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Diversity
The team was relatively diverse, with considerable variation in the age, tenure and educational background of the team members. There was also diversity in functional background, with people from financial, sales, information technology and human resources backgrounds and race and gender diversity in the team. The types of diversity in the team included:
Age: There were substantial differences in the age of people in the team, ranging from 35 years old to 66 years old.
Tenure: Some people had been in the organisation for less than a year, whereas others had been there for 37 years.
Educational: There was variety in the education levels of the team members ranging from no tertiary qualifications to one person with a masters degree.
Functional: The functional background varied from people technically involved in the company‟s products, to sales, finance and human resources.
Race: There were whites and blacks in the team.
Gender: There were both genders represented in the team.
Some of the team members indicated that the diversity in the team was important. The BU (Business Unit) Executive indicated that the strength of the team was due to its diversity:
“If you look at our executive team as a whole, we come from a wide array of backgrounds. We have got some very strong financial guys, in financial positions; we’ve got some very sound financial guys in non-financial positions. We’ve got people very strong in processes, operational procedures; we’ve got some sales, very strong sales.” (22:39:10).
He went on to further explain:
“Putting all these people around the table allows us the opportunity to analyse the situation as it stands from complete different angles. If anything, it allows us the latitude and flexibility to put the certain situation into a complete different perspective. And to analyse it in complete different angles, different viewpoints because of the different participants that we have, and because of the nature of the difference in their perception, their approach, their experiences and their knowledge and understanding to what they’ve built up in the past to where we are today.” (22:28:12) However the racial and gender diversity was limited and the black females held non-line management functions. As indicated by the Innovation Manager:
“I think the diversity of team is one aspect where we are still white male dominant. And we all feel the pressure because the market dictates that that is not the way we should be driving the business.” (23:144:212)
The black women in the team were not seen as strong. At least one team member believed that more strong woman in the team would have been beneficial. This person did indicate that he felt that women brought a different perspective and as he stated:
“I think they talk through the problem a lot clearer. They don’t make assumptions.” (23:48:216)
In some ways the diversity of the team impacted on the level of interaction within the team. There were white salesmen, who were rowdy, and the black female human resources and finance people, who were much quieter. In the words of the Services Manager:
“That’s what finance and admin and HR is. It’s not in the firing line of the customers, so you’ve got this external focus to this extreme and the internal focus to this extreme. As well, is their cultural background, being different and I would say, and I’m pretty sure, that there’s a lot of good ideas that they would have had that didn’t come to being exposed.” (16:66:127)
This, potentially, according to the Services Executive, could have reduced the number of good ideas that were exposed. The Services Executive felt this was the worst aspect with regard to the operation of the team:
“The worst bit was, the diversity of people, not only outgoing, but people who had stayed behind and have a couple of drinks after work, and talk about the day and some crazy ideas, laugh a lot and chat a lot versus others that would go home spot on time, or would rather focus on very much the workload. I mean, different kind of personalities. So the bond, the innovation was kind of left out.” (16:16:167)
It was identified that one of the problems in the team, which manifested itself when the new strategy was implemented, was that there was a lack of skills in the team to do with the field of communications: “There was one big area of weakness in terms of diversity of our team. There was not one of us that were experts in marketing communication. We weren’t. And I think, probably due to lack of understanding, or ignorance in terms of not being experts in the field.” (22:22:120)
Another type of difference that was identified was the internal focus and the external focus that existed in the team:
“That’s what finance and admin and HR is. It’s not in the firing line of the customers, so you’ve got this external focus to this extreme and the internal focus to this extreme.” (16:49:127)
The people who staffed those areas tended to have differences in their interactions with people:
“… who because of their very background, they are salespeople through and through, they are very outgoing. Outspoken, noisy, partygoers, fun, laughter, you know, say what they think. So you have that extreme in this end and you have these quietly spoken ladies, not only because they are black ladies but the very function is more of a supportive back-office function.” (16:26:127)
The youngest team member had considerable impact in the business, perhaps due to the person‟s flamboyant character. This team member was a high achiever from a young age:
“And our MD said, „What the hell does an accountant know about sales‟. I said, „Give me a bash, I’m either going to make it or I’m going to fail‟. And I was there for three years and got appointed as the youngest general manager in the Group.” (22:54:136)
He felt that he was found to be valuable to the team because of his youth, passion and energy:
“I would like to believe and hope that they find me valuable, probably because of my youth. I’m very passionate, very energetic about what I do.” (22:57:146)
This was supported by another team member who indicated “He’s young, very energetic, and really goes all out” (17:88:182). The youngest team member believed that he had earned the respect of the other team members due to his achievements: “I would like to believe that I have earned their respect through the years of my service to the company, but also in terms of my ability to deliver.” (22:56:138)
Despite his youth he has been within the group of companies for 12 years.
