SME managers: to innovate, identify the company's key players
SME managers are reputed to be brimming with ideas, but often lack the solutions to turn them into reality. Hidden in the physical and digital communication networks of SMEs are unsuspected players capable of facilitating or hindering the acceptance of innovations. This article proposes a method for identifying and mobilizing these key players to maximize the chances of innovation success.
Le Goff Rémi, Montpellier Business School; Marc Robert, Montpellier Business School and Sophie Mignon, University of Montpellier
In the face of recent upheavals, such as the Covid crisis and, more recently, inflation, the imperative for SME managers is clear: innovate to overcome crises. Whether it's managerial innovation (such as the liberated enterprise) or technological innovation (such as the adoption of data analytics), management teams are often not short of ideas.
However, they often come up against major obstacles, such as the legendary resistance to change. The management team regularly struggles to deploy these innovations, as negative attitudes persist. Our study reveals that there are unsuspected and often overlooked players within SMEs who can play a decisive role in the adoption of these innovations. Who are these players? How can they be effectively mobilized?
Choosing the right communication relays
It is often assumed that acceptance of an innovation depends on a rational discourse on the part of the management team, highlighting the expected benefits. The aim is to create a coalition of attitudes within the SME that are favorable to innovation, thereby limiting resistance to change. Although necessary, this strategy may not be sufficient if the message is not relayed by the right people, especially when management strictly follows the organizational chart to disseminate its message. To be effective, this message must be passed on by the influential people in the SME's communication network, a network which rarely reflects the organizational chart.
This phenomenon has grown with the digital transformation of the majority of SMEs (see Num 24 Barometer). Tools such as WhatsApp, Slack or Teams encourage exchanges, often informal and discreet, enabling individuals or groups of people outside the management team to take center stage in internal communication. This multiplication of exchanges strongly influences attitudes to innovation and creates social dynamics that can disrupt a management-led innovation rollout.
The unsuspected players in innovation
In our study, we analyzed an industrial SME with around 50 employees that had introduced lean management practices. The introduction of these practices in this SME gave rise to significant resistance to change. In this context, we identified influential employees in the company's communication network and examined their role in disseminating innovation-related discourses. Using social network analysis (a method of modeling relational systems well described by Emmanuel Lazega) and interviews with SME employees, our study confirmed the key role of managers in disseminating a discourse legitimizing innovation and fostering positive attitudes. However, we also found that the SME's communicative network is not centered around the management team; it is fragmented into several sub-groups dominated by actors with a variety of profiles, from blue-collar worker to financial director. These actors share three characteristics: (i) their legitimacy, often linked to seniority or individual performance; (ii) their representativeness, as they defend the interests of a group of employees; (iii) their central position in the communication network.
Employee coalitions or pockets of resistance? These players influence the dissemination of information on innovation and help shape the attitudes of other employees. They retain certain information, promote certain discourses or generate their own narratives, whether or not they are favorable to innovation. This control over information gives them significant power over attitude formation and, by extension, over the emergence of resistance to change. Their influence makes it possible to form coalitions of employees, both for and against innovation. In our case, these actors were initially underestimated by management due to their non-managerial status and their stealthy influence in the communication network. In the end, the management team had to adjust its discourse and negotiate with them to adapt new practices, maintain existing ones and sometimes even promote certain players.
Promoting the adoption of innovations through internal relays
We're convinced that anyone working in an SME, whether part of the management team or not, intuitively identifies these representative, legitimate and central players, capable of promoting or hindering innovation. However, it's crucial to go beyond this simple intuition.
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Our research shows that these players are often unsuspected by management, not least because a large proportion of exchanges between employees take place digitally and therefore go unnoticed. Yet they play an essential role, often being in a better position than management to convince their colleagues to adopt an innovation.
Understanding resistance to change.
SME managers should therefore start by identifying the key players, using simple network analysis methods to visualize your company's communication structure. Many social network analysis software packages are relatively easy to use. For example, there are many tutorials on how to use Gephi and NodeXL.
In addition, generative AIs such as ChatGPT can "act as network analysis experts", guiding the executive in data collection, analysis and interpretation. This analysis will identify the key players. Then, his intimate knowledge of the company will help him determine which players are equally legitimate and representative, facilitating the identification of those who play a key role in internal communication and who can federate their colleagues. The manager's role is then to involve these key players, encouraging them to participate actively in innovation activities to select and adapt innovations.
The aim is for them to become spokespersons within the company, capable of defending employees' interests while ensuring effective dissemination of information, enabling teams to form their own opinions. Finally, our study shows that these players, although they may represent a source of resistance, are a valuable opportunity to foster innovation. Resistance to change is often a signal to be exploited to better adapt innovations to the specific context of those who use them on a daily basis. These actors then become key interlocutors in overcoming these obstacles.
Le Goff Rémi, Professor of strategy and entrepreneurship , Montpellier Business SchoolMarc Robert, Professor of Management Sciences, Montpellier Business School and Sophie Mignon, University Professor, University of Montpellier
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.