Assignment

CASE: W. L. Gore & Associates

Terri Kelly is the president and CEO of W. L. Gore & Associates. For the past 16 years, Gore has consistently been named among the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in the United States by Fortune magazine. Gore is now one of only a few companies to appear on all of the U.S. "100 Best Companies to Work For" lists since its initiation in 1984, In a recent interview, Ms. Kelly was asked what would be the most distinctive elements of the Gore management model to an outsider She listed four factors: "We don't operate in a hierarchy; we try to resist titles; our associates, who are all owners in the company, self-commit to what they want to do; and our leaders have positions of authority because they have followers." According to CEO Kelly, these four attributes enable Gore to maximize individual potential while cultivating an environment that fosters creativity and also to operate with high integrity. She is quick to remind everyone that all of Gore's practices and ways of doing business reflect the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of its founders.

Those founders are Bill and Vieve Gore, who in 1958 set out to create a business where innovation was a way of life and not a by-product. They founded W. L. Gore & Associates. There is no doubt that the Gores' vision has been realized. Gore is a uniquely managed, privately owned, family business. Today Gore is best known for its Gore-Tex range of high-performance fabrics and Elixir Strings for guitars. Gore is the leading manufacturer of thousands of advanced technology products for the medical, electronics, industrial, and fabrics markets. With annual revenues of $3.2 billion, the company employs more than 0,000 employees, called associates at more than 50 facilities around the world. Gore is truly a modern day success story

CEO Kelly attributes Gore's success to its unique culture How work is conducted at Gore and how employees relate to one another sets Gore apart. There are no titles, no bosses, and no formal hierarchy Compensation and promotion decisions are determined by peer rankings of each other's performance. To avoid dampening employee creativity, the company has an organizational structure and culture that goes against conventional wisdom. W. L. Gore & Associates has been described as not only unmanaged but also unstructured. Bill Gore (the founder) referred to the company's structure as a "lattice organization."

Gore's lattice structure includes the following features:

• Direct lines of communication-person to person-with no intermediary
• No fixed or assigned authority
• Sponsors, not bosses
• Natural leadership as evidenced by the willingness of others to follow
• Objectives set by those who must "make them happen"
• Tasks and functions organized through commitments
• Complete avoidance of the hierarchical command and control structure

The lattice structure as described by the people at Gore encourages hands-on innovation and discourages bureaucratic red tape by involving those closest to a project in decision making. Instead of a pyramid of bosses and managers. Gore has a flat organizational structure. There are no chains of command, no predetermined channels of communication. It sounds very much like a self-managed team at a much broader scale.

Why has Gore achieved such remarkable success? W. L. Gore & Associates prefers to think of the various people who play key roles in the organization as being leaders not managers. While Bill Gore did not believe in smother-ng the company in thick layers of formal management, he also knew that as the company grew, he had to find ways to assist new people and to follow their progress. Thus, W. L. Gore & Associates came up with its "sponsor" program The sponsor program is a dyadic relationship between an incumbent, experienced employee and a newly hired, inexperienced employee. Before a candidate is hired, an associate has to agree to be his or her sponsor or what others refer to as a mentor. The sponsor's role is to take a personal interest in the new associate's contributions, problems, and goals, acting as both a coach and an advocate. The sponsor tracks the new associate's progress, offers help and encouragement, points out weaknesses and suggests ways to correct them and concentrates on how the associate might better exploit his or her strengths.

Sponsoring is not a short-term commitment. All associates have sponsors, and many have more than one. When individuals are hired, at first they are likely to have a sponsor in their immediate work area. As associates' commitments change or grow, it's normal for them to acquire additional sponsors. For instance, if they move to a new job in another area of the company, they typically gain a sponsor there. Sponsors help associates chart a course in the organization that will offer personal fulfillment while maximizing their contribution to the enterprise. Leaders emerge naturally by demonstrating special knowledge, skill, or experience that advances a business objective.

An internal memo describes the three kinds of sponsorship and how they might work:

• Starting sponsor-a sponsor who helps a new associate get started on his or her first job at Gore or helps a present associate get started on a new job.

• Advocate sponsor-a sponsor who sees to it that the associate being sponsored gets credit and recognition for contributions and accomplishments.

• Compensation sponsor-a sponsor who sees to it that the associate being sponsored is fairly paid for contributions to the success of the enterprise.

An associate can perform any one or all three kinds of sponsorship. Quite frequently a sponsoring associate is a good friend, and it's not uncommon for two associates to sponsor each other as advocates.

Being an associate is a natural commitment to four basic principles articulated by Bill Gore and still a key belief of the company: fairness to each other and everyone we come in contact with; freedom to encourage, help, and allow other associates to grow in knowledge, skill, and scope of responsibility: the ability to make one's own commitments and keep them and consultation with other associates before undertaking actions that could affect the reputation of the company

Over the years, W. L. Gore & Associates has faced a number of unionization drives. The company neither tries to dissuade associates from attending organizational meetings nor retaliates against associates who pass out union flyers. How-even Bill Gore believes there is no need for third-party representation under the lattice structure. He asks, "Why would associates join a union when they own the company? It seems rather absurd."

Commitment is seen as a two-way street at W. L. Gore & Associates-while associates are expected to commit to making a contribution to the company's success, the company is committed to providing a challenging, opportunity-rich work environment, and reasonable job security. The company tries to avoid laying off associates. If a workforce reduction becomes necessary the company uses a system of temporary transfers within a plant or cluster of plants, and requests voluntary layoffs. According to CEO Kelly, Gore's structure, systems, and culture have continued to yield impressive results for the company. In the more than 50 years that Gore has been in business, it has never made a loss

1. Evaluate followership at W. L. Gore & Associates. What company actions and/or policies account for the quality of followership? To succeed, leaders must teach their followers not only how to lead: leadership, but more importantly, how to be a good follower: followership"

o Building relationships while identifying with the leader of an organization and their vision is essential to good followership
o Providing an environment that promotes all organizational members to focus on a common goal.
o Creates enthusiasm and desire to excel;