Innovations In My Chosen Profession

As stated before my chosen profession lies within the sphere of international relations and diplomacy; a field in which innovations are no new customer. As seen in the long history of empires, states and organisations, innovations have shaped the way the international realm is created, moulded and governed. One of the most recent innovations is that of an international body of which 189 sovereign states sign their allegiance to when concerning issues of security, humanity, and territoriality; the United Nations (UN)(Dinnen, 2010).

The United Nations is the closest thing that the world has to a globally governing body. It has been the benchmark for many progressions and some unfortunate regressions in the international arena. One of the UN’s most ambitious innovations is the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which seek to increase the world’s standards of living by achieving things such as; cutting the number of people living under $1 a day in half by 2015, reduce child mortality and combat diseases like HIV/AIDS and Malaria (United Nations Development Programme, 2010). The diffusion of this innovation amongst the member states of the UN was quite quick, however when brought to the general population has proved to be much slower due to a number of factors.

When discussing diffusion of innovations it is necessary to first define what in fact diffusion means. According to the theorist behind the Diffusion of Innovations Theory, “Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time, among the members of a social system” (Everett, 1995). Innovations can be products, services or ideas and the MGDs are innovative ideas that have actually created both products and services.

The MDGs are new innovations not so much technology wise but more in the sense of knowledge, and decision to adopt. The pick up of celebrities to contribute to the MDGs has brought a new aspect to the diffusion process as these celebrities act as opinion leaders due to their high social status and make for good adopters (Flew, 2002). Some celebrities that are supporting the MDGs are Ricky Martin, Ronaldo and Maria Sharapova as stated in the United Nations press release this year in September (United Naitons, 2010). These highly regarded figures persuade the general population to contribute to the numerous organisations that have formed in order to collect donations and aid in reaching the goals.

The UN has recruited figureheads to increase the rate of adoption, as this innovation has been quite slow within the general public. This slow progression of diffusion is due to certain factors such as relative advantage, compatibility, complexibility, trialability and obersvability (Summers, Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel, 2009). The MDGs unfortunately do not hold a strong relative advantage to developed countries who also happen to be the main target market. This is because those that are benefiting from the goals usually live in undeveloped or developing countries. Therefore the adoption progress has been slow, as it is not directly applicable to those it is targeting. The UN has recently been successful in overcoming this through promotional videos such as the one below, to increase the relative advantage and also the observability of the progress; observability being another factor affecting adoption.

As for the other factors that help determine the rate of adoption of innovations the UN has not catered for, which consequently can be coined as the reason for the slow adoption rates of the MDGs.

Everett gives a five-step process for the innovation-decision that concentrates on the implementation and confirmation of the innovation to aid the adoption process (Everett, 1995). The implementation of the goals has been effective as this innovation was the seed that helped spring up other innovations like the Make Poverty History campaign in Australia (Australian Industry for International Development, 2005). With an effective implementation comes results, and with results, one can then seek confirmation. The UN has done an excellent job of confirming the ongoing success of the goals through sites such as the Millennium development Goals Tracker website, that allows the individual to go online and see maps of extreme poverty and how over time, this poverty has decreased. 

According to the maps on the website, in 1993 China had 28.4% of its population living under $1 a day, in 2000 the UN had reduced this to 17.0% and when last tracked in 2004 it was at the 9.9% mark (UNDP, 2007). Therefore, although the diffusion process has seen many laggards, newer innovations within the MDGs have helped speed up the process.

As 2015 looms closer, and with the goals still far from completion, it is expected that the UN implement new innovations to hopefully rush progress of the goals’ development. According to the theory of Diffusion of Innovations, all it takes is a good adopter to lead others in the same social system to adopt the innovation as well, and make sure that the variables affecting the rate of adoption are accounted for. The United Nations may not reach its Millennium Development Goals by 2015, however, they have introduced an innovation into the entire world sphere to adopt, regardless of their individual socio-cultural backgrounds and beliefs. In the world of technology the UN’s small success is a gigantic achievement.

References

Australian Industry for International Development. (2005, September). A Global Partnership for Development. Retrieved September 24, 2010, from 2005 Progress Report:

Dinnen, M. (2010, September 22). United Nations Lecture, Week 2.

Everett, R. M. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations. New York: The Free Press.

Flew, T. (2002). New Media. New York: Oxford University Press.

Summers, J., Lamb, M. G., Hair, J. F., & McDaniel, C. (2009). Essentials of Marketing. Ohio: South-Western College Publishing.

UNDP. (2007). Tracking the MDGs. Retrieved September 25, 2010, from MDG Monitor: http://www.mdgmonitor.org/map.cfm?goal=0&indicator=0&cd=

United Naitons. (2010). Celebrities join push for action on the Millennium Development Goals. Press Release.

United Nations Development Programme. (2010). What Are the Millennium Development Goals? Retrieved September 25, 2010, from The Millennium Development Goals: http://www.undp.org/mdg/basics.shtml