One of the team members was identified as resistant to change due to his age, long track record and experience. It was apparently not just a matter of that he was resistant to change, but that he would not change:
“The one issue sometimes is, his age and track record and experience can also become an inhibitor. He’s so set in his ways that he won’t change.” (13:64:118)
At least one team member indicated that older, longer tenure and more experienced individuals were resistant to change. In their opinion:
“So how do you now sit and defend your strategy versus someone was been here for 25 years, and saying, „No, but I’ve done well, by doing that. Why are you changing the strategy‟ » (23:101:134)
This view was even subscribed to by the actual team member involved, who started reminiscing about the past:
“It‟s a great pity because it is a very strong company and now suddenly we are just a very small company.”
And when asked to indicate what the solution could be he laughed and said:
“Change the names back”
The level of experience appeared to have had a major impact on the members of this team. Some team members due to their relative inexperience could not or would not contribute during the meetings in any area aside from their own area of expertise.
Another of the executives explained the need to appoint black people due to the need to meet black economic empowerment targets. To enable this to occur, people who were not at the same experience level as the rest of the EXCO were included in the senior management team.
Environment Influences
There were numerous characteristics of the environment within which this team worked that could have had an effect on the innovative behaviour in the team. These included the company culture, which was impacted by the previous Managing Director, the suppliers, the customers, financial consideration and the current leader of the team and the organisation.
When asked whether innovation was driven more by internal or external factors in the organisation, the innovation manager indicated that although impacted by both, the environment played a stronger part in the innovations than internal requirements:
“I think that they are largely driven by both. But I would give a heavier weighting in terms of the environment. The area where we play in, dictates how we will survive going forward.” (23:16:64)
There were some factors that drove the need for innovation. One, which the Services Executive, highlighted was the Football World Cup in 2010:
“But something like 2010 World Cup, drives a need for innovation, because here we saying, here‟s an event that we know is coming. How we can maximise the solution sets that we have access to internationally, the experiences of [Supplier N] who participate and do solutions in the Olympics, in Greece, Athens, not so long ago.” (16:19:35) The supplier also created the requirement for innovation when the supplier split into two different companies along the lines of the two different solution sets that the company provided to its customers. The Services Executive indicated:
“So we are going to have to get very innovative, how we bring both of those to the market. We will now be represented in two separate companies and we now have to be innovative as to how we bring that to the South African market without causing confusion.” (16:29:159)
The amount of innovation possible was also limited by the partner that the company had. The company was limited in what it could do because of the need to focus on what the partner had done.
“The pressures, of our partner, for us to become more focused, more specialised could inhibit us getting there. And therefore that innovation, the innovation might be more about: how do we take some of our partner‟s solutions and ideas, that we are not already implementing, how do we take that new stuff to market in South Africa.” (13:38:158)
The customers had also changed their focus and were becoming much less willing to spend money on large projects:
“If we carried on doing business the way we‟d done in the last 10 to 15 years, we would have been out of business.” (22:15:50)
There were also directives from the government with regards to the facilities that the government expected them to provide to their consumers.
“Furthermore that was, further emulated by government’s directive, for lack of a better word, to the [customers of the company].” (22:62:54)
PART I: FOUNDATION FOR THE RESEARCH
1. INTRODUCTION
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
PART II: RESULTS
4. CASE NARRATIVES
5. CASE ANALYSES
6. CROSS-CASE ANALYSIS AND THEORY BUILDING
PART III: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
7. DISCUSSION
8. CONCLUSION
9. REFERENCES
10. APPENDICES
