Week 5 – Changing Society Research Paper – MAN 809

Changing Society Research Paper
Name
Institutional Affiliation

Changing Society Research Paper
Innovation in the Society
The current state of the world today requires the application of better solutions towards solving problems, meeting the market needs and achieving the requirements. The generation of better ideas occurs through changing the products, processes, services, and the technology. Innovation in the society is inevitable. Trends in the market promote the adaptation of these changes and their incorporation in the fields of technology and economy. Entrepreneurs play a crucial role in creating new ideas developing innovations. According to According to Chaston and Scott (2012), entrepreneurship defines the process of designing, running and developing new business. It includes the capacity and willingness to take risks in introducing new product or service and manage it effectively to become successful and contribute to the economic benefit. Different organizations can harness the power of entrepreneurs and significantly achieved notable success. However, the public sector faces a great challenge in adapting these changes influenced by some factors. Thus, this paper researches about innovation in the public service institutions looking into its threats and benefits according to a statement by Drucker (2014).
Strategies in Changes
Entrepreneurial management and success require an application of strategic planning within the organization. Without these strategies little or no success is achievable.

According to Drucker (2014), four important strategies that apply in entrepreneurship include Fastest with the Mostest, hitting them where they ain’t, finding and occupying a specialized ecological niche and changing the economic productivity of the subject, which includes the market, product, and industry. Each of these methods carries its limitations and risks requiring the entrepreneur to practice appropriate behavior in enhancing its effectiveness. Based on Drucker (2014), Fastest with the Mostest focuses on leadership and dominating the market. Its relevance in the public sector stems from the examples of Wilhelm von Humboldt establishing the University of Berlin despite the economic and political situations of the time. Additionally, the effort towards starting up a medical center by two surgeons in Rochester and the March of Dimes are the accurate representation of a successful application of the strategy. A positive outcome of the strategy requires a careful exploitation of the opportunities to innovate, which include incongruities, process need, industry, and market structure, demography, change in perception, and new knowledge.
In regards to Drucker (2014), the method hit them where they ain’t makes up two important parts including the creative imitation and the entrepreneurial judo. Creative imitation entails the recreation of what is already in the market to suit the customers need. An appropriate example described by Drucker (2014), is the innovation of the computer by IBM using the model produced by ENIAC. Additionally, the company went ahead and created the personal computer using an idea borrowed from the Apple Company. Comparatively, entrepreneurial judo encompasses a plan to manage the business using speed and agility in mitigating the effects of the competitors. In the history of the American higher education according to Thelin (2011), colleges focused on the provision of education in much simpler terms compared to the universities. The innovation of terms and policies by these colleges improved the student registrations and influenced their popularity and growth.
A different but productive strategy involves the identification of the ecological niche, which aims at control. In regards to Kuratko, Hornsby and Covin (2014), its reward is the money and not the name. It involves three unique strategies including the toll-gate strategy, the specialty skill strategy, and the specialty market strategy. In toll-gate, the product has to be essential to the process. Based on Drucker (2014), the risk for not using the product must be greater than its cost to ensure an efficient and fruitful application of the strategy. Consequently, the approach faces numerous limitations including a limited possibility of growth, difficulties in identifying such niches and minimum control by the innovator. Comparatively, the skilled strategy involves a much larger field that requires the establishment of unique and vital skills necessary to meet a process. To enhance the applicability of the power, it needs it’s starting up right at the beginning of a new company, market or a new trend. According to Drucker (2014), identification of the skill requires a systematic survey of innovative opportunities. Looking at its disadvantages, Drucker (2014) describes the major limitation being the dependency on another party to bring the product or service to the market before the innovators may develop a unique skill to enhance it to the product or service. Similarly, the market strategy expertise focuses on the market trends to identify a possible opportunity to exploit. It faces a threat to success, which proves quite challenging to counter. Additionally, it faces the threat of the market becoming a mass market and thus increasing competition.
