Table IV Exemplary quotes for the... | Emerald Publishing

Table IV

Exemplary quotes for the decision-making dimensions

Decision-making dimension	Exemplary quotes
Intuitive	A general manager, indicating the importance of gut feeling: “Sometimes it is important to listen to our guts […] […] Even in the literature you will not find Columbus’ egg [a simple solution to a problem]” (Unit 1) Two co-workers, expressing their feelings about the innovation project: “In my opinion this is way too easy. Honestly, I think […] yes, that is nonsense!” (Unit 2) and “I think this is great […] this is absolutely fantastic” (Unit 2) A manager, explaining a feel for what will succeed or not: “I am a creative-chaotic type of person […] and I just know – based on my rich work experience – that some are going to succeed and others aren’t” (Unit 2) A manager, indicating that feelings can ignite but also impede innovative behavior: “It is fed by my gut feeling. If I don’t have that feeling, I completely disengage in those things; I don’t spend energy on it” (Unit 4) A manager, stressing the importance of feelings for a project or initiative: “I very much act upon my feeling, and I have had a lot of fights with people within Magnus […] it doesn’t bother me to step on people’s toes” (Unit 4) An engineer, stating that intuition guides the problem-solving process in an innovation project: “[My manager’s advice] was very pragmatic-just follow your common sense, use your intuition, so to say. To apply adjustments in the software, it is necessary to find orientation without using a manual to understand how it all works. It is important to be a little intuitive” (Unit 4)
Political	An employee stressing that the positioning of an innovation project can be of crucial importance: “You have to make sure to place your initiative high enough [in the decision hierarchy], but not so high that everybody interferes, because then it will be dead before you can even start” (Unit 1) A leading innovation manager explained that an innovation project was protected from people who could frustrate the project: “We do not keep it secret, but we keep it under the decision-making radar” (Unit 1) An engineer who tells how his manager tries to provide space for his people to work on innovation undisturbed: “[My boss] granted us autonomy […] He is very active, but it is never visible. Formation, politics, he did all of that. He kept our group out of discussions” (Unit 2) A manager, explaining that innovation is people’s work and people’s interest: “It’s a quest. [Finding what is interesting for more parties] often is […] not something mathematical [the manager uses his hands to imitate a set of scales]” (Unit 2) A general manager, explaining how an innovation step was supported by developing consensus among team members: “(The meeting went well) because each person was given space to say something, and, in my opinion, others really asked them ‘What do you mean?’ […] and ‘What do you think?’ Then you are really listening, instead of saying ‘I think it should be this or that’” (Unit 2) An engineer, observing the process of negotiation between people in the innovation project: “Alex pulls in one direction; Marc pulls in one direction; Michael pulls in one direction; and Andy thinks ‘Hmmmm’ and adjusts afterwards” (Unit 3) An engineer telling that some ideas are just being introduced to keep certain people committed: “We’ve been doing a lot of these things since three or four years, and now the idea box is back on the table. Well, at least ask briefly how it went in the past and why it didn’t work out […] Now we just do it again, and that bothers me because – yes cool idea – but we have tried, and it failed for a number of reasons that are not up to us” (Unit 3) A manager, stressing that innovation is something that should be and stay in the heads of people: “I think innovation is incredibly important and I try to put it on the agenda and to keep it there. Sometimes, this is a crusade” (Unit 4)
Rational	A director, stating that innovation is based on ongoing learning and knowledge capture: “This is a learning curve to understand which new technologies to introduce into which new markets” (Unit 1) An engineer, explaining that working with checks and balances is an important factor: “In some cases you want to safeguard yourself by doing everything right and by doing the right checks, etc. You want some security before you make the decision” (Unit 2) An engineer, explaining that making ideas concrete is an important final aspect of the innovation process: “It is in principle a decision based on the feeling of the product, like ‘this could be an interesting field for us to invest in,’ and then the next step is, can we make it more concrete” (Unit 2) An engineer, stressing the importance of acting on facts and figures: “I have to compliment [our manager] because he organized weekly meetings […] He organized the meetings and presented data and numbers” (Unit 4) An engineer, telling that the exact specifications of the innovations needed to be clear and concrete: “The technicians had to know exactly what we wanted” (Unit 4)

