If you are a founder-inventor, be adaptable to change<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nEstablish a clear chain of command<\/h3>\n
According to Lahiri, founders\u2019 influence in an organization comes from their position in the firm\u2019s hierarchy, whereas \u201cstar\u201d employees\u2019 influence typically comes from their record of past work and accomplishments.<\/p>\n
Conflict can arise when the roles within a team are not clearly defined, as the influence of power comes from different positions and previous experiences. This may lead to disagreements about the team\u2019s direction and how to best meet their objectives\u2014thus stalling the innovation process.<\/p>\n
Hire star employees who have previous start-up experience<\/h3>\n
The type of organization where a star employee has previously worked can also affect how well founders and star employees collaborate.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone who has been previously employed by another small organization is typically much better off in a start-up setting,\u201d Lahiri says.<\/p>\n
Inventors who have worked for other start-ups have experience working in more informal, collaborative settings, simply because of how start-ups operate.<\/p>\n
In fact, researchers observed start-ups that hired star employees with previous start-up experience launched more products compared to startups that brought in star employees from larger organizations.<\/p>\n
If you are a founder, be adaptable to change<\/h3>\n
Finally, no matter who is on the product innovation team, founders must remain adaptable to change.
\n\u201cI find in my broader research that a founder\u2019s role and the expectations of investors change as the venture evolves,\u201d says Lahiri.<\/p>\n
In the early stages of the start-up, a founder may need to be more hands-on in product development, she says. However, as the organization evolves, the founder needs to shift more attention toward managerial aspects.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important for founders to be aware that their roles will change over time and they have to be willing to delegate,” says Lahiri.<\/p>\n
Lahiri\u2019s research paper, \u201cCollaboration and Informal Hierarchy in Innovation Teams: Product Introductions in Entrepreneurial Ventures,\u201d is published in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are things start-up companies should consider when hiring extremely accomplished inventors or \u201cstar\u201d employees for product innovation teams, especially when the founder is also on the team, says Amrita Lahiri, assistant professor of strategic entrepreneurship and innovation. Lahiri\u2019s research looks at the relationship between founders and star employees in product innovation teams, how well they collaborate, and what impact those relationships have on the organization\u2019s ability to launch new products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[],"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[552,425],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8973"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9110,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8973\/revisions\/9110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8973"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author?post=8973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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