3M's Organizational Culture

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Case Details:

Case Code : HROB022
Case Length : 14 Pages
Period : 2001 - 2002
Pub Date : 2003
Teaching Note : Available
Organization : 3M
Industry : Mining and Manufacturing
Countries : USA

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Please note:

This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.

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Excerpts

Fostering Innovation

From its early days, 3M fostered a culture of innovation in its organization. McKnight tried to create an organization that would encourage its employees to take the initiative and come up with new ideas...

Recruiting and Retaining Talent

3M recruited people who were creative and had a broad range of interests. According to company sources people who had a broad range of interests were willing to learn and explore new ideas. In addition, they brought a multi-disciplinary approach to their work. To make it easy for recruiters, 3M codified the six traits of innovative people in its recruiting brochure:

• Creativity
• Broad interests
• Self motivated
• Resourceful
• Hard working
• Problem solvers...

Creating a Challenging Environment

Initially 3M was organized into various product divisions. As these divisions increased in size, McKnight noticed that there was a slowdown in innovation; not much time was devoted to new product development.

To increase the pace of new product launches, McKnight introduced the philosophy of divide and grow.

In line with this philosophy, new businesses were spun off and new management teams were devoted to the spun off units. As a result, these new units were able to grow quickly.

When these new businesses were spun off, the established divisions had to develop new products and find new markets to achieve their growth objectives to make up for contributions from the businesses that had become independent. This mechanism, which analysts called 'Renewal,' resulted in increased diversification at 3M...

Knowledge Sharing

In addition to providing an environment that stimulated innovation, 3M also took steps to encourage knowledge sharing among its employees. According to analysts, innovation could flourish in 3M because the management encouraged its employees to talk. 3M employees never experienced any communication barriers...

Excerpts Contd...>>