Whose responsibility is it anyway? Competing narratives of suggestion system change

This study explores employee narratives concerning change in a company suggestion program. The purpose of the change was to increase suggestion activity in the organization by introducing a new IT platform and altering the distribution of responsibilities in the suggestion process. This study explored how the change in the suggestion process was constructed by responsible managers, suggestion evaluators as well as the suggestion makers themselves. The narratives of the different employee groups differed in the ways in which the employee groups were positioned with respect to the suggestion process, as well as the assumptions concerning the motivational drivers underlying suggestion activity. The study is based on 22 interviews in a company operating in the field of oil refinement. By studying change in a company suggestion program, the paper contributes to the innovation management literature by illustrating the plurality of ways in which the social reality concerning suggestion practice may be constructed, and thus provides a novel perspective to understanding why engaging people in such activity can be challenging.