Based on Drucker (2014), entrepreneurial strategies focus on creating a customer to purchase the services or the products consistently. Identification of the client occurs through four strategic methods including creating utility. Through service, people can satisfy their needs according to their preferences. An example involves the creation of the mail by Rowland Hill to aid in postal service in sending mail. The innovation provided a cheaper, efficient, and less cumbersome means of transferring and sharing of information. Customers’ attraction is achievable through the setting of appropriate pricing. The company Gillette identified the need to price the shaving service rather than the tool. It managed to lower the price of shaving and through creating a gadget for personal use, which saved both time and cost incurred in visiting the barber shop.
According to Drucker (2014), it’s imperative to consider the customer’s reality to realize a perfect strategy. It involves the realization of the customers’ demands through proper communication. It requires an investigation of the service or the product in meeting the customers’ expectation and fulfilling their satisfaction. Equally important is the delivery of value to the client. Customers purchase the service of the product or the benefit they draw from the product r service and not the product itself. Bearing this in mind, it becomes quite significant for the entrepreneurs to establish innovations that positively enhance the customers’ benefits.
Innovation in the Public Service Institutions
In regards to Drucker (2014), public service institutions include government agencies, labor unions, churches, university, hospitals, and charitable institutions. Innovations in these facilities involve improvements in the administration systems and service delivery. Change in these systems is necessary owing to their large numbers and the critical services they offer to the public. Consequently, according to Klein, Mahoney, McGahan and Pitelis (2013), the mandate for innovation in the public sector is usually not profit oriented, but aims to increase the size and the growth.
According to Klein et al. (2013), innovation in the public sector includes six types involving service innovation, which is achievable by employing new technology equipment or skills. Additionally, it also encompasses innovation in service delivery. Administrative and organization changes foster more quality output from these institutions especially those delivering health and educational services. It also includes the change in concepts aiming at creating better methods of solving problems. Other innovations include those about policy and systemic change. Based on Drucker (2014), variations in the public service institutions usually is an influence of an outside force or following the occurrence of a catastrophe. Significant forces contributing to enhancing the acceptance of innovation in these establishments include policy changes, change in the citizens’ expectations, global trends, and fiscal pressure. Additionally, Brown and Osborne (2012), describes the change in the management and technology as being influential in influencing innovation.
In regards to Christensen (2002), the public sector is not immune to technological transformation. Regarding the education sector, both the universities and the schools benefit tremendously from technology and its tools. The lecturers and teachers can enhance their teaching skills and impact more knowledge to the students through the use of online reading and research materials. Equipment such as the projectors provides a much more comprehensive education and coverage of the syllabus as students can focus and follow all the topics. Through technology, delivery of online course increases the number of student enrolment. Additionally, through the computers and the installation of compatible apps, learning becomes more efficient. Compared to the traditional learning and teaching methods, both the parents and the teacher can contribute directly to the educational progress of the child.
Comparatively, in the health sector advancement in medical technology allow the physicians to diagnose better and treat the patients. Based on Mulgan and Albury (2003), technology in the health service delivery significant contributes to improved patient outcomes especially in public hospitals with scores of patients. Through technological advancements, quality health care services and accessibility to patients becomes realized. Additionally, according to Middleton et al. (2013), technology such as the electronic patient record improves communication and enhances patient participation. Consequently, online server’s delivery promotes an easy and faster drug prescription. It also achieves the advantage of tracking changes in the patient following a prescription and minimizes the occurrence of errors. Similarly, the use of electronic health records enables easy data collection and analysis. It significantly contributes to research in developing parallel predictive modeling platform.
