Workplace innovation

Workplace innovation is an approach to understanding how organisations can simultaneously achieve high performance and high quality of working lives for employees through the systematic introduction of evidence-based methods for the organisation and management of work.

In broad terms, workplace innovation has been described as “new and combined interventions in work organisation, human resource management, labour relations and supportive technologies” (Pot, 2011). This broad term describes the participatory process of organisational innovation which leads to empowering workplace practices and which, in turn, sustain continuing learning, reflection and change (Totterdill et al, 2012).

Origins

Workplace innovation builds on a substantial body of evidence dating back to the iconic Tavistock Institute studies of the 1950s and embracing diverse traditions including Scandinavian democratic dialogue methods (Gustavsen 1992), Dutch socio-technical systems theory (Mohr & Van Amelsvoort, 2015), and wider research into organisational behaviour.

Whilst terms such as ‘workplace innovation’ and ‘innovative workplaces’ appeared in research literature from time to time from at least the 1990s, the meanings attached to them were diffuse and represented a plurality of approaches (Prus et al., 2017).

In 1997 the European Commission published a Green Paper, Partnership for a New Organisation of Work , which identified the need to improve both competitiveness and employment in Europe through the better organisation of work. This subsequently led to the formation of the European Work Organisation Network (EWON) led by DGV of the European Commission, a policy advisory group including experts and representatives from national institutes in several EU Member States . Part of EWON’s remit was to learn from the experiences of European companies that had succeeded in achieving exemplary performance and enhanced capacity for product and service innovation, at the same time as creating high quality working lives for their employees.

Arising from EWON’s work, in 2001 the European Commission requested a study from leading experts which was designed to analyse evidence both from existing literature and from an international sample of more than one hundred private and public sector organisations, each characterised by high performance and high quality of working life. The aim of the Hi-Res study (Totterdill et al, 2002), involving collaboration across eight EU countries, was to elaborate the ‘high road’ of win-win outcomes for organisations and their employees, as previously articulated by the Commission-sponsored European Work & Technology Consortium (1998).

Many different terms were in use to describe these high road approaches including high performance workplaces, high involvement workplaces and innovative work organisation. Although terminologies might differ, all these approaches placed a premium on employee participation and a better utilisation of existing human talent within organisations, primarily by (re)designing the organisation of work and tasks to enable people to be more effective and creative. The shared objective was to improve quality of working life and organisational performance simultaneously. Yet these proliferating vocabularies were doing much to obscure the real choices available to company decision-makers (Pot et al., 2016).

The Hi-Res study sought to establish ‘workplace innovation’ as a conceptual framework that is coherent, grounded in research evidence, yet action-oriented and aimed at company decision-makers and policymakers as well as researchers. The Hi-Res report represents the first known attempt in Europe to define ‘workplace innovation’ in detail, focusing on the adoption and contextualisation of specific organisational practices associated with high performance simultaneously with high quality of working life.

Since its first formulation in the Hi-Res report, workplace innovation has gained increasing attention in Europe and globally as a focus for research, generating a growing body of evidence on its efficacy in achieving the simultaneous enhancement of business performance and employee wellbeing (for example, Oeij et al., 2017; McMurray et al., 2021). It has also informed policy developments in the European Commission and in several countries including Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland and South Korea (Alasoini et al, 2017; Alasoini et al 2023). In 2013, the European Commission created the European Workplace Innovation Network (EUWIN) to promote the concept of workplace innovation to companies, national and regional policymakers, ‘social partners’ (trade unions and employers’ organisations), and other stakeholders. Since 2017 the network has been managed and funded by a consortium of partners in several European countries .

The concept of workplace innovation

The workplace innovation literature rejects prescriptive blueprints; rather it outlines the general principles of workplace innovation as a generative resource for organisational actors to contextualise as “local theories” to fit their specific circumstances, resulting in tangible changes to workplace practice (Johnsen et al., 2021). Most importantly workplace innovation is an inherently social process, building skills and competence through creative collaboration. Drawing on Scandinavian approaches to democratic dialogue (Gustavsen, 1992), workplace innovation seeks to engage all stakeholders in ways which enable the force of the better argument to prevail, building bridges between the strategic knowledge of business leaders, the professional and tacit knowledge of frontline employees and the organisational design knowledge of experts. It works towards ‘win-win’ outcomes based on creatively forged convergence between enhanced organisational performance and quality of working life, leading to self-sustaining processes of participative organisational development fuelled by continuing learning and experimentation.

