The corporate culture at W.L. Gore & Associates (Gore) is refreshingly different than that of other firms. Forgoing the more traditional organizational chart, the company describes itself as a “team-based, flat lattice organization” (W.L. Gore & Associates [Our Culture], 2011, para. 1). Its employees generally do not have job titles and are called “associates”; also favoring the term “sponsors” over bosses (Our Culture, 2011). While some businesses in today’s economic environment are just trying to survive, Gore takes a long-term view approach to decision-making that has helped it thrive for over 50 years (Our Culture, 2011). As a privately held company, it is also interesting that Gore’s culture provides for making a wide variety of information available to the public on its website. In addition to publishing information about its history, leadership, and associates Gore includes annual growth and revenue figures for the world to see. It is quite unusual for a non-public company, especially one of this significant size, to voluntarily make this information available to everyone including the competition. This sends a consistent message that strengthens and protects the organization’s well-deserved reputation for integrity among customers, associates, and vendors alike.
Associates at Gore have the privilege of functioning in a very unusual corporate environment. One of the company’s founding principles, still in play today, is “Make Money and Have Fun” (W.L. Gore & Associates [Who We Are], 2011). Collaboration in teams is the name of the game at Gore. Leaders are rarely assigned to the position; instead they emerge with demonstrated leadership qualities and gaining followers (Our Culture, 2011). Being passionate is a r...
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...ow someone else is very foreign to me. I have a definite level of comfort in knowing who my boss is and the protocol for escalation should I need it. I anticipate I would eventually work through these issues at Gore, but it would definitely take some getting used to.
Works Cited
Reingold, J. (2007). A job that lets you pick your own boss. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/08/magazines/fortune/goretex.fortune/index.htm
W.L. Gore & Associates. (2011). A Team-Based, Flat Lattice Organization. Retrieved from http://www.gore.com/en_xx/aboutus/culture/index.html
W.L. Gore & Associates. (2011). Compensation. Retrieved from http://www.gore.com/en_xx/careers/whatweoffer/compensation/compensation.html
W.L. Gore & Associates. (2011). Working in Our Unique Culture. Retrieved from http://www.gore.com/en_xx/careers/whoweare/ourculture/gore-company-culture.html
Johnson & Johnson, a healthcare company that has dominated its industry for several decades, is currently undergoing managerial upheaval in light of recent blunders amongst its top-tier managers. It has spent years priding itself on appeasing stakeholders and being a safe provider of various pharmaceuticals, but product recalls and subsequent revenue drops have plagued the company as of late. Alex Gorsky spearheads Johnson & Johnson’s revival after previous CEO William Weldon resigned due to missteps. The cause of which stems from misinterpretation of common business ethics through poor leadership and social responsibility that damage the stakeholders.
William Evan and Edward Freeman, in their essay “A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation,” argue that the objective of a company and its managers is not only to maximize profit for its owners and stockholders, but also to balance the benefits received or losses incurred by other stakeholders—employees, suppliers, customers, and the local community, all of whom may be influenced by company decisions. As the owner of MSO, your aim is ostensibly to maximize profits for yourself, but unlike most other indicted CEOs, you have not tried to obtain personal gains at the expense of the stakeholders of your enterprise. Rather, the charges that have been brought against you are for your dealings with another company; in this day and age where investors bemoan the lack of ethics of CEOs who use the power of their position in the boardroom to achieve selfish gains at the expense of their own company and its stakeholders, the charges of insider t...
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It's difficult not to be cynical about how “big business” treats the subject of ethics in today's world. In many corporations, where the only important value is the bottom line, most executives merely give lip service to living and operating their corporations ethically.
Doughty, K. C. (2000, July 24). Jeanne Lewis at Staples, Inc. (A)(Abridged). Harvard Business School Organizational Behavior Cases . Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B., (2007). The leadership challenge, (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
There have been countless books, lectures, and and trainings, and retreats constructed around the idea of cultivating leadership in an individual. However, cultivating individuals’ ability to follow great leadership has received far less attention. Who are these people leading if each person within an organization is being trained to be a leader? The word follower has negative connotations, evoking the images of a weak, uncreative, milquetoast personality. However, Jimmy Collins, in his book, “Creative Followership: In the Shadow of Greatness”, suggests that the ability to be led brings as much creativity, consciousness, and indeed leadership to an organization or team as the leader himself. Great followership is a reflection of great leadership. In this, the follower is just as important as the leader in the relationship. Many great leaders have asserted that a leader with even a modicum of understanding of what drives their subordinates can take their organization to previously undreamt-of heights in creativity and productivity. Collins does not disabuse us of this notion, he does however add that the follower is indispensable agent in this interplay between leader and follower.
Lawrence, A. T., & Weber, J. (2014). Business and Society (14thth ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc
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An assistant plays a vital role towards the prosperity of an organization. Karen Otazo’s book titled “The Truth About Being a Leader” offers advice on the fundamental elements of leadership. The third truth discusses the prospect that many individuals will form opinions of a leader and an organization, prior to a formal meeting. This may be a result of an encounter involving the assistant. These encounters may cause individuals to form a predetermined notion of what the organization represents. For this reason, it is essential that the organization spend time selecting the proper candidate for the position.
This article provides a brief background on the event leading to the demise of Enron. Additionally, this paper will discuss the cultural elements of Enron and their relationship to unethical behavior and its effects on stakeholders. Lastly, this paper offers an analysis of ethic theory and its application to the Enron Dilemma.
For the corporate culture in Enron, Enron employees and internal executives are largely influenced by groupthink. In Enron’s corporate culture, Enron’s members usually misuse motivation to help company achieving lofty growth goals. Enron promoted individuals who were highly motivated by monetary rewards and promotions (Bills 2001, paras 6-9). For example, company provided an incentive to employees to take risks on making profits, no matter the actions is ethical or not. No matter on peer influences or pressure from groupthink, it directly promotes
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2012). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary