Project Management-Transformational Corporate Strategy Essay

Overview of the work watchThe channel environs is genuinely competitive. Consequently, companies need to offer clients proficient and reliable dish up. If they do non, guests bequeath switching to to a greater extent consumer efficient companies. Furthermore, as companies grow in size, it becomes harder to keep plow of the growing amount of gross sales and customer information. If a corporation does a lamentable job by not commissioning and primary(prenominal)taining customer satisfaction, it evict result in problems for both the keep comp every last(predicate) and the consumer. This study exit focus on the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing participation, more plebeianly known as 3M, and how it em officeed its employees, improved its harvest-home rate, customer value and sales by introducing a sore commence to growth.This study in addition provides slender question on the approaches and strategies applied by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing alliance in its efforts to bend around the company after the loss of pro conciliate contempt the reputable strong tradition of induction finish. Firstly, the study provides critical elements of advanced methods applied in hostelry to exploit the useful gains from the excellent seek practise. This is through with(p) by explicating revolution at hug drugd that has been applied at the 3M fellowshipleading to advance(a) strategical thinking coupled with the work d one and only(a) on the ground. It then identifies the curative recommendations in addressing the major problems that have been determine throughout the case.The fundamental problem of the 3M partnership was the inability to exploit profitable profits by exploiting its excellent and reliable look utilize to the benefit of the company. Consequently, the company could not diversify its mathematical outputs in relation to the demands of the fast changing and school markets at a world tolerant level. The company need ed to embark on a major example change without compromising its excellent research tradition b arly to seek turn around strategies in raise to maximise its profits.Recommendations and conclusions atomic number 18 clearly defined and they reveal what the author thinks rough being an innovative leader who is able to support employees in their radical estimations by implementing the company tillage which is supportive to all of them to produce winning projects.QUESTION 1What be the master(prenominal) elements of the innovative mathematical operation at 3M? Is it possible and desirable for other companies to emulate them?Richard lynch defines founding as the generation and exploitation of new ideas. Furthermore it similarly provides nerves with the ammunition to electrical shock ahead of the competition. He res publicas that trigger go off deliver three invaluable asserts to strategic focus1. Substantial future growth2. Competitive proceeds3. Ability to spring ma jor competition, even dominant competitors The innovative process at 3M has usually been a focus area for the top management. The company adopted a get out of the away approach towards the return developers in return worked accordingly towards de besides, together with technicians each squad had a process engineer to ensure that the productwas efficiently do. The whole team did not face any risk if the product has failed. The product developers should coer visits in the factories and work institutionalizes to talk to the workers to get ideas for products. The developers were not given the share of product royalties as the company believed that existence was driven by sheer cope of it. But the developers were encouraged by various means the similar rewards for innovation and grants for innovative projects. There was also a dual ladder approach that provided the senior technical persons with great career opportunities to advance without switching over to management. around of the elements of an innovative process at 3M is a free frame, volume are able, capable and freed from any restrictions. Nevertheless someone should judge, review the initiation Process. Stage stones should be set up otherwise it is no truly process. Furthermore the consistency and the conquest factor should beat a specific period extremely revised and reconsidered regarding implement capability. In directlys competitive industry, cost plays a big role.Innovation is perhaps one of the most words that are over used in the business world today, and some of the organisations blow the innovation trumpet preach but dont necessarily practice. But there are organisations like 3M that do practice innovation which gives hope to the organisation as they are using innovation in their daily lives through ground breakout products & go which made the company to be in the top ten of Fortune magazines most admired US alliance.3M bon ton sticks to its innovation, If we take a step back fr om the Innovation process, for the process to be successful it necessarily an environment to encourage Innovation, below are the points of what the environment characteristics necessarily to be Organizations eager to take amount of moneyd risks.Business leading being able to understand engineering and the application of it. An organization that is undefended to change.An organization that is brave enough to see beyond the financial benefits is not made visible that quickly. Processes and structures to encourage brave thinking business leaders that are able to see what tomorrow will look likeThe Innovation Process(Tidd et al., 2005). States that the ability to manage the innovation process is an subjective competence of any organization, but members must first understand the kit and boodle of the process to be successful exercise 1.1 Adapted from OSullivan (Innovation Process) 5/29/2008O, Sullivan further explains thatIdea generationThe first set up in this perspective of th e innovation process relates to the creative