introduction In this section, we slightly describe the research methodology use in the study to know how motivation affects in job satisfaction and using the data collection to analysis the data for the study. To find out the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction, impacts and the strategy to improve job satisfaction level in a organization. 3.2 Data Resources According to Bell (1995), primary data are such data that does not yet include any interpretations and analysis from other people. Secondary data on the other hand is data that is analyzed and include someones interpretation of the data (Bell, 1995). Secondary data was chosen for this research due to the cost and time saving for collect data that needed for the research (Hair, Money, Samouel, and Page, 2007), According to Saunders et al (2007), primary data is expensive which compare to secondary data. In additional, Hair et al (2007) emphasizes that most of the secondary data are free of charge or either can be purchase in a cheaper price. 3.3 Data Analysis Procedure The secondary resources needed in order to be able to fulfill the purpose of this proposal are mainly journal articles and textbook. When searching for secondary data search engine such as Google Scholar, Emerald and others. KBU International College has provided student a huge variety of reference books. Google search engine is the advancement of technology which allowed us to get information conveniently and quickly to obtain various journals from the website which allowed us to understand the research objectives. Emerald website which can access through it using Anglia Ruskin University account is easy to obtain various journals which needed for the research. Less text book are used in this research as the source from the library about our research questions. 3.4 Hypothesis Null Hypothesis H0: There is no relationship between motivation and job satisfaction Alternative Hypothesis H1: There is a relationship between motivation and job satisfaction Null Hypothesis H0: Motivation cannot affect job satisfaction level Alternative Hypothesis H2: Motivation can affect job satisfaction Null Hypothesis H0: Motivation unable to improve job satisfaction Alternative Hypothesis H3: Motivation able to improve job satisfaction 4.0 Limitation The research could have done more accurately if more resources which could be obtain to support the research. There are limited resources provided in KBU International College library. However, KBU does provide student access to Emerald Insight website which contains many research journals and the college had already paid the fee, but student are still allowed to access to the website within the college premises. In additional, this research only used secondary data collection which easy to obtain. Most of the secondary data come from other authors opinion and their personal findings. Because of that, this research may be inaccuracy due to the opinion from the author might disagree with research and opinion done by other author around the world. 5.0 Ethical consideration The information of the people who provide information to the study would not show to the others when the study done to protect the human right of privacy. There is the action that should be taken. The information provider are willing to provide the information to finish the study and not being force. During the research, the information collected would not be modify as to maintain the accuracy of the information which been collected. 6.0 Executive Summary From the study done, we know that the motivation was so important in an organization which can affect the job satisfaction level. By the way, the relationship between the employee motivation and job satisfaction using the right way to motivate the employee; thus enhancing the job satisfaction level and the organization at the same time. When motivation and job satisfaction are reinforced together as one, motivation and job satisfaction can increase the working performance of employees. Besides that, there are several strategies used to enhance the working performance. The strategies used are such as; Salary, Wages and Conditions of Service strategy, Money strategy, Staff Training strategy, and lastly the Information Availability and Communication strategy. Using all this strategy will further develop the working condition to the highest level of job satisfaction. To sum it up as a whole, motivation and job satisfaction are co-related because when the motivation to work increases, emp loyee will have a higher job satisfaction, thus creating maximum output for the organization. 7.0 Gantt Chart Activity FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY Week number 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 Read literature Finalize objectives Draft literature review Read methodology literature Devise research approach Draft research strategy and method Enter data into computer Draft findings chapter Update literature read Complete remaining chapters Submit to tutor and await feedback Revise draft, format for submission Print, bind Submit

Does The Internet Foster Isola Essay -- essays research papers

One of the most talked, known and controversial issues today is the Internet. Internet is a large network made up of a number of smaller networks. Almost every computer in an educational facility and in home and small office use is connected to some type of a network. People spent a lot of time on the Internet, which may make them seem isolated. However, the Internet does not foster isolation, because it may be used for many different things like communication, education, problem solving and etc. The concept for the Internet was to make a link in to a new world, a world that has many different opportunities within its self. To gives the people options to go to China, Italy, and Egypt without spending a lot of money on the trip. To open new experiences and ideas that are just a click of a button away. The idea of going on to the internet for almost every thing may make the person seem isolated. Isolated from people, form culture, from education, from communication to other people, but in reality they are not isolated. The internet gives variety. It might not give physical opportunity to visit Japan or Russia, but it gives almost the same emotional and cultural experiences. A person does not have to read a newspaper on the train or go to an art gallery to be cultured and not seem isolated; a person just has to do what feels right at a certain time. The Internet also gives a misconception about communication. Internet is a different world that has the idea of communication in ...

