2
3M’s experience for a process-based approach toward innovation can be managed by
creating a culture of innovation. This innovation process gets enabled by 3M by setting sales
targets for products to focus on either improving existing designs or creating an entirely new
design. The way this process is created is for continuous innovation and constant changes or
improvements to meet goals. Another way 3M manages innovation is by allocating resources
within the organization by managing space, time, and employee benefits. In addition, 3M also
encourages employees to work harder as this program makes them feel more confident in their
ability to completely projects in a timely manner with better access to more resources. Lastly,
3M supports our innovators with resources such as venture capital to make their ideas turn into
reality.
There are significant features or processes that promote innovation from the case study
that portrays how the management team within 3M recognizes and rewards its employees. The
management team offers an Innovators Award for employees who work hard to reach their goals
and exceed within their roles. This award is companywide offering a great deal of recognition for
the employee who achieves it. In addition to this reward and other incentives, 3M also stresses
importance on permission to play. The importance of permission to play within 3M is because it
gives employees an opportunity to feel as though they are valued and their thoughts and opinions
matter to the organization. In addition to permission to play, 3M attributes patience and
acceptance of mistakes to enhance an innovative culture. Both qualities are very important for an
organization to have as innovation cannot be rushed and mistakes that are accepted can make an
employee stronger when they learn from these mistakes, making the organization stronger with
an initiative to innovate.
3
Comparing the organization from the course scenario with 3M, I can see that our
organization is complex and operates under a tall matrixed structure design. Also, our company
“Follows a centralized and standardized approach where enterprise-wide decisions are
often made centrally and at the top of the hierarchy” (SNHU, n.d). Whereas 3M is not as
complex and deliberately works to bring teams of people together to make decisions as whole
organization. Also, there are noticeable differences in the formal and informal innovation
management between the two organizational structures. The formal innovation management
noted in our organization has a greater level of structure where the decisions concerning
innovation are made through the hierarchy of leaders. On the other hand, the informal innovation
management noted in 3M portrays a wide range of input for every decision-making process
coming in from various roles and positions throughout the organization. The organizational
structure in each company affects communication which has a great impact on innovation. Our
organization has an efficient communication system but doesn’t offer any sort of collaboration
for employees while 3M allows for greater communication and collaboration between
employees.
To make the organizational structure support innovation, the decision-making process
needs to be evenly spread across the entire organization. We must give all employees a greater
opportunity to collaborate and become more creative with greater resources and more teamwork.
Our organization can motivate innovative behavior by utilizing company-wide recognition,
offering financial incentives, and sharing positive feedback. To examine its timeline to identify
ways for longer-term projects to be more successful, our organization must adopt a more
independent approach for employees to feel like their ideas and voices are heard throughout the
organization.
