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These barriers pertain mostly to norms and power‑related influences within organizations. Although accepted standards of behaviour and power may influence many organizational processes positively, some norms and power can have an influence upon innovation.
For example, many organizations have norms that reinforce conformity and engender a reluctance to “rock the boat”. Other norms include such things as a tendency to minimize conflict (which often is required to develop new ideas), an attitude of secrecy and a reluctance to share ideas, a generalized fear of criticism, an attitude that entrepreneurial types don't fit in the organization, a fear that any major innovation will result in elimination of jobs, and a belief that an innovation would alter a perceived uniqueness about an organization ("we're already pretty special, so why should we change?”).
Power influences that might negatively affect innovation include a general overemphasis on power relationships and status differentials (i.e., the organization as a political system), a reward system that discourages idea champions to help facilitate idea adoption and implementation, and a lack of professionalism at lower organizational levels.