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Student Workbook
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Acknowledgement
Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council (IBSA) would like to acknowledge
HASCOM Pty Ltd for their assistance with the development of The resource for
BSBINN301A.
BSBINN301A Writer: Kensington Budgewater, Kevin Dwyer, Murray Cree
BSBINN301A Industry reviewer: Peter Veal (Corporate Partners)
Updated for BSBINN301 by IBSA (2015)
Copyright and Trade Mark Statement
2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd
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All rights reserved. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher, Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd (IBSA).
Use of this work for purposes other than those indicated above, requires the prior written permission of IBSA. Requests
should be addressed to Products and Services Manager, IBSA, Level 11, 176 Wellington Pde, East Melbourne VIC 3002 or
email sales@ibsa.org.au.
Innovation and Business Skills Australia, IBSA and the IBSA logo are trade marks of IBSA.
Disclaimer
Care has been taken in the preparation of the material in this document, but, to the extent permitted by law, IBSA and the
original developer do not warrant that any licensing or registration requirements specified in this document are either
complete or up-to-date for your State or Territory or that the information contained in this document is error-free or fit for
any particular purpose. To the extent permitted by law, IBSA and the original developer do not accept any liability for any
damage or loss (including loss of profits, loss of revenue, indirect and consequential loss) incurred by any person as a result
of relying on the information contained in this document.
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The information is provided on the basis that all persons accessing the information contained in this document undertake
responsibility for assessing the relevance and accuracy of its content. If this information appears online, no responsibility is
taken for any information or services which may appear on any linked websites, or other linked information sources, that are
not controlled by IBSA. Use of versions of this document made available online or in other electronic formats is subject to the
applicable terms of use.
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To the extent permitted by law, all implied terms are excluded from the arrangement under which this document is purchased
from IBSA, and, if any term or condition that cannot lawfully be excluded is implied by law into, or deemed to apply to, that
arrangement, then the liability of IBSA, and the purchasers sole remedy, for a breach of the term or condition is limited, at
IBSAs option, to any one of the following, as applicable:
if the breach relates to goods: (i) repairing; (ii) replacing; or (iii) paying the cost of repairing or replacing, the goods; or
(b)
if the breach relates to services: (i) re-supplying; or (ii) paying the cost of re-supplying, the services.
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(a)
Published by: Innovation and Business Industry First published: May 2015
Skills Council Ltd
1st edition version: 1
Level 11
Release date: May 2015
176 Wellington Parade
East Melbourne VIC 3002
Phone: +61 3 9815 7000
Fax: +61 3 9815 7001
Email: reception@ibsa.org.au
www.ibsa.org.au
ISBN: 978-1-925123-96-8
Stock code: BSBINN3011W
Table of Contents
Introduction .........................................................................................................................1
Features of the training program .................................................................................1
Structure of the training program ................................................................................1
About the Student Workbook .......................................................................................1
Further reading .............................................................................................................2
Section 1 Defining Innovation .........................................................................................3
What skills will you need? ............................................................................................3
What is innovation? ......................................................................................................3
Types of innovation .................................................................................................... 10
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Student Workbook
Introduction
Introduction
Welcome to this unit of competency Promote innovation in a team environment. This
unit is about how you can be more innovative in the Australian workplace.
concepts and terms. The Student Workbook is broken down into several sections.
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completed in the classroom or by distance learning that will help you consolidate
and apply what you have learned in the Student Workbook.
Assessment Tasks Summative assessments where you can apply your new skills
The learning material focuses on defining, developing and supporting innovation. This
workbook includes the following sections:
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1. Defining Innovation This section deals with the definitions of innovation and
provides a framework for the types of innovation you will encounter in the
workplace. It also provides some background on Australias place in an innovative
world.
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2. Innovation Skills This section will provide you with some skills and ideas for being
more innovative in the workplace.
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3. Supporting Innovation The final section of the Student Workbook examines some
of the systems and structures that will assist your workplace to be more innovative.
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This material takes as a given that innovation must occur at all levels and areas of
operation of the organisation and that you and your colleagues are (or soon will be) key
agents of this innovation.
Introduction
Student Workbook
Innovation & Business Skills Australia has licensed the use of over 200 video vignettes
from the Channel 9 television program, Your Business Success. The videos have been
carefully selected and embedded into relevant learning and assessment resources in
order to assist education providers and students in the learning process.
Each video is accompanied by a learning activity. Videos can be found on IBSAs YouTube
channel at <http://www.youtube.com/ibsachannel>.
Further reading
Please note that any URLs contained in the recommended reading, learning content and
learning activities of this publication were checked for currency during the production
process. Note, however, IBSA cannot vouch for the ongoing currency of URLs.
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Every endeavour has been made to provide a full reference for all web links. Where URLs
are not current, we recommend using the reference information provided to search for
the source in your chosen search engine.
Student Workbook
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He has just met his team leader and manager. They inform Paul that as a business they
pride themselves on their innovation. They say that its what separates them from their
competitors and they expect Paul to be innovative.
Paul can see that this is going to be different. Even though he is in an entry level
position, his team leader asks for his opinion on important things at work. But he needs
to do some research and get his head around what innovation is exactly
We will need to define innovation before we can look at developing and supporting
innovation.
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What is innovation?
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Before you can innovate effectively at work, you must have some knowledge about the
following concepts.
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Innovation at work 1
Innovation in Australia.
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What is innovation?
Innovation is a term that is often used interchangeably with things like invention,
continuous improvement, creativity or just thinking differently. Since the focus of this unit
is on innovation at work, however, the following definition provides a good starting point.
Innovation is a process by which an idea or invention is translated into a good or
service for which people will pay. To be called an innovation, an idea must be
replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need.
