In this topic we will look at change and what is required at a personal level for an entrepreneur. We will then look at the ability of organisations to use intrapreneurial qualities to create change within the firm. Lastly, we will look at systems change where complex issues require a different way of initiating change.
Welcome to Topic 4: Understanding and Initiating Change - Personal, Organisational and Systemic. In this topic, you will learn about:
- The personal capabilities needed as an entrepreneurial venture evolves
- Using entrepreneurial qualities to create change within an organisation
- Systems change to tackle complex issues.
These relate to the Subject Learning Outcome:
- Explain the fundamental role of entrepreneurs as change agents.
Welcome to your pre-seminar learning tasks for this week. Please ensure you complete these prior to attending your scheduled seminar with your lecturer.
Click on each of the following headings to read more about what is required for each of your pre-seminar learning tasks.
On February 12, 2020, @JamesClear tweeted:
Entrepreneurship is a personal growth engine disguised as a business pursuit.(James Clear Feb 12, 2020)
Task: What do you think James Clear meant when he tweeted this? Note your ideas down in your reflective journal. You can access the reflective journal by clicking on ‘Journal’ in the navigation bar for this subject.
Systems thinking and systems design are tricky concepts. The following blog article uses clever examples to make this easier to relate to and understand.
Cerminaro, D 2019, A not-quite-textbook definition of systems design, IDEO
Task: Read the blog article and note down the three (3) main points you took from this in your reflective journal.
The Helsinki Design Lab was an inspiring, systems change think tank. They developed a useful methodology to look at complex issues that needed complex solutions. As part of their way of working or methodology, they produced a process very embedded in design thinking that you will encounter as you study entrepreneurship in more depth. This methodology started by exploring the problem in more depth rather than jumping into an outcome-based solutions approach.
Boyer, B, Cook, JW & Steinberg, M 2011, In studio: recipes for systemic change, Helsinki Design Lab.
- Read the introduction (pp. 19-22) to understand more about the process.
- Read the characteristics of a strategic systems designer (pp. 326-327). These are the traits that would enable entrepreneurs to identify problems, see opportunities, and create iterative change that is developed as a trial and error approach to systemic change.
- In your reflective journal, reflect on these characteristics. Do you think you possess any of these? What could you do to practice some of them?
The following podcast (which is found at the beginning of the following linked article) focuses on how social entrepreneurs can take small steps to create systems change. Breaking down the intended change makes it manageable and achievable. The podcast explores the examples with several social entrepreneurs working on changes for a significant impact by making it doable.
Allen, T 2018, Odin Mühlenbein on how to create system change as a social entrepreneur, Impact Boom.
- Listen to the podcast and write down the two (2) things you need to understand better in your reflective journal.
- Find at least one additional resource that helps to better understand the two topics you identified. These additional resources can be videos, images, podcasts, books, articles and so on. Place the resources you have identified (or links to them) in your reflective journal.
The following case study by IDEO looks at the complexities of food waste and explores some possible solutions.
IDEO 2017, Designing waste out of the food system, IDEO.
- Read the case study.
- Research one (1) example of an entrepreneurial venture, anywhere in the world, that has produced a solution in response to food waste. The example you find can produce something using food waste, create awareness, reduce food waste or do anything else that is related.
- Be ready to share your example as part of our seminar.
Read the following article, which explores three kinds of corporate innovation. Also, watch the featured video in which Steve Blank provides innovation examples.
Intrapreneur Alliance Journal 2018, ‘Three types of corporate innovation’, Intrapreneur Alliance Journal.
Read through the topic content and action the learning tasks within it.
Based on the task we brainstormed for as part of the previous topic, you will be provided with an investment amount this week. Work on your investment opportunity as a group. Remember that we will continue to work on this across four weeks, so this is week 2 of 4. The aim is to create the largest increase in your initial investment.
Personal change
For entrepreneurs to create new ventures and then ensure that they thrive, the entrepreneur needs a diverse and changing skill set. As the venture evolves, the entrepreneur’s capabilities also evolve, necessitating a great deal of personal change.
Frederick et al. (2018) differentiate the following stages that the entrepreneur’s role evolves with:
- In the exploratory stage where the entrepreneur defines and builds the opportunity, the capabilities needed include a propensity for risk and opportunity. At this stage, the entrepreneur must draw on their education and professional experience. Skills needed include making the most of social capital and leveraging the networks the entrepreneur has access to.
- As the venture is established and creates a market presence, the entrepreneurial skills needed include self-efficacy and coping skills. During this phase, a strong sense of belief in the venture and confidence in the entrepreneurs’ ability to succeed is especially important. The ability of an entrepreneur to deal with adversity and failure is a skill you will often hear when entrepreneurs are discussing their experiences.
- In scaling a venture or expanding market penetration, the entrepreneur needs sound business planning skills and management experience.
In terms of these entrepreneurial capabilities, it is up to the entrepreneur to recognise their strengths and weaknesses and develop any areas in which they are lacking. A keen sense of awareness as to where their skills are strongest enable the entrepreneur to collaborate and draw in assistance to complement their own skills.
