Innovation as a distinguishing feature in the model of functioning of a modern manager

Abstract

The present article shows how important is the role of innovations in companies, their impact on managing companies as well as how innovations affect companies’ competitiveness in the market. The choice of the topic was influenced, to a large extent, by the author’s interests and insights that determine management innovations in contemporary enterprises. The aim of the article is to show steps must be undertaken to implement management innovations in managerial staff. The main intention is to describe the level of innovation of managerial staff, measured by implementation of management innovations in modern enterprises. The theoretical part of the article describes managerial staff, i.e. factors shaping the level of innovation, features and tasks of managers. In the empirical part of the work the author presents the results of the research on correlations between the level of innovation in the area of management and the features affecting the environment. There are no significant relationships between characteristics of managerial staff and the intensity of management innovations. These relationships concern age, seniority in managerial positions and education. The statistical analysis also did not demonstrate any significant correlations between company’s components such as the type of activity carried out, capital structure, age and size of an enterprise. The research has shown that implementation of innovations in the area of management and their direct relationship with management styles is an important phenomenon for the functioning of enterprises. Relationships in the level of innovation as well as the impact of external and internal factors on innovations implemented in enterprises have been studied. The methods and techniques that can be applied to study the level of innovations are described. The author presents the assessment of innovation in the area of management as a factor influencing the development and financial and non-financial results of an enterprise. Then the author does research concerning identification of the level of innovation in the surveyed enterprises. An important source of information on management innovations in the surveyed enterprises are direct interviews in enterprises of production, service and trade profiles in the municipality and the town of Ostróda.