Competitive Strategy & Innovation: WL Gore Case Study Analysis

This case study analyzes the organizational structure and management approach of W. L. Gore & Associates, the maker of Gore-Tex. It examines the company's distinctive features, including its lattice structure, which emphasizes self-management, associate-based roles, and a flat hierarchy, and contrasts it with traditional hierarchical models. The report delves into the principles guiding Gore's operations, such as individual empowerment, commitment, and natural leadership, highlighting how these principles contribute to innovation and employee engagement. The analysis explores the advantages and disadvantages of Gore's approach, discussing its impact on cost efficiency, decision-making, and communication. Furthermore, it references the influence of McGregor's X and Y theories on the company's philosophy and the application of participative and delegative leadership styles. The case study concludes by emphasizing the importance of fairness, freedom, and commitment in Gore's organizational culture.

Running Head: GORE CASE STUDY
Gore Case Study
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Introduction
The organizational structure is the development of the enterprise operated in such a way
that helps to have the provide goals. It comprises of the structure of the relationships among the
jobs and positions with the aim of accomplishing the objectives of the organization as suggested
by Shafritz, Ott and Jang (2015). It is a disciplined combination of the functions, people and
facilities. The function is to establish the relationships between the authority of the enterprise and
the business activities. In the highly competitive industry every organization is concerned about
the sustainability in the industry. The customer demands are ever changing and it is the focus of
the companies to stick to their preferences and fulfill the consumer demands. A well-defined
organizational structure provides clarity and guidance on certain human resource issues (Stark
2015).
The managerial authority sometimes poses as a crucial issue. Hence, the start-up
companies must begin thinking about an appropriate structure in the initial stage of formation in
order to experience the competitive advantage in the market. It has been found that the
organizations can be organized in various ways. The traditional organizational structure is called
the ladder structure or hierarchy (Zupic and Čater 2015). A modern version of the organizational
structure is the lattice model. It allows the employees to self-directed and self-managed. It also
allows various career pathways and beyond the top-down hierarchy. The present report will deal
with the examination, understanding and analysis of the organizational structure of WL Gore.
The report will analyze the distinctive features of WL Gore and analyze how much it is
consistent with the management approach based upon the identifiable principles.

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Discussion
When the topic is innovation, the case of WL Gore must be drawn which is the honored
maker of Gore-Tex. It is also a host of pioneering materials and the products such as the
synthetic vascular grafts. Glide dental floss and elixir guitar strings. The company has been
considered as one of the most innovative company which has grown with the passage of time.
The inspirational organizational model is based on the innovation rooted in the story of Bill
Gore, the founder. In the year 1958, Bill Gore started quitted DuPont for the purpose of starting
a business focusing on the innovative use of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). It is a kind of
material that is better known as the Gore Tex. However, he was less interested towards selling
products or inventing new materials. He established a completely new company that unleashed
every person in it at the same time inspired them towards ringing the real creativity from among
themselves. He facilitated a uniquely human and robustly profitable strategy or the
organizational structure. He conducted a different type of innovation in the management that is
still continuing. Gore became the model for the product innovation and organizational
innovation.
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?
The management model of Gore is a critical part of the company’s success which is
founded on the entrepreneurial innovation. The model has experienced many evolutions and also
the effects of globalization, the high competition, the economic ups and downs, the IT
breakthroughs along with the organic growth of the company (Winnubst 2017). The company
has taken huge care in selecting new people and training them to adopt the ‘Gore way’. The

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company is also visionary towards the future and introduces new processes without leaving its
innovative edge.
The founder of the company Bill Gore had founded the company on the basis of few
principles. These principles and the beliefs still guide the associates of the Gore in making
correct decision and engaging in an appropriate behavior towards everyone in the organization.
These principles are the basis of the organizational culture which binds in all together. The
distinctive features of the company are as follows
The fundamental beliefs- The company beliefs in the ability of the individual to decide
what is right and what is wrong for the company. It harnesses the diverse perspectives, fast
decision-making in the collaboration of small teams. he individuals are expected to share the risk
and rewards and stay committed to the betterment of the company in the long run (Teece, Peteraf
and Leih 2016). The company takes a long term view based on their investments, long term
payoffs and values.
The guiding principles- The company provide freedom to the individuals or the
associates to achieve their career goals directing the efforts to the success of the organization.
They are also free to come up with the ideas, actions make mistakes which is a part of the
creative process. It helps the company to encourage each other to grow. The people in the
workforce are instructed to try their best to be fair with each other, with the customers, the
suppliers and anyone other with whom they do the business (Brustbauer 2016). They make the
commitments which they know they can keep. It I also apparent that everyone in the Gore takes
the consent and consult of everyone prior to taking any action which might somehow cause
damage to the company.