activity of generating an opportunistic idea. This compass point involves the continuous s fuckning of the inner and external environment for threats and opportunities that office be developed into an innovation by the organization. This stage involves mining the sources of innovation for new ideas and evaluating solutions to identified problems. An organizational assimilation that encourages creativity and authorisement can importantly support this phase of the process this is exactly the similar culture that functional at 3M order. The input typically stems from a technical insight into a product or process.This is evident in the case of 3M, when Fry had an idea of taking a peelableadhesive that had been developed some years earlier at the 3M research laboratories and spreading it to marketers, it is further mentioned in the case study that it worked well.Opportunity RecognitionThe second stage of the process is prospect recognit ion, in which the prospect of developing the idea into a new product, process, or service is assessed and evaluated relative to other opportunities. This phase of the process involves deciding which innovative ideas will be pursued by the organization and which are deemed extracurricular its interest. The undertaking of innovative actions is both expensive and resource intensive for any organization, and even large organizations such as 3M.DevelopmentIf an opportunity is recognise as set aside for the organization, then the idea moves to a new stage where it can be developed further. This phase involves the growth of the idea or solution into a potential innovation that is ready for lay out to its internal or external market. The development of an innovation can be steeply resource intensive for any organization. It also applies to Fry when his ideas worked well and pass along permission to develop the product commercially and he was given an opportunity to develop a manufac turing process.RealizationThis phase of the innovation process relates to the launch to the market, which is where the customer makes the final evaluation of the innovation. Understanding customer needs is inseparable to ensure that the eventual offering to the market assembles these needs.Competitive AdvantageA superiority gained by an organisation when it can provide the same pass judgment as its competitors but at a lower price, or can charge higher prices by providing greater survey through specialisation which results from matchingcore competencies to the opportunities. They had strong innovation and research foundation at 3M phoner that has ability of setability, although they experienced loss before but they managed to turn around the situation. It appears that they do not have a competitor in the world with the same level as they are. Instead, there appears to be several(prenominal) competitors in each sector or industry in which 3M offers its products and work.Frequ ently, as companies grow, they tend to become morebureaucratic and less able to adapt to changes in the market or industry. To conclude I would say that 3M Companys existing controls are very good and support their strategy. However, they should also incorporate the other missing controls to ensure greater innovation power and profitability.Looking at todays Industries and competitions amongst them, in my opinion ,I would conjure up other companys pass off the steps of 3M, the have made some mistakes but were able to turn around the situation delinquent to their elements of innovation process.QUESTION 2What do you think of half dozen Sigma? burn other companies do the same? Firstly Six Sigma is defined as a program that is used to improve processes within the organization be it in manufacturing or production processes. Six Sigma is usually prepared at defining goals and problems, measuring existing data and processes, analysing problems and goals, improving processes or tasks a nd supreme how the problems will be resolved in the future. According to the research I have identified three traits from Six SigmaI.The advantages The benefits of Six Sigma contain the improvement and development of operating processes to ensure quicker response prison term, quality products andservices and better monitoring of performance and work outputs, which I think it is the trounce approach to growth for 3M since they have dropped their sales. This type of an approach or perplex surely and possibly saved 3M Company to come up with the give tongue to results and benefits because it provides a formula in which an existing processes is checked for consistency, efficiency and effectiveness, if it fails to measure to the existing industry standards it is revised and redesigned to match the best practices . I would pop the question other companies to do the same because it is the model that guides the company.II.The costs The Six Sigma model also ensures that costs will be d ropped because there will be specializeed clock spent in the process and more time to work on the actual tasks which is already handy at 3M. It appears time its cost is huge and that an organization has to appoint or hire a person that would guide and train top management and middle management in the principles of Six Sigma which is wise for all the companies like 3M than running their businesses at a lot, dropping sale, losing profit. Furthermore Six Sigma will also empower the employees to gain knowledge as it is the model that will require trainings, yes it will be costly but with productive results at the end.III.The risks Six Sigma might also have its own risks, some organisations might not be patient but looking at its approach, it had a positive impact on the 3M Company it also developed leadership skills and focused on customer satisfaction.Furthermore, even though the approach does wonders in the company, not allcompanies of the 3M embraces Six Sigma some of these reasons are very costly training of gentlemans gentleman force, only applies to the manufacturing industry, and it is just a trend. Other companies might think that, main issue that have to challenge with is if the Six Sigma really benefits the company orit cost the company to sacrifice the innovative and creative culture for the pursuit of continuous improvement of products to satisfy the customers and accelerate the financial performance. Nevertheless it proven worth it by 3M because of the rescue it has done to the company while it was fall behind.Organisational coatingIn terms of its organization culture, 3Ms Company culture is promoted to be freedom and full of excitement and anticipation. Employees enjoy being heroes. 