Culture Made for Innovation free essay sample

It was founded by five businessmen in 1902 at the town of Two Harbors, Minn (3M, 2012). They originally financed the company to mine the mineral cornundum for grinding wheel abrasives but the investment became a failure because it turned out that the mineral was actually low-grade anorthosite (Goetz, 2011). After being done with mining, the founders bought a sand paper company but struggled on how to run it. Eventually, Lucius Ordway moved the company to St. Paul where 3M created some successful new inventions such as masking tape and cellophane tape (Goetz, 2011). 3M is known to have one of the most innovative work cultures. Over the years it has developed values and norms that are geared toward innovation. 3M believes its innovative work culture is a huge factor in its success. 3M Values To promote creativity and innovation, 3M has developed cultural values and norms that allow for employees to feel empowered, to experiment, and to take risks in order to come up with new products. We will write a custom essay sample on Culture Made for Innovation or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Values are standards or guidelines that people use to figure out which types of behaviors, events, situations and outcomes are desirable or undesirable (George amp; Jones, 2012). Values can be divided into two categories: terminal and instrumental (George amp; Jones, 2012). A terminal value is defined as a desired end state or outcome that people seek to achieve (George amp; Jones, 2012). An instrumental value is defined as a desired mode or type of behavior (George amp; Jones, 2012). Instrumental values are what help an organization achieve its terminal values (George amp; Jones, 2012). At 3M some very important terminal values are innovativeness, superior quality, sustainability, and customer satisfaction (3M, 2012). In order to fulfill these terminal values, 3M employees are expected to adopt certain instrumental values such as being creative, acting with honesty and integrity, working hard, taking risks, learning from mistakes, and understanding customers and their needs (3M, 2012). 3M Norms To encourage employees to adopt these organizational values and behave in ways that are necessary to achieve organizational goals, 3M developed specific norms. Organizational norms are standards or styles of behavior considered acceptable for a group of people who perform a certain task or job. In other words, norms are informal rules that get formed over time to encourage employees to adopt the organization’s values and culture (George amp; Jones, 2012). Amongst all the values 3M possesses, innovativeness and creativity are of upmost importance. Many norms have been developed to speed up and increase innovation and creativity amongst its employees. 3M developed an informal norm that employees should spend 15 percent of their time to develop projects of their own choosing (George amp; Jones, 2012). Employees often use the 15 percent time program to pursue ideas they may have discovered through work but didn’t have time to follow up on it. Also since anyone in the company has the potential to come up with the next hit product, the 15 percent time program is open to everyone and not just the researchers (Goetz, 2011). Because of the 15 percent time program, another norm got developed. Employees of 3M from all different divisions, started to meet and have a science fair-like convention with their 15 percent program projects (Goetz, 2011). Employees would make posters about their project and explain/display them to everyone at the convention (Goetz, 2011). Another norm that developed due to the necessity of heightened innovation was the Golden Step Program (George amp; Jones, 2012). The Golden Step Program rewards employees at 3M with substantial monetary bonuses (George amp; Jones, 2012). These rewards are given to employees who come up with and create successful products such as the very popular Post-It notes (George amp; Jones, 2012). Whoever receives a Golden Step reward also gets admitted to the Carlton Hall of Fame which gives employees extra recognition (George amp; Jones, 2012). In order to avoid problems of employees in different functions focusing solely on their own tasks and to increase customer satisfaction, 3M developed a system of cross-functional teams made up of members from product development, process development, marketing, manufacturing, packaging, and other functions (George amp; Jones, 2012). This allowed for all groups to have a common focus, and allowed the teams to work more closely with customers. How 3M Values and Norms Affect its Employees Since innovation is a huge part of 3M’s organizational culture, a lot of the norms and values of the organization are geared toward increasing and speeding it up. Employees at 3M believe that the culture at 3M is great for innovation and self-development. Abdelhakeem a Product Sales Specialist at 3M in Saudi Arabia says â€Å"The concept of Self-Managed Career Development plan really drives me to succeed† (3M, 2012). Mary, a Supervisor of Customer Service says â€Å"Even across countries, 3M’s corporate values are not compromised† (3M, 2012). Teresa, an Accounting Supervisor at 3M says â€Å"3M’s culture provides a great base for personal and professional growth† (3M, 2012). From these employees’ opinions on 3M’s culture, it’s clear that 3M has created successful norms and values geared towards innovation that positively affects employee development and growth. Because of programs like the 15 percent program employees have an increased amount of autonomy which helps creativity and helps to keep employees motivated with their work. The introduction of cross functional teams help employees collaborate with each other and to learn about their own discipline and across diverse industries, businesses and products. Copying 3M Culture Depending on the organization, it can be difficult to copy 3M’s adaptive culture. Adaptive culture are those whose values and norms help an organization build momentum, grow, and change is needed to achieve its goals and be effective (George amp; Jones, 2012). A lot of work, time and costs may be needed in order to develop a culture like 3M’s. For example, in order for an organization’s employees to have 15 percent time to work on personal projects can be very expensive. The organization would have to invest a lot of money into their employees. This may be much easier for organizations that have a lot of money to invest and are well established versus organizations which are new and just starting out. However, other parts of 3M’s culture can be copied a bit easier such as having cross-functional teams. Creating cross functional teams doesn’t require as much money and time and can be very effective in creating a culture where employees have some level of autonomy and at the same time can collaborate with each other. The difficulty of copying 3M’s culture also depends on how adaptive the organization’s own culture is. It is usually harder for an organization that has strict rules and structure to develop a more adaptive culture like 3M. Conclusion 3M has done a remarkable job in creating norms that effectively encourage employees to adopt its values. It has setup great programs such as the 15 percent program and the Golden Step Program to encourage employees to innovate. The formation of cross functional groups allow employees to effectively create products based on customers’ needs and also allow for them to grow their knowledge in different areas. According to the feedback from 3M employees, it is clear that 3M’s efforts in creating a culture of innovation that conveys to its employees the values of excellence and innovation has paid off for 3M.