Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution Is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations (Paperback)

~ (Author), Dean M Schroeder (Author) "What will future generations say about the way we practice management today?..." (more)
Key Phrases: best idea systems, idea activators, good idea system, Good Shepherd, United States, Roger Milliken (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Firms that take ideas seriously take their employees’ thinking seriously, and employees who think are employees who are alive. Thus argue Robinson and Schroeder, management academics and corporate creativity consultants. Ideas are the life force of corporations, they say, and managers who recognize this can increase profits and avoid budget cuts and layoffs. Kill employee ideas and what you have is a carcass of a company, a firm mired in bureaucracy and rote processes with a staff of dulled zombies. But ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. The key to a successful company, argue Robinson and Schroeder, is encouraging a corporate culture that swiftly recognizes and implements improvements. With that in mind, the authors focus on ideas as the catalyst of corporate change rather than the end itself. This book is thoroughly researched, with convincing facts and data (Toyota’s success, they say, is the result of an idea culture that takes one million ideas per year from its employees). It also lays out a blueprint for a corporate idea program from inspiration to implementation, along with some unexpected caveats (e.g., rewarding ideas tends to stifle them as people focus on the award rather than on the idea, and small ideas—leading to continuous, incremental improvement—are more valuable than large ones). For any manager interested in jolting a moribund workforce out of complacency, this is a clever, pragmatic guide to awakening both the front line and the bottom line.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Ever since Frederick Taylor advocated that it was management's job to "think" and the worker's job to "do," this perspective has been the basis for the policies, structures, and operating practices of most business organizations. Although this division between thinking and doing may have worked 100 years ago, it is severely limiting in today's environment, where it is the front-line worker who is in the best position to notice problems and suggest ideas. In example after example, the authors show how companies that encourage and implement the ideas of the entire workforce are the ones that come up with the most innovative and successful strategies. Contrary to past thinking on the subject, they make it clear that monetary rewards are not the best way to elicit ideas, and that emphasis on small ideas can be a more effective strategy than shooting for a "home run." The methods described show how to create an environment that encourages ideas, help employees develop knowledge and improve their problem-solving skills, and properly manage the ideas that are generated, including their larger implications. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (January 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576753743
• ISBN-13: 978-1576753743
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #52,706 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book For Getting Useful Employee Ideas, August 30, 2004

By	Peter Hupalo (MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Ideas are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations (Hardcover)

"Ideas Are Free: How The Idea Revolution Is Liberating People And Transforming Organizations" by Robinson and Schroeder is written for entrepreneurs and managers who want to encourage their employees to contribute ideas and insight to increase profitability and organizational efficiency.

The authors argue that managing employee ideas is a crucial area for companies in today's rapidly changing business world. Companies which utilize employee ideas gain competitive advantages in efficiency, product development, understanding customers, and improving the company's culture.

Yet, today, when asked, many company managers say they take a "family" approach and use an "informal" method of managing employee ideas.

Robinson and Schroeder write: "Tellingly, however, these same managers are not as casual about other things. Take travel expenses, for example. Would these managers leave a big barrel of cash in the corner and tell employees who are travelling to take whatever they need, spend it wisely, and put back whatever they don't use? No need for receipts or a report, because they just get in the way, and 'we're just one big happy family?' ... No organization manages its money this way, because it would soon be out of business. It has to ensure that what is supposed to be happening is actually happening. And, of course, managers who claim-in the absence of any measurement or control mechanism-that large numbers of ideas in their organizations are naturally flowing to welcoming supervisors and being quickly implemented, are deluding themselves."

Robinson and Schroeder tell us that many companies which want to encourage employee ideas do so badly, often discouraging employee idea contribution, but creating employee resentment, internal company sabotage, and manager resentment to the ideas.

Robinson and Schroeder explain why traditional reward schemes for idea contribution often fail, but do succeed in generating animosity. For example, we learn that an employee of a large wireless company discovered an annual $26 million billing error due to a significant number of international phone calls that the company failed to record properly. The employee dutifully placed his idea for a simple fix in the company suggestion box.

Robinson and Schroeder write: "Under the rules of the company's idea system, once the idea was implemented, the suggester would be owed 50 percent of the first year's revenue from it-in this case some $13 million. At the time we visited the company, top management had been 'evaluating' the idea for several years. The idea system manager was furious. The CEO would rather continue losing $26 million per year, he told us, than risk the embarrassment that might ensue from having to pay such a large reward. The sheer size of the oversight would make any manager reluctant to admit that it had happened on his or her watch. A $13 million reward ... would have come to the attention of his board. ...Think of the negative publicity: Not only had management failed to bill customers to the tune of $26 million per year, but it had to pay millions more to discover its blunder. It is easy to see why the CEO wanted the idea buried."

