The 3m Way to Innovation: Balancing People and Profit

by Ernest Grundling and Ernest Gundling

Book Overview

Gundling traces the reasons for 3M's astounding success. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 4770024762
• ISBN13: 9784770024763
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Kodansha
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Good read

It was very informative. I am deffinately glad I purchased it. For any creative individual who is wanting an idea of what it would be like to work for a company that is based on innovation, this is a great tool.

A culture of innovation

What would you do if you were one of five promoters who put down $ 5000 each to buy a piece of land, believing it to contain corundum (a mineral used to make abrasives) and discovered that it contained none?What would you do if you then decided to import Spanish garnet to make the abrasives and had the bad luck of its becoming soaked with olive oil during the voyage, resulting in abrasives of such poor quality that it took several years to restore consumer confidence?What would you do if the floor of your new factory building collapsed on the very first day under the weight of sacks of material stacked seven high for inventory purposes?Why, simple! If you are 3M Corporation, you would learn from adversity and go on to become arguably the world's most innovative corporation! With an arsenal of over 50,000 products. Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, the authors of "Build To Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies" say that if they were asked to bet their lives on the continued success of a single company over the next 50 to 100 years, they would bet on 3M.What are the ingredients of this unique corporate culture that makes 3M the most innovative company in the world and that which thus assures its durability?The book does a wonderful job in taking one through these ingredients and giving readers a feel of this unique corporation. It talks of how corporate values were first introduced by William McKnight, who was one of the first to stress on quality and innovation and employee satisfaction (3M was one of the first companies to implement company sponsored unemployment insurance during the Great Depression). Part of the principles he enunciated for human resource management (long before this was practiced elsewhere) included to foster a climate which would respect the dignity and worth of individuals, encourage initiative, challenge individual capabilities and provide equal opportunity.What are the ingredients of this unique corporate culture that makes 3M the most innovative company in the world and that which thus assures its durability?The book does a wonderful job in taking one through these ingredients and giving readers a feel of this unique corporation. It talks of how corporate values were first introduced by William McKnight, who was one of the first to stress on quality and innovation and employee satisfaction (3M was one of the first companies to implement company sponsored unemployment insurance during the Great Depression). Part of the principles he enunciated for human resource management (long before this was practiced elsewhere) included to foster a climate which would respect the dignity and worth of individuals, encourage initiative, challenge individual capabilities and provide equal opportunity.One of several management practices that fosters a culture of innovation is, for example, that of the 15 per cent Rule under which aspiring innovators with an idea rejected by management can continue to work on it invoking the ru

Inside 3M's magic technology driven world

Mr. Grundling takes us inside 3M and tells the story of the mining company which turned into a tape manufacturer and much more. Grundling shows us how heavily relies on the innovative spirit and how nurturing it is part of the core value of the company. This also explains why it is difficult to transplant 3M's philosophy to other established companies, as it affects every aspect of the company. In order to use the 3M way it would have to be introduced right from the inception of a new company. On the other hand it is also obvious that one should not copy 3M directly today, as they may have difficulties adjusting to today's faster development pace. All in all an interesting book, which states a lot of good practices and also some not so good ones.

The 3M Way to Innovation: Balancing People and Profit

As a 30 year student of innovation and change in complex organizations, I view the 3M Way by Gundling as an excellent resource for students of organizational communication and change. Working internationally with corporations like IBM, Hewlett-Packard and U.S. West in project management, I have found that Gundling is clear about innovations across borders which 3M practices. This is very useful information for the global networks in business. The ideas about "five innovative openings" as a model for change goes well in the high tech dot.com world because the key to survival in the business world is innovation. How to innovate has always been the key question for international managers. Gundling has organized, for the practitioner, key questions to ask about innovation based upon his 10 year work with 3M. This is a good analytical tool for others to use. Hats off to 3M for allowing this kind of disclosure, analysis and critique.

Good practical insights

I have been looking for a book with good practical insights on managing complex multinational operations. Gundling's study of 3M, it seems to me, gets it just right. Gundling has lots of practical examples from interviews with 3M personnel, apparently over a fairly long period of time, to go along with his formal analysis of how technical information is transferred among 3M subsidiaries. Chapter 5 on global innovation is especially good. As a professor, I had a particular reason to search out a book like this, but I would suspect that managers could adapt many of the best practices that Gundling identifies within 3M to their own companies.