Benchmark Assignment – Create an Innovation
Describe the problem your innovation targets. What is the scope of the problem and which stakeholders, both within the organization and without, does it impact?
The main innovations that are proposed for the organization include flexibility and change of attendance policies for the instructors. The current system of education is designed to benefit students who are committed to full-time study. This implies that the system fails to consider eventualities such as COVID-19, which has affected every other sector adversely. Students are compelled to find work to help their families raise a living wage after the unanticipated loss of jobs. This contribution improves the student in various ways, including social and financial management aspects. However, it affects their learning process negatively due to missed classes, low rates of attendance, prolonged absence, or perennial lateness (Garcia & Weiss, 2020). The flexibility innovation is intended to allow students to log on to the portal two hours late without any penalties. This arrangement enables parents and students to plan additional activities that are important to their livelihood during the pandemic. It will also allow students to pursue their education while ensuring that all the recommended hours and lessons are satisfied. Most importantly, students lack equal access to computers that enable them to attend online e-lessons. This is a reason that the parents have provided for lateness and absence. Such students risk dropping out of school. The additional two hours will give such students ample time to get to the chosen areas to attend the online classes, thus reducing the rates of absence significantly. Do you need urgent assignment help ? Get in touch with us at eminencepapers.com.
Review of attendance policies for the staff members is important in increasing their days of rest. Currently, staff members have 10 to 12 days in a year for rest. These days include sick days as well as bereavement. The policy change intends to increase the days to 12, and separate the bereavement, and sick off time. This change should offer teachers more days of rest and reduce their fatigue. They are also important for creating a work-life balance and increasing productivity as well as morale. As a result, the students will benefit from more enriching lessons alongside the teachers and their families. Studies have established that teachers who have sufficient resting time are less burnt out than their overworked counterparts do (Vukovic, 2016). The psychological health of teachers is important in ensuring that their competence, relational intelligence, and autonomy are sustained at optimal levels (Aronsson et al., 2003). This innovation is therefore critical to the commitment and performance of teachers.
Describe your innovation and explain how it addresses the problem. How will it meet the needs of the organization and all stakeholders involved?
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged educators to adopt the e-learning strategy more rapidly as the only method of instruction for home learning. This sudden and unexpected change has taken educators through an eventful journey of discovery. In this case, the institution has recorded absenteeism and a low rate of attendance for students (Mustapha & Ahmed, 2013). These aspects could affect the performance of students negatively and increase the rate of school dropout. Thus, the flexibility aspect is expected to allow students to be two hours late to class without any penalty. The decision is expected to encourage students to attend class sessions, while others have sufficient time to seek out the ideal locations with computer and internet access. It should also allow students who are involved in economic activities to keep their families afloat to manage their time better, and still attend the class sessions.
The attendance policy review should increase the teachers’ rest days to twelve. The increment mainly results from the separation of the off days from bereavement and sick days. This separation is warranted by the need to ensure that teachers find enough rest. The teachers’ rest determines their productivity, mood, commitment, and attentiveness to the students. It should also promote work-life balance and ‘motivate them to work towards the company’s goals. Most importantly, the families and students will benefit indirectly from the policy change.
How does the innovation contribute to the organization’s competitive advantage?
The two innovations also improve the institution’s competitive advantage. Flexibility is important in improving the performance of students. Accommodation of students’ and parents’ new demands due to the COVID-19 pandemic is critical in ensuring that the students attend the recommended sessions. When the institution records remarkable performance and a reduced number of dropouts in comparison to other players in the same market, it is likely to attract more clients leading to higher profitability. The change of attendance policy for the teachers is important in creating a motivated workforce. Teachers who are committed, well-rested, and have the morale to pursue the goals of an organization are an asset to the institute (Vukovic, 2016). Most organizations recognize that an inimitable workforce adds a competitive advantage, which differentiates it from others. Therefore, ensuring that employees have the necessary motivation and rest to pursue the goals of an entity enables it to stand out in the market.
Develop an implementation plan for effectively diffusing the innovation within the organization. Make sure the plan addresses potential resistance and obstacles, including people and processes.
The first step of implementation is informing the immediate stakeholders. The students, parents, teachers, and the management of the institution are the main stakeholders. Therefore, meeting the teachers and management to inform them about both innovations. The management needs to authorize the addition of a two-hour lateness gap that does not attract any penalties and the addition of holidays for the teachers. The process of engagement will involve meetings and workshops. The platforms will involve experts who can explain to the stakeholders the need or importance of the innovations. The parents and students will receive newsletters and emails that inform them about the decisions. They will be invited to provide suggestions regarding the entire process and their feelings about the expected impact on the learning process. This step of the implementation will allow the stakeholders to air their issues and have them clarified or included in the innovation.
The second step of implementation is assessing the required resources for successful execution. The inclusion of the 2-hour allowance requires the input of teachers and system administrators. The configuration process may require a certain amount of financial resources. However, this inclusion will be one-off and not repeated. Therefore, the management must assess the availability of these financial and human resources. In a case where the resources are not available, strategies to find these resources need to be established. After conducting a cost and benefit analysis, the management should have already identified the benefits that all stakeholders will reap. These should guide the process of seeking financial means and committing human resources as well. In addition, the assessment process should also factor in the addition of holidays for teachers and the impact it will have on the institution’s financial resources and human capital. The process of assessment is critical to the success of the implementation of both innovations.
