Competitive Strategy and Innovation: WL Gore Case Study Report

This report examines WL Gore & Associates, a U.S. global corporation known for innovation. It analyzes the company's distinctive features, including the absence of job titles and hierarchy, emergent strategy, team-based structure, and consensus decision-making. The report explores the advantages of WL Gore's lattice management style, such as high employee motivation, faster decision-making, and transparent communication, while also acknowledging potential disadvantages like potential management control issues. The report also discusses the consistency of WL Gore's management approach, its strengths and weaknesses, and the transferability of its organizational and management style to other organizations. The analysis highlights the unique aspects of WL Gore's culture and its impact on its competitive advantage.

Running head: COMPETITIVE STRATEGY AND INNOVATION
COMPETITIVE STRATEGY AND INNOVATION
Name of the Author Note
Name of the University
Author Note

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1. What are the distinctive features of WL Gore's organization and
management and to what extent do they represent a consistent management
approach based upon identifiable principles?
WL Gore and Associates is multinational organization from the United States that deals
in the innovation and discovery of products. The organization was founded in the year of 1958
by Bill and Vieve Gore in the city of Newark, Delaware. WL Gore and Associates has proudly as
well as successfully contributed in various sectors of the society like pharmaceuticals, medical
devices, outwear and aerospace industries. It consists more than 2,000 patents throughout the
world and has been awarded with the titles of the 149th best employer and the 135th largest
private company of America. In order to achieve the success, WL Gore and Associates has solely
depended on its typical management system that is totally different from the rest of the
developed corporations in and around the world. The organization possess some distinctive
features which helps them to be differentiated from other organizations from the same
background or same industry. The management of WL Gore and Associates also gets
differentiated from the management of other similar companies due to those specific features.
The first and foremost of those distinctive features is that there is absence of any kind of job title
or symbol of hierarchy in WL Gore and Associates. The founders of the organization, Bill and
Vieve also has no symbol of hierarchy to the employees of the organization. All the employees if
the organization area called associates, except the Chief Executive Officer and the board of
directors, which are legally required to be in the hierarchy for any kind of organization. This
helps to create a working atmosphere where everyone can feel free to talk with the other people,
who actually are holding the senior ranks in the organization. The functional departments like the
information technology and human resource department also consist of very few number of

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employees in WL Gore and Associates and those people are selected by the other associates of
the company and are considered as leaders (Kostopoulos, Spanos and Prastacos 2013). This
system in the WL Gore and Associates can be associated with another strategy within the
organization, which is termed as emergent strategy. It is the strategy which develops when a
business enterprise takes a series of actions, which follows a consistent pattern or form of
behaviour with the flow of the time, irrespective of particular intentions. This strategy is needed
when a team or a group of people of WL Gore and Associates meets in order to debate, discuss
or bargain based on the problem raised which needs to be solved, and a leader is required to
carry on the whole process. The leader would be selected by the agreement or sanction of all
other employees of that particular team or group. It has been expressed in an interview by Terri,
the Chief Executive Officer of WL Gore and Associates, that a leader is chosen in their
organization when he or she is willingly followed by the associates. And the ways by which the
leaders of WL Gore and Associates uses their powers varies from other traditional organizations
in the market place in and around the world (Nawaz and Khan 2016). The roles and
responsibilities of the leaders in WL Gore and Associates is to help the group members by
showing their strengths and places of improvement and make them successful in their
professional life. This is a kind of motivating the associates of the organization to give their best
so that the productivity of WL Gore and Associates can be increased. The leaders are also
conscious about the fact that if they are not capable enough to reflect the mission and values of
WL Gore and Associates, they have to lose their position as the leader of the organization. It can
be stated as the first and foremost duty of the leaders to follow the business objectives as well as
the values of the organization.

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Apart from this, WL Gore and Associates follows team-based organizational structure. A
team based structure in the business enterprises that puts all the employees or the associates on
the same employment level into groups of teams that are able to perform particular job functions.
In the organization of WL Gore and Associates, each associate possesses a sponsor and all this
sponsors are eligible to become an associate of another sponsor. Apart from this, an associate is
also eligible to become member of two or more teams which are involved in various projects at a
same time. People who are working in an organization wold be able to know each other by
following this kind of organizational structure (Wakabi 2016). The management of WL Gore and
Associates also gets differentiated from the management of other similar companies due to those
specific features. The first and foremost of those distinctive features is that there is absence of
any kind of job title or symbol of hierarchy in WL Gore and Associates. This wold help in team
bonding as well as the bonding of one person with the other people, and would help to possess a
healthy working atmosphere, which wold help to increase the productivity of the organization
and gain a competitive edge over others. Particularly, the members within a team or a group are
able to know each other in this kind of organizational structure, which is necessary in modern
competitive corporate culture. It can be said that there are a number of small basic organizational
units which are forming based within the company on the particular products apart from
maintaining communication as like peers to peers and not as like employees to employees
(Cunningham, Salomone and Wielgus 2013).
Lastly, the organization of WL Gore and Associates follows consensus decision making
process, which is another unique characteristic followed as the management style of WL Gore
and Associates (Chiclana et al 2013). The authority is given to every group or team of the
organization to self-manage their teams, so that work flow can be maintained in a smooth basis

