The article in the url below reports on an innovative management structure at WL Gore, the successful maker of Gore-Tex:
“You would think it is a pretty tight ship. But no. "It's a very chaotic environment," declares Terri Kelly, the company's chief executive officer.”
The founders of the 50-year old firm created a structure that minimizes layers of hierarchy:
“The corporate hierarchy at Gore, such as it is, is almost completely flat. No one gets to tell anybody else what to do. Decisions are reached by agreement, not diktat.”
The result is a convoluted and sometimes unwieldy decision-making process. The firm’s executives believe, however, that what they sacrifice in terms of speed, they make up for in terms of buy-in throughout the firm to decisions that are made. As Terri Kelly, WL Gore’s CEO, explains:
“… you have to sell your ideas, even if you're the CEO. You have to explain the rationale behind your decision and do a lot of internal selling.”
According to the article, the result is an environment that is more meritocratic, with only those ideas that enjoy broad support progressing:
“In Gary Hamel's book, The Future of Management , he quotes a Gore associate, Rich Buckingham, who sums up the company's approach. "We vote with our feet. If you call a meeting, and people show up, you're a leader.”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
The chaos theory of leadership
Marsh, Peter Stern, Stefan
1359 words
2 December 2008
Financial Times
London Ed1
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto120120081556345506
