CULTURE AND ORGANIZATION

3M CREATES INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATION CULTURE

Organization’s background and its environment

The 3M Technology is the organization which offers the services of innovative products to the communities and the customers. The organization is committed in order to make the lives of the customers better and easier. Further, the company offers the services in the various sectors like retail, health care, construction, industrial, mining, chemicals and the transportation (3M Global Gateway. 2012). The company was established 50 years ago in Singapore. Initially, the organization had around 8 employees only, but at present, it has 1700 employees along with the well- developed capabilities. The organization is having two plants of manufacturing in Singapore i.e. Tuas and Woodlands. The organization is an American corporation of multi-national conglomerate which is based in Minnesota and was established in 1902. Further, the mission statement of the organization for innovation is to improve the lives of people by offering innovation in community, education and the environment. The vision statement of the organization i.e. 3M for innovation is advancing the operational activities of each company by offering the innovative products, enhancing homes of the customers by their products and providing great innovation in order to improve the lives of the customers to every possible extent.

Some of the failures which the 3M faced were they used various policies which were actually daunting the entrepreneurship, and as a result, it affected the functioning. Moreover, the 3M used various mechanisms like 15 percent and 25 percent rule in order to innovate but still not able to get expected results also the 3M took late decisions in order to acquire with other brands. The 3M adopted six sigma technique to overcome the failures, but it adversely affected the culture and the operations of the organization. At present, the 3M focuses on the knowledge management, and it has the involvement of complete organization, and it also uses various improved techniques for innovation like six sigma, total quality management, etc. and because of this 3M has become the powerhouse which has annual sales around $25 billion and the line of product in 50, 000 in depth and it is ruling the world through its innovation.

Introduction to the focus

The focus is mainly on the innovation of the 3M because I want to understand that how the organization has created innovation in the culture of the 3M along with the high-quality production of the products and services which lead to maximization of profitability. Further, the organization did various activities in order to bring the innovation like the 3M invested highly in research and development, the 3M adopted the technique of six sigma for the creation of innovate culture, used the metrics to measure the innovation, the 3M used the form of structural innovation which included the improvised rule of 15 percent. Moreover, the 3M has received various awards for its performance and the innovative culture. Recently, the Plant of 3M in Minnesota was awarded the excellence of safe in sound in the prevention of loss hearing award, 2012. Also, the division of security system of 3M received the performance award of HP image in 2012. Further, the organization was ranked as number 18 on the list of most esteemed companies by the magazine of Fortune, 2012. The prestigious awards which have been received by the 3M stated that the organization was among the top 50 companies in the industry. Further, the competitors of the 3M are GE (General Electric), Tyco International and the companies of Carlisle. The 3M gives tough competition to its rivals by continuously creating innovation in the culture of the organization along with the innovation in production (Bailey, B. M., & Bruner, M. W. 2015). Also, the 3M believes in motivating employees and involving them in the process of decision making which the competitors does not do. The below given are the growth charts of the organization i.e. 3M in order to have a clear idea about the overall sales of the products along with the generation of revenue.

Argument on theoretical frameworks

Hofstede cultural dimension

There are various theories which are being developed by the researchers in relation to the innovative culture of the organization. The model of the Hofstede demonstrates the dimensions of culture among the company (Leong, F. T., Huang, J. L., & Mak, S. 2014). Further, the model of Hofstede identifies essential aspects of the culture of the organization i.e. power distance, individualism versus collectivism, long-term orientation, avoidance of uncertainty, masculinity versus femininity and the restraint versus indulgence. This theoretical framework helps in understanding the complete culture of the organization (McSweeney, B. 2002). The assessment is mainly in relation to the process of the organization within the 3M which demonstrates the unique and innovative setup of the culture. But, the framework lacks in explaining the every aspect of the culture of the organization to a great extent (Ruiz-Palomino, P., & Martínez-Cañas, R. 2014). The theory can be used in order to understand the different cultures through which the 3M is interacting in order to expand its operations in more countries than before.

Edgar Schein’s cultural model

Schein developed the model in 1980, and the model included three simple steps i.e. artifacts, beliefs and values and the basic assumption. Further, Schein affirms that the company can never include the specific culture in a subject of particular days. The transformation in the culture occurs along with the changes no matter what their size is (Ruiz-Palomino, P., Martínez-Cañas, R., & Fontrodona, J. 2013). Moreover, this model of culture has been chosen for the assessment of the innovation in the culture of the organization i.e. 3M. The model of culture helps in unfolding the minute perspective of the culture of the organization in order to understand the innovation in depth (Hsu, S. H. 2014). The diagram given below helps in understanding the aspects which every step of the model considers and how these aspects will be helpful in creative the innovative structure of the organization.

