Gore Organisational Culture - Case Study Example

Name Unit Class Q.1What is it about Gore organisation culture that keeps it a leader in innovation and creativity? Gore organisational culture is egalitarian. The employees have no defined roles and there are no job titles (Stephen, 251). The employees are self empowered and work with others through communication of their ideas. The main aim of the organisation culture is to have a family like relationship within the employees (W. L. Gore & Associates). The culture at the organisation is decentralised and has very low degree of formalisation. The organisation is lattice where there is no assumed authority. Tasks are carried out through commitment and no one has assigned authority. This type of organisation has worked in enhancing creativity and innovation. Empowering individuals in the organisation helps them in carrying out their ideas easily as there is no bureaucracy. The employee becomes assimilated fully to the organisation culture and reduces the chances of making a poor decision. The organisation culture encourages innovation through empowering the employees to try their new ideas. This is culture that recognises that great ideas can come from any of the employees at any moment. The organisation culture also enables the employees to share their knowledge. The associates meet regularly and shares ideas, review each other plans and consults (W. L. Gore & Associates). The culture encourages consulting before taking any action. Consultation enhances a situation where employees can come up with ideas, share them with other associates and have a chance of evaluation. This is very important during innovation as it avoids duplication of ideas. The company also enhances protection of the ideas generated by the employees through copyrights. If the employees do not feel valued, they become discouraged in contributing to the company. The organisation culture at AW Gore makes all employees equal and valued. This leads to contribution of all employees and collaboration. The employees are innovative due to the fact that they are allowed to work freely in an environment where their contribution is valued. Pay level is also determined by what the employee contributes to the business (W. L. Gore & Associates). The organisation guiding principles encourages an environment where creativity and innovation can take place. The culture is centred in making the employees energized. This leads to employees who are results oriented and works towards their creativity. The associates have the powers to use their own creativity in the organisation without going through bureaucracy. The ideas just need to be funded and approved by the organisation project review group instead of using the senior manager. The organisation culture is based on small sized plants (W. L. Gore & Associates). This makes it possible to have an organisation where the employees can easily access each other and find their role. Small plants help in employees to share ideas as small teams and work on them. The employees are also supposed to be committed in delivering their work. This implies that when an employee has an idea, they are committed to developing it. The employees are thus committed to the company success. This is through working in an atmosphere where they are stimulated to engage in projects in which they are more passionate and interested in. This leads to an organisation where the employees work due to self motivation. The company history of new products is enough proof that the organisation culture supports innovation and development. Gore culture is more outcomes oriented. There is no pressure in coming up with an innovation or timeline for the innovation. The culture is patient to employees as they nurture their ideas and no timelines are given. An employee is given time to spend on their ideas and are not pressurised. Due to fact that the reward is based on the employees’ contribution, this leads to them working hard on their ideas and ensuring there is success. Individual employees are respected by the organisation as people with unique talent. This is through a culture that respects the associates ideas and innovation. The company culture is people oriented and employees are assigned time to pursue their ideas (W. L. Gore & Associates). The culture also encourages aggressiveness where the employees are rewarded due to their contribution. This makes the employees to be more committed due to fact that lack of commitment leads to poor compensation. Q.2 What problems would a newly hired person face at Gore? New recruits into AW Gore face several challenges. The first challenge is the lack of a boss in the organisation. There is no one to report to which can be challenging to those who used to work in a hierarchical organisation. The roles in the organisation are not clear cut meaning that the new recruits may find themselves having broad roles. The employees are just trained for a short period and then left on their own (W. L. Gore & Associates). When a new employee arrives at the company, the first challenge that faces them is confusion. To adjust to the lattice structure, it may take a long time. The new recruits may become frustrated as they try to adjust to the structure. Most of the employees are not used to work in places where there is no one to tell you what to do. The new recruits are faced that they have to work on their own and put efforts to avoid letting down their team. The organisation team acts as the boss since one has to contribute to the team (W. L. Gore & Associates). For new recruits, gaining credibility from their team members may take time. They have to know the members of the team well and also ensure that they contribute to the team. The compensation of the employee is also measured by what they contribute to the team (W. L. Gore & Associates). The fact that employee remuneration is based on the contribution may lead to new recruits earning less. This is due to fact that it takes time for the employees to get to know the team members and adjust to the new type of management. Employees who fail to adapt to the system may be left behind. The employees are expected to put themselves in the position they want to be. For the new recruits who are used to power in hierarchical companies, this might be a big challenge to them. The employee is not guided on the next step or the task to do after recruitment. Initially, the employee may lack adequate imagination on their job positions. This can lead to the new employee spending most of the first days idle and confused wondering what to do. The pressure placed on the employee to make contribution can be exhausting to the new recruits. In some countries, associates would prefer being told what to do rather than figuring it out themselves. This is the case in most developing and underdeveloped countries (Mullins, 18). For a new recruit from these countries, working with Gore can be a big challenge due to their organisation culture. This may lead to the new employees quitting the job and looking for hierarchical organisations. Though the corporate culture at Gore has been a success to some employees, new recruits who may not fit it fast may be forced to quit. Q.3 What advantages does the Gore culture provide in a dynamic world? Gore culture has helped the company to cope with the dynamic world. This is through assisting in implementing strategic decision making, promoting innovation and maintaining competitive advantage. Dynamic business world requires a company to have feasible strategies that will enable them to plan and ensure continued growth and profitability (Mullins, 24). The company guiding principles are given to the new employees and associates. This helps in defining to the employees where the business is and where it intends to go. The organisation culture binds all the employees globally to a common goal. The company strategy involves the employees having fun while making money (W. L. Gore & Associates). The corporate culture instils family values to the employees worldwide as they understands that if the employees accepts the culture, the likelihood of making poor decisions is low. Having small plants have enables the organisation to be easily manageable. This has also helped the organisation in enhancing team work where each member plays a role. As the organisation grows, the management does not have to struggle as the plants remain on the same size. The employees are also engaged in what they are good at giving the organisation a competitive advantage (Gary & Bill). Decentralised culture has worked to the advantage of the company. There are direct lines of communication and employees enjoy no assigned authority. This helps the company to enhance innovation which has kept the company at good position globally. The company have been able to introduce new products and respond fast to market forces (W. L. Gore & Associates). The culture has also given Gore a competitive advantage since it is hard to imitate. This is due to fact that another organisation cannot imitate the culture without having to restructure their structures. This is due to fact that Gore culture has been build from the inception (Gary & Bill). This ensures that the organisation is able to maintain its structure without having a competitor adopting it. Due to the fact that organisation culture at Gore encourages recruitment of new associates, the company is able to thrive in dynamic world. The company associates have been innovative for a long time making the company well known and respected. The innovation culture at the company will always enable it to respond to new products that are needed globally. References Stephen, Robbins & Timothy, Judge. Essentials of Organizational Behavior: Pearson International Edition, Prentice Hall, 2008, pp. 247 - 263 W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. Our Culture, 2014, http://www.gore.com/en_xx/aboutus/culture/index.html, 6 July 2014. Gary, Hamel & Bill, Breen. The Future of Management, Building an Innovation Democracy, Management Innovation in Action. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2007. Mullins, Laurie. Management& Organisational behaviour.Uk: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall, 2010, p.1-33 Read More