Track: Business Management

Abstract

Leadership is the engine of an organisation and innovation is recognised as a critical success factor for an organisation’s survival. Leadership is at the core of creating an innovative culture within an organisation, and employees play a vital role in the execution of innovative outputs. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between leadership and employee innovation and to provide an inventory of leadership behaviours that promote innovation at an individual and organisational level.  Through examining literature, the research will present a list of characteristics and values that are required to cultivate and promote innovation. These characteristics were studied by means of a case study in a telecommunications organisation to establish whether the organisation embraces innovative behaviour. The scope of the literature review examined the different leadership characteristics required at the individual, group, and organisational level. Data in the case study was collected by means of a questionnaire and analysed to provide recommendations to the organisation on ways to improve the cultivation of innovation within their workforce.