Over 86% of Watermark Credit Union Employees voted to adopt the first Scanlon Plan in the Financial Services Industry. Why would one of the most progressive Credit Unions in America adopt the Principles of a Steelworker who died in the 1950's? Scanlon was a leading exponent of using the full talents of workers to create organizations of exceptional efficiency and today is known as the father of employee involvement.

East Lansing, Michigan (PRWEB) December 16, 2005 -- The dream of the steelworker Joe Scanlon who died over a half century ago is alive and well at Seattle based Watermark Credit Union.

In the 1930's through the 1950's Joe Scanlon pioneered labor-management cooperation, employee involvement, open-book management, gainsharing and servant leadership in business. Time Magazine wrote that Joe Scanlon was the most sought after consultant in America and Fortune and Life Magazine featured his work. Today, some may believe Scanlon's ideas have "gone the way of the Hupmobile"...yet not at Watermark Credit Union.

Scanlon ideas were adopted by manufacturing organizations like Motorola, Herman Miller, and Magna Donnelly. They were also experimented with in health care at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, but have never before been attempted in the financial services industry.

According to management scholar Warren Bennis, the Japanese took Scanlon's ideas concerning worker involvement and combined them with the ideas of quality guru W. Edwards Deming. Today many businesses are adopting Japanese management techniques without knowing that many of them were Scanlon ideas.

Scanlon's ideas continue at the nonprofit Scanlon Leadership Network (considered one of the best-kept secrets in Business). The Scanlon Leadership Network guided Watermark as they developed their Scanlon Plan. The Network is a group of organizations that share best practices and help each other become the best places to work and most admired organizations in their industries.

Each Scanlon plan is unique and created by a team of employees. Each plan includes how information is shared, how employees are involved in decision making, how gains are shared, and how training and development are practiced.

At critical stages in developing a Scanlon plan secret ballot votes are conducted to insure commitment to the plan. Watermark employees voted overwhelmingly for their plan. They call their plan "EPIC" for the four component principles of Equity, Participation, Identity, and Competence.

Scanlon believed that the average employee had talent, motivation, and creativity. He believed they could improve their organizations if only given the opportunity. He dreamed that someday we would learn "that together we can achieve the impossible."

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August 13, 2005 

Praveen Gupta, who helped to develop the discipline of Six-Sigma while at Motorola, in partnership with the nonprofit Scanlon Leadership Network and Scanlon Foundation, will offer his research findings and innovation methods in a workshop on Institutionalizing Innovation in Detroit on September 20, 2005.

(PRWEB) August 13, 2005 -- Innovation is widely viewed as a key to global competitiveness yet few people have done the necessary research and critical thinking to offer business leaders solutions for institutionalizing innovation in their organizations. In fact institutionalized innovation may appear to some as an oxymoron. Successful business leaders know that if innovation is to thrive in corporations there must be sound theory, methodology, processes and measurement systems to support consistent high quality innovation.

Praveen Gupta's solutions are based on extensive research into the work of great historical innovators such as Einstein, Newton, Galileo, Edison and Ford as well as insights of modern innovators and patent holders in organizations like Motorola, IBM, 3M and Proctor & Gamble. Praveen is a leading authority on Six-Sigma and has authored numerous books on the subject. He is currently editing a book on innovation, which will be published in 2006.

The Scanlon Leadership Network is a nonprofit association of progressive organizations who pioneered many innovative business practices including open-book management, employee involvement, gainsharing, and servant leadership.

The workshop will be held from 9:00-4:00 at the Hilton Garden Inn.

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John Chipman founded a business because he did not want to lay off his landscaping crew during the long Michigan winters. His company Landscape Forms now leads the nation in the production of outdoor commercial furniture. John is being recognized May 12, 2004 with the Scanlon Stewardship Award, the highest honor of the Scanlon Leadership Network.

(PRWEB) March 18 2004--John Chipman, founder of Landscape Forms, Inc. is the 2004 recipient of the Scanlon Stewardship Award. Back in 1969, concerned that he had no work for his landscaping crew during the long Michigan winters, John put them to work making public space furniture in his barn. Today Landscape Forms employs over 200 people and leads the nation in the production of outdoor commercial furniture.

Management consultant William Greenwood III wrote, “ I have observed no other President, CEO or Chairman more universally admired and loved by his people than John and for those who might confuse his style with “soft-hearted paternalism” they need only look at the company’s sustained success and employees’ continuous growth.”

Dr. Carl Frost, Michigan State University Professor Emeritus, calls John one of a few “Quiet Giants” and compares him to John Donnelly, founder of the Donnelly Corporation; Hugh DePree, former CEO of Herman Miller; and Charles Conrad, founder of Thermatron.

The business press is full of stories of business leaders who show little regard for their employees in the name of business survial. John Chipman has shown that a successful business can be built on caring for the average worker.

Landscape Forms customers include organizations like Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard, Harvard University, Disney, Chrysler, Mayo Clinic, Sprint, Gateway and Kellogg’s Cereal City.    

The Scanlon Stewardship Award is the highest honor given by the Scanlon Leadership Network. The Network pioneered labor management cooperation, open-book management, employee involvement, gainsharing, and servant leadership concepts in business. The Network is named after Joe Scanlon, prizefighter, research director of the Steelworkers and MIT Lecturer. The Stewardship Award will be presented to John Chipman on May 12, 2004 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Past recipients include Dick Ruch (former CEO Herman Miller) Dr. Carl Frost, Dr. Dwane Baumgardner (former CEO Donnelly Corporation), D.J. DePree, Hugh DePree, Max DePree (former CEO's Herman Miller), Dr. William Greenwood, Pat Thompson (founder Trans-Matic), Robert Kersman (CEO Lorin Industries) and Dick LeVan (former CEO Wescast Industries).

Canadian businessman Dick Levan receives the Scanlon Stewardship Award, for his contribution to labor/management cooperation and employee involvement.

The Scanlon Stewardship Award is the highest honor given by the Scanlon Leadership Network. The award is named after Joe Scanlon who pioneered labor management cooperation, employee involvement and gainsharing in business. The Scanlon Leadership Network is a nonprofit association of progressive organizations headquarted in East Lansing, Michigan.

Dick LeVan took his small family owned foundry (a producer of wood burning stoves) and made it into the largest producer of manifolds in North America. Today, Wescast is a publicly traded company, the winner of numerous quality and environmental awards, and a company with a reputation as one of the best places to work in Canada.

Dick Levan served on the Board of the Scanlon Leadership Network for eight years. He became an effective advocate for the Scanlon way of doing business.

According to Dick Levan "Several of my friends and colleagues have commented on how much I have done for Scanlon over the years, but that works two ways. Scanlon has done a great deal for our company and me. It helped us create a work environment that encouraged our employees to actively participate in the business. I am proud of our people and how they have responded to the challenge of making Wescast a more successful company. I am also gratified to see that more organizations are beginning to understand the real value and impact of Scanlon on their people and their business."

Prior Scanlon Stewardship Award winners include: Dick Ruch, former Chairman of Herman Miller, Dwane Baumgardner, Vice President of Magna-Donnelly, Buzz Kersman, CEO of Lorin Industries, Dr. Carl Frost, Professor Emeritus of Michigan State University, Dr. Bill Greenwood, owner of Greenwood Consulting, Pat Thomson, Chairman of Trans-Matic, and D.J., Hugh and Max DePree of Herman Miller.