ABSTRACT

There are always pressures in any organization to change, and adapt to new pressures. On the whole, these pressures are ignored or contained, and the organization continues as before. Sometimes changes take hold and the organization itself adapts to these new pressures. In the work on technological innovation, innovation is described as a ‘two-sided or coupling activity’. The two sides are the recognition of a need and the technical knowledge or know-how. In considering the success or failure of innovation, both aspects need to be considered (Freeman, 1974). The question has to be why does innovation succeed in some situations and not in others. In order to begin to explore this issue, I want to look at an example of where innovation has been incorporated into the structure of the institution, and not left as marginal activity.