3m’s Conundrum of Efficiency and Creativity

Introduction 3M is an innovative and creative company that flourished since 1930 with the invention of masking tape and again in the 1950’s with Scotchgard the fabric protector. Then during a glue that was invented that was considered a failure in the 1970’s someone came up with the idea of taking that glue solution and using it on the back of paper to hold the paper to anything. So the invention of the post-it came out and the business really took off. in the 2000 the newly appointed CEO James McNerney implemented the Six Sigma management style.He did this because he felt the company was stale and not growing as much as he felt. This new management style is â€Å"designed to identify problems in work processes, and then use rigorous measurement to reduce variation, eliminate defects, and increase efficiency† (Nelson and Quick, 2011-363). The very things that some believe got 3M were they were, McNerney wanted to streamline the company and eliminate the wastefuln ess. Initially his idea caused a growth of twenty-two percent annually but not for long.McNerney was committed to Six Sigma and imbedded it deeply into 3M until his departure in 2005. Some experts believe that McNerney, by implementing the Six Sigma program into the company stifled the creativity and did not allow for failure or trial and error. This seemed to many a contradiction because the post-it, that brought 3M to forefront, was in fact a glue that originally did not work but because of the latitude afforded in creativity it allowed the engineers to experiment with it for something else. Issue Addressed Whether or not Six Sigma is the way to go for 3M?With the 15 percent rule of the Richard McKnight established in the earlier days of the company, creativity and innovation was in abundance. When James NcNerney took over as the CEO, he brought Six Sigma to the company. Six Sigma is the â€Å"measure of quality that strives for near perfection† (Nelson and Quick, 2011-364) Sixty percent of all corporate Six Sigma programs fail to produce desired outcomes and results. Creativity worked in creating masking tape, Scotchgard fabric protector, and Post-it Notes. Six Sigma has not produced such large scale products for 3M.Answering the Questions 1. Relative advantage of Six Sigma oTime efficient & Cost effective – eliminate the extra ideas and create the â€Å"right idea the first time† oCustomer loyalty oReduction of incidents oLower costs for providing goods and services -Relative disadvantage Six Sigma oCreativity and innovation decreases due to the lack of opportunity to come up with ideas. oComplicated process to learn and keep going oRisk of failure / fear of the unknown 2. Using Six Sigma 3M’s programmed decisions are well thought out and researched.On the other hand, their non-programmed decisions could be better because they lack the ingenuity and inputs of employees that drive new ideas. So I have to believe that because of t he rigidness of the management style does not allow for the employees to create new products and bring forth the new ideas. 3. While I am all for putting processes in place and improving effectiveness and eliminating waist, I have never been a fan of the Six Sigma process. I feel the Six Sigma, just as the expert believe, takes away the creative processes and does not allow enough flexibility for research and development. Society and business are always changing. Consumers develop needs for new products and preferences for new styles. Businesses look for new technologies that give them the competitive edge (Pace – 95). † I have to believe that research and development are the keys to staying power and any company can come up with an idea and launch a company but true staying power is coming up with new ideas and the Six Sigma is too rigid to allow for that. 4. Intuition and creativity should play the biggest role in 3M. However, with Six Sigma these two characteristics are very limited. M does not get tons of new ideas from all over in the company. 5. Preference to work would be with a company where decision making leaves room for risk and failure in search of innovation. Collaboration of multiple ideas is what created a lot of successful companies and products like Apple and Twitter. Conclusions I believe if 3M wants to grow as a company that it needs to go back to what made 3M the well known company that it is today; the leading edge technologies that were invented during the free time that was allotted for experimentation.Allow the people and engineers do the thinking and provide the latitude to experiment and give those people the opportunity to create the next big product to grow the firm and take it to the future. I feel that 3M is just in survival mode and has not really come out with anything big since the implementation of the Six Sigma program. You cannot hire great ideas or innovation, but you can hire people who have those characterist ics and provide them the tools to do just that. Six Sigma has proven to make 3M profitable in the beginning but for the long run it has hurt 3M. M has not proven to make a substantial difference from the creativity and innovative ideas and processes from before Six Sigma’s time. ? References http://solutions. 3m. com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-company/Information/Resources/History/ http://www. isixsigma. com/new-to-six-sigma/getting-started/what-six-sigma/ Nelson, D. & Campbell-Quick, J. , (2011). Organizational Behavior: Science, the Real World and You. (7th ed. ). Canada: South-Western Cengage Learning. Pace, Joe. The Workplace: Today and Tomorrow. The Professional Development Series, Book One.