Based on Crew and Kleindorfer (2012), the government as a public service institution incorporates technology in improving service delivery to the citizens. Through online services, payment of taxes becomes more efficient and time-saving. Other governmental services including renewing licenses permit acquisitions, setting up of the website to provide the citizens with information, tracking systems and biometric identifications contribute to the satisfaction of the citizens. The United States Postal Service significantly provided a trading system with the enemy during the World War I. It also acted as a monitoring system for international mail and working as counter-espionage to secure the victory. Through technology, the postal service also introduced the Intelligent Mail Barcode allowing the tracking of some sections of the mail through the delivery system. Similarly, the church as an organization profits from technology through the creation of blogs and online communication platforms that encourage the congregation to contribute directly to the growth of the church. Consequently, it contributes to a greater sense of community and thus numerous benefits can result. Other public service institutions including labor unions and charitable organizations are currently incorporating the use of technology to meet efficient communication and sharing of information. It is imperative to recognize the outstanding contributions of technological communication equipment in disseminating information and reaching wider communities.
Relevance of the Society in Public Service Institutions
According to Drucker (2014), the society is in a position to harness the power of innovation through encouraging the growth and development of an entrepreneurial community. Thus, it is important to ensure that the structure of the society is organized in a manner to promote positive changes and incorporate them into everyday practices. Policies governing the society enacted through the government play a pivot role in enhancing changes. Additionally, management revolutions discourage the growth of innovations especially when wrong people come to power. The revolutions are unpredictable and uncontrollable and thus negatively contributing towards innovation. Equally important is the regulation of rules and law to ensure that corruption, patronage, and victimization are strongly discouraged within the society. As seen in the postal service during the tenure of President Andrew Jackson the employees consisted of faithful supporters of the executive branch who were also appointed to other government positions as a reward of their patronage. Common to all these employees is the lack of experience in managing the postal service and thus a reduction in output and quality of the service. The experimental nature of the public service institutions requires stable government, policies, and communities to sufficient remain relevant and productive. Similarly, knowledge in the society is essential in the generation of ideas and informing the right planning methods of executing the ideas.
In regards to Drucker (2014), advancement in technology revolutionizes education and thus contributing to a learned society coupled with individuals of different skills. Management of public institutions requires a knowledgeable people with practical skills to mitigate upcoming challenges and see the progress of these schools. Emerging trends in innovations in the economy provide that the society through the use of technological advancement and education will experience a greater migration of both the skilled and unskilled labor. In respect to these emerging trends, there will be an increased demand for skills from the public institutions and thus the need to address the shortage of skills in the public sectors negatively impacting their output.
Based on Sorensen and Torfing (2012), it is the responsibility of the society to promote innovations through taking care of the redundant workers. The significant of these is more relevant in the public service institutions than in private sectors where productivity is important to promote permanent funding. Developed societies also encourage innovations through abandoning outworn social policies and obsolete public service institutions. The adoption of continuous learning for self-development by individuals in the community ensures productive members who contribute to societal changes. Change in the society also promotes positive attitudes and appropriate prioritizing towards flexible, innovative ideas in these establishments. It is imperative to consider the increase in scrutiny of the social tradeoffs. Government institutions are currently facing the pressure to address issues of social welfare and equity. More significantly is the call to expand the facilities in rural and marginalized areas to tackle poverty and better health care. The advent of Rural Free Delivery in 1896 and the creation of the domestic parcel post service in 1913 motivated the development of more efficient postal transportation systems. Consequently, rural communities took advantage of the reasonable rates of sending packages, goods, and other products. As a result closed rural communities gained access to new products. Thus, it is important to perform an organization analysis to identify the appropriate management and skills suitable for handling the increased demand by the society. Unions and other charitable institutions through the society are continually raising awareness on the use excessive use of natural resources leading to climate change. It is, therefore, important to shift the behavior of the government and other institutions in exploiting these resources through innovations and regulations. The aim of these campaigns is to balance economic growth with a sustainable environment a responsibility of the government, private, and the public sector. The enactment of environmental laws may lead to increase or decrease in the operation and functioning of the service institutions. It is also possible that the shift in demand to occur leading to a strain in their operations and management.