3M Company is being innovative in its cultures and company growth, so the focus needs to be on how innovation in 3M, including working cultures and people management etc. can be replicated and benefits different areas in our daily applicationsGoldman, Maritz, Nienab er, Pretorius, Priilaid and Willliams (201094) referring to Roger Harrisons model of organisational culture mentions that it has various attributes with four types of culture that could be comfortably observed at 3M Company although one called power culture seemed to be more dominant than others. Goldman et al., (201095) continue their notion by saying that a person whose personality is suitable for the culture of the organisation will be more likely to succeed than the person who does not naturally fit within the organisations culture. The table below reveals all these cultures and their attributes.CultureAttributesAchievement cultureCompetence, growth, success and distinctionPower cultureStrength, direction, decisiveness, aspirationRole cultureStructure, order, stability, controlSupport cultureRelationships, mutuality, service, integration variety 2.1 Adapted from Goldman et al., (201095). Organisational cultures and their attributes.This case study has stressed some of the sep arate activities and principles that supply to 3M Companys performance. Most of these are not new and are certainly used by other companies. In 3M Companys case they may be summarized as an effective company culture that nurtures innovation and a range of management techniques and strategies that together have delivered long-term success.Most of companies pay lip service to the organisation values and practice set out in this case study. There is evidence that 3M Company supports these words with actions. 3M Company hire good people and trust them this will bring about innovation and excellent performance. 3M Company ensured that introducing Six Sigma is a good move than at other companies. Moreover, the success of the approach is out-of-pocket to the continual reinforcement of its objectives. Indeed, also the performance of single(a)s is partly judged on whether they are able to achieve the objective.Marketing pull and Marketing push technologyAccording to Lynch (2009283) market pull is one of the principal sources of innovation which is customer needs analysis. Baker in Lynch (2009293) emphasize by suggesting that innovation takes place when companies identify new market opportunities and this is how 3M Company essay to employ market pull by introducing Six Sigma and this exposes that they had ability for creating innovation. The 3M Company business area was completely different from what Six Sigma specialised on so they were necessary forced to encourage creativity, develop leadership skills, customer satisfaction, and exploration and focus where new ideas can come from a wide variety of sources.According to Lynch (2009283) Technology Push is technology development analysis whereby other industries are being surveyed for their technology developments and assessment of their relevance to its own. 3M Company joined forces with external companies as mentioned above in exhausting to introduce new approach to growth and link the internally controlled cultu re of technology push even though they assumed that it was market pull. Their main challenge at 3M Company is that they need to know what technologies to push so that they do not dissolve their establishments.The diagram below illustrates how the two sources of innovation should be exploited by organisation without distinction.Figure 2.2 Adapted from Lynch (2009283) Two major drives of innovation.QUESTION 3To what extent, if at all, does innovation numerate in setting the purpose of an organisation?Yes innovation does matter in this case because many organizations invest in innovation in order to change. Organizations put aside a percentage of turnovers to change products, processes, and services. In extra, theobjectives should be achieved because of this investment. Yet, a very large amount of innovation activities does not meet these objectives. The motives behind failure provides clue regarding how to avoid such failure in the future.In this case study the process by which the companies should apply innovation has been examined. It has been examined by making sure that employee understands the process by which innovation takes place in the work place and then improving. In this case study 3M organizations has tried to lower their innovation failure rates and move speedy with the process of growth as mentioned previously above about Six Sigma, the approach to growth.Looking at the process of innovation from idea generation, through evaluation, and on to realization, you will also find customers who become evaluators of the success of aninnovation in the company and by concluding there is also key ways to improve the ability of the company or organisation by monitoring the spare-time activity innovation processes Goals, Actions, Teams, Results.Goals of InnovationThe principal goals required by an organization in return for this investment vary between organizations. The following(a) have been found crossways a large number of manufacturing and service o rganizations and ranked in order of popularity, with the first goal being common to most organizations (European Commission, 1996) Improved quality Creation of new markets Extension of the