How crowdsourcing and crowdfunding are redefining innovation management

Breaking down a large and complex task into smaller and simpler tasks has been associated with much of the last century’s progress in industrial productivity (Maier 1970). This breaking down of tasks enabled adjustments in resource allocation to each of the new subtasks, as well as the capability to manage the new simpler tasks more closely, measuring productivity, and eventually paving the road for the development of "scientific management" in the daily operations of organizations (Kelly 1982). This approximation to organizing work successfully resonated not just with industrial organizations but also with other process-intensive organizations which gained in simplicity, effectiveness, and efficiency by adopting it. At some point, when internal resources were observed to be less efficient than external alternatives, the distribution of tasks and work crossed the boundaries of the organization, giving shape to the idea of outsourcing noncore activities to other organizations.