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and the productivity level is maintained by the organization. As there is not any presence of any
subordinates and supervisors, members of the groups are sharing their roles and responsibilities
with each other and also possess the authority to self-control their workload. The members also
have the authority to take the decisions by their own without taking permission from the top
management, or without consulting with others people if there is a feeling of occurrence of any
kind of problems by taking those decisions. Therefore, it can be said that all the decisions are
made by taking the agreement of the associates who are part of a particular project in WL Gore
and Associates (Landis, Hill and Harvey 2014).
So, it can be said that the management style and the organizational structure are very
much different from other traditional companies, and this help them to become a unique
organization where workflow and productivity both can be maintained by not following the
systematic and traditional structure of organizations and management styles (Liu et al 2013).
They are the example of that kind of organization where there is less communication barrier
between the employees of the organization, as well as very less distance in the relationships
between the higher and lower level management. As the leaders are selected from within the
organization and not from outside like C.R. Bard, one of the biggest rivals of WL Gore and
Associates, where they are selected from the jib seeking websites, so the leaders are very well
aware about the past and present scenario of the business entity. The members within a team or a
group are able to know each other in this kind of organizational structure, which is necessary in
modern competitive corporate culture. It can be said that there are a number of small basic
organizational units which are forming based on the particular products as well as
communication is made as like peers to peers and not as like employees to employees (Rolková
and Farkašová 2015).

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2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of WL Gore's approach to
organization and management?
WL Gore & Associates has reached the heights and to achieve this success it has solely
depended on its typical management system that is totally different from the rest of the
developed corporations. From the characteristic features it can be concluded that this corporation
follows a lattice management technique. This style helps to flatten the organizational framework
so that there is a transparent and collaborative flow of information without any constraints from
the traditional top-down system. Moreover, it boosts the involvement of the individuals to
provide new ideas and give suggestions freely in any area of the company (Ates et al 2013).
Basically the lattice companies are considered to be more flexible and are adaptable quite easily
and rapidly when there are any changes in the market condition. In addition to these, a lattice
organization are capable of holding various advantages such as reducing or even minimising the
turn-over rate, increase talents as well as enhance their productivity. Similarly, WL Gore has
gained many other advantages by using and applying the lattice management style. This style,
firstly, boosts a high level of motivation for its employees as they are considered as well as
treated as the company owners in order to make them feel more engaged and involved in the
company. Moreover, they are allowed to fix their own aims and objectives though it is made
clear that these objectives must not go against the values of the company. Thus it can be said that
the employees are extremely self-sufficient as they are allowed to decide on their own and be
their own boss. Initiatives are welcomed by the associates in this style, who are encouraged to do
so while taking risks and giving their best performance. At the same time, they must commit to
deliver their decision and they must possess self-awareness for being responsible to the outcomes
of the company. Secondly, due to the absence of any kind of intermediate, the decision making

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process turns out be faster. Furthermore, at WL Gore & Associates, direct advices are welcomed
and accepted by any individual who supports the company to be successful. This is one of the
key features of the lattice framework. Thirdly, the communication is made clearer and more
transparent with the help of lattice structure. It is quite natural that when information is passed
through several layers or levels, it goes through a number of deflations or distortions. More the
layers, across which the information is passed, more will be the number of miscommunications
produced. Hence the lattice system is highly recommended for avoiding all sorts of
misunderstandings as the information is directly delivered to the end person. Last but not the
least, there is a very less requirement for supervision and dominance. It has been observed that
the owners of an organization are capable of controlling everything happening in their companies
except the employees. But researches have shown that the employees turn out be more
responsible and can perform better if their leaders spend less time to manage them (Crawford
and LePine 2013).
In addition to the advantages stated above, WL Gore & Associates face a lot of
disadvantages as well. Gore corporation has also various disadvantages of its lattice management
style. Firstly, the management may go out of control as the number of associates is too less as
compared to the number of leaders. If there are less people, then the situation may go out of
control as the expectations comes out from the employees who are working for an organization.
Although it has tried to keep almost two hundred people for every manufacturing units and these
teams are subdivided in the facility, sometimes the situations seem to go out of control. Work-
relationship is the next disadvantage that Gore faces regularly. When the people are divided into
various groups, it becomes to maintain a relation with them at the personal level. This is very
important in building the faith and generating responsibility of the workers to their performances

