netrashetty
Netra Shetty
Auto-Owners Insurance is a Fortune 500 Company, and has been every year since 2002. The company was founded in 1916 by Vernon Moulton in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Today, it is headquartered in Delta Township, Michigan and has over 65 full service and claims branches nationwide. Although the name suggests only auto insurance is provided, it actually provides many lines of insurance including property, liability, auto, garage, workers compensation, farm, and life. It has been rated by J.D. Power and Associates for having the "highest claims satisfaction" in auto insurance for 2009 and 2010.[2] Subsidiary Companies include: Auto-Owners Life Insurance Company, Home-Owners Insurance Company, Owners-Insurance Company, Property-Owners Insurance Company, and Southern-Owners Insurance Company. Its infrastructure is primarily mainframe-based.
2
CEO
Ronald Simon
Top managers who joined the company at a young age, and who have absorbed the company’s traditions and stories, re-tell those stories to reinforce the values and atmospheres that encourage innovation (Tung 2001). 3M has encountered many setbacks and failures but amidst all these, the management remained open to unconventional ideas and willing to support people with personal vision. The commitment of 3M’s management to innovation and creativity resulted in thousands upon thousands of products that 3M was able to launch.
To encourage innovation, 3M has institutionalized incentive in corporate systems throughout the company. The 15 Percent Rule, for example, gives most employees the opportunity to spend up to 15 percent of their time working on their own projects. People who identify a need can also take advantage of the 3M network for communicating about new technologies that might help them develop a product to meet the need. The company encourages curious employees to learn about new technologies developed in all parts of the company
Top management’s tolerance for mistakes is in line with its policy for establishing a flat organizational structure and allowing important decisions to be made at all levels. 3M’s aim is not just to try and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Its aim is continuously to develop, to adapt and to search for new sources of temporary advantage. That is why 3M has done laboratory work in space and has invested considerable time in becoming the first western company with a wholly owned subsidiary in the People’s Republic of China (Tung 2001).
Organizational structure is important in promoting innovation and creativity. 3M endeavored to come up with a flat organization where hierarchies are diminished. Moreover, the company wanted an organizational structure that will support innovation at every business level and innovation at individual level. The company removed all restricting policies and procedures and allowed their employees to explore opportunities, to develop their ideas and to share their knowledge with everyone on the organization. The result, is a very efficient and effective organizational structure that makes innovative and creative thinking almost second nature to every employee.
Learning from Fastest Companies
No organization with a large bureaucracy is able to make fast decisions. Bureaucracy creates a climate in which the customer comes third – well after the management and the company's other employees.
Don't let minor rules and regulations, and some people, that make no sense but seem almost impossible to circumvent to swamp and clog your organization. Getting rid of the bureaucracy is a law at fastest companies, and anyone found guilty of building or perpetuating bureaucracies is severely punished for management malpractice. "The more dead weight at the top of the organization involved in the decision-making process, the slower the decisions will be made".
When Sweden's Percy Barnevik's company merged with the troubled Swiss giant Brown Bovery, he promptly sent a message to the thousands of bureaucrats who worked at the company's headquarters in Zurich: "In the future,... the company won't be run like a government and administered from a central home office. Everyone at head office has ninety days to find a real job within the company that has something to do with the customer". Ninety days later Barnevik made good on his promise. More than 3,000 bureaucrats who were unable to comply were laid off. As a result of this shake-off, the once stodgy company – where decisions took months - quickly transformed itself into a quick-thinking company where all decisions are made in 1,000 local offices by 170,000 associates and employees. "The new ASEA Brown Bovery has sizzled, going from one strength to another and currently earning profits in excess of $2.5 billion annually."1
2
CEO
Ronald Simon
Top managers who joined the company at a young age, and who have absorbed the company’s traditions and stories, re-tell those stories to reinforce the values and atmospheres that encourage innovation (Tung 2001). 3M has encountered many setbacks and failures but amidst all these, the management remained open to unconventional ideas and willing to support people with personal vision. The commitment of 3M’s management to innovation and creativity resulted in thousands upon thousands of products that 3M was able to launch.
To encourage innovation, 3M has institutionalized incentive in corporate systems throughout the company. The 15 Percent Rule, for example, gives most employees the opportunity to spend up to 15 percent of their time working on their own projects. People who identify a need can also take advantage of the 3M network for communicating about new technologies that might help them develop a product to meet the need. The company encourages curious employees to learn about new technologies developed in all parts of the company
Top management’s tolerance for mistakes is in line with its policy for establishing a flat organizational structure and allowing important decisions to be made at all levels. 3M’s aim is not just to try and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Its aim is continuously to develop, to adapt and to search for new sources of temporary advantage. That is why 3M has done laboratory work in space and has invested considerable time in becoming the first western company with a wholly owned subsidiary in the People’s Republic of China (Tung 2001).
Organizational structure is important in promoting innovation and creativity. 3M endeavored to come up with a flat organization where hierarchies are diminished. Moreover, the company wanted an organizational structure that will support innovation at every business level and innovation at individual level. The company removed all restricting policies and procedures and allowed their employees to explore opportunities, to develop their ideas and to share their knowledge with everyone on the organization. The result, is a very efficient and effective organizational structure that makes innovative and creative thinking almost second nature to every employee.
Learning from Fastest Companies
No organization with a large bureaucracy is able to make fast decisions. Bureaucracy creates a climate in which the customer comes third – well after the management and the company's other employees.
Don't let minor rules and regulations, and some people, that make no sense but seem almost impossible to circumvent to swamp and clog your organization. Getting rid of the bureaucracy is a law at fastest companies, and anyone found guilty of building or perpetuating bureaucracies is severely punished for management malpractice. "The more dead weight at the top of the organization involved in the decision-making process, the slower the decisions will be made".
When Sweden's Percy Barnevik's company merged with the troubled Swiss giant Brown Bovery, he promptly sent a message to the thousands of bureaucrats who worked at the company's headquarters in Zurich: "In the future,... the company won't be run like a government and administered from a central home office. Everyone at head office has ninety days to find a real job within the company that has something to do with the customer". Ninety days later Barnevik made good on his promise. More than 3,000 bureaucrats who were unable to comply were laid off. As a result of this shake-off, the once stodgy company – where decisions took months - quickly transformed itself into a quick-thinking company where all decisions are made in 1,000 local offices by 170,000 associates and employees. "The new ASEA Brown Bovery has sizzled, going from one strength to another and currently earning profits in excess of $2.5 billion annually."1
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