The third step of implementation is putting into action the two innovations. The process of enacting the innovations requires the involvement of the human resource department to rearrange the human resources. The addition of a holiday period for the teachers requires better planning of human resources to ensure that all students have their sessions attended to. This may require the employment of more teachers to allow all staff members to take more days off work, and respond to illness demands, and bereavement. In addition, the incorporation of the 2-hour delay period requires testing to determine its applicability on the institution’s portal. This step will involve all stakeholders as they all test the operation ability of the function on the portal.
Identify an appropriate method that could be used for measuring the impact of the innovation on the organization. Explain why you think this is a relevant measure.
It is important to constantly monitor the impact of the innovations at the institution, to ensure that the targeted goals are achieved. Thus, establishing specific metrics of measurement is necessary. The students’ rate of attendance is one of the metrics that will be used to determine effectiveness. The rate of attendance is expected to increase following the implementation of the first innovation. This metric will be monitored over a period of six months. The dropout and absence rates of students will also be monitored in the same period. These metrics are selected because they are connected to the main problem. In addition to monitoring these metrics, the students’, teachers, and parents’ feedback will be collected to assess the innovation’s impact on the immediate stakeholders. This data will be analyzed and compared to the current records. To monitor the impact of additional holidays on teachers, feedback collection will be necessary, especially from the teachers. The student’s performance will be used to assess the impact that teachers’ increased resting periods have. The achievement of goals that teachers set at the beginning of a term will be used as well to monitor their performance and productivity. Such monitoring is important to the organization because it enables the management to confirm whether the cost-benefit analysis was accurately conducted. It also highlights any issues that still need addressing and creates a clear path for the future as the institution seeks to attain efficiency.
Finally, assume your innovation is adopted by the organization. Make recommendations for additional improvements within in this organization (in processes, practices, structures, etc.) that could create and sustain momentum for innovation.
For the successful sustenance of the innovations, the organization needs to adopt a flexible culture that values change and feedback. Flexibility within the culture allows the institute to embrace progressive ideas regardless of how unsettling they may be. The habit of valuing change does not occur in a vacuum. The management must prepare the staff members and students for any anticipated change to handle resistance appropriately. Feedback is an important aspect of successful organizations. It goes hand in hand with employee engagement (Patro, 2013). The teachers and support staff are important to an organization’s growth because they handle the daily activities. They understand the challenges better and can accurately identify opportunities for improvement. Thus, as a method of reducing resistance to change, it is important to actively engage employees prior to initiating change. Their active engagement prepares them beforehand, while their input increases their commitment to making the new ideas work (SHRM, 2021). They also feel valued by the management. In addition, open channels of communication are important when it comes to creating a culture of feedback (Walker, 2016). The management needs to let employees provide opinions without any possibility of retaliation. With an emphasis on respectful communication, students, parents, and other staff members should be aware that their opinions are important and needed. These structural and managerial alterations are important in ensuring that the innovations are not only introduced but also sustained in the long term.
References
Aronsson, G. (2003). Unwinding, Recuperation, and Health Among Compulsory School and High School Teachers in Sweden. International Journal of Stress Management, 10(3), 217.
Garcia, E., & Weiss, E. (2020). COVID-19 and student performance, equity, and U.S. education policy. Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://www.epi.org/publication/the-consequences-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-for-education-performance-and-equity-in-the-united-states-what-can-we-learn-from-pre-pandemic-research-to-inform-relief-recovery-and-rebuilding/
Mustapha, B., & Ahmed, S. B. (2013). The Impact of Learning Flexibility, Student Attitude and Internet Quality on E-Learning among (CELPAD) Student in (IIUM) Malaysia. Exploring the Difficulties in Internet Banking Usage: The Case of Selected Nigerian Banks.
Patro, C. S. (2013). The Impact of Employee Engagement on Organization’s Productivity. Managing Human Resources at the Workplace, (pp. 1-9).
SHRM. (2021). Developing and Sustaining Employee Engagement. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/sustainingemployeeengagement.aspx
Vukovic, R. (2016, December 1). Why it’s important to switch off from work. Teacher Magazine.
Walker, T. A. (2016). Strategies for Increasing Employee Engagement in the Service Industry.
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Question 
Benchmark Assignment – Create an Innovation
Evaluate the internal processes or strategies within an organization in which you are involved, such as your workplace, school, church, or community group, in order to identify a problem that provides an opportunity for innovation. Then, determine an innovative solution for addressing that problem. Examples of potential solutions are entering a new market, implementing a new practice or process, or even changing management structures.
Benchmark Assignment – Create an Innovation
The ultimate goal of your solution should be to increase the diffusion of innovation within the organization and contribute to a culture that appreciates innovation as a key to competitive advantage and organizational success.
Though your final paper will not be due until the end of the course, you should identify your problem and generate potential solutions early on. Begin drafting your implementation plan in stages as you work through the course topics. As with your CLC project, you should research and select a model for evaluating both the feasibility of your idea and the implementation plan. In 1,500-2,000 words, address the following in your plan:
- Describe the problem your innovation targets. What is the scope of the problem and which stakeholders, both within the organization and without, does it impact?
- Describe your innovation and explain how it addresses the problem. How will it meet the needs of the organization and all stakeholders involved?
- How does the innovation contribute to the organization’s competitive advantage?
- Develop an implementation plan for effectively diffusing the innovation within the organization. Make sure the plan addresses potential resistance and obstacles, including people and processes.
- Identify an appropriate method that could be used for measuring the impact of the innovation on the organization. Explain why you think this is a relevant measure.
- Finally, assume your innovation is adopted by the organization. Make recommendations for additional improvements within in this organization (in processes, practices, structures, etc.) that could create and sustain momentum for innovation.
Include at least eight in-text citations from at least five secondary resources from your research.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.