A Public Innovation Strategy from the Frontline: Everyday Innovation

This chapter takes its point of departure in organization studies to present the concept of everyday innovation and invites a discussion of what this concept can offer public management and strategic management studies. In the public management literature, innovation is often described as a substantial disruption brought about by intended change strategies informed by reforms or policy agendas. This focus inevitably orients the understanding of innovation towards the political and top-level leadership of the public sector, as well as grand scale, top-down innovation projects. Organizational studies, in contrast, offers another perspective on innovative practices as situated in concrete organizational settings. The contribution of this chapter is to demonstrate the theoretical assumptions and empirical preconditions of the concept of everyday innovation to create an understanding of how a strategy of public innovation should always include thinking from an everyday innovation approach, in order to move beyond symbolic innovation projects to create actual change.