Organisational change
In addition to recognising the importance of entrepreneurship in driving change within economies and markets and its role in creating new products, processes, and services, there is a growing appreciation for harnessing these qualities within firms. This internal form of entrepreneurship within organisations is called intrapreneurship (Daykin 2019).
To look at organisational change, we will discuss intrapreneurship. Organisations can use intrapreneurship to develop new products and services. Intrapreneurs are self-starters - those who create change and innovation within a firm. To foster this within an organisation, intrapreneurs need to be provided with the space and resources required to create change for the organisation. Successfully harnessing this internal innovation is the biggest challenge for the organisation (Porumboiu 2021).
Some authors term intrapreneurs as an internal entrepreneur or administrative entrepreneur (Gundogdu 2012), intra-corporate entrepreneur (Antoncic & Hisrich 2003) or a corporate entrepreneur (Drucker 2014).
Learning Task 1: Intrapreneurship
Read the following article and reflect on the three (3) most important takeouts in your reflective journal.
Daykin, J 2019, Intrapreneurship, Forbes.
Systemic change
Systems thinking tackles complexity
The idea behind systems thinking comes from a foundation of complexity. Human systems are inherently complex due to the large number of relationships, feedback loops, and how everything is connected. Rather than setting out a rigid approach at the start of a project and evaluating it at the end, systems thinking argues that we should apply a continual trial and error process involving prototyping, where we test assumptions to understand the problem better while adapting the solution to it. This acknowledges that both the problem and the solution are sitting in a complex environment, and all these factors are constantly evolving; therefore, our approach needs to constantly evolve as well.
With a systems thinking approach, the importance is placed on the interaction between the system components, rather than focusing on one part in isolation (Vexler 2017).
Systems thinking has contributed positively to our understanding that we may not be able to predict a project outcome in advance. In fact, setting out a rigid approach may be counterproductive to what we are trying to achieve in a complex scenario.
Systems change tackles root causes
Systems change is used to indicate that we are addressing root causes. This comes from the idea that we are not looking for temporary solutions to the symptoms of a particular problem but that we want to tackle the underlying causes.
When we look at social problems, we also see that different systems support those problems being there in the first place. As an example, we will look at slavery. While you may think that slavery is a problem of the past, in fact, it is common today. Modern-day slavery can be in many forms, such as human trafficking, forced labour, bonded labour, forced marriage and child slavery. People are vulnerable to being tricked, exploited and trapped because they are facing social exclusion and/or poverty (Antislavery.org 2021). The underlying systems that support slavery are identified by Vexler (2017) as:
- Weak rule of law
- Irresponsible business practices
- Poverty
- Communities, which are not organised and have a lack of collective bargaining
- Poor performance of relevant government departments or officials
- Civil society not collaborating effectively
- Harmful attitudes towards certain groups, restrictive gender norms
- Inadequate legislation or lack of implementation thereof.
When we talk about a systems change approach to slavery, this might address harmful attitudes towards women or certain ethnic groups, enable better collaboration within civil society, introduce adequate legislation or policy frameworks and address weak rule of law.
Systems thinking and entrepreneurship
When it comes to entrepreneurs, they tend to share a way of thinking and action called effectuation (Sarasvathy 2005). In essence, this means entrepreneurs work from a current given scenario utilising the resources available to them and collaborating with others as needed. This ability to start from any given scenario without the need for a rigid plan of action enables entrepreneurs to become comfortable in dealing with uncertainty and complexity. In many ways, effectuation and systems thinking are aligned.
With an understanding that some of the problems we need to solve are inherently complex, requiring complex responses to address the root causes, entrepreneurship may offer solutions. Systems entrepreneurship acts as a catalyst to bring about large-scale change (Skoll World Forum 2017).
The systems entrepreneur is, as Doug Balfour (2016), the CEO of the philanthropy advisory firm Geneva Global stated, “a central gear … the catalytic force that creates momentum among all the other actors working on a particular social issue.”
In many ways, a systems entrepreneur is the central cog bringing together different institutions to create change. The following diagram illustrates this concept, where the systems entrepreneur instigates the collaboration across the business, government and the non-government or not-for-profit sector.
Knowledge check
Complete the following two (2) tasks. Click the arrows to navigate between the tasks.
Key takeouts
Congratulations, we made it to the end of the topic! Some key takeouts from Topic 4:
- The capabilities required as a venture evolves necessitates a great deal of personal change from the entrepreneur.
- In terms of these entrepreneurial capabilities, it is up to the entrepreneur to recognise their strengths and weaknesses and develop any areas in which they are lacking.
- Intrapreneurs are self-starters who create change and innovation within a firm to develop new products and services.
- With an understanding that some of the problems we need to solve are inherently complex, and to address these, we need to address the root causes, and entrepreneurship may offer solutions.
- Systems entrepreneurship acts as a catalyst to bring about large-scale change.
Welcome to your seminar for this topic. Your lecturer will start a video stream during your scheduled class time. You can access your scheduled class by clicking on ‘Live Sessions’ found within your navigation bar and locating the relevant day/class or by clicking on the following link and then clicking 'Join' to enter the class.
