Organisational Culture and Its Role in Driving Innovation: A Qualitative Study Exploring How Organisational Culture Drives Innovative Practices Within Organisations

Abstract

This paper explores the role organisational culture has in driving innovation and how leadership and culture drive innovation or create barriers. The importance of innovation has grown recently, and theories of innovation contend that all organisations have to accept the fact that they are always evolving. Organisational culture and leadership are prerequisites for cultivating a culture of creativity. However, start-ups and corporate organisations have different approaches and experiences when trying to innovate internally. Despite the already existing literature on the overarching innovation imperative, the individual archetypes of organisations and their respective regard to organisational culture and leadership, this thesis aims to provide an analysis of the prevalence of organisational culture and leadership across organisations. This research is done through an exploratory comparison of start-ups and corporate companies. Ten qualitative, semi structured interviews with five individuals working in start-up organisations and five individuals working in corporate organisations were conducted. The results of the qualitative data analysis showed that 1. Impact of Organisational Culture: Innovation is significantly impacted by organisational culture. While corporate environments frequently suffer from inflexible, hierarchical cultures that stifle spontaneous idea generation and agility, startups benefit from flexible, risk-embracing cultures that foster quick innovation. 2. Innovation and Leadership Style: There is a strong correlation between innovation outcomes and leadership styles. While authoritative and risk-averse leadership styles in corporations tend to stifle innovative ideas, supportive and collaborative leadership styles foster creativity in start-ups. 3. Innovation Barriers: In start-ups, the lack of experience and resources, as well as in companies, the managerial disconnection and bureaucratic lethargy, can all be obstacles to innovation.