The Use of Virtual Engagement by the British Council Research Proposal

The Use of Virtual Engagement by the British Council - Research Proposal Example It is, therefore, necessary to have a center that offers a platform by which individuals and organizations can come together and discuss matters affecting climate change in the world. Virtual technology, in this case, can be very useful as it will ease the process through which communication is to be done. The British Council on climate change and sustainability initiated an idea of using virtual technology in addressing the issue of discussion on climate change and sustainability (Virtual Engagement: British Council’s Zero Carbon Centre, 2013). This center is to help the individuals and organization to share information on carbon emission and host events with topics on climate change and sustainability and create synergies (O’Neill 2008, 81). The use of virtual technology in the fight against climate change is a very noble idea. The use of virtual technology in zero carbon centers will include a number of topics including; I. Dr. Rebecca initiated the idea behind the use of virtual technology in the creation of the zero carbon centers. The research paper should address Dr. Rebecca Nadin, the director of the program in China. Her ideas led to the creation of the Zero Carbon Centre. Dr. Rebecca is considered as the pioneer of the program as she usually challenged her team to broaden the reach and thoughts of climate change. In addition, it should address the creation and the launch of the Zero Carbon Centre. The research should address the ideas that were brought together and the eventual creation of the center. It should address the procedure through which the center was created and the funding of the finances that were used to create the center. II. The use of virtual technology in the carbon center is the other topic that will be discussed. Communication is the key factor in virtual technology. It is used to bring organizations and people together.  

Phase 4 Individual Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Phase 4 Individual Project - Assignment Example In cases where the producing the duplicates is burdensome or exists as a public record, producing an original copy is not a must. Another exemption applies when the parties to a trial admit to the existence of the evidence through a written record. Judges have the power to determine whether a piece of evidence satisfy the rules guiding the use of duplicates as outlined in rules number 1001 to 1008, and 1004 to 1008. Judges derive these powers by virtue of rule number 1008. However there is an exception to these rules which allows the jury to look into the evidence to determine whether an original copy of the duplicate ever existed or the evidence in question is an original copy. The jury also reviews whether the unoriginal duplicate represents correctly the facts and opinion’s contained in the original copy. These rules are implemented by the United States court system for the purpose of proving the content of a written document, photography and recording. The rationale in the application of these rules is to ensure that the best available evidence is used in a trial (Garland, 2006). This is to avoid inaccuracies that arise in the following scenarios, In the case Olmstead v. United States of America, there are restrictions in the use of wiretapping as evidence in a trial court. This case occurred in 1928, and involved the legality of producing wire tapped private conversation as pieces of evidence by United States law enforcement officers. The use of these pieces of evidence was examined according to the provisions of the Fourth and Fifth Amendment of the American constitution. These sections outline the rights of the defendants in a trial. The Supreme Court was of the opinion that use of such evidence does not violate the provisions of the Fourth and Fifth Amendment concerning the rights of the defendants. The decision of the Supreme

