PITTSBURGH, March 3, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Despite the increasing attention paid to creativity and innovation within American businesses, a new survey reveals that a significant percentage of workers believe that their efforts are not sufficiently appreciated or managed within their organizations.
According to the survey, conducted in February by MindMatters Technologies, more than three of four respondents (77%) said their ideas are poorly analyzed or reviewed by their companies. More than four of five people who took the survey (81%) said their firms do not have the resources needed to fully pursue the innovations and new ideas capable of keeping their companies ahead in the competitive global marketplace.
The challenge may be systemic: while more than half the respondents (55%) said their organizations treat intellectual property as a valuable resource, only one in seven (16%) believed their employers regarded its development as a mission-critical function. It's personal, as well: almost half (49%) believe they won't receive any benefit or recognition for developing successful ideas.
"The survey validates that Dr. W. Edwards Deming, the father of System Thinking, was right," said innovation guru Doug Hall, chief executive officer of Eureka! Ranch. "Deming found that 94 percent of the problem is the system, six percent, the worker. The results show that workers are frustrated and don't know how to contribute, and believe their efforts aren't taken as seriously as they should be," he said.
The MindMatters survey of 150 innovation workers at American companies also revealed that:
- Fewer than 30% of respondents' organizations regularly measure/report on innovation
- Half of all organizations use either spreadsheets or email to manage their innovation efforts; such methods are seen as insufficient to manage the full scope of required processes
- Only five percent of American workers feel highly motivated to be innovative. They tend to work at companies that have an effective process to encourage ideas, strong management commitment/goals, prompt feedback, performance-based metrics, and view IP as a strategic asset.
"This lack of preparedness and motivation represents an innovation crisis," said John Gabrick, chief executive officer at MindMatters. "Too many companies allow ideas that could drive them forward to fall by the wayside, or to be bogged down in poorly-designed processes. Their failure to have a quantifiable, visible procedure in place to translate concepts into intellectual property costs them, both on the bottom line, as well as among their workers who believe their ideas will be ignored or simply don't matter."
"Imagine the impact if the reverse of this survey was true," Hall added. "Imagine if seven of ten believed their ideas would be listened to. Imagine if 95% were highly motivated to be innovative and nine out of ten had the tools to help them innovate. We wouldn't have an innovation crisis; we'd have an unstoppable innovation juggernaut."
About MindMatters Technologies
MindMatters Technologies (www.mindmatters.net) is the developer of Innovator™ Enterprise Management System software, which provides advanced oversight and management of the corporate innovation process. Additionally, Innovator delivers integrated functionality that provides unsurpassed safeguarding and protection of emerging intellectual property assets. MindMatters is based in Pittsburgh.