The Essay Highlights Issues With 3M's Innovation Capability.

The Way the Company Operates

Question:

Discuss about the Organizational Assessment Restructuring and Evidence.

3M1 is an innovative organization. It is a new organization and within a span of 100 years, it has become one of the most innovative organization of the world. The company has been highly innovative organization; however, from the last few years, the innovation capability of the organization has declined. The current report analyzes the issues in the innovation capabilities of the organization.

One of the major issues that the company is facing is the way in which the company operates. Since, the company focuses on innovations and techniques of innovation; therefore, it is important for the company to improvise regularly with the advent of new technology and the identification of new needs. The company is more than 100 years old. As a result, the technologies used are mostly primitive and based on old methods. However, with the development of new technologies, the competitors are using these innovated and improvised technologies to their advantage. This is bad for the company because clients are getting better and faster results from the competitors (Bansemir, 2013). Since, the newer technologies give results much faster and in efficient manner, so customers are approaching competitors to get faster results. The organization is very large in size; therefore, it is difficult to adopt new technologies and the production techniques. The employees are also accustomed to use the traditional methods for the business operations and the processes of the organization. In order to successfully implement new technologies, it is important to train the employees in new technologies which in itself is a challenging in terms of cost and effort.

The social determinism theory states that the behavior of an individual or an organization is dependent upon the social interactions and constructs. It means that an individual behave in a certain manner or his personality is developed in accordance to his past behavior.

The company is facing difficulties because it is behaving in accordance to social determinism theory. The company is using past tactics for the innovative ideas. However, with the advancement in technologies, the competitors are using different kinds of methods such as brainstorming to derive ideas of innovations. Although the company wants to foster innovation as it is dependent upon the innovation capability of the organization, the company has developed certain systems for innovation and it is difficult to modify it. In case of 3M1, social ideas play significant role in determining the innovations that are brought by the company. As a result the innovations are consistent (Daugherty, 2015). Although the company encourages freedom of thoughts, the employees are afraid to engage in innovative ideas as they are afraid of failure.

Social Determinism Theory

 There is always the probability of failure and chances that the ideas will not work out. Sometimes, innovations is also dependent on accidental success. However, it is important to provide specific environment wherein the employees have free time and creativity to encourage in innovative ideas.

Additionally the new organizations are using modern techniques to succeed. As a result, the constantly adopting new technology will be a challenge for the company (Lin, Chen & Su, 2017). The company should adopt to modern techniques and start using technologies for innovations.

The company has given quite a few privileges to the employees. The company realizes that keeping the employees satisfied with the work is essential in increasing the productivity of the organization. The employers realize that giving flexible and positive environment is necessary to increase the performance of the employees. However, sometimes this strategy does not work in the favor of the company. That is because the employees fail to deliver ideas that are not very feasible. Giving additional time may tamper the efficiency of the organization. The policy of the company allows the workers to work on ideas in their free and leisure time. This has negative impact on the performance of the company because there is a high probability that the workers would fail to deliver. Another policy that the company has adopted is to allow the workers to go for bootlegging (Hodges, 2016). The company has been giving the employees too much liberty that might cause in decreased performance of the company. The company should implement effective administrative system in which the managers would be able to implement innovative strategies to encourage innovation within the organization.

The company has presence in more than 20 countries and has a very large and diversified workforce. There is a significant number of female workforce in the organization. The business organization realizes that bringing diversified workforce can bring new ideas within the organization which can encourage innovation in the organization.

However, it has been observed in many cases that the females are more creative and concerned for the aesthetic beauty of the customer products. The females have an inclination towards the aesthetic beauty and can design visually appealing products (Brynjolfsson & Saunders, 2013). Therefore, they should be a part of the innovation team of the organization. Therefore, the company should adopt policies to train the female staffs with the latest technologies in an organized manner (Morais da Costa, 2011). The company should also start appointing female employees who are well versed with latest technologies and have the zeal to learn them. The company needs to appoint female employees who are better versed with latest technologies because in the field of innovations, technologies play very significant role and appointing females with knowledge in technologies would help to improve the performance of the company. Sometimes, it is also seen that the female employees have different kinds of complicacies (Organizational Restructuring, 2016). The company needs to develop policies and rules to improve the working conditions for female workers.

Adoption of New Technologies and Modern Techniques

The company follows the policy of innovation which is focused on the end user demands. The company introduces ideas keeping in mind the demands of the clients. The company prefers to deliver the ideas based on the demands of the customers. The company tries to understand the demands of the customers and design the innovations accordingly. However, this might turn out to be a problem for the company. Sometimes, the demands of the customers are very awkward and the company fails to deliver because of several reasons (Rossignoli, Gatti & Agrifoglio, 2016). One of the common reasons for the failure is the incompetency of the suppliers. This should be prevented because it has adverse effect on the reputation of the company. The company should have ideas about the capabilities of the suppliers and should accept orders from the customers accordingly.

The company has a developed a culture of innovation in its working procedures. The company prefers the employees to develop a habit of using innovative ideas in everyday life. Even in the organizational functions the company motivates the employees to use innovative ideas. This culture has been developed by presenting anecdotes and case histories to motivate employees (Chandler, 2016). But with the current generations, it is very difficult to convince employees in such a way. The current generation relies on facts and figures. The company should try to convince the employees by providing facts and figures rather than using previous cases. The culture of innovation should be nurtured by giving present case scenarios and using facts and figures as proofs.

