Picturing the role of management in an open innovation collaboration

Paper in proceeding, 2013

This paper explores the role of management in the context of an open innovation collaboration. Open innovation has rapidly gained ground in organizations searching for new ways to innovate though collaboration. But opening up the borders of the innovation process as well as the organization infers a form of “post managerial environment” where conventional steering and managerial tools no longer apply. There is a great demand both from a theoretical as well as practical point of view for a better understanding of the manager’s role in an open innovation collaboration. This paper presents empirical material from a director of a large-scale open innovation collaboration and her view of the complexities and challenges of doing her job, based on data collected over 4 years. This paper introduces the story-telling role as important for managers in an open innovation collaboration, as it is by giving sense to the context and enabling and engaging in relationships that the director can manage.