Innovative Potential Of The Personnel In The Organization

Abstract

Currently, the country's most significant mission is the innovative development of the Russian economy as the basis of a new economic paradigm based on high technologies. The implementation of this mission is possible if there are highly qualified personnel, ready for innovative transformations, which in turn requires the use of new and advanced techniques in the preparation, training, formation and development of personnel. The more attention the manager will devote to the development of his organization, the more sensitive he will be to changes in the external environment, the wider will be the set of implemented functions within the framework of development management. The manager needs to revise his time, most of which he will be forced to spend on solving problems of managing innovative processes. In this article, the personnel readiness for innovation is understood as the willingness to use their human capital to implement a set of tasks that ensure the functioning of the organization in conditions of innovative activity, as well as the ability to carry out innovative transformations. The authors considered the innovative potential of personnel, its formation and development, and also revealed the role of developing the innovative potential of personnel in the organization. The results of a study of the readiness of managers and organizations for innovation are presented. It is concluded that for the successful development and functioning of the organization, personnel readiness for innovations is one of the most important sources of economic growth and competitive advantage of the organization.

Keywords: Innovationorganization staffinnovation potentialinnovation climateresistancepersonnel training

Introduction

Currently, an important factor in the effective functioning of the economy is human resources, not only the qualifications and number of personnel, but also their ability and willingness to innovate, which is becoming one of the most important sources of economic growth, value and sustainable competitive advantage of an organization. Innovations are the driving force of modern economic development; they are generated and implemented both by individual employees, and by the organization and the country (Pishchulin, 2012; Lukina & Sidorova, 2016; Pogodina, Aleksakhina, Burenin, Polianova, & Yunusov, 2019).

In order to determine the characteristic features of the structure and formation of innovative potential of personnel, it is necessary to define innovation. Thus, Valenta (2008) said that innovation should be understood by the changes taking place in the original structure of the organization, the transition of its internal structure to another (new) state. From the definition it follows that innovation can concern not only technologies and means of production, but also labor, its professional and qualification structure. The purposeful introduction of innovations should be determined by obtaining financial, or social benefits, which in the future will play a key role in the development of the organization. And innovative potential should be defined as the ability of personnel to perceive new information, to generate new competitive ideas, find solutions in non-standard situations, develop new approaches and methods for solving traditional problems, strive to obtain new general and professional knowledge and have the ability to apply this knowledge to implement ideas and innovations (Kipervar & Trunkina, 2016; Simonova, Levchenkova, & Butyrina, 2019).

Problem Statement

First of all, for the effective implementation of innovations it is necessary to identify the motivational attitudes of employees, as well as the activation of innovative and creative potentials (Gruzina & Firsova, 2019; Golyanich & Kudryavtseva, 2013). The use of non-traditional teaching methods typical of innovative organizations leads to an increase in conflicts in organizations, which is accompanied by risks and the phenomenon of resistance on the part of personnel, which necessitates testing changes and accompanying their implementation with adaptation technologies to them.

The formation and development of the innovative potential of personnel is most often associated with the implementation of the following goals: increasing labor productivity; effective personnel training and development; improving working relationships and improving the organizational climate; exemption of HR managers from routine managerial functions through the transition to a more rational use of personnel’s innovative potential; increasing the susceptibility and adaptability of personnel to innovations (Babenko, 2016; Dubina et al., 2017).

Research Questions

In the structure of the innovative potential of personnel, as a rule, a creative component is distinguished that includes elements that are determined not only by the knowledge, skills, abilities of employees, but also by some personal characteristics that can be adjusted (for example, the structure of motives, personal qualities, etc.) Increasing the innovative potential of both an individual employee and the entire enterprise as a whole can be achieved through the formation, development and adjustment of such private components as the motivational and personal aspects of the innovative potential of personnel (Morrar, Arman, & Mousa, 2017; Newman, Round, Wang, & Mount, 2019).

The main factors of effective development of innovative potential of personnel include the creation of innovation climate organization focused on openness and receptivity to innovation. With all this, one of the main problems of introducing innovations in practice is the lack of readiness and resistance of both subordinates and the managerial personnel of the organization to upcoming changes, which significantly complicates the implementation of innovative activities in the field of human resources of the organization (Liu, Chow, Zhang, & Huang, 2019; Garipova, Semenov, & Khaertdinov, 2011; Kipervar & Trunkina, 2016; Leonova, Zakharova, Zaladina, & Zolotov, 2019).

