Question

Text "International Business Environments and Operations Sixteenth edition"

Chapter 16 - Organizing Global Operations: The "Gore Way"

What mix of knowledge, skill, and abilities would make you a high performing associate at Gore?

Answer 1

Gore carefully introduce processes needed for growth without losing their innovative edge.They have a radical and always evolving management model.

They practice a “lattice” network structure connecting every individual in the organization to every other.Information flows freely in all directions, and personal communications would be the norm.

Individuals and self-managed teams would go directly to anyone in the organization to get what they needed to be successful.

The outcome of this is where everyone is free to talk with everyone else!

Key enablers to make this work are as follows:

• Information sharing and peer review are the norm.
• A strong focus on getting the environment right and the business stuff gets easy
• More coaches than bosses, lots of peer reviews.
• Belief that giving the right people the tools and knowledge will bring out the best in everyone.
• Trust individuals to do the right thing.
• The culture creates opportunity for everyone to make a contribution.
• High investment in team building.
• Divide and multiply concept. Never grow too much to limit bureaucracy.
• You’re only a leader if people want to follow you.
• Ability is gained through respect of your peers and this attracts followers.
• Hierarchy, on demand- who really has the knowledge or if it is situational is the norm.
• Listening constantly to the voice of the organization and their markets.
• Ambiguity never clarity to keep it constantly in ‘flux’.

The real power lies in the way they practice innovation:

• If you have a great idea you have to convince other people that it’s great, then you get to join and then your job is to keep them motivated for results.
• There are low barriers to experimentation that drives innovative thinking.
• Innovation- kept within boundaries- but leverage is mostly on the core
• Focus on best in class concepts- that offer unique benefits that will be valued b) are a ongoing source of sustainable advantage.
• Discretion to explore is earned over time
• Rigorous, transparent peer reviews
• Ever-evolving portfolio of tools and best practices
• Fitness for use- doing what it says it will do
• Relentless protection of IP
• Investments, not expenses
• Each associate has a sponsor
• The power of small teams
• Compensation based on contribution judged by peers
• Powerful sense of ownership
• Leaders provide a balance of challenge and support
• Don’t need lots of rules and hierarchy
• The power of influence is the key to unlock and make a contribution
• Valuing not a few but looking for unique contributions of many.

What I also like is Gore’s clear beliefs and guiding principles. These are made up of belief in the individual, in small teams, all in the same boat and holding a longer term view as the payoff but not sacrificing the short-term gain.

In principles they encourage freedom by associates can achieve their own goals best by directing their efforts towards the success of the corporation, action is prized, ideas encouraged and mistakes viewed as part of the creative process. They sincerely try to be fair to each other and to anyone they do business with. Associates are not assigned tasks, they each make their own commitments and keep them and lastly, everyone consults with each other before taking actions that might damage or actions that might be ‘below the waterline.’

Finally their original founder, Bill Gore, stated “the objective of the enterprise is to make money and fun doing so” and they still seemingly work towards this, 50 years later.

Their challenge has been to scale Gore’s model as it grows; in size, geographies and cultures and into new products and segments. By constantly pushing authority out to small teams, respecting and encouraging diversity and talent from different backgrounds and styles all signing on to the “Gore” way seems to be evolving well but according to them “it is still being figured out as it happens”