Required Capabilities for Employee-Driven Innovation to Emerge in Healthcare Organizations; Comment on “Employee-Driven Innovation in Health Organizations: Insights from a Scoping Review”

Document Type : Commentary

Author

1 Department of Public Health and Management, Mohammed VI International School of Public Health, Mohammed VI University of Sciences and Health, Casablanca, Morocco

2 Mohammed VI Centre for Research and Innovation (CM6RI), Rabat, Morocco

Abstract

 Employee-driven innovation (EDI) is still under-researched in health policy and system research, particularly in low-and middle-income countries. EDI is recognized as a lever to improve the commitment of health workers, promote quality of care, and contribute to creating value and transforming healthcare practices, services, structures, and processes. The mechanisms underlying the emergence of EDI processes and outcomes include core capabilities to cope with complexity, building spaces for learning, fostering sense-making and sense-giving, and collective problem-solving. The development of such capabilities depends on organizational and individual conditions. Organizational capabilities include complex leadership, trust management practices, task complexity, and the availability of slack resources. Individual capabilities comprise capabilities to cope with complexity, such as sense-making, autonomy, system thinking, and adaptive learning. The sustainability of EDI depends on local ownership and frontline employees’ involvement during problem definition, innovation design, and implementation.

Keywords


  1. Cadeddu SB, Dare LO, Denis JL. Employee-driven innovation in health organizations: insights from a scoping review. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2023;12:6734. doi:34172/ijhpm.2023.6734
  2. May CR, Mair F, Finch T, et al. Development of a theory of implementation and integration: normalization process theory. Implement Sci. 2009;4:29. doi:1186/1748-5908-4-29
  3. Flynn R, Rotter T, Hartfield D, Newton AS, Scott SD. A realist evaluation to identify contexts and mechanisms that enabled and hindered implementation and had an effect on sustainability of a lean intervention in pediatric healthcare. BMC Health Serv Res. 2019;19(1):912. doi:1186/s12913-019-4744-3
  4. Belrhiti Z, Bigdeli M, Lakhal A, Kaoutar D, Zbiri S, Belabbes S. Unravelling collaborative governance dynamics within healthcare networks: a scoping review. Health Policy Plan. 2024;39(4):412-428. doi:1093/heapol/czae005
  5. Belrhiti Z, Nebot Giralt A, Marchal B. Complex leadership in healthcare: a scoping review. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2018;7(12):1073-1084. doi:15171/ijhpm.2018.75
  6. El Kirat H, van Belle S, Khattabi A, Belrhiti Z. Behavioral change interventions, theories, and techniques to reduce physical inactivity and sedentary behavior in the general population: a scoping review. BMC Public Health. 2024;24(1):2099. doi:1186/s12889-024-19600-9
  7. Ellström PE. Practice‐based innovation: a learning perspective. J Workplace Learn. 2010;22(1/2):27-40. doi:1108/13665621011012834
  8. Høyrup S. Employee-driven innovation: a new phenomenon, concept and mode of innovation. In: Høyrup S, Bonnafous-Boucher M, Hasse C, Lotz M, Møller K, eds. Employee-Driven Innovation: A New Approach. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK; 2012:3-33. doi:1057/9781137014764_1
  9. Westhorp G. Using complexity-consistent theory for evaluating complex systems. Evaluation. 2012;18(4):405-420. doi:1177/1356389012460963
  10. Pawson R, Tilley N. Realistic Evaluation. London: Sage Publications Ltd; 1997.
  11. Renmans D, Westhorp G, Astbury B, Belrhiti Z, Hardwick R, Leeuw F, et al. Feasibility and desirability of a realist CMOC database: lessons learned. Evaluation. 2024:13563890241267732. doi:1177/13563890241267732
  12. Fraser SW, Greenhalgh T. Coping with complexity: educating for capability. BMJ. 2001;323(7316):799-803.
  13. Brinkerhoff DW, Morgan PJ. Capacity and capacity development: coping with complexity. Public Adm Dev. 2010;30(1):2-10. doi:1002/pad.559
  14. Orgill M, Marchal B, Shung-King M, Sikuza L, Gilson L. Bottom-up innovation for health management capacity development: a qualitative case study in a South African health district. BMC Public Health. 2021;21(1):587. doi:1186/s12889-021-10546-w
  15. Mumford MD, Licuanan B. Leading for innovation: conclusions, issues, and directions. Leadersh Q. 2004;15(1):163-171. doi:1016/j.leaqua.2003.12.010
  16. Belrhiti Z, Van Belle S, Criel B. How medical dominance and interprofessional conflicts undermine patient-centred care in hospitals: historical analysis and multiple embedded case study in Morocco. BMJ Glob Health. 2021;6(7):e006140. doi:1136/bmjgh-2021-006140
  17. Greenhalgh T, Humphrey C, Hughes J, Macfarlane F, Butler C, Pawson R. How do you modernize a health service? A realist evaluation of whole-scale transformation in London. Milbank Q. 2009;87(2):391-416. doi:1111/j.1468-0009.2009.00562.x
  18. Gilson L, Nzinga J, Orgill M, Belrhiti Z. Health system leadership development in selected African countries: challenges and opportunities. In: Chambers N, ed. Research Handbook on Leadership in Healthcare. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing; 2023.
  19. Lidman L, Gustavsson M, Fogelberg Eriksson A. Learning and employee-driven innovation in the public sector – the interplay between employee engagement and organisational conditions. J Workplace Learn. 2023;35(9):86-100. doi:1108/jwl-05-2022-0055
  20. Svare H, Johnsen Å, Wittrock C. Does trust-based management reform enhance employee-driven innovation? Evidence from a Scandinavian capital. Nordic Journal of Innovation in the Public Sector. 2023;2(1):43-58.
  21. Greenleaf RK. Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. Paulist Press; 2002.
  22. Lichtenstein BB, Uhl-Bien M, Marion R, Seers A, Orton JD, Schreiber C. Complexity leadership theory: an interactive perspective on leading in complex adaptive systems. Emergence: Complexity & Organization. 2006;8(4):2-12.
  23. Smith P, Ulhøi JP, Kesting P. Mapping key antecedents of employee-driven innovations. Int J Hum Resour Dev Manag. 2012;12(3):224-236. doi:1504/ijhrdm.2012.048629
  24. May CR, Albers B, Bracher M, et al. Translational framework for implementation evaluation and research: a normalisation process theory coding manual for qualitative research and instrument development. Implement Sci. 2022;17(1):19. doi:1186/s13012-022-01191-x
  25. Evans K, Hodkinson P, Rainbird H, Unwin L. Improving Workplace Learning. Routledge; 2007.
  26. Jagosh J, Bush PL, Salsberg J, et al. A realist evaluation of community-based participatory research: partnership synergy, trust building and related ripple effects. BMC Public Health. 2015;15:725. doi:1186/s12889-015-1949-1
  27. Eisenberger R, Fasolo P, Davis-LaMastro V. Perceived organizational support and employee diligence, commitment, and innovation. J Appl Psychol. 1990;75(1):51-59. doi:1037/0021-9010.75.1.51

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 16 October 2024
  • Receive Date: 03 August 2024
  • Revise Date: 12 October 2024
  • Accept Date: 15 October 2024
  • First Publish Date: 16 October 2024