Lets Fire All the Managers

Already title is caching our attention : â€Å"First, Let's Fire All the Managers†. Intriguing start changes in the list of charges against the modern management system. The author is showing his critic for complicated system, where we have hundreds of managers in various level. He lists three main problems. As first is the costs of management which is very expensive. At second he shows that typical management hierarchy increases the risk of â€Å"calamitous† decisions with bad judgment. And as third multitiered management structure systematically disempowers lower-level employees. For all this three he is giving examples to make sure that readers will understand the problem. After that there is a lot of information about how this system is working and how the place of work is organized. So now we have question. Wouldn’t it be great if we could achieve high levels of coordination without a supervisory superstructure? To confirm theory author is giving very strong arguments by describing new management model called self-management which is in use at American company Morning Star. There are no employees, there are only â€Å"colleagues† which are taking personal responsibility for what they have done. And each person is at the same level. So if there is any problem other colleagues going to help to resolve it. There are no managers all the decision are made in the group of employees : â€Å"Around here, nobody’s your boss and everybody’s your boss. † To be sure that each employee now what he is doing and what kind of opportunities standing in front of him there are management courses , seminars which provide necessary information. As author is showing company have got only great achievement and there is only few small disadvantages. He is giving very strong arguments about almost â€Å"utopia† organization where everybody are happy. Everything sounds perfect but is it real? Using the Google’s I found Morning Star company. â€Å"One of the best, world’s leading tomato ingredient processor†. And as author shows, they have got self-management system in use. As a founders of the new system they create website â€Å"Self-management Institute† which provide all necessary information about new system . Self-Management is an organizational model where functions of a manager (planning, coordinating, controlling, staffing and directing) are pushed out to all participants in the organization as opposed to a select few. From that website we can read the main issue of new system, which is: self-directed work teams, employee empowerment, distributed decision making, â€Å"flattening† the organization, elimination of bureaucratic red tape . All of that is already successfully working in Morning Star company. To be sure author of article Gary Hamel , decide to check on his own that system. What he saw was very fast developing company where without even one manager, people working very efficiently. And the most important is that they know what they doing and feel responsible for that. They are more loyal and are better judgment because they are not lack of context and understand the facts from the ground. System, called pancake-flat, is not complicated, because there are no bosses. But who is making the big decisions? Giving power to everybody is scary, danger, for sure there must be someone responsible more than others. Summary. How can a big company survive without structure? For company like Morning Star where from the beginning the main system was self-management and all the structure was already prepared system was easy to absorb. In my opinion it would be difficult to put that system in mega companies with 100,000 employees. It would look like a loud school class with pupils, when teacher left for a moment and everybody doing what they want even when they were said to read book . That is why in big companies there always must be someone who is going to manage a group. It is almost impossible that 100,000 employees will work efficiently without manager. Self-Management gives a great deal of freedom to colleagues; isn't that dangerous? Freedom must be balanced with responsibility in any organization. Ofcourse employees need to feel free when they working no one like big pressure and stress on top of work. But if we going to say â€Å"Feel free†, probably their going to put their own targets first. If we gonna left them on their own, we will never be sure if they doing what they where asked for and don’t waste our time and money. The company creates an environment where people can manage themselves by making the main mission the boss and truly empowering people. Where everybody are on the same level, and every one are bosses. It is sounds like â€Å"One for all and all for one†. For sure one thing is good in system like that. It is much cheaper without managers which have to be paid bigger salary. Reading this article I started to thing that that was the main problem. And thet is why new system was invented. To save the money. In my point of viewself-management system is very intresting and very innovative. By the example of Morning Star company I can assume that it can work. Author is sure that is possible to improve this system in much bigger companies. And with that I can not