Tools for innovators

Tools for innovators introduces public managers to the tools that today's most innovative leaders are using to bring about change in their organizations. Steven Cohen and William Eimicke distinguish tools for innovation from traditional functional tools such as budgeting, human resource management, and organizational structure. The six key innovation tools they examine are: strategic planning, reengineering, total quality management, benchmarking, performance, measurement and management, team management, and privatization. They show what the innovation tools are all about, how to use them, their costs and benefits, and perhaps most critically, how to use them together - showing how to integrate them into a single framework of management innovation. Concrete case examples of successful innovation efforts drawn from the authors' own experiences provide examples of the challenges managers face as they attempt to innovate. These cases discuss how innovations are introduced and adjusted to the specific needs of real-world situations.