The Benefits of Recognizing IT Intrapreneurial Initiatives
Benefits of Recognizing IT Intrapreneurial
The intrapreneurship phenomenon is a major driver for innovation, growth and organizational success. However, identifying and supporting intrapreneurs requires considerable effort from managers as well as the organization. The benefits of encouraging and recognizing intrapreneurship include the ability to innovate, improve customer relationships, enhance employee morale, and increase productivity. Intrapreneurs often exhibit a pro-active attitude towards the work environment, which can help to create an atmosphere of openness and trust.
Despite the popularity of IT intrapreneur, many organizations lack the internal processes and resources to effectively cultivate intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurship is a highly-deliberate and time-consuming process, which entails various managerial challenges. Some of the critical issues that organizations face include: determining how to identify intrapreneurs, motivating employees to develop and implement their ideas, and providing them with adequate support to succeed.
A number of research studies have argued that fostering intrapreneurship is crucial for companies to adapt to their external environments and attain innovation and sustainability. Specifically, from either the resource-based or the dynamic capabilities view, researchers aver that intrapreneurship serves as a valuable strategic resource for firms to fit into their external environments (e.g. Skarmeas et al., 2016).
The Benefits of Recognizing IT Intrapreneurial Initiatives
Intrapreneurs are individuals who have a creative mind and can think outside of the box. They are willing to take risks and go above and beyond to bring their ideas to fruition, which can benefit the company in the long run. Therefore, it is essential to provide them with the opportunity to flex their entrepreneurial muscle, and this can be done by encouraging them to explore their ideas in a team setting. In addition, it is important to offer them the necessary resources and to give them sufficient time to achieve their goals.
The most successful intrapreneurs are those who can translate their ideas into a marketable product or service. However, this is not an easy task as it involves trial and error. In fact, only around 10% of all intrapreneurship projects go on to be implemented and become a reality. In order to make the most of intrapreneurship, it is essential to identify potential intrapreneurs by examining their skills, knowledge, abilities and other characteristics (KSAOs). Moreover, companies need to set up an effective infrastructure that can support intrapreneurship such as digital intrapreneurship systems or platforms to facilitate the ideation and commercialization processes.
A variety of reward systems are used to motivate intrapreneurs, but there is still limited empirical evidence about which rewards are most valued. For instance, it was found that intrapreneurs value formal acknowledgement and social incentives over monetary ones. Therefore, it is suggested that management students receive training in the areas of intrapreneurial rewards so they can be better prepared to nurture and recognize intrapreneurs in their workplaces. This will ultimately lead to better performance for the company and a happier workforce. This is especially true when it comes to Millennials who are seeking more meaning and impact in their careers. Therefore, it is vital to nurture creativity and entrepreneurship in the workplace in order to attract and retain the best talent.