Student Workbook
When defining innovation in a work context, the needs of the customer are always a key
consideration. The innovation has to be providing a benefit or value to the customer. This
includes both external and internal customers.
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Search the internet to find some definitions of innovation and write down some ideas
on what innovation means to you below.
You may want to try looking up some terms that are commonly used as synonyms for
innovation such as:
thinking outside of the box/square
invention
creativity.
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lateral thinking
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Add
value
or
Eliminate
waste
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<http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/magazine/content/10_17/b4175034779697
Pick two of these innovators and identify what makes them innovative. Answer the
following questions about each innovator.
1. Who are their customers? (Consider both internal and external customers).
2. What need does the innovation meet for those customers?
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For example: Dell computers customers are home and business computer buyers and
Dells direct to the customer innovation ensures that customers get high quality
custom computers at a very competitive price.
Student Workbook
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Both innovation and invention involve the development of something new, but the term
innovation is becoming increasingly popular. Additionally, innovation tends to cover a
broader scope than invention. Invention tends to be thought of as the design and creation
of new products.
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Note: not all innovations are inventions and not all inventions are innovations. For
example, someone could invent something completely new but completely useless: an
invention without innovation.
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Review these websites and find three great inventions that interest you.
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Student Workbook
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These inventions are now taken for granted. How would life be different if these were
not available?
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There are a lot of inventions that are not on this list and are relatively unknown. Would
they be regarded as innovations? Why?
Student Workbook
Innovative people
You can probably think of a number of innovative people. Maybe some of these people
are notable or maybe they are just people that you know personally, but they all have
some things in common.
They see things differently.
They define problems differently.
They can disregard common assumptions.
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If you are unfamiliar with the innovator, you can do a search for them on Wikipedia
<http://www.wikipedia.org>.
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What did they (or their companies) do that was unique and innovative?
Student Workbook
The world would be a lot less interesting without innovators. They have learned to see
things differently and think about problems differently, which helps them produce insights
and solutions more effectively.
However, you can also learn to be more innovative.
Puzzle: Nine dots
You have probably seen this nine dots problem before.
Starting from any point, draw four continuous lines (without lifting the pen) so that each
of the nine dots has at least one line running through it.
But before you start, think about the following.
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You can search the internet to try and find some solutions. They are easy to find since it
is a well-known problem.
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Incidentally, this puzzle is considered to be the origin of the phrase thinking outside of
the square.
Did you ask questions? For example:
Do you have to treat the dots as points?
Can I crumple up the paper?
Student Workbook
Types of innovation
Now that we have a better understanding of innovation, innovators and being innovative,
lets investigate and classify some of the different kinds of innovation.
the internet
communism
modern psychology
nuclear energy.
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the automobile
Imagine how different the world would be if these people hadnt seen things differently
and brought their ideas to the world.
Copernicus (sun-centred solar system)
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Evolutionary innovations are less life altering, yet still involve progress that make a
difference in some way. They often involve altering a product or process. These could
include such things as:
The paperclip
Frozen pizza
Student Workbook
Types of innovation
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You may have also noticed that innovation so far seems focused on the creation of new
products.
Innovation is more than that, however. The different types of workplace innovation
include:
product
process
organisational
marketing.
Product innovation
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Process innovation
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Dell computers is a good example of a company that delivers the same basic product
as any other computer manufacturer. The product isnt necessarily innovative anymore.
What makes Dell known as an innovative company are its processes. Dell is known for:
configuring computers to order
selling computers directly to the public
JIT manufacturing model.
Student Workbook
Organisational innovation
An organisational innovation is the implementation of a new organisational method in the
firms business practices, workplace organisation or external relations.
Example: Accounts payable
Danielle worked in a firm processing the accounts payable. She loved to refine and
improve processes and suggested a number of ways to gain efficiency and reduce
waste. She didnt accept the weve always done it that way excuse.
She worked with the accounts manager and other people involved in the process to
reduce the average processing times for accounts from two weeks down to two days.
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Marketing innovation
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2.
text messaging
Post-it notes
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bagless vacuum.
nanotechnology
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nuclear energy
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the internet.
Student Workbook
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What type of innovation does the Toyota Prius Hybrid vehicle represent?
Student Workbook
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What are the features of the Toyota Prius Hybrid vehicle that make it innovative?
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Innovation tools
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There are many tools for creating new ideas and they can be divided into several
innovation tool categories, including:
For example, visual brainstorming: generating and sharing ideas in
a brainstorming session without speaking or writing.
Challenging
Reframing
For example, six thinking hats: each person uses different thinking
and communication styles to explore ideas.
Stimulation
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Visualisation
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<http://creatingminds.org/tools/tools_ideation.htm>.
Innovation tools and techniques are explored further in Section 2.
Innovation at work
In the previous chapter, we looked at definitions and types of innovation. Lets now give
some thought to why businesses innovate.
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With all of this talk about innovation, you must be asking yourself, why is it important for
businesses to innovate?
The following quote is from the report Powering ideas: An innovation agenda for the 21st
century that was produced by the federal department of Innovation, Industry, Science and
Research.
We cannot maximise productivity without increasing our capacity for invention and
discovery: Innovation and diffusion of new and better production methods, and the
introduction of new goods and services, are the core drivers of productivity growth
getting more, and more highly valued, outputs from any level of inputs.
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Commonwealth Government, Powering ideas: An innovation agenda for the 21st century,
Innovation in Australian Business, viewed May 2015,
<http://sydney.edu.au/documents/about/higher_education/2012/20120308%20PoweringId
eas.pdf>, p.11.
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Student Workbook
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The innovation described in the example above would have created some very
significant commercial benefits for IKEA. Can you name some?
As you can see, being more innovative can have a positive impact on:
productivity
efficiency
costs
quality.
Businesses that innovate first and best tend to become market leaders.