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• Case | HBS Case Collection | July 2018

  Leading Open Innovation at BT

  Amy C. Edmondson, Jean-François Harvey and Johnathan R. Cromwell

  This case focuses on the genesis and development of the open innovation unit at BT, the strategic value of the unit, and its operating model. As the business environment becomes increasingly dynamic and firms are pressured to achieve faster innovation rates, there may be accompanying shifts in the way they pursue innovation. This case illustrates the challenges that this poses to large corporations as well as the key activities the open innovation unit engages in to deal with them. In particular, it must manage relationships with various stakeholders to leverage the value of matching external ideas and technologies with internal resources and capabilities. The case poses the question: Should the open innovation unit fully incubate some ideas, instead of always seeking partnership with commitment from a customer-facing unit?

  Keywords: collaboration; open innovation; inter-organizational relationships; collaborative Innovation and Invention; Organizational Culture; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United Kingdom; United States;

  Citation:

  Edmondson, Amy C., Jean-François Harvey, and Johnathan R. Cromwell. "Leading Open Innovation at BT." Harvard Business School Case 619-013, July 2018.  View Details

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• Chapter | How Could this Happen? Managing Errors in Organizations | 2018

  The Strategic Imperative of Psychological Safety and Organizational Error Management

  Amy C. Edmondson and Paul Verdin

  Despite discussion in the management literature about agile organizations or learning organizations, many large organizations are top-down, slow to change, and fraught with obstacles to learning. We describe “strategy-as-learning” to contrast with the traditional concept of “strategy-as-planning.” Practicing the work of organizational strategy as a learning process implies eschewing a set of firm decisions and preconceived courses of action. Instead, strategy formulation and execution develop from setting a direction and posing a set of questions to be defined, refined, and iteratively answered. Strategy-making is thus about developing and advancing hypotheses to be tested. In this context, psychological safety plays a crucial role in shaping the quality of strategy-as-learning, as psychological safety enables speaking up, error reporting, dissenting, and candidly discussing risks. Without these behaviors, especially at the executive levels, organizations are at risk of strategic failures that could have been avoided.

  Keywords: Strategy; Learning; Safety; Organizational Culture; Performance Consistency;

  Citation:

  Edmondson, Amy C., and Paul Verdin. "The Strategic Imperative of Psychological Safety and Organizational Error Management." In How Could this Happen? Managing Errors in Organizations, edited by Jan U. Hagen. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | June 2005 (Revised May 2018)

  Columbia's Final Mission: A Multimedia Case

  Michael Roberto, Richard M.J. Bohmer, Amy C. Edmondson and Erika Ferlins

  Teaching Note to 305-032.

  Keywords: Aerospace Industry;

  Citation:

  Roberto, Michael, Richard M.J. Bohmer, Amy C. Edmondson, and Erika Ferlins. "Columbia's Final Mission: A Multimedia Case." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 305-033, June 2005. (Revised May 2018.)  View Details

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