Social innovation at work: Workplace innovation as a social process

Abstract

What happens in the workplace has enormous social as well as economic implications. Workplace innovation is the process through which win-win approaches to work organisation are formulated - good for the sustainable competitiveness of the enterprise and good for the well-being of employees. Workplace innovation is also an inherently social process involving knowledge sharing and dialogue between stakeholders. The knowledge economy that lies at the heart of the Europe 2020 Strategy is inconceivable without the active involvement of employees. There is however an unhelpful policy dualism between rights-based representative participation and discretionary task-based participation. Representative participation can drive, resource and sustain participative work practices, integrating the strategic knowledge of leaders with the tacit knowledge of employees. The paper demonstrates that, at the heart of such cases, the systemic incorporation of opportunities for productive reflection can be found throughout the organisation.