3m: a Culture Made for Innovation

Organizational culture could almost be considered the roots of a company. The way a company’s employees think, the way the customers feel, and the company’s decisions are made are all based around the culture that the company has laid for itself. An employee’s values, thoughts, and actions should reflect those stated in the company’s mission. Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, while both attempting to create a culture that is comfortable and pleasing to their

For an organization to continually grow, innovation must be embedded in its culture. Innovation is a behavior that is required to be a part of every employee’s job. This necessitates an organization to present its employees with platforms wherein they can express their ideas such as the LIG program, as in the case of General Electric, to deliberate organic growth day in and day out. Innovation is effectively advertized in an organization where managers individually and collectively lead by example by way of their behavior, their

The article discussed by Kinicki and Williams (2013) acknowledges Verizon’s company and their desire to base their culture in part to the values of their shareholders (pp. 257-258), describes their goals for making the company’s society a stronger one within the organization. Through the importance of employee training guidelines, Verizon’s goal in business is to form a structure within the company that will make them [Verizon] known to be a top exemplary industry amongst their competitors in the technological world (Kinicki & Williams, 2013).

All with differing skills and levels of experience, to allow a service to be provided efficiently and effectively. Each member of the team has a purpose and a function within that team, so the overall success depends on a functional interdependency. There is usually not as much room for conflict when working as a team. The team also does not rely on groupthink to arrive at its conclusions.

All in all, the cross-functional structure allows employees to create the set of functions they need in order to scan and monitor the competitive environment and obtain information about the way it is changing. With the right set of functions in place, Morgan Stanley’s managers are then in a good position to develop a strategy that allows the organization to respond to its changing situation quickly. Employees in the first line work level would communicate more with the customers. Under the cross-functional structure, the group can decide every aspect of a business. For example, the group formed to deal with real estate investment can make decision to set the price by themselves instead of the Morgan Stanley Marketing department. It will let the service firm keep itself closer to the market and customers.

I chose to focus my attention on the General Motors Company. I chose General Motors because of the long history this organization has had at being the premier model of sustainment in the automobile industry for over 100 years. Many people might not own one of General Motors automobile brands but there is no doubting the legacy the General Motors brand has established. Not only is General Motors a well-known brand in the continental United States with its big four line up of Chevrolet. Buick, GMC, and Cadillac, but it is also a household name in Europe with the Opel, Vauxhall, and Holden brands, and on the Asian market with the Atobaojun, Wuling, and Faw Jiefang brands. General Motors is a diverse multicultural organization employing over 215 thousand people in six different countries stretching across 23 different time zones. The remainder of this paper will explore further into the General Motors organization by looking into six strategic management topics. Beginning with the explanation of how general Motors is able to attain behavioral control and the benefits of having the proper balance of culture, rewards, and boundaries. Understanding the importance of attaining behavioral control is important because today we more than ever we are faced with the obligation as leaders to do more with less and we must have a way to keep the organization moving forward while also keeping the employees motivated to do the same. A successful company must have a good

The company’s culture reflects the enthusiasm and success of a dynamic, results-oriented organization built upon operational consistency, targeted investments

The culture that the executives wished to maintain is one of big ideas, large thinking, and a strong emphasis on creativity. It is one that opposes bureaucracy and rigidity without cause, and despises formality without passion. And it is one that strives to stay relevant, fresh,

First strategy of 3M’s was getting close to customers and understanding their needs.3M started their businesses by

The Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Corporation (3M) was founded in 1902. It reported sales revenues of $16.7 billion during the year 2000. These revenues came from 3M's six business divisions: industrial; transportation, graphics, and safety; healthcare; consumer and office; electro and communications; and specialty materials. All business divisions were profitable in 2000. The same year, the company made more than 60,000 products and about $5.6 billion sales came from products that had been introduced during the prior four years and

Q1. How has 3M’s innovation process evolved since the company was founded? Why, if at all, does 3M, known as the “hothouse” of innovation, need to regain historic closeness to the customer?

The company 3M is a diverse company that was incorporated on June 25, 1929 with presence in more than 10 industries alone. “3M products are sold through a number of distribution channels, including directly to users and through wholesalers, retailers, jobbers, distributors and dealers in a range of trades in a number of countries worldwide” ("3M Co," n.d., para. 1) The company head quarters is located in St. Paul Minnesota, however 3M has locations all over the United States. 3M is best known within the consumer industry with brands such as Post-it, Scotch, Scotch-Brite, Filtrete, O-Cel-O, Nexcare, and Command. “3M is one of 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and also is a component of the Standard & Poor's 500

Many companies emphasize a culture of continuous improvement. While never being satisfied with the status quo can drive

As Albert Einstein said, “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” This quote is applicable for organisation and fully underpins the value of having a culture of innovation in order to meet short, medium and long term objectives.

Organizational culture has been described as shared values and beliefs that underline a company’s identity. A strong culture that encourages employees from the top to the bottom in adaptation and change can increase organizational performance by energizing and motivating employees, shape behaviors, unify personnel in the goals / objectives and align employee’s actions with the priorities of the company (Daft, R., 2013). Creating a constructive culture should be a manager’s top priority because the right culture will propel a company into a top performer in its industry.