Ultimately Contingent: Leveraging the Power-Web of Culture, Leadership, & Organization Design for Effective Innovation

Today’s business world is fast-paced, and successful organizations must innovate, especially as technologies become ever more crucial to securing market success. Research in the fields of leadership and organization design illustrates that innovativeness is a competency advanced by particular kinds of leadership and through specific organization designs. Similarly, research displays how cultural differences play a role in the success of particular kinds of leadership, which also affects organization design. And, culture figures into the innovation equation directly, as some cultural characteristics are more conducive to innovation than others. The following article, therefore, argues that organization design and leadership, when combined and based upon studied cultural awareness, optimized for unique industry and environment alignment, leads to greater innovation effectiveness. Effective organizational innovation depends on the alignment of culture, leadership, and organization design.