Workplace innovation is also a systemic approach, influenced both by studies of failed organisational change (for example, Business Decisions Limited, 2002) and by the European sociotechnical design tradition in recognising the interdependence of organisational practices (Mohr & Van Amelsvoort, 2015); likewise it reflects other bodies of research which emphasise the combination of representative and direct participation in achieving superior outcomes for organisations and their employees (Boxall & Purcell, 2003; Teague, 2005).

EUWIN has recently gone further in attempting to identify the distinctiveness of workplace innovation as a theoretically robust yet practically focused approach to organisational transformation. It identifies nine defining characteristics :

1. It is part of a strategic choice, running through the organisation’s entire business model and underpinned by a long-term vision and perspectives, sustainability and ethics.
2. It’s strongly associated with the simultaneous achievement of high performance and high quality of working life – and contributing to wider society.
3. Workplace innovation is separate from – but builds on – ‘fair work’ principles such as job security, living wage, equality & diversity, and opportunities for training and education.
4. Leadership styles, culture, engagement and job satisfaction are not independent but are largely determined by work organisation and the structure of management and control.
5. Workplace innovation is focused on workplace practices grounded in substantial research and case study evidence.
6. It is a systemic approach, recognising the interdependence of job autonomy, self-managed teamworking principles, skills-enhancing technologies, employee-driven innovation, flexible organisational structures, empowering systems, employee voice and co-created leadership.
7. It’s based on high levels of employee involvement and empowerment, combining direct and representative participation.
8. It is not a blueprint but comprises generic principles and practices to inspire fresh innovation in each organisation through inclusive dialogue, experimentation and learning.
9. Workplace innovation is not a one-off. It introduces workplace practices and cultures that continually inspire and engage everyone to explore and discover better ways of doing things, harnessing creativity and talent from across the organisation.
10. Workplace innovation doesn’t just change organisations – it changes the people who work in them, not least senior team members and managers. It is strongly associated with trust, accountability, curiosity, creativity, coaching behaviours and emotional intelligence, all of which grow with the workplace innovation journey.

Workplace innovation as method

In parallel with its role as a focal point for research and policy advocacy, workplace innovation has emerged as a practice-based framework in the form of ‘The Essential Fifth Element’ (Totterdill, 2015). This was initially devised to help communicate the essence of workplace innovation for EUWIN, and in particular to provide a practical framework to stimulate and resource the adoption of workplace innovation practices by enterprises.

Expanding the original Hi-Res framework, and based on a further analysis of published research and case study evidence, The Essential Fifth Element identified four bundles (or ‘Elements’) of working practices with a strong association between high performance and high quality of working life (see table below). Whilst each of these Elements bundles together closely interrelated workplace practices, they are also strongly interdependent. Alignment between the Elements creates a synergy in the ‘Fifth Element’, a system of mutually interdependent parts which leads to a sustainable culture of innovation and empowerment embedded throughout the organisation.

The Essential Fifth Element is intended to provide a structured evidential framework to stimulate and inform participative “productive reflection” (Boud et al., 2006; Cressey et al., 2013) and dialogue, leading to the introduction of innovative or improved workplace practices.