product range trim back labour costs Improved production processes Reduced material Reduced environmental damage Replacement of products or services Reduced energy consumption Conformance to regulationsFollowing are the critical factors that managing technical innovation in 3M Companya) Organization cultureb) colloquy andc) ManagementThe causes of failure can vary widely depending on the individual innovation. Some causes will be external to the organization and outside its capture of control. Others will be internal and ultimately within the control of the organization. Some of the more common causes of failure in organizations can be distilled into the following five types (OSullivan, 2002) Poor goal definitionIt means that organizations find it serious to define their goals. Poor goal defin ition requires that organizations decide on appropriate goals for their environment and define these goals in terms that are understandable to everyone pertain in the innovation process. Poor alignment of actions to goalsMeans that organizations find it severe to continuously link the ideas and projects they are pursuing with their goals. This is perhaps even more acute if goals are difficult to define in the first place. It also influences effective management of the portfolios of projects that the organization is undertaking to ensure they are fit appropriately. Poor participation in teamsIt refers to the behaviour of individuals and teams, latent knowledge of the organization, and the particular skills of individuals to contribute to the achievement of innovation. It also refers to the payment and reward systems that link individuals to goals. The poor monitoring of resultsIt refers to sharing of the status of goals, actions, and teams involved in the innovation process within the innovation team and its main stakeholders. Poor communication and sense datum of participationIt relate to ineffective channels of communication and collaboration that encumber knowledge sharing and the ability of employees to participate as a broader community in the innovation process and make informed decisions when needed.Steyn, Schmikl and van Dyk (201066) state that knowledge delivers sustainable competitive advantage as illustrated below star toResulting toIncreased revenueKnowledge creationTechnologydevelopment experimental andemergent purposeInnovationEnhanced valueaddedStrongersustainablecompetitiveadvantageFigure 3.1 Adapted from Lynch 2009261- An emergent approach to purposeAccording to Palmer and Kaplan (20072) strategic Innovation is the creation of growth strategies, new product categories, services or business models that change the game and generate significant new value for consumers, customers and the corporation. According to Lynch (2009282) innovation is the generation and exploitation of new ideas. This has helped the 3M Company to gain strength in applying lessons learnt from previous experiences like the one of losing the sales and profit. This has made them to be able to deliver what refers to as the priceless assets to strategic management such as the following Substantial future growth The process of improving some measure of the organisations success which can be achieved either by boosting the top line or revenue of the business with greater product sales or service income. 3M Company able to restructure by introducing the approach to growth. Ability to leapfrog major competition, even dominant competitors Ability to conquer competition centre on extensive promotions to highlight the distinctive benefits or features of products. 3M Company had employees who are strong in making sales and come up with high successful product Post-it notes. In terms of the competition, it started internally.Every company seeks the keys to in novation, but few find them. Over the decades, 3M learned how to be innovative and today the company uses that skill to great competitive advantage. Jerry I. Porras, Co-author, Built to LastInnovation is more than just a bright idea it is an idea that gets implemented and has a real impact. In other words, somebody has to make it happen. Ernest Gundling, Author, The 3M counselling to Innovation balance People and Profit2.CONCLUSIONIt is advisable that, organisation should have its own database in order to fix or limit the problems in the company rather than running at a loss. 3M Company created their database and spent about $20 million, it in an integrated database, which stores information on customers, products, sales, inventory, and finance from all divisions and geographies. If all the organisations of the same nature can follow what 3M Company did, access can be gained to the database through a easy website. Strong search which bring together related products and services from across the whole 3M Company can be easily accessed. Personnel and partners can also access latest information on product prices, availability, specifications and reviews of customer accounts. The profitability of customers and products and the performance of partners can also be analysed across the entire company allowing better allocation of company resources. This allows 3M Company to take advantage of market opportunities and cross-selling opportunities and at the same time meet and customize the needs of customer segments. (Some of the information is adapted from Harvard Business Review)3.BIBLIOGRAPHY Ernest Gundling, Author, The 3M Way to Innovation Balancing People and Profit (European Commission, 1996) Goal Innovation Goldman, G., Maritz, R., Nienaber, H., Pretorius, M., Priilaid,D. & Williams, D.2010.Strategic Management Supplement for southerly Africa. (1st Edition) South Africa Pearson procreation. Havard Business Review. Vol 75 (6) 102-103 Jerry I. Porras, Co-aut hor, Built to Last Lynch, R. 2009. Strategic Management. (5th Edition). England Pearson Education Limited. McQuarrie, E.F. 1993. Customer visits. Building a better market focus. California sharp-witted Publication. OSullivan (Innovation Process) 5/29/2008