Economic Change and the Public Service Institutions
According to Bloch and Bugge (2013), global trends in the economy impact the government and the public institutions. The nature of the macroeconomic trends makes the coming decade a defining period, especially in the public sector. It is thus necessary to develop a reform agenda integrating both the political and the managerial aspects of entrepreneurship innovations. The call for change is both a responsibility of the politicians who develop the governing policies and the civil servants serving in the public sectors.
About the macroeconomic trends, Bloch and Bugge (2013), estimates that the centers of economic activities are shifting regionally and globally. The gross domestic product is set to vary widely among the developed economies. The unpredictability of these could result in a decrease in the gross domestic product (GDP) increasing the rate of inflation among other negative impacts such as the increased rates of unemployment. Based on a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), shedding of about 8.7 million jobs occurred from December 2008 to February 2010 following the recession of 2007. The GDP declined by 5.1% raising the unemployment rate from 4.7% to 10% by October of 2009. Consequently, the postal service lost a total amount of $ 5.5 billion in 2014 leading to its adopting a cost-cutting measure in reducing the budget deficit. Increased use of email and other competitors such as the United Parcel Service led to a decrease mail delivery, which meant lower revenue to support its operations. In effect, the USPS increased automation of its services and facility consolidation.
Economic trends also point to an increase in demand for the public sector services. An example is the rising population of the aging group consequently leading to an unsustainable increase in pension and health care budgets. An example is the passing of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act providing for a retirement health benefit for the employees. According to Drucker (2014), these institutions structure their budget based on the available funding from the government and the charity organizations. Consequently, a rise in demand for their services means an increased budget, which results to a raise in taxes by the government to meet the needs of the society. The emerging markets also suggest that the community will demand greater state-funded protections including an increased provision of public service institutions to cater for vital services such as security, healthcare, and education. The growth and expansion of rural areas through enlightenment leads to the emergence of a new consumer group. Based on Bloch and Bugge (2013), the rising incomes in emerging market will result in an increase in customers in the global marketplace. Consumer profiles in the developed economies will also change with the growth in households’ net worth, the number of employed individuals within a single housing unit and an increase in women participation in the economy through education. Consequently, a result of these changes is the increased expectation of the people to the governments to provide better services to the various institutions.
In regards to Van Dooren, Bouckaert and Halligan (2015), industrial structures are to a rapid change influenced by the economic trends and the globalization of the trade markets. Productivity gains of production industries and organizations are achievable through global scale, niche expertise, and the adaptability to work with flexible networks of trading partners. Management of business and institutions is adopting data-driven techniques through the use of improved technology. These management practices underpin the performance of systems although still minimal in the public sector. Consequently, financial knowledge requires the use of benchmarking to externalize their knowledge and increase their information resources.
Threats of Innovation to the Public Service Institutions
Drucker (2014) describes innovations in the public sector as being a result of the influence of outside source or through the occurrence of a catastrophe. Critics blame bureaucrats, power-hungry politicians and servers with delayed payrolls to be the cause of the slow innovation in the public sector. Other reasons provided include the budget, which these institutions use. Increasing changes in these industries mean massive budget provisions, which come from taxes and charitable organizations. Thus for these schools taking a risk in innovation is something highly discouraged. These agencies depend on a multitude of constituents that have the power in deciding about the novelty. All parts must be satisfied with proposed innovations before their execution. The mission of these institutions is to serve the public. Thus, view of their mission as absolutely moral without any commercial objectives to participate. Consequently, they fail to optimize the available resources and ideas in promoting positive changes.
According to Sorensen and Torfing (2012), the labor union presents a typical example of how public service institutions resist innovations. The association focuses on the same operational principles advocating for the same contributions, fighting the same challenges, and same objectives. Similarly, the education sector experiences slow growth and development pointing to resistance to innovate. Comparatively, other institutions embraced innovations leading to their immense success. Examples of these include the Girl Scouts of the USA that recruited members for the minorities groups of the black, Asians, and Latin. Similarly, a Roman Catholic archdiocese brought in lay people from different professionals to run other business of the church. A hospital in the West coast realized the power of innovation by introducing freestanding ambulatory treatment centers resulting in better health care provisions.