Table: The Essential Fifth Element

ELEMENT	INDICATIVE PRACTICES	ASSOCIATED OUTCOMES
Jobs, Teams & Technology	Individual discretion Job variety Constructive challenges Self-managed teams Collaboration within the team Reflective team practices People-centred technologies	Improved workflow Enhanced quality Better productivity Cost reduction Engagement and retention Improved workforce health
Organisational Structures, Management and Procedures	Reduced hierarchies and silos Strengths-based career structure Coaching style line management Appraisals focused on learning and innovation Simplified procedures	Improved workflow Cost reduction Better productivity Engagement & retention Improved workforce health
Employee-Driven Innovation & Improvement	Productive reflection in teams Cross-team improvement groups Permission to experiment Company-wide innovation events	Enhanced capacity for innovation & improvement Enterprising behaviour Enhanced quality & performance Learning & development Engagement & retention Intrinsic job satisfaction
Co-Created Leadership & Employee Voice	Openness and transparency Emotionally intelligent behaviours Visible leadership Delegated decision-making Representative participation	Strategic alignment Better decision-making Engagement and retention
The Fifth Element	A self-sustaining culture of empowerment and innovation	Win-win outcomes for the organisation and its employees

References

Alasoini, T., Ramstad, R., Totterdill, P. (2017) “National and regional policies to promote and sustain workplace innovation”. In: Oeij, P., Rus, D., Pot, F. Workplace Innovation: Theory, Research and Practice. Heidelberg: Springer.

Alasoini, T., Pot, F., Totterdill, P., Zettel, C., (2023) Towards research-based European policy and practice. In: Oeij, P.R.A., Dhondt, S., & McMurray, A. (Eds), Research Agenda for Workplace Innovation: The Challenge of Disruptive Transitions. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Boud, D., Cressey, P., Docherty, P. (2006). Productive Reflection at Work. London: Routledge.

Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. (2003) Strategy and Human Resource Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Business Decisions Ltd (2002) New forms of work organisation: the obstacles to wider diffusion. KE-47-02-115-EN-C, DG Employment and Social Affairs, European Commission, Brussels.

Cressey, P., Totterdill, P. and Exton, R. (2013). “Workplace Social Dialogue as a Form of ‘Productive Reflection’.” International Journal of Action Research,, 9 (2): 209–245.

European Work & Technology Consortium (1998). Work Organisation, Competitiveness, Employment: The European Approach. Nottingham: Centre for Work & Technology.

EUWIN (2022). Workplace Innovation - Europe's Competitive Edge. A manifesto for enhanced performance and working lives. European Journal of Workplace Innovation. 7(1).

Gustavsen, B. (1992). Dialogue and Development, Van Gorcum: Assen/Maastricht.

Johnsen, H. C. G., Hildebrand, C., Aslaksen, H., Ennals, R. & and Knudsen, J. P., (2021). The Dialogical Approach to Workplace Innovation. In McMurray, A., Muenjohn, N. and Weerakoon, C. (Eds). The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Innovation across Developed and Developing Countries. Cham: Palgrave McMillan.

McMurray, A., Muenjohn, N. and Weerakoon, C. (Eds). 2021. The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Innovation across Developed and Developing Countries. Cham: Palgrave McMillan.

Mohr, B. & Van Amelsvoort, P. 2015. Waves of Evolution in Socio-technical Systems Design. In Mohr, B. & Van Amelsvoort, P. (Eds.) Co-Creating Humane and Innovative Organizations. Evolutions in the Practice of Socio-technical System Design. Portland, ME: Global STS-D Network.

Oeij, P., Rus, D., & Pot, F. D. (Eds.). 2017. Workplace Innovation. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Pot, F.D. 2011. “Workplace innovation for better jobs and performance”, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management 64 (4): 405–415.

Prus, I., Nacamulli, R., Lazazarra, A. (2017) Disentangling workplace innovation: a systematic literature review. Personnel Review, 46/7.

Teague, P. (2005) “What is enterprise partnership?” Organization, Vol.12 No. 4, pp.567-589.

Totterdill, P., Dhondt, S. and Milsome, S. 2002. Partners at work? A report to Europe’s policy makers and social partners. Nottingham: The Work Institute.

Totterdill, P., Cressey, P. and Exton, R. 2012. “Social innovation at work: workplace innovation as a social process”. In Challenge Social Innovation, edited by H-W Franz, J. Hochgerner and J. Howaldt, 241-259. Berlin: Springer.

Totterdill, P. 2015. “Closing the Gap: ‘The Fifth Element’ and Workplace Innovation”. European Journal of Workplace Innovation, 1 (1): 55-74.

This article "Workplace innovation" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Workplace innovation. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---