The following reasons for personnel resistance to innovation: low level of corporate culture; insignificant motivation for personnel participation in changes; lack of coordination of the actions of management in carrying out activities to increase the innovative potential of personnel; application of an authoritarian approach in bringing innovative activities; low or lack of trust among employees in initiators of changes.

Purpose of the Study

Determining the readiness of staff and organizations for innovation. The aim of the study of this article is to identify innovative potential as the ability of personnel to perceive new information, to generate new competitive ideas, find solutions in unusual situations, propose methods for solving new and traditional problems, and strive to obtain new general and professional knowledge used to implement ideas and innovations. Identification of factors for the effective development of innovative potential of staff.

Research Methods

To study the readiness of the organization and its personnel for innovation, a study was conducted, which was a survey of managers at various levels using the Buzan test. This study allows to measure an indicator of attitude to changes, and methods for assessing the success of the implementation of changes (Buzan, 2007).

Findings

The data obtained by the T. Buzan test showed that the majority of respondents (74%) adapt directly to changes immediately upon their occurrence, which is due to the high concentration of the development of innovative potential of personnel in the field of improving employee adaptability; 22% of respondents are distinguished by active management of their fate, which characterizes them as employees who are able to show flexibility, immediately respond to changes that occur, and also know how to benefit from problem situations that require the reconstruction of standard types of behavior and reactions; least likely to be managers with a negative attitude to change (4%) (Buzan, 2007).

Therefore, mainly employees holding managerial positions in various organizations are focused on openness and receptivity to innovation, which creates opportunities for the development of the innovative potential of the organization and its employees.

An analysis of the data on assessing the success of the implementation of changes showed that most of the companies (63%) are characterized by a “breakthrough” in the field of innovation. “Breakthrough” demonstrates the ideal state of the organization, which ensures the effectiveness of the implementation of any changes. Consequently, both the organization itself and the personnel are equally interested and ready for change; the situation in a quarter of organizations (26%) can be described as unstable, where it is necessary to assess the readiness of the company to introduce or continue to change. 7% of organizations are in a state of “revolution”, where the personnel are highly oriented towards implementation of changes and great internal potential, and management needs to start focusing on employee initiatives and become the head of implemented changes. The situation of “revolution” suggests that innovation projects are not manageable, based only on the personal initiative of employees who do not always see, and can assess the position of the company and its needs from a position of strategy. A “stagnant” situation is typical for 4% of companies whose main orientation is to maintain their current state, and not to introduce any innovations, which threatens to reduce the competitiveness of both personnel and the organization. “Stagnation” is characterized by the absence of any measures to introduce innovations, the invariability of the corporate culture of the bureaucratic type, the stability of the composition of top management and the team as a whole.

As an additional result, in the process of assessing the success of introducing additional changes, the coefficients of the effort to introduce changes were also calculated. A positive coefficient is inherent in 66% of companies. According to the results, the main attention of the organization should be focused on working with the company’s system, preparing it for innovation through creating the primary need for change. For 33% of companies, the coefficient took a negative value, which confirms that the focus on the success of the implementation of changes should be focused on working with personnel, increasing their readiness for innovation and reducing the level of resistance.

Conclusion

The average value of the coefficient of efforts to introduce changes among negative values is 3.5, and among positive ones it is 6.5. These data characterize the overall picture of the organizations presented and indicate a high readiness of personnel for changes, a significant level of adaptability in a changing business environment.

American researchers Armenakis and Fredenberger (1997), considering the aspect of the development of adaptability and personnel readiness for changes, identified three strategies for successfully forming psychological readiness for changes:

- reducing personnel anxiety through the use of face-to-face communication tools (for example, meeting a team) and writing tools (for example, a personal letter);

- external sources of information confirming the need for innovations (statistical data and analytics, reports and conclusions);

- active involvement of personnel directly in the process of organizational change, leading to a decrease in the psychological resistance of employees to change.

Therefore, at this stage of development of the innovative potential of organizations, the process of adaptation of personnel to changes and their adoption occurs immediately upon their occurrence. The guarantee of successful implementation of changes is the presence of employees who are able to show flexibility, immediately respond to changes, as well as those who can benefit from problem situations that require the reconstruction of standard behaviors and reactions.

Acknowledgments

The article is based on the results of studies carried out at the expense of budget funds on a state assignment to the Financial University.

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