Working with 9500 employees, W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. is one of the Fortune magazine company working around the globe. The company was founded by Bill and Vieve Gore as a new business venture in Delaware (“Our Culture”, 2019). The company was founded in 1958 when the founder Bill Gore left his job at DuPont because of the hierarchical system of the organization that limits the decision-making process in a closed circuit. The limitation of the communication at DuPont kept Bill form being innovative, that is why he founded his own company that not only acted as the ground for his innovations but also provided others with the opportunities. The company started manufacturing the polymer, poly-tetra-fluoro-ethylene and marketed as the electric cable’s insulators. Soon after its foundation the organization took some innovative steps and brought new products like ePTFE, with a trade name of Gore-Tex, the lightweight waterproof polymer. The innovation of this material resulted in the production and development of hundreds of different products that the company is currently manufacturing. The innovation that seems to the crucial part of almost every product of the Gore, is not the one that has resulted in the fame of this company, instead, it is the innovative organizational structure of the organization that has made it stand out of the queue (“The Gore Story”, 2019).
The company is best known for its unique organizational cultural and structural background. Unlike a normal hierarchical organizational structure that has networks of authorities or the matrix structure of organizations in which leadership is more distributed vertically or horizontally, the organization has a lattice structure. Based on the intertwining lattice structure of the materials, a lattice organization has required to have some key attributes like no authority, no boss, instead of a mentor, more personal communication, followership and the commitment of the worker (Papa et.al., 2008). In a lattice organization, the objectives are laid down by the persons who are willing to perform them, not being enforced upon them by some other. Bill Gore’s developed his organization around this structure making his associates happy while achieving the goals. The innovative cultural background of the organization is thus a true reflection of the business objective of the organization, i.e. “To make money and have fun”.
The management style of the organization is participative in nature with self-regulation. Since the management responsibilities of the associates vary through the projects, the personal expertise and skills are therefore the key definitive of this unique and unconventional management style of the organization. The team-based organizational structure has three roles throughout the organization, associates, leaders, and sponsors. This division of the human resource of the organization has multiple benefits of its own. The first benefit is that the organization, through labeling all his employees as associate had made so far, a good psychological impact on them. The self-esteem, the determinant of psychological and emotional well-being (Schwartz, 2014), of the associates of the Gore is therefore fully fulfilled, making them happy. The second main advantage of this structure is that the organization treats everyone in a similar manner, not in naming them as the associates, but also in terms of the work choices and other benefits. Every associate can have a chance of working as a leader. The leaders are truly the part of the work and the leadership is fully integrated into the organizational structure of the organization, i.e. the lattice structure. The support and advice are what a leader gives to other associates. He cannot dictate them and force them to work, but instead, they are the ones that motivate themselves by commitment.
The third main advantage of this type of structure is that an associate is responsible for his own paycheck. The more he works the more he will be paid. This act as the major strength in developing the dedication of the associates with the company as they are allowed to choose their work on their own and to respond to ones whom they are willing to. Another benefit of this structure can result in the chance of the development that the organization bestows its associates with. The associates in Gore can excel their interpersonal skills, leadership qualities, and discipline, all at once during their work life. The training for becoming the leader can easily be delivered through the lattice structure of the Gore (Rowe & Guerrero, 2013). It not only develops the leaders that are efficient in leading the team members but also at the same time make them a good follower. The productivity of the associates, therefore, increases, as they have the chance to lead a team when they think they are capable of and to step back and work as a normal member when they think they are not worthy of being a leader, or they are not willing to be a leader.
The third role that the company offers beside the leader and the associate is that of a sponsor. Every associate has a sponsor. A sponsor actually is the mentor that guides the associate to understand the structure of the organization (“Working at Gore”, 2019), especially the ones that are newly hired or have switched their departments. The need for the sponsor for every associate is because of the policy of the company that allows every newcomer to search and chose what department he or she is willing to work in. although, this role gives them an opportunity of being their own boss or act as an entrepreneur, sometimes act as the drawback too. This freedom may sometime does not seem to be a good idea as the newcomers get confused and find it a lot hard to focus on a single field of interest.
Talking of the drawbacks, the organizational structure of the company also has multiple drawbacks besides its merits. The first drawback associated with this structure of the organization is that there is no check and balance as the associates are free to work, free to choose their work hour and free to connect with each other (Grnning, 2016). The only thing that the company requires in return of this freedom is the commitment of the person. The commitment can only be developed if the moral and ethical values of the associate are high. The second drawback is the lack of policies. Running this huge organization with little or no policies and procedures is itself is risky.
Another drawback for this type of organizational structure is the incompatibility of this style in other countries of the world. For example, the cultural influence of countries like China and Japan may require a controlled environment. The people in those countries gave more preference to be guided than to be left untold of their jobs. The W.L. Gore’s may, therefore, face a lot of resistance in countries like Japan and China, where its associates will need the training to develop the unique approach of the Gore. The management style of the organization also seems to be falling apart in terms of Human Resource. The recruiting of new associates is a basic need of any organization. The new associates are thus required to be trained according to the four basic principles of the organization i.e. fairness, freedom, personal commitment, and consultation (“Our Beliefs & Principles”, 2019). Training them, at one hand, is vitally important, while on the other hand, since the people of the organizations are allowed to make their own commitment and cannot be imposed especially in terms of the working hours, seems impossible. The need for consultation, among the associates, before taking a decision, is a major conflict of the principles of the organization, that actually limits the freedom given to its associate in the second principle.
In short, the innovative and unique organizational structure of the W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. is truly the one that has kept the organization all through those years. Due to the freedom and fairness, it has given to its associates, the company remains enlisted in Americas Fortune companies (Roberts, 2015). The managemental structure of this organization that was developed by its founders has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are the absence of the polices, giving freedom to the members of the organization, treating them equally not only in labeling them but also in terms of their development and other facilities conferred to them. The conferred amenities, such as the role of being the leader, the selection of the work of their own choice, setting up their own working hours and easy and fair communication with other associates had given benefits in terms of personal development. The organizational structure of the gore also has some drawbacks. These drawbacks that are conflicting of the principles and much more freedom than the needed one may end up in raising the different ethical and moral questioning about the structure itself. The possible conflict with the culture of other countries like China and Japan and the failing structure of the Human Resource of the Gore are also some of the major drawbacks that are associated with the lattice organizational structure, the one that the organization is standing on.
References
Grnning, T. (2016). Working without a boss. London: SAGE Knowledge.
Our Beliefs & Principles. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.gore.com/about/our-beliefs-and-principles
Our Culture. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.gore.com/about/culture
Papa, M., Daniels, T., Spiker, B., & Daniels, T. (2008). Organizational communication. London: SAGE.
Roberts, D. (2015). W.L. Gore Culture. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2015/03/05/w-l-gore-culture/
Rowe, W., & Guerrero, L. (2013). Cases in leadership. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications.
Schwartz, B. (2014). The paradox of choice. New York: HarperCollins e-Books.
The Gore Story. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.gore.com/about/the-gore-story
Working at Gore. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.gore.com/about/working-at-gore
