HR and Innovative Disruption

In 1995, Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School coined a term that would come to be very influential and widely used: disruptive innovation. Frequently referred to simply as disruption, the notion has become particularly useful in the internet age. It describes the process by which a small and unestablished business pioneers an important change in the industry by offering a similar service at a much lower price.

Although there is some debate in technical circles as to whether it technically qualifies as disruption, Uber is frequently used as an example of how disruptive innovation works. There were many large and well-established taxi companies in the US and around the world, offering their services at what was accepted to be a fair price. Then, Uber came along with a new way of doing things, thus disrupting the entire personal transport industry.

Although the term has worked its way into the business vernacular and is now used in a wide variety of contexts, most experts do stress the importance of understanding and considering the entirety of the term. In other words, remember that not all innovation is disruptive, and not all disruption is necessarily caused by innovation.

One important way that the term disruption helped businesses stay competitive was by inspiring a movement of so-called “self disruption.” The concept is built around one simple piece of advice: never assume that your current formula for success is infinitely sustainable. The world is always changing, and new entrepreneurs are always dreaming of ways to offer the same product or service you do but for less. In order to maintain success, therefore, we must always seek to challenge and improve upon our existing systems. Never rest on your laurels: you should always be striving to become more efficient.

One relatively simple way to boost efficiency is by outsourcing cumbersome tasks such as managing human resources. To learn more about this option, we encourage you to visit Precise Payroll online.