agree. It can not work everywhere and with every person. It always depends on the place (where company is), kind of company, (it worked in a simple agricultural organization doesn’t mean it is gonna work at New York) and employees characters (there is always leading person and someone who only want to do his job) . References: Books: 1. Nic Peeling, Brilliant Manager, (2010), What the best managers know, do and say, 3rd edition, Great Britain, Harlow: Pearson 2. Richard Templar, (2011), The rules of Management, second edition, Great Britain: Pearson 3. Scott Adams, (1996), Dogbert’s Top secret Management Handbook, New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc. Websides: 1. Self management Institute, http://self-managementinstitute. org 2. Morning Star, http://www. morningstarco. com, (accessed on 11/12/11) Article which I used: Gary Hamel, (2011) First, Let's Fire All the Managers, http://hbr. org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers/ar/1, (accessed on 06/12/11)

Ideo: the Organization and Management Innovation in a Design Firm and the Role of Alliances and Collaboration

Introduction Schumpeter (1949) wrote of the individual and collective embodiment of the â€Å"entrepreneurial spirit† – the â€Å"Unternehmergeist†. One company that channels this â€Å"geist† is the Sillicon Valley, California-based design and consultancy firm, IDEO. Founded in 1991, this self-styled innovation and design firm balances process and product innovations grounded in a human-centred design philosophy. Through this approach IDEO elided the pitfalls of the technology push versus demand-led innovation dichotomy to produce products and services that feel just as good as they work. In the latest rankings IDEO was listed at no. 10 on Fast Company's Top 25 Most Innovative Companies (2009) and no. 15 on Fortune's 100 most-favored employers by MBA students (Universum 2009). This paper attempts to analyse the principles and practices at IDEO using two frameworks namely: 1. the organisation and management of innovation and research and development (R&D) and 2. strategic alliances and collaboration. The discussion on organisation and management would be focused primarily on innovation since R&D as a portfolio at IDEO is still emergent. As a consequence also, its alliances and collaboration strategies and activities are described in the context of IDEO as a highly sought-after development partner. Analysis of the responses of senior business managers to what they considered to be the top three challenges of innovation management revealed that creating an innovative culture, attracting and maintaining diverse talents and finding the right balance of the incremental and the radical were uppermost (Tidd and Bessant 2009). Smith (2008) identified nine key factors that impact on an organisation’s ability to manage innovation: management style and leadership, resources, organisational structure, corporate strategy, technology, knowledge management, employees and the innovation process. The Oslo Manual defines †Innovation† as â€Å"the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisation or external relations. † (OECD 2007). This definition encompasses the common elements of innovation as proposed by arlier authors such as Schumpeter, Freeman, Rothwell and Gardiner, Drucker, Porter, Schumann, Merrifield etc. (Tidd and Bessant 2009; Innovation Zen 2006) Organisation and management of Innovation Since the introduction of ‘creative destruction' Schumpeter (1942), there has been a growing confidence that the basic elements of successful innova tion can be distilled through careful observation, and that they can be adopted and managed by firms to create and sustain competitive advantage. A number of authors (Abernathy and Utterback 1978; Teece 1986; Henderson and Clark 1990; Tushman and Anderson 1990; Christensen 1997 etc. have proposed various bivariate frameworks for assesing possible innovation types (incremental, radical, modular, architectural, product, process, market, organizational, complementary, disruptive etc). See Figure 1. Despite the variety, a basic conclusion however is that this mode of analysis can adequately inform strategic and organizational decisions and that different kinds of innovation require different kinds of organizational environments and managerial skills (Tushman and Anderson 1986). Figure 1: Component and architectural innovation (Henderson and Clark 1990) Source: Tidd and Bessant (2009) Models of the Innovation process and the dynamics of its articulating phases have been proposed by a number of authors (Myers and Marquis 1969; Von Hippel 1976; Tidd et al 2001 etc. ). Tidd and Bessant (2009) detailed a linear model with four phases (search, select, implement and capture). The authors made the distinction that innovation management is essentially about creating conditions within an organization to increase the likelihood of a successful resolution of multiple challenges under high levels of uncertainty (Ibid, p. 70). This view reinforces Tushman's (1977) assertion that organization and management of the process is characterized by different types of decisions, coordination challenges and patterns of communication. It is important to note here that though