IQF-Studie 2019: Innovation, Quality and Management in Social Enterprises
Research subject/objectives
Social economy enterprises also have to react to the changes in the macro- and microenvironments. The most important determining factors here include quality, innovation and management, which contribute to the sustainable success of the company. These factors have to be combined and correspondingly embodied in a strategy.
To what extent have social economy companies identified the future challenges and where is there a specific need for action? This is the question we investigated in our study.
Project partners
- Diakonie Deutschland
- Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung e.V.
- Diakonisches Werk Württemberg
- Diakonisches Werk Bayern
- Deutscher Caritasverband e. V.
- Dr. Dannhorn & Kollegen
Procedure adopted: Project start/Project end
- March to October 2019
- Interviews with experts and written survey
- Sample size: 70 social enterprises
Here are some of the most important results from our survey of 70 social enterprises.
There is a lack of shared understanding of innovation and quality!
Those who demand a lot have to create a sense of meaning!
Staff are able to exhaust their full potential only when there is a clear understanding of where it all will lead, how concepts and topics are to be understood, and where the company objectives lie. The current results of the study show there is still considerable potential for improvement here, however.
Highly rated yet no shared understanding?!
Both innovation and quality play a very important role for most social enterprises. It is therefore astonishing that in a great many cases, there is no clear communication in the companies as to what is to be understood by these concepts. Quality is not defined at all or defined only partly in around half of the social enterprises, innovation in over 75% of the companies. In only 10% of the companies surveyed is there a shared understanding of innovation. Yet 65% of those surveyed said that there was a shared understanding of quality in their companies. Despite the importance attached to innovation and quality in social enterprises, they obviously lack an unambiguous definition of the concept and a shared understanding of what this concept, which is so important for their day-to-day working, entails.
How can you promote new ideas?
In social enterprises, the innovative ideas of staff are too rarely used as opportunities. In half of the enterprises surveyed, managers did not support the innovative ideas of their staff at all or only in part. In one third of the social enterprises, mistakes which occur are too rarely consciously perceived as learning opportunities to improve.
How well are social enterprises organised?
In more than a third of the social enterprises, there are serious deficiencies at least in parts in respect of the clear allocation of tasks, authorities and responsibility. This lack of clarity can lead to considerable problems on the level of processes and performance. For where tasks, authorities and responsibility are not unambiguously defined, there is a risk that the implementation of measures and decisions is slowed down and mistakes occur.
Welcome to the digital world!
Digital services have to catch up...
The relationship between the supply of and the demand for the digital services of social enterprises is interesting. The clients’ interest in digital services is clearly evident, both in relation to their openness to new technologies and also to the use of existing digital services. However, the level of service digitalisation in over 80 % of the social enterprises has so far been low to moderate.
The interfaces are the problem!
How smoothly do the processes operate?
In many social enterprises, a great deal (still) has to be done in respect of process management in particular. In half of the social enterprises, interfaces are not clearly defined and responsibilities are not unambiguously laid down.
In two thirds of the enterprises, those responsible for the process lack a clear role profile. It is therefore no wonder that 64% of those surveyed were of the opinion that their enterprise did not have well-functioning process management. On the process level there is therefore obviously still a lack of clearly organised structures!
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