W. L. Gore Executive Summary

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The organizational success is vastly dependent on its employees and the organizational structure it is based on. The organizational structure refers to the system of distribution of work roles within various employees and management levels and the way the various functions are coordinated within the individuals and departments in order to achieve the organization’s goals . Different organizational systems have different levels of output in various domains. So the company’s strategies should be in line with its corporate objectives and the higher tier management should continuously monitor the company’s strategies and performances to ensure its progression towards the desired outcomes. Therefore there are currently the following issues in W.L. …show more content…

Gore and Associates is a leading company with more than 1000 products on offer for its customers. The company is experiencing the two digit growth over the past 3 years. Although it has huge product line and extensive performance but it has no defined hierarchy for employees and no defined job descriptions at all. The employees work in groups on various projects and the concept of multi-tasking is followed by employees. Considering these facts the above mentioned issues are analyzed hereunder.
• ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
The first step is to identify the Gore’s current type of organizational structure. Organizational structures are widely categorized in two types namely “Mechanistic Structure” and “Organic Structure” and these types are described below:
MECHANISTIC STRUCTURE
Mechanistic structure widely known by another name “Bureaucratic Structure” is based on the concept of centralized network. The mechanistic structure is well defined with each individual in the organization having a specific job title and defined job descriptions. They are usually responsible for those job descriptions and are not responsible for work outside their scope. The decision making in such a structure is restricted to the higher tier management and the communication is usually vertical with decisions and orders flowing from top to bottom. The working environment in mechanistic structure is overwhelmed by the extensive rules and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The concept of written …show more content…

INDIVIDUAL’S PERSPECTIVE
Advantages of Gore’s organizational structure include the following:
• The employees will have an opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and knowledge because of working in a team rather than isolation.
• Employees will learn the higher level management’s communication skills much earlier because of lateral communication model where each employee needs to communicate with everyone.
• Since there are no rules and boundaries within the organizational structure therefore employees can manipulate them for their own benefit causing damage to the organization’s performance.
Disadvantages of Gore’s organic organizational structure include the following:
• No job descriptions mean that no individual could be held liable for anything or anyone could be held liable for anything or for someone else’s mistake.
• There will be no promotion and improvement in the career ladder of the employees over the period of their stay within the organization.
• Individuals may use the delegated authority unfairly to undermine their colleague due to some personal

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