Click here to access your seminar.
The following learning tasks will be completed during the seminar with your lecturer. Should you be unable to attend, you will be able to watch the recording, which can be found via the following link or by navigating to the class through ‘Live Sessions’ via your navigation bar.
Click here to access the recording. (Please note: this will be available shortly after the live session has ended.)
In-seminar learning tasks
The in-seminar learning tasks identified below will be completed during the scheduled seminar. Your lecturer will guide you through these tasks. Click on each of the following headings to read more about the requirements for each of your in-seminar learning tasks.
In your breakout teams, share your responses to the tweet from pre-seminar Learning Task 1 and discuss how you think entrepreneurs could manage their own personal change.
Your lecturer will facilitate a class discussion on intrapreneurship. Be prepared to share your thoughts based on the self-directed tasks. We will consider how organisations can enable intrapreneurship.
Welcome to your post-seminar learning tasks for this week. Please ensure you complete these after attending your scheduled seminar with your lecturer. Your lecturer will advise you if any of these are to be completed during your consultation session. Click on the following heading to read more about the requirements for your post-seminar learning task.
Assessment 2 – Read the case study materials and make initial notes. Send any questions you may have to your lecturer before the next seminar.
Each week you will have a consultation session, which will be facilitated by your lecturer. You can join in and work with your peers on activities relating to this subject. These session times and activities will be communicated to you by your lecturer each week. Your lecturer will start a video stream during your scheduled class time. You can access your scheduled class by clicking on ‘Live Sessions’ found within your navigation bar and locating the relevant day/class or by clicking on the following link and then clicking 'Join' to enter the class.
Click here to access your consultation session.
Should you be unable to attend, you will be able to watch the recording, which can be found via the following link or by navigating to the class through ‘Live Sessions’ via your navigation bar.
Click here to access the recording. (Please note: this will be available shortly after the live session has ended.)
The following additional resources can be used to extend your understanding of this topic:
- Boyer, B 2020, ‘Helsinki Design Lab ten years later’, She Ji: the journal of design, economics and innovation, Vol 6(3);279-300.
- Meadows, DH 2008, Thinking in systems: A primer, Chelsea Green Publishing.
References
- Anti-slavery International 2021, Anti-slavery, Anti-Slavery International, https://www.antislavery.org/
- Antoncic, B & Hisrich, RD 2003, ‘Clarifying the intrapreneurship concept’, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 10(1): 7-24.
- Balfour, D 2016, Want big social change? Find a systems entrepreneur, Geneva Global, https://www.genevaglobal.com/blog/want-big-social-change-find-systems-entrepreneur
- Boyer, B, Cook, JW & Steinberg, M 2011, ‘In studio recipes for systemic change,’ Helsinki Design Lab, http://helsinkidesignlab.org/peoplepods/themes/hdl/downloads/In_Studio-Recipes_for_Systemic_Change.pdf
- Cerminaro, D 2019, A not-quite-textbook definition of systems design, IDEO, https://www.ideo.com/blog/a-not-quite-textbook-definition-of-systems-design
- Daykin, J 2019, ‘Intrapreneurship’, Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jordandaykin/2019/01/08/intrapreneurship/?sh=59f830264ea3
- Drucker, PF 2014, Innovation and entrepreneurship, Routledge.
- Frederick, H, O’Connor, A & Kuratko, DF 2019, Entrepreneurship, 5th edn., Cengage.
- Gundogdu, MC 2012, ‘Re-thinking entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, and innovation: a multi-concept perspective’, EMAJ: Emerging Markets Journal, 41:296-303.
- Houlfort, N, Fernet, C, Vallerand, RJ, Laframboise, A, Guay, F & Koestner, R 2015 ‘The role of passion for work and need satisfaction in psychological adjustment to retirement’, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 88:84-94.
- Intrapreneur Alliance Journal 2018, Three types of corporate innovation, Medium, https://medium.com/intrapreneur-alliance-journal/three-types-of-corporate-innovation-45815d68d4c5
- Laverty, M & Littel, C 2019, Entrepreneurship, OpenStax, https://openstax.org/books/entrepreneurship/pages/1-3-the-entrepreneurial-mindset
- Pinchot III, G 1985, Intrapreneuring: Why you don’t have to leave the corporation to become an entrepreneur, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship.
- Porumboiu, D 2021, What is intrapreneurship and how can it support corporate innovation?, Viima, https://www.viima.com/blog/intrapreneurship
- Sarasvathy, SD 2001, 'Causation and effectuation: toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency', The Academy of Management Review, 26(2):243-263.
- Skoll World Forum 2017, Systems entrepreneurship: A how-to guide for a new action paradigm, Skoll, https://skoll.org/session/skoll-world-forum-2017/systems-entrepreneurship-a-how-to-guide-for-a-new-action-paradigm/
- Swanson, LA 2017, Entrepreneurship and innovation toolkit, Openpress, https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/entrepreneurship-and-innovation-toolkit
- Vexler, D 2017, What exactly do we mean by systems?, Stamford Social Innovation Review, https://ssir.org/articles/entry/what_exactly_do_we_mean_by_systems