Decision-making dimension	Exemplary quotes
Intuitive	A general manager, indicating the importance of gut feeling: “Sometimes it is important to listen to our guts […] […] Even in the literature you will not find Columbus’ egg [a simple solution to a problem]” (Unit 1)Two co-workers, expressing their feelings about the innovation project: “In my opinion this is way too easy. Honestly, I think […] yes, that is nonsense!” (Unit 2) and “I think this is great […] this is absolutely fantastic” (Unit 2)A manager, explaining a feel for what will succeed or not: “I am a creative-chaotic type of person […] and I just know – based on my rich work experience – that some are going to succeed and others aren’t” (Unit 2)A manager, indicating that feelings can ignite but also impede innovative behavior: “It is fed by my gut feeling. If I don’t have that feeling, I completely disengage in those things; I don’t spend energy on it” (Unit 4)A manager, stressing the importance of feelings for a project or initiative: “I very much act upon my feeling, and I have had a lot of fights with people within Magnus […] it doesn’t bother me to step on people’s toes” (Unit 4)An engineer, stating that intuition guides the problem-solving process in an innovation project: “[My manager’s advice] was very pragmatic-just follow your common sense, use your intuition, so to say. To apply adjustments in the software, it is necessary to find orientation without using a manual to understand how it all works. It is important to be a little intuitive” (Unit 4)
Political	An employee stressing that the positioning of an innovation project can be of crucial importance: “You have to make sure to place your initiative high enough [in the decision hierarchy], but not so high that everybody interferes, because then it will be dead before you can even start” (Unit 1)A leading innovation manager explained that an innovation project was protected from people who could frustrate the project: “We do not keep it secret, but we keep it under the decision-making radar” (Unit 1)An engineer who tells how his manager tries to provide space for his people to work on innovation undisturbed: “[My boss] granted us autonomy […] He is very active, but it is never visible. Formation, politics, he did all of that. He kept our group out of discussions” (Unit 2)A manager, explaining that innovation is people’s work and people’s interest: “It’s a quest. [Finding what is interesting for more parties] often is […] not something mathematical [the manager uses his hands to imitate a set of scales]” (Unit 2)A general manager, explaining how an innovation step was supported by developing consensus among team members: “(The meeting went well) because each person was given space to say something, and, in my opinion, others really asked them ‘What do you mean?’ […] and ‘What do you think?’ Then you are really listening, instead of saying ‘I think it should be this or that’” (Unit 2)An engineer, observing the process of negotiation between people in the innovation project: “Alex pulls in one direction; Marc pulls in one direction; Michael pulls in one direction; and Andy thinks ‘Hmmmm’ and adjusts afterwards” (Unit 3)An engineer telling that some ideas are just being introduced to keep certain people committed: “We’ve been doing a lot of these things since three or four years, and now the idea box is back on the table. Well, at least ask briefly how it went in the past and why it didn’t work out […] Now we just do it again, and that bothers me because – yes cool idea – but we have tried, and it failed for a number of reasons that are not up to us” (Unit 3)A manager, stressing that innovation is something that should be and stay in the heads of people: “I think innovation is incredibly important and I try to put it on the agenda and to keep it there. Sometimes, this is a crusade” (Unit 4)
Rational	A director, stating that innovation is based on ongoing learning and knowledge capture: “This is a learning curve to understand which new technologies to introduce into which new markets” (Unit 1)An engineer, explaining that working with checks and balances is an important factor: “In some cases you want to safeguard yourself by doing everything right and by doing the right checks, etc. You want some security before you make the decision” (Unit 2)An engineer, explaining that making ideas concrete is an important final aspect of the innovation process: “It is in principle a decision based on the feeling of the product, like ‘this could be an interesting field for us to invest in,’ and then the next step is, can we make it more concrete” (Unit 2)An engineer, stressing the importance of acting on facts and figures: “I have to compliment [our manager] because he organized weekly meetings […] He organized the meetings and presented data and numbers” (Unit 4)An engineer, telling that the exact specifications of the innovations needed to be clear and concrete: “The technicians had to know exactly what we wanted” (Unit 4)