Dare to innovate by taking care of hurdles to innovation: Professional Development Workshop

How can we enable people to innovate? What hampers innovation? This three hour workshop aims at researchers studying hurdles to innovation in various fields. During roundtable discussions participants exchange their experiences of theoretical bases, measurement methods and overcoming strategies for barriers to innovation. These questions are approached via a multilevel analysis (Klein, K. J., & Kozlowski, S. W. J. (2000)): On the level of the individual, the group, the organization and the organizational environment. Each level will be discussed in two roundtables which follow one another. Each table is moderated by one or two experts. After the first roundtable discussion participants are free to switch table to discuss another level of analysis. The focus of the level of analysis for each discussion table and the interactive format will provide participants with insights into various perspectives across different disciplines. Furthermore, we plan to expand the hurdle research network (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hurdlenet) to foster cross-fertilization and exchange across the AOM divisions and interest groups.