The Impact of the Euro Since Its Launch Dissertation

The Impact of the Euro Since Its Launch - Dissertation Example The Euro is one of the stable currencies in the world. It is the official currency of the eurozone which consists of 17 member states of the European Union. The euro was introduced as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999. The notes and coins for the euro were brought into circulation on 1 January 2002. In the period between the introduction of the currency and the advent of its notes and coins, the preceding currencies’ notes and coins were accepted, however such currencies were fixed against the euro. The significance of the currency on a global scale can be determined by the fact that it has become second largest reserve currency in the world. Apart from that, it has also become second most traded currency all over the world after the US $. According to the statistics released by European Union, more than â‚ ¬800 billion were in circulation as at June 2010. The euro has surpassed US$ in the combined value of notes and coins in circulation all over the world. According to the estimates released by IMF, eurozone is the second largest economy in the world. Many US economists had criticized the idea of a currency such as euro. According to such economists, euro was bound to be a failure and it would not last for so long. However, euro surpassed everyone’s expectations and in a very short period of time, it evolved to be one of the most powerful currencies in the world. Most economists were against the idea of monetary unification however the success of euro proves that mone tary unification is an evolutionary process. ... However, euro surpassed everyone’s expectations and in a very short period of time, it evolved to be one of the most powerful currencies in the world. Most economists were against the idea of monetary unification however the success of euro proves that monetary unification is an evolutionary process. From these facts and figures, it can be inferred that euro has become one of the most powerful currencies in the world and it has significant impact on the global economy. 2. Euro as Reserve Currency In order for a currency to be a favoured reserve currency, it must have well developed financial markets. The euro was formed after the unification of 17 currencies of the member states of the European Union. The unification strengthened the euro financial markets and it lowered the macro-economic risks of the countries in eurozone. This was one of the reasons why euro became one of the biggest reserve currencies all around the world. It inherited its reserve status from the currencie s that dissolved into euro. Before the introduction of euro the overall share of US$ as reserve currency was 70.9% which dropped to 64% in the year 2008. On the other hand, the inherited proportion of the euro as reserve currency was 17.9% in the year in which it was introduced, i.e., 1998. One of the reasons behind the euro’s status of one of the most reserve currencies is due to German Mark. The proportion of euro as reserve currency increased to 26.5% in the year 2008. The euro has significantly affected the status of US$ as a reserve currency. Most economists are also debating the possibility of the euro replacing the US$ as the most held reserve currency. According to David

Nutrition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Nutrition - Essay Example The overall effect of these factors is however, cell impairment that inhibits the function of insulin to stimulate absorption of sugar into cells. When this resistance occurs, sugar cannot be efficiently absorbed and its levels rise above optimum. One of the major causes of type 2 diabetes is genetics. The disease is hereditary, which means that a parent with the disease before a child’s birth is likely to transfer the complication to his or her child. Similarly, diagnosis of the disease in a sibling is an indicator that a person is likely to be a victim. This is however a reflection of the genetic transfer from a parent (Diabetes, 1). A person’s origin has also been identified as a factor to developing diabetes. This is because some races have shown significantly higher susceptibility to the type II diabetes than others have. An example is the American Indian race. As a result, being an American Indian increases a person’s chances of contracting the disease. â€Å"High blood pressure,† as high as â€Å"140/90† and above is another factor that causes type II diabetes (Diabetes, 1). The basis of the disease, inability to experience efficient absorption of blood sugar into cells, explains the role of blood pressure in causing the disease. This is because transfer of molecules through cell membrane, whether facilitated by insulin or not, is a factor of pressure hence unfavorably high levels of pressure hinders the sugar molecules’ flow into cells. High levels of cholesterol also affect sugar absorption into cells causing type II diabetes. Higher levels such as above â€Å"35mg/dLâ €  have for example been identified to cause the disease (Diabetes, 1). Similarly, factors such as being overweight or being physically inactive also cause the disease and can be associated with effects of excessive accumulation of fats in the body (Diabetes, 1). People with type two diabetes exhibits specific complications that have been

Organisation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Organisation management - Essay Example age because the enterprise cannot act quickly â€Å"on opportunities that arise in a fast-paced business landscape, nor is it able to make productive decisions about how to change in order to seize these opportunities† (Kotter 2011). It renders an organisation less competitive because the organization is burden with bureaucracy and non-cooperation. To be able to detect silos, managers must be quick to recognize its symptoms so that it can be stopped early. Once silos have grown to point of an â€Å"empire† in an organization, it would be extremely difficult to arrest them. The first telling sign is the existence of projects in other departments or divisions or even groups without management knowing them. It is like that some groups in the organization have a life of its own. Second is the management’s lack of touch with the organization. Silos are often a product of non communication from management. Lastly, when certain groups or departments are being left out be it with information or project, the defense mechanism of such groups or departments is to hoard information and services and thus, the creation of a silo. Silos are basically founded on distrust in an organization (Burdett nd). To tear down or remove silos in an organisation, Stone advised to reward cooperative behavior among employees. Encourage innovation which silos stunt and create a culture of collaboration. Responsibilities must also be clarified so that finding opportunities in cross functional initiatives would be easier (2004). This would reinforce and promote a culture of cooperation and trust in an organization which prevents silos. Conflicts, which silos thrive can also be prevented by clarifying responsibilities so that there is no overlap of functions that makes cooperation easy. Kotter also advised that departments in an organization share data so that none is left out and no one also can hostage the organization for possessing certain data. Cooperation must also be