the innovation process is commonly depicted as a linear unidirectional sequence, in practice, the activities are inherently iterative and often occur in parallel (Rothwell 1992; Weiss 2002; and Brown 2008). Innovation and R at IDEO IDEO's approach to the organization and management of innovation and R&D can be summarized by the phrase: â€Å"design thinking†. Tim Brown (2008), CEO of IDEO, explained that it is centred on meeting people’s needs in a technologically feasible and commercially viable way. Design thinking is an example of the systemic and integrative approach to innovation highlighted in Hughes (1983) and Rothwell (1992). The model attempts to understand the innovation challenge as a dynamic interplay of human, business and technology factors. See Figure 2. Figure 2: Designing thinking at IDEO Source: adapted from Weiss 2002. IDEO's variation of the innovation process (cf. Tidd and Bessant 2009 etc. ) comprises five phases: Understand the market, the users, the technology, the constraints; observe people in reallife situations; visualize new-to-the-world concepts and the potential users; evaluate and refine the prototypes; and implement for commercialization (Kelley 2001). Empathetic research, brainstorming and rapid prototyping are core routines developed in the execution of the IDEO innovation process. Brainstorming is the idea engine of IDEO's culture. It is used to generate multiple and varied ideas about possible solutions to the innovation challenge. A session lasting no more than sixty minutes is conducted under the following rules: defer judgment; build on others' ideas; one conversation at a time; stay on topic; encourage wild ideas; go for quantity; be visual (Kelley 2001). Rapid Prototyping involves early development of a wide range of low-fidelity prototypes from which to learn. Teams evolve and refine ideas, answering multiple detailed questions through rounds of successively higher-fidelity prototypes. This routine permeates the company's design practices in all spheres (Coughlan et al 2007) and is universally codified in two IDEO mantras â€Å"build to learn,† and â€Å"fail forward† (Kelley 2001). The company organizes its R&D portfolio into 19 Focus Areas supported by 13 teams as shown in Table 1. Teamwork is an imperative at IDEO. For each project a number or relevant teams would be assembled from persons within the company, or externally from persons within their ‘talent ecosystem'. The teams meet regularly to exchange information on progress and to make sure each other's activities remain focused and complimentary (Hawthorne 2002). Table 2 summarizes some of the human-centred research work undertaken at IDEO. The popular Method Cards is result of this kind of research and development work at the company. The collection of 51 cards is used to evaluate and select the empathic research methods that best inform specific design initiatives. How and when the methods are best used are explained together with demonstration of how they have been applied to real design projects (www. ideo. com). Table 1: IDEO Focus Areas and Teams Source: Adapted from www. ideo. com Table 2: A sample of research at IDEO Source: Adapted from Venkatraman 2005 The ten personas shown in Table 3 were developed by Tom Kelley for enhancing innovation at IDEO. Consideration of these personas influences the company's policy of recruitment of T-shaped people †with at least one deep area of expertise and a broad reach of other skills and experiences. † (www. ideo. com). â€Å"We've found that adopting one or more of these roles can help teams express a different point of view and create a broader range of innovative solutions† (Kelley 2001, p. 7). Table 3: IDEO's innovation personas Source: Adapted from Kelley 2001 At IDEO the Ways to Grow tool (Figure 3) is a framework used to a) identify the type of growth intended, b) scope the challenge and deploy an appropriate innovation process, and c) assess the effectiveness of the portfolio of innovation efforts. It identifies four possibilities for growth and three basic archetypes of innovation outcomes: Incremental, evolutionary, revolutionary (Jacoby and Rodriguez 2007). Cf. Henderson and Clark 1990 etc. Figure 3: IDEO's Ways to Grow and Innovation Outcomes cf. Figure 1. Source: Jacoby and Rodriguez 2007 The model suggests that an incremental project requires execution-focused process and people while a revolutionary project would require exploration-focused processes and people (Jacoby and Rodriquez 2007). Ways to Grow is employed in this manner by IDEO to track, understand, and assess its in-progress portfolio of innovation projects using measures of innovation effectiveness. The projects can be mapped onto this tool creating a dashboard of initiatives that can be updated and referenced. All these organizational and management approaches mean little without a way of integrating them in a creative and sustainable organizational culture. Culture is difficult to define, but for IDEO it's probably: the not infrequent managers' informal chats with their carefully selected T-shaped employees (Brown 2007); the company-wide Monday morning meetings and Friday afternoons show and tell; the playful open layout of the workspaces decorated with