The use of technology results in significant advantages to all industries and institutions through the automation of work and other main benefits. Although it does profit the institutions, it also generates a large amount of negativity including the reduction in employment and revenue. According to Bekkerss, Edelenbos and Steijn (2011), the use of technology results in cyber crimes, cyber bullying and hacking of government systems that leads to the loss of data. Attacks on individuals are made possible through access information on the Internet and other online sources. In education, technology changes the ability of the scholars to remember information in that it is easily accessible. It has also been shown to alter the memory and the mood perception of the child. Regarding health, it is known to significantly contribute to obesity due to minimum exercise and a heavy reliance on machines to perform tasks. Vision problems, hearing loss and neck strains are common in using technological equipment such as smartphones and computers. The installation of the hardware and training personnel is expensive. Additionally, the health models threaten the patient safety following their lack of a standard user interface.
In regards to Bekkerss et al. (2011), innovation functions through taking risks in approaching a new method or trying out a new idea. Thus, in public institutions taking risks is highly discouraged since the failure may result in the closure of these establishments. Most of the employees in these institutions possess a culture of risk aversion and prefer using the same tried methods in running these institutions. Consequently, innovation requires investments that the public sector enjoys limited control. According to Drucker (2014), these systems obtain their funding from government taxes and private contributions from charity and other philanthropists. Their sources of revenue limit their exploring new ideas. The budget of these institutions is structured to meet the daily running operations. Allocation of extra funding occurs when the necessity to innovate become extremely vital and as a result of external factors (Bekkerss et al., 2011). Additionally, managers and professionals serving these institutions spend an overwhelming proportion of their time dealing with the day-to-day pressures of delivering services, running their organizations and reporting to other concerned parties such as the senior managers, political leaders, agencies, and inspectorates. They have very small space to think about doing things differently or delivering services in ways, which would alleviate the pressures and burdens.
Opportunities for Innovation in the Public Service Institutions
Based on K, use of technology in all public institutions positively influences the delivery of services, which is faster and more convenient than the traditional methods. Communication is better enhanced resulting into enhanced consumer satisfaction. The society can also profit in being involved in contributing to this innovation through the various communication channels. As described by Drucker (2014), public institutions are not structured with a mindset to earn a profit. Their focus and development interpret about growth and expansion. Thus, through the planning, implementing and executing of appropriate innovations most of these institutions will experience multiple extensions. With the example of the education sector, innovation in technology equipment and changes in policies will contribute to an increase in student enrollment and the expansion of the facility. Consequently, better policies and the success of the innovation will lead to an increase in the number of contributors, donors, and government funding.
According to Osborne, Radnor, and Nasi (2013), a significant benefit of these innovations especially in the public service includes the reduction of costs in accessing vital services. An example is the provision of health benefits for retired employees by the USPS. Additionally, the health and education sector can provide cost-effective services that reach a wider majority of the society. Similarly, innovations in the government through technological application assist in increasing security and thus a better protection of the citizens. Tracking systems, data management, and filtering of data can prevent the occurrence of attack or loss of personal information. It also significantly helps detect the possibilities of catastrophic activities and thus prevent their occurrences.
It is through these changes that the public sector is capable of increasing its competitive advantage over the private institutions that are always innovating. More so, innovation provides meaningful differentiation enhance the adaptability of these establishments to external environments with the various challenges. Consequently, economic problems through the downturns and recessions require a significant change to ensure that these facilities remain functional and survive financial strains.
Conclusion
Change is quite relevant in the public service institutions based on the fact that they carry out important responsibilities within the society including increasing the responsiveness of services to local and individual needs and to keeping up with public needs and expectations. Although innovations in the public sector face rampant challenges, it is important to perform effective planning to ensure that these establishments can innovate consistently and earn the multiple benefits. Imperative are the disadvantages of this innovation especially in making policies and in the use of technology reducing employment and revenue.
References
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