Apple Mission Statement Essay Example for Free

Apple Mission Statement Essay Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices. When shoppers sleep outside of stores just to be one of the first to buy an iPhone, its obvious that Apple Inc. is a company that enjoys fanatical brand loyalty. However, this brand success is not a result of dumb luck or forces beyond Apples control; its part of a well-thought-out plan to deliver strong products and to create an Apple culture. Find out more about these and other strategies that Apple employs to achieve its tremendous customer loyalty. A Store Just for Apple: Apple has historically been troubled by big-box sales staffers who are ill-informed about its products, a problem that made it difficult for Apple to set its very different products apart from the rest of the computing crowd. By creating a store strictly devoted to Apple products, the company has not only eliminated this problem but has made an excellent customer-loyalty move. Apple stores are a friendly place where Mac and PC users alike are encouraged to play with and explore the technology that the company offers. This is a space where Macheads can not only get service but also hang out with others who enjoy Apple products just as much as they do. By creating this space, Apple encourages current and new customers to get excited about what it has to offer. Complete Solutions: Apples products complement and complete each other. Buy an iPod, and you can download music via iTunes. For the average user, most Mac programs are produced by Apple. This sort of control over the entire user process, from hardware to software, strengthens customer loyalty. Apple users generally dont have to stray to find products and solutions they want. Are You a Mac? : Lets face it, Apple is a hip brand. It pushes a strong identification with everything young, up-to-the-minute and smart. Consider Apples Im a Mac campaign. The Mac guy is smooth and confident, while PC appears uptight and old. Once youve become smooth, would you want to go back to uptight? Varied Products: Many consumers may not be ready to buy an Apple computer, but theyre willing to give gadgets like the iPod or iPhone a try. By selling products with lower entry costs, t creates an opportunity for new users to be introduced to Apple. If these users enjoy their gadgets, theyre more likely to consider buying an Apple computer in the future. Media Fodder: Media outlets, especially bloggers, love to write about Apple. Why? Because Apple makes it so easy. With leaked rumors about new developments, its very own expo and mysterious shutdowns of its online store, Apple gift wraps news stories that are just begging for speculation and hype. By perpetuating this cycle of media frenzy, Apple keeps its customers excited about buying new Apple products now and in the future. Education Sales: By selling its products to schools and universities, Apple turns classrooms into showrooms. If students go through school using Apple products, they become comfortable with the interface and familiar with the superior performance the brand offers. By creating this early exposure, Apple captures customers before they even know that they are customers. Products That Deliver: Apple carefully considers what consumers are looking for, so its products are a result of both extensive research and strong design. This meticulous planning is a large contributor to Apples high customer-satisfaction rates. Its plain and simple: Robust and easy-to-use products not only make your customers happy, but also make them want to buy more products from you in the future. Outsourcing Unpleasantness: With Apple products, the average consumers interaction with the company is likely to be low. Unless something goes wrong, you dont have any reason to speak with an Apple customer-service representative. Of course, the iPhone presented an opportunity that could have made Apple much more involved, similar to administering iTunes for the iPod. With a phone, interaction becomes multifaceted. You have to consider billing errors, quality of wireless service, contracts and a number of other factors that often lead to customer frustration. With the iPhone, Apple was wise to stick with building a good product and letting ATT handle the service. Consistency: All of Apples products have the same basic architecture. Because of this consistency, customers who already own Apple products have a good idea of what theyll be getting before they make a purchase. They know that it will be easy to adapt to new hardware, and this makes them more open to making a repeat purchase. New Innovations: Although the architecture of Apple products is consistent, its portfolio is not. The company offers consumers a number of different ways to enjoy its products. By giving customers an opportunity to employ Apple in their living rooms, pockets and offices, Apple makes it easy to stay loyal to a brand they already like. Attractiveness: From packaging to aesthetic design to user-interface experience, Apple makes its products accessible and attractive. Bright colors, a smiling icon and slick-looking hardware remind customers every time they use Apple products that what Apple offers is appealing.