Promoter model
Promoters are people who actively and intensively promote an innovation process or change process using special commitment, ie using a workload that exceeds their normal workload. The main task of the promoters is to break down and overcome the will and ability barriers of employees in connection with innovation processes in the company.
Origin and representatives
- Eberhard Witte , Professor of Business Administration at the Universities of Mannheim and Munich , developed the power and specialist promoter model from 1973 onwards.
- Jürgen Hauschildt , Professor of Business Administration at the Universities of Saarbrücken and Kiel , expanded the Witte promoter model to include the process promoter. In addition, he expanded the promoter model, which Witte intended only for process innovation , to include product innovation .
- Hans Georg Gemünden , Professor of Business Administration at the Technical University of Berlin, coined the term relationship promoter and specified the individual promoter roles in numerous publications.
Will and ability barriers
Innovation or transfer processes often encounter will and ability barriers in the implementation phase.
- Will barriers primarily affect acceptance and the use of resources by employees. The use of resources (manpower, time, money and material resources) is refused and there are negative reactions towards everyone who promotes and welcomes the innovation.
- Ability barriers affect the understanding of the entire innovation process. Especially for solutions in your own work area and if you have difficulties using new techniques and systems, e.g. B. first-time use of an IT system in the entire company.
The types in the promoter model
The power promoter
The power promoter influences a change or innovation process based on its hierarchically legitimized power. This means that he has a higher-ranking position in the organizational structure and can freely allocate resources for his needs. Due to its position in the hierarchy, the power promoter is on the one hand able to impose sanctions on opponents , on the other hand it can protect and support those willing to innovate. The main task of the power promoter is to do persuasion and enthusiasm, which is supported by rewards and incentives of all kinds. The strength of a power promoter is measured by the frequency of active action and being noticed.
The specialist promoter
The specialist promoter influences a change process through his object-specific specialist and methodological knowledge. His hierarchical position in the organizational structure is irrelevant, since he cannot influence the members of the organization. Specialist promoters often arise from line positions due to their proximity to technical innovations in everyday work. You will therefore neither be purely executive employees nor top managers , as a certain professional qualification is necessary. In summary, it remains to be said that specialist promoters are above all teachers who drive the innovation process forward by passing on their knowledge and who develop solutions to overcome problems and obstacles on the part of the opponents.
The process promoter
This type of promoter is characterized by special knowledge of the organizational structure of a company. Based on his knowledge, he establishes contacts and connections between the power and specialist promoters and their environment outside the company. The process promoter supports the change process only indirectly.
The relationship promoter
The relationship promoter is characterized by the fact that he has an extensive network of personal contacts, maintains good and friendly relationships with most of a company and is accepted and respected across all hierarchical levels. You are therefore able to stretch new networks internally as well as externally and can thus indirectly support the innovation process.
The team of promoters
The optimal form in the promoter model is a combination of power and specialist promoters. Either in one person or through close ties between two people in the company. With this type, the promoter has the power and the necessary knowledge to sanction opponents of litigation and to reward innovation friends on both a hierarchical and a technical level.
The opponents
These are people who want to delay or prevent an innovation or transformation process. You could also say that these are people who are against anything new in a process or company.
Middle Management Promoters
Up to now, promoter research has mainly looked at the role of promoters in high management positions. In more recent business research, however, the existence and practical usability of innovation promoters at the level of middle management is also discussed. This concerns, for example, innovation-promoting behavior of working group leaders or the active support of an innovation introduction by regional or division heads.
Significance in practice
The promoter model is an analytical model that shows the conditions under which innovation processes to overcome problems have a greater chance of success. It takes on a similar function as the project organization , but is limited in its performance. I.e. In the case of a large number of participants and / or too high a personnel expenditure, the project organization is preferable.
Areas of application of the promoter model
- Gradual introduction of target agreements as a management tool
- gradual introduction of benchmarking
- Project in the context of the introduction or modernization of information technology
- gradual introduction of telework
Possible uses of the promoter model
The promoter model cannot be used arbitrarily. The reason for this is that the appropriate people must be available who have the necessary skills and knowledge and are also willing to do more than normal work for a company.
swell
- Article "Promoter / Promoter Model" from the online administration lexicon olev.de
literature
- Liesa Folkerts: Promoters in innovation processes . Universitäts-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2001, ISBN 3-8244-0551-2 .
- Jürgen Hauschildt: Promoters - champions of innovation . Gabler, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-409-23062-9 .
- Jürgen Hauschildt: Innovation Management . 2nd Edition. Vahlen, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-8006-2155-X .
- Achim Walter: The relationship promoter : A personal design approach for successful relationship marketing. Gabler, Wiebaden 1998, ISBN 978-3-322-94608-9 .
- Eberhard Witte: Organization for innovation decisions - the promoter model . Schwartz, Göttingen 1973, ISBN 3-509-00616-X .
Individual evidence
- ^ Jan Wieseke, Florian Kraus, Thomas Rajab (2010), An Interdisciplinary Approach to Overcoming Technology Adoption Barriers , Journal for Business Research , Vol. 62, pp. 822–859.
- ↑ Christian Homburg, Jan Wieseke, Christina Kühnl (2010), Social Influence on Salespeople's Adoption of Sales Technology: A Multilevel Analysis, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science , Vol. 38, pp. 159–168.