personal eccentricities (Kelley 2001); the formal and informal reward systems where some compensation decisions are based largely on reputation among fellow designers and formal peer reviews (Hargadon and Sutton 1997); or just the personal satisfaction of the team members knowing that they are part of something big and exciting and creative. Strategic Alliances and Collaboration Gulati (1998) defines strategic alliances as voluntary arrangements between firms involving exchange, sharing, or co-development of products, technologies, or services. They can†¦ take a variety of forms, and occurring across vertical and horizontal boundaries. The fundamental imperative for strategic alliances and collaboration as suggested by authors like Teece (1986) is that it is extremely difficult for one company to possess all the requisite skills and competencies to implement all the phases of the innovation process. Among the motives for the formation of alliances and collaborations are reduction of cost, uncertainty, and time of R, response to changing customer and market need, lack of internal resources and knowledge transfer (Kogut 1988, Gulati 1998; Littler 1993 in Tidd and Bessant 2009). IDEO is not a R-intensive firm, its motivations for participation in strategic alliances and collaboration are not necessarily those of an active seeker. However, IDEO has benefited from its role as consultant and a highly ought-after collaborator. â€Å"What's unique about IDEO is that we straddle both sides of the innovation business, as both practitioners and advisers. † (Kelley 2001, p. 4). IDEO's 5000+ employees in more than 20 studios on three continents do work for clients in multiple industries across the globe. The company's website lists an astonishing diversity of products and services created in collaboration with some 300 clients in 28 different industries. Hargadon and Sutton (1997) aggregated qualitative data which indicate that IDEO's employees learn about potentially useful technologies through their extensive work and incorporate that knowledge into the creation of new products and services for industries where there is little or no prior knowledge of these technologies. This movement of technologies between industries is a form of technology transfer and diffusion (Rosenberg 1982; Hughes 1989). The company recognises the potential of its network position (Conway and Steward (1998) and instructs its employees in the Methodology Handbook to â€Å"Look for opportunities to expand network and/or industry knowledge. † (Hargadon and Sutton 1997). These integrative activities according to Hargadon and Sutton are an example of technology brokering. IDEO's brokers in effect act as technology ‘gatekeepers' as described in Allen (1977) and Rothwell (1992). IDEO is uniquely positioned to facilitate R&D-intensive firms in the completion of their innovation process through to commercialization. The company's positioning is validated not only by its rapidly expanding client portfolio but by industry outlook. Ferguson and Taylor (2004) affirmed that many innovation-focused organizations, including those with extensive R programs, are looking outside for assistance, especially in the early stages of searching for promising technologies and developing a vision based on working models. For established firms with strong technology-focused research, the services of design firms, with expertise in user knowledge, is useful in balancing exploration and exploitation of their technical knowledge (Venkatraman 2005). Eastman Chemical, HP, Intel, P and Samsung initially sought IDEO as an exploration alliance partner. P have extended the collaboration to joint product development with product ideas mainly generated by IDEO (Ventkatraman 2005). As IDEO continues to deliver award winning products and services to clients firms along the entire value chain it may soon have to think about if and how it should reposition itself for example mass production and marketing of high quality innovative consumer goods. Issues like these lead to considerations about the possible alternative opportunities available for leveraging a company's resources, position and linkages to create sustainable value. In the light of global challenges such as poverty, health, water, energy, and economic empowerment what is the role of innovation and research and their management and what sort of alliances and collaboration would be needed to deliver adequate responses? What is the future of social entrepreneurship? To deepen understanding of these challenging questions, Paul Bennett, chief creative officer at IDEO, visited Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank fame to get an immersive experience of this maturing entrepreneurial spirit. Reflecting on his encounter in the Financial Times Bennett (2009) asserted that sustainability and growth for the organisations of the future demands accepting responsibility for the †bank accounts† of purpose, people and learning. Bennett summarizes his own thinking with a quote from one of his clients: â€Å"The future isn't going to be designed on an Excel spreadsheet. † Whatever new tools emerge for future planning, its not hard to imagine that some of those would emerge from the studios of IDEO.