The company claims to be based mostly on technologies and use of technologies to bring about innovations. The company focuses on using technologies to bring innovations. However it should be kept in mind that the company is more than 100 years old. As a result the technologies that are being used in the company are quite old and require updating. Communications has also evolved by a great deal through the years. The company has to change its infrastructure accordingly to make it sure that it is at par with the latest technologies (Lewis, 2013). The company needs to introduce technologies so that communications in the organization improves and allows the employees to communicate with each other in a better and improvised manner. Since communication is of great importance for coordinated works, therefore it is important for the company to develop communications so that the employees are able to communicate with each other in a much more efficient manner so that the performance of the company improves.

The Importance of Training and Improving Work Scenarios

The company needs to improve its work scenario. The company allows the employees to adopt any kind of measures in order to bring success and innovations. Sometimes these techniques are not entirely correct and might cause issues. The company needs to adopt technologies so that the employees follow proper work ethics such that no ethical issues are caused due to their operational techniques. The company allows the employees to bootleg. This strategy might cause the company to face legal and authoritative issues (Bean, 2011). Additionally the company allows the employees to work under any conditions they find suitable. This can be a major issue for the company because sometimes the workers might give substantial lack while working. In such cases the company needs to follow strict and well developed managerial plans.

In order to overcome the adversities faced by the company due to advancement of technologies, the company needs to adopt advanced and well developed technologies so that the company stays at par with eth competitors. In order to do so the company needs to change the infrastructure and introduce new technologies to the company. It is also necessary for the company to bring in experts who are able to implement the new technologies. Experts need to be hired who would efficiently bring the necessary changes in the infrastructure of 3M1. Even the skill sets of the employees needs to be improved in order to make sure that they are able to cope up with the change in technology and infrastructure of the company.

The company has adopted a policy of allowing the employees to work according to their free will. This might have been steering the company to success. But there are issues and problems associated to it. Even if the company allows the employees to work with their free will, it is important that the company regulates and controls the extent to which the freedom is given to them for instance the company should limit the amount of bootlegging that has been allowed. The company should also monitor the activities carried out by the employees and make sure that they are not given excessive liberty.

In order to manage the issues due to dominating workers, the company needs to employ staffs who would monitor the activities of the staffs and make sure that the staffs remain in the limits and the liberty given to them is controlled. The company also needs to make sure that the staffs are guided in the proper manner so that the works are done on time and in an organized manner. In order to make sure that the company does not get involved in any kind of authoritative issues, legal aspects should also be kept in mind while monitoring the employees.

Fostering a Culture of Innovation

The company employs female staffs. But quite often it has been seen that the staffs are not very skilled with the innovative ideas that the company implements. Additionally sometimes the female employees face complicacies while working in the company. While recruiting female employees it is necessary to make sure that the employees are able to comply with the requirements of the company. It is also important to make sure that the female employees are given special liberties within the limits and in case the employees are not trained properly, the company should train the female employees properly.

The policy of end user innovation has been creating problems for the company. Due to its policy of innovating according to the requirements the company had to face different issues. Sometimes the suppliers failed and the company had to turn down the contract which resulted in the spoiling of reputation. The company needs to consult with the suppliers before confirming the clients to deliver a certain task.

3M1 follows the strategy of motivating the employees by providing instances of stories and anecdotes. However they current generations are influenced more by facts and figures. The company should adopt the policy of influencing the employees by providing facts and figures.

The company has been using communication techniques that are quite old. In order to make sure that the employees are able to communicate better, the company needs to adopt advanced communication techniques. It would also help to improve the performance of the company because it would help he company perform better.

Finally the company needs to improve its job scenario. In order to make sure that the employees are follow the work ethics and perform properly, the company needs to implement proper administrative techniques to make sure that the activities of the employees are monitored properly. The company has been following the policy of allowing the employees to work according to their will. However in the current scenario such a trend is difficult to maintain. In order to make sure that the employees follow order and maintain a disciplined routine, a manager should be appointed who would act as the guide for the employees. This will help the organization to have a systematic and well organized work procedure.

References

Bansemir, B. (2013). Organizational Innovation Communities. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden Gabler.

Bean, H. (2011). No more secrets. Santa Barbara (Calif.): Praeger.

Brynjolfsson, E., & Saunders, A. (2013). Wired for innovation. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Chandler, S. (2016). Managing Innovative Collaborations: The Role of Facilitation and Other Strategies for Working Collaboratively. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 41(2), 133-146. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23303131.2016.1229708

Daugherty, A. (2015). Organizational assessment, restructuring, and evidence-based management. Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Lewis, D. (2013). International Perspectives on Voluntary Action. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Lin, H., Chen, M., & Su, J. (2017). How management innovations are successfully implemented? An organizational routines’ perspective. Journal Of Organizational Change Management, 30(4), 456-486. https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jocm-07-2016-0124

Morais da Costa, G. (2011). Ethical issues and social dilemmas in knowledge management. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Organizational Restructuring. (2016).

Rossignoli, C., Gatti, M., & Agrifoglio, R. (2016). Organizational Innovation and Change. Cham: Springer International Publishing.