It has been observed that both the theoretical framework helps in studying the culture of the organization in order to understand the culture of the organization in depth by understanding the behavior and the various attributes of the employees who actually forms the culture of the organization. Moreover, it has been observed that the culture which the 3M is having at present, the Schein model will help the organization to bring more innovation in the culture and the employee will be able to improve their efficiency and the effectiveness to a great level of extent. The cultural model of the Schein fits better to the organization i.e. 3M as compared to the cultural model of Hofstede. Further, the cultural model of Schein will help in understanding all the minute perspectives of the employees towards norms, taboos, language, trust, values, etc. which will help the 3M to bring innovation in the culture of the organization accordingly. Furthermore, the model of Hofstede is not being chosen because the 3M will not be able to identify and analyze the behavior and the attitude of the employees individually in depth and the changes will not be made adequately (Schein, E.H. 2010). Whereas, the Schein model helps in identifying even those aspects of the employees which cannot be unfolded by the cultural model of Hofstede.

Chosen theoretical framework for analyzing the culture of an organization.

The chosen theoretical framework is the Edgar Schein model of culture in order to create innovation in the culture of the 3M Technology.

Artifacts and creation

The creation and the artifacts are the first levels of the cultural model of Schein. Further, the level demonstrates the various attributes of the organization which is the part of the culture of the organization which can be easily felt and viewed as well (Schein, E.H. 2008). The model focuses on the various aspects of the employees like how they interact with other employees and how they handle the facilities which are available. Moreover, the aspects can be clearly viewed, and the culture of the organization can be easily understood. Also, the organization works by following various norms as the regulations and the rules which help in defining the culture as well. Further, the artifacts and the creation includes the way of communication which is being followed within an organization (Tierney, W. G., & Lanford, M. 2015). Also, the artifacts includes the elements like methods of communication, dress code, informal structure of the organization and all these things can be studied in detail by splitting into various other aspects like norms, rites, symbols, taboos, myths and the languages which are used by the subordinates and the employees (Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. 2014). The creation and the artifacts will help the organization to understand those aspects of the culture which cannot be identified easily by any other model in order to bring innovation in the culture.

Values and beliefs

The values and the beliefs are being used as another level of the cultural model. Further, the values which are being present in the employees are used as the important aspect in guiding the creation of the specific form of the culture of the organization. It also includes the overall behavior of the employees as it further impacts the culture of the organization. Furthermore, the values are being defined as the intrinsic to the employees who are working in the organization as they are told to do so formally (Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. 2002). The values and the beliefs like honesty, trust and the orientation in order to make an effort which is being embedded within the employees. Further, this level of the Schein model helps in understanding the various characteristics and the culture of the organization which is not clearly visible. The beliefs and the values help in the understanding ethical code of conduct whether it is being followed by the employees or not and what do they think about promotion and the policy of environment, etc. The beliefs and the values are rooted in the persons depending on the upbringing and the background (Daft, R. L. 2015).

Basic assumption

The assumptions are being considered as the final stage of the cultural model. Further, the assumptions are the values which are not accessed in the organization rather they indirectly affect the organization’s functioning (Kong, L. 2016). For example, it has been observed that the society of Singapore is male dominating and the women are given fewer opportunities in order to grow and show their talent, and this means that the women are less capable of doing the work as compared to men (Grout, J. & Fisher, L. 2011). This cultural model demonstrates the inner aspects of the culture of the organization. Further, this level of the model helps in developing the capability in order to compete with the competitors to attain the sustainable competitive edge for a longer period of time and even it helps in maximizing the profitability to a great extent by offering innovative products to the customers (Hogan, S. J., & Coote, L. V. 2014). It has been observed that some employees find difficult to imitate the culture of the organization and the employees demonstrate the orientation of automation towards the various actions.

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REFERENCES

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Bhasin, B., & Ng, L. K. (2016). Transforming Culture to Stimulate Economic Development: Lessons from Singapore. International Journal of Art, Culture and Design Technologies (IJACDT), 5(1), 48-58.

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Burke, W. W., & Noumair, D. A. (2015). Organization development: A process of learning and changing. FT Press.