ABSTRACT
Innovation activities, whether related to operational innovation or any other types of innovations such as organizational, managerial, process, services, and so on, are multidisciplinary and complex actions that involve several functions of an organization, its suppliers, and customers. An important factor linked to operational innovation and continuous improvement in an organization is the organizational structure. The organizational structure is the key to organizational performance. The leaders play an important role in the design of an organizational structure. Process management orientation has greater potential of creating competitiveness for organizations as suggested by business excellence and quality experts; this has also been supported by empirical evidences in literature. In functional-oriented organizations, coordination is difficult as many activities are involved in the operations of each functional area. Since innovation and continuous improvement activities take place across different functions of an organization and its base of suppliers and customers, a high level of coordination among them is critical for these activities to succeed.
