University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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However, these output oriented structures only offer opportunities for high
involvement innovation and responsibility, they cannot guarantee success.
The combination of the VSM model and sociotechnical system theory offers a
theoretical framework for the development of innovation and CSR in organizations.
This framework can be used to describe, analyze and design interactions with
stakeholders in conjunction with the infrastructure of the organization.
This all can form a basis for developing a practical tool to implement high
involvement innovation and high involvement responsibility in organizations, which
will briefly be discussed below.
Translation to Practice: A Tool for High Involvement
Innovation and Responsibility
With regard to the theme of involving stakeholders in CR innovation processes and
developing a tool for high involvement innovation and responsibility two questions
are relevant:
1. From a functional perspective: what activities the organization has to
undertake in order to involve stakeholders in processes of innovation: the
WHAT question. This can be determined on the basis of the Viable System
Model.
2. From an structural perspective: HOW-question.
How can the organizational structure be designed in order to integrate the
activities under (1) and facilitate high involvement innovation and
responsibility? This can be done with the help of sociotechnical theory.
Ad 1. With regard to the functional perspective the following steps will be followed
(a to c):
a. Stakeholder theory can supply the necessary knowledge for the functional
decomposition of the process of interaction with stakeholders. On the basis of
stakeholder theory activities can be distinguished that an organization needs
to undertake in order to involve stakeholders in innovation processes and
concrete methods linked to those activities (e.g. methods of stakeholder
mapping, methods of stakeholder analysis, participation methodsetc.).On the
basis of stakeholder literature the following core activities are distinguished:
S1:Strategy and issue selection
S2: Stakeholder analysis
S3: Stakeholder selection
S4: Stakeholder dialogue/cooperation
S5: Processing results
S6: Translation of results into innovation of product/process/business
model
S7: Feedback and evaluation