3M and its unique culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

3M and its unique culture - Essay Example The company is consistently developing new products that is set up with inter-actions with customers and at the same time creating a culture that promotes employee pride and well-being, encourages integrity, and supporting social and environment development. Systems established to institutionalize this culture among employees 3M has set aside a budget that exceeds $1 billion annually for research and development to support innovation. 3M allowed employees to do their work in their own way. The management believed that as their business expands, it becomes necessary to delegate responsibilities to workers and to encourage them to exercise their initiatives. To date, 3M has over 50,000 products that were developed through constant research and innovation. Some well known products are the sandpaper, Scotch tape, Scotchguard fabric protector, Post-it Notes, O-CelO sponges, asthma inhalers, medical and dental adhesives, and plastic sheeting. Drawbacks on such culture. In allowing employee s to experiment on their ideas, failures and mistakes cannot be avoided. But when this happens, 3M does not punish the employees because by doing so, initiatives of personnel are dampened; and they consider people with initiatives important in the organization in order to grow. Drawbacks also consist of time and expense.