Robinson and Schroeder argue that employees want to see their ideas used, so that traditional reward schemes for idea generation aren't even necessary. But, the authors argue that an effective idea system must have several key components, such as quickness in evaluating ideas and providing feedback. Further, the best success is achieved when the company is able to focus employee ideas in key areas.

Robinson and Schroeder write: "When managers learn how to aim ideas at specific targets, they gain a powerful weapon. ... When ideas are needed on a specific topic, the most straightforward thing to do is to ask for them. ... The challenge is to identify the right issue, and to define it in a way that is meaningful to employees."

Perhaps surprisingly, Robinson and Schroeder argue that going after small ideas is often the most productive, because not only are small ideas the best source of big ideas, but small ideas are often situation-specific which means they often remain proprietary to the company adopting them. And, adopting even small changes can lead to new understanding to help the business or can lead to unanticipated, positive results.

For example, "Ideas Are Free" tells us about a machinist who noticed that it took considerable time to change the oil barrels which were used to hold cooling oil which was sprayed on parts as they were machined. He suggested installing an overhead system of pipes to pipe in the oil from a large tank.

After adopting the change, the company noticed several results. First, the forklift operator whose job was to replace the barrels of oil could be redeployed to a more profitable job. Second, floor space was freed up. Third, oil could now be purchased in bulk, reducing its cost. Fourth, machine downtime was reduced. Fifth, oil spills were reduced, and because each oil spill required certain governmental paperwork, the cost in processing this paperwork was greatly reduced. Sixth, the new hoses that sprayed the oil had gauges showing how much oil was consumed. Despite recycling much of the cooling oil, they noticed that considerable oil was still lost. They discovered that the loss was due to the oil that remained on the metal shavings spewed away as the parts were machined. After a bit of engineering, the company also found a way to recycle more of this oil, further reducing its oil costs.

To help employees become better at generating ideas, Robinson and Schroeder suggest adopting "Idea Activators" such as 1) Employee Job Rotation; 2) Adopting the Customer's Perspective; 3) Ongoing Learning; and 4) Reading Groups.

I highly recommend "Ideas Are Free: How The Idea Revolution Is Liberating People And Transforming Organizations" to all managers and entrepreneurs who wish to tap into the benefits of employee ideas.

Peter Hupalo, Author of "Thinking Like An Entrepreneur."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Insights on Old idea, August 26, 2004

By	Lim Liat (Singapore) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Ideas are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations (Hardcover)

The theme of employee suggestions is not new. But this book provides answers and strong motivation to try out again. The things that I learned from reading the book are:

1) Why rewards based on value of saving does not work.
2) A series of small ideas adds up to one Big one.
3) Even big ideas needs small ideas to get them working right.
4) Small ideas are not easily copied.
5) A properly implemented idea system improve management - employee relations
6) Successfully implemented ideas system is the key to competitive advantage and sustainable long term performance.

Please read the book for the details. Highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Empower your employees to do the right thing, June 10, 2004

By	Shel Horowitz "Shel Horowitz, author, Princip... (Hadley, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Ideas are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations (Hardcover)

Empowering employees to do the right thing is a key idea in my Principled Profit philosophy.

This principle can improve every aspect of a business, as Robinson and Schroeder demonstrate.

In an empowered organization, employee ideas--especially those from front-line workers--are a currency with the capability to slash costs, boost morale and productivity, and in some cases yield enormous actual-dollar profitability.

But too many organizations go about idea collection all wrong. Either they have no systematized method of collecting, analyzing, and acting on ideas--rapidly implementing the good ones--or they saddle their idea system with an unworkable and counterproductive monetary reward system that results in the opposite of what's intended.

Still, companies that encourage--even demand--ideas from their employees reap many benefits. Interestingly, most of the big improvements come from very small ideas--that piggyback and replicate into a powerful snowball of change For instance, one idea from one employee might save a few thousand dollars a year in a single location, but multiply by 10,000 locations and the savings are enormous. Too, the little incremental changes are often site-specific and harder for competitors to spot, leading to long-term competitive advantage.

From massive corporations like Toyota to single-locations such as a guest ranch in Arizona, companies with good idea capture systems enjoy higher morale, higher productivity, lower costs--and a fresh climate where going to work is actually fun.

And after reading this book, any company ought to be able to put such a system into place.