Read the required readings for this unit and the 3M case study. Unit is about creative and invvovative claimate
3M is a well-known organization employing around 70 000 people in around 200 countries across the world. Its $15 billion of annual sales come from a diverse product range involving around 50 000 items serving multiple markets but building on core technical strengths, some of which like coatings can be traced back to the company’s foundation. The company has been around for just over 100 years and during that period has established a clear reputation as a major innovator. Significantly the company paints a consistent picture in interviews and in publications – innovation success is a consequence of creating the culture in which it can take place – it becomes ‘the way we do things around here’ in a very real sense. This philosophy is borne out in many anecdotes and case histories – the key to their success has been to create the conditions in which innovation can arise from any one of a number of directions, including lucky accidents, and there is a deliberate attempt to avoid putting too much structure in place since this would constrain innovation.
Elements in this complex web include:
? • Recognition and reward – throughout the company there are various schemes which acknowledge innovative activity, for example, the Innovator’s Award which recognizes effort rather than achievement. ? • Reinforcement of core values – innovation is respected, for example, there is a ‘hall of fame’ whose members are elected on the basis of their innovative achievements. ? • Sustaining ‘circulation’ – movement and combination of people from different perspectives to allow for creative combinations – a key issue in such a large and dispersed organization. ? • Allocating ‘slack’ and permission to play – allowing employees to spend a proportion of their time in curiosity-driven activities which may lead nowhere but which have sometimes given them breakthrough products. ? • Patience – acceptance of the need for ‘stumbling in motion’ as innovative ideas evolve and take shape. Breakthroughs like Post-its and ‘Scotchgard’ were not overnight successes but took two to three years to ‘cook’ before they emerged as viable prospects to put into the formal system. ? • Acceptance of mistakes and encouragement of risk taking – a famous quote from a former CEO is often cited in this connection: ‘Mistakes will be made, but if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious, in the long run, as the mistakes management will make if it’s dictatorial and undertakes to tell those under its authority exactly how they must do their job…Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative, and it is essential that we have many people with initiative if we are to continue to grow.’ ? • Encouraging ‘bootlegging’ – giving employees a sense of empowerment and turning a blind eye to creative ways which staff come up with to get around the system – acts as a counter to rigid bureaucratic procedures. ? • Policy of hiring innovators – recruitment approach is looking for people with innovator tendencies and characteristics. ? • Recognition of the power of association – deliberate attempts not to separate out different functions but to bring them together in teams and other groupings. ? • Encouraging broad perspectives – for example, in developing their overhead projector business it was close links with users developed by getting technical development staff to make sales calls that made the product so user friendly and therefore successful. ? • Strong culture – dating back to 1951 of encouraging informal meetings and workshops in a series of groups, committees, and so on, under the structural heading of the Technology Forum – established ‘to encourage free and active interchange of information and cross-fertilization of ideas’. This is a voluntary activity although the company commits support resources – it enables a company-wide ‘college’ with fluid interchange of perspectives and ideas. ? • Recruiting volunteers – particularly in trying to open up new fields; involvement of customers and other outsiders as part of a development team is encouraged since it mixes perspectives. ? Case Study describing 3M is available in your interactive e-book at www.innovation-portal.info ? 3M is an excellent example of a company which has developed and maintained a climate and processes which promote innovation.
Answer the following questions utilizing examples from the case study, as well as secondary resources. You will have to do some research in order to completely answer the questions to the case study.
1. Describe the leadership style(s) used at 3M. How do these leadership styles encourage innovation and creativity?
2. Describe the organizational structure at 3M.
3. Discuss how management motivates employees to continue to develop innovative products.
4. Research and describe the organizational culture of 3M, then discuss how the culture facilitates creativity.