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and the organization as a whole. In addition to this, there is a creation of chaos while
implementing their duties and tasks as Gore can play the roles of a sponsor or an associate as a
person at the same time. It has many other drawbacks such as conformity and group-thinking. In
case of group-thinking, individuals tend to agree with the opinions of others rather than believing
their own ones. Though it helps in developing the cohesiveness of the group, it can produce
outcomes that are highly inefficient, disastrous or even unproductive. The reason behind this is
that people can commit severe mistakes because all the group members converge in a hurry.
Group thinking also act as an obstacle for promoting individual opinions and initiatives. Hence it
actually controls or even prohibits innovation ability of a person (Venkatesh 2014). Finally, it
has been observed that conformity comes out as a result when people are trying to match their
attitudes, behaviours and personal beliefs with the values of the group where they belong. People
are forced often to make conformity and to consent as well due to the values and security of their
respective groups without any realistic appraisal and approval. In the end, it has been proved that
conformity gives rise to unexpected bad results or outcomes similar to group thinking as people
are supposed to think and act as if they belong to a group. They must also need to have the
ability to compromise between the group members and themselves (Chen, Chang and Lo 2015).
According to me, the visionary management style can be followed by me when I would
become a leader. It would help the employees to get motivated and work towards a common goal
as well as solutions. It would also help to bring any alterations if required by the organization
(Gonos and Gallo 2013).

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3. To what extent is the WL Gore approach to organization and management
transferable to other companies? And if it is, to what types of companies&
why?
It should be noted that the organization and management style being followed by WL
Gore is one of the most effective and efficient approaches and can be replicated in other
companies. However, in this case, there are number of factors should be considered for the
maximum utility from the implementation of the approaches. It is figured out that clan corporate
culture is being followed in WL Gore due to which, the employees are not being given any
designations or formal positions. This denotes that distance of power is low in the case of WL
Gore because of the fact that distances between the upper level managers and the lower level
employees are low (Buschgens, Bausch and Balkin 2013). According to the clan culture of
organizational management, each of the internal stakeholders will be from the same level and
hierarchy will not be followed. Thus, hierarchical orders can only be prevented when the power
distance will be less. This can be concluded that the clan culture of WL Gore can be transferred
to the other companies only to the extent of lower power distance in place (Gimenez-Espin,
Jiménez-Jiménez and Martinez-Costa, 2013).
On the other hand, it is also identified that social and cultural factors should also be
discussed prior to the transfer of the organizational management system of WL Gore. This is due
to the reason that power distance in the workplace is highly influenced by the social factors of
the host country. Thus, it can be concluded that if the social trends of the host country of an
organization are against the lower power distance, then the management style of WL Gore
cannot be transferred. This can be transferred only to the extent of the social acceptances towards
the lower power distance in the society (Winterich and Zhang 2014). WL Gore is also following

9COMPETITIVE STRATEGY AND INNOVATION
the emergent strategy of leadership, which is further helping them in gaining the high level of
coordination and participation from the side of the lower level employees. However, in order to
implement the same in different organizations, the design of the organizational structure should
be determined. This is due to the reason that the more will be the hierarchical levels in the
organizational structure, the more will be difficulties in the implementation of the emergent
style. With the implementation of the emergent style, leaders will be chosen on the basis of
consensus. This is only possible in the organization with lower hierarchy levels. Companies with
having higher hierarchy levels will not be able to initiate the emergent strategy as leaders are
being selected based on the seniority. Hence, this can be concluded that the emergent strategy of
WL Gore can be transferred and implemented to other companies only to extent of their lower
level of hierarchy (Hofstede 2013).
Consensus based decision making process is followed by WL Gore and this can also be
transferred to other companies up to a certain extent. This is due to the reason that
implementation of the consensus based decision making process is dependent on the leadership
styles in the workplace. In the case of WL Gore, the leadership style followed is more
participative in nature and due to this reason, all the internal stakeholders are having the equal
representation and participation in the decision making process. However, if the leadership style
followed in other organization is autocratic or directive, then this organizational style of WL
Gore cannot be transferred (Perez et al. 2013). This is due to the fact that in the case of autocratic
leadership, participation of the lower level employees is less in the decision making process and
their feedbacks are also not being considered. Hence, this can be concluded that companies with
not having participative management style cannot implement the consensus based decision

10COMPETITIVE STRATEGY AND INNOVATION
making process of WL Gore in their workplace. The transferability of the organizational
management style of WL Gore is up to the extent of the effectiveness of the leadership in place.
Companies with having traditional style of management will not be able to implement the
management style of WL Gore due to the reason that in the traditional approach of management
based organizations, high level of hierarchy is being followed. In addition, traditional
organizations majorly follow the autocratic leadership with having high sense of authority and
power. On the other hand, companies with major focus on innovation and the companies
following the innovative approach of managing the employees can gain the implementation
success of the management style of WL Gore. This is due to the reason that these new
organizations are following strategic approaches of human resource management where the
employees are being considered as the competitive advantage and their skills and expertise are
being developed further (Cabrerizo et al. 2015). In these types of organizations, management and
organization approach of WL Gore can be well transferred and implemented. Companies with
having flat or horizontal organizational structure can also be successful in implementing the
approaches of WL Gore. This is due to the reason that flat organizational structure is having
lower intermediaries and hierarchy levels and demotes the lower power distance. This is most
effective for the implementation of the clan culture and emergent leadership in the workplace.
Small and medium scale companies will be the most effective choice for the implementation of
the management approaches of WL Gore due to their lower operation, employee count and
hierarchy levels. Thus, it will be easier for them.

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