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It has been found from the case study that the perspectives of Bill Gore were highly
influenced by Douglas McGregor, author of The Human Side of Enterprise. In this book, the X
theory and the Y theory is described as a part of the scientific management. The founder Bill
Gore was also influenced by some of his experiences at DuPont. The philosophy was that
making an environment where people could talk freely with the higher authorities. It supports
giving the free rein to the employees to resolve a particular problem.
Lattice team- Bill Gore established a company which connects every individual in the
organization. Previously, it used to happen through an informal network of relationships under
the formal hierarchy. In the WL Gore, there are no such levels of management and the
information are conveyed smoothly from one department to other and in every direction. The
individuals work in a self –managed way where they can approach anyone at any hour in order to
receive whatever they needed. With the growth and development of the company, there are some
of the specifications imposed on the structure (Stark 2015). There specifications are imposed on
the CEO, the major divisions, the product –focused business units, the business support
functions. The company has provided a leader for each of the units. Notably, they do not have
the organizational chart and the titles too. The job descriptions in the company are general where
everyone refers each other as associates. The relationships are stable and permanent at Gore so is
the communication.
Operations- The Gore company makes use of the opportunities through owning the R &
D specialists, the sakes people, engineers, chemists and the machinists who work in the same
plant. The global teams are taken together on a regular basis in order to establish sustained
relationships.

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The commitments- The company believes that if anyone is truly passionate about the
work, he will feel self –motivated towards the work. They follow the adage of Bill Gore that the
authoritarians can only command and make commitments. Hence, in this company, an individual
is facilitated with the privilege to decide on what to do and where they can make the greatest
contribution in the growth of the company. They can even negotiate the assignments along with
the responsibilities. It depends on the management and adjustments inside the team. It helps the
company to bring the different perspectives and the talents. People are not expected to give their
100% of their time in a particular project (Morden 2016). The new associates are encouraged to
work on multiple projects after joining in the company. However, the pressure to contribute can
also be exhausting and exhilarating.
Lattice organizational structure

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Source -(Morden 2016)
The leadership- The philosophy of Gore’s organizational model is that, an employee
needs monitoring and support more than supervision. A new associate is assigned to a sponsor
who can describe the job role properly, explain the lattice structure and circulate that person
among the teams in order to align the requirements of a particular team with his /her skills
(Shafritz, Ott and Jang 2015). The sponsor I committed to the development of the associate.
The company embraces the “natural leadership”. The leaders develop a track record in order to
get the things done. The aim of the leaders is to strengthen the team and make the colleagues
successful.
The above discussion shows that the WL Gore is a company that embodies the
employees of the organization as the associates in order to make the company a well-structured
firm in the industry (Chang 2016). It empowers the employees in order to deal with the jobs in
their own respective way. This is a structure that leads to the experimental works and
innovations. The company solely sticks toe the lattice structure and helps to hold the position it
has acquired (Teece, Peteraf. and Leih 2016). It can be well assessed that they have taken the
structure considerably and doe far better than what they could have done having followed the
traditional ladder structure. The teams in the organization are self-directed and sorted among
themselves without any traditional boss or supervisor. They have become bale to solve complex
problems by assigning self-managed works which is one of the biggest attribute of the lattice
structure.
It is proved that the company is more focused on the participative and delegative
leadership style and does not believe in the authoritative leadership style. The company also
refuses to use a contingency approach in order to succeed in the industry. This is probably the

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biggest difference as compared to the other enterprise (Trigeorgis and Reuer 2017). They rather
prefer to work in a friendly environment that is free from any leader, supervisor, reporting rules,
hierarchy and restriction. Therefore, all the attributes of the lattice are fulfilled such as-
 No fixed authority
 Sponsors and not bosses
 Natural leadership (Winnubst 2017)
 person –to –person communication system
 objectives set by the people who make the things happen
 Commitment and not commands (Trigeorgis and Reuer 2017)
 Fairness
 Freedom
 waterline
What are the advantages and disadvantages of WL Gore's approach to organization and
management?
Advantages-The lattice organizational structure is also referred to as the flat
organizational structure. It is a type of organizational structure which embodies lesser layers at
the management level. Noe et al. (2017) opine that there are lesser barriers between the
employees and the levels of the staffs. It is designed with the idea that the well trained workers
will work more effectively when directly connected with the objectives of the organization. In
other words, this type of organizational structure facilitates employee engagement and elevating
the responsibility levels of them.
Cost efficiency- This type of organizational structure has fewer manger between the
staffs and the executives. Hence, there are fringe benefits, less wages as commented by

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Rosemann and vom Brocke (2015). The expenses related to the salary are also reduced which
enables the company to save more money and structure better payments for the workers.
Promotes the decision making- There are less struggles related to the decision –making.
It leverages a direct communication between the CEO and the workers. The issues related to the
decisions are reduced.
Allows clear communication- There is strong communication among and between the
staffs and the executives (Matt, Hess and Benlian 2015). The flow of information usually ends
up in either distortions or deflation. When the information passes from one layer to another at the
managerial level, it is likely that miscommunication will take place. The flat organizational
structure avoids this trait by taking direct inputs from the management and the employees.
Less dominance and supervision- In many organizations, the less dominance is there
over the employees, the more productive they are. Matt, Hess and Benlian (2015), suggest that
when the managers spend less time on the helicoptering and micromanaging the employees, the
employees receive the higher sense of responsibility and become more effective.

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The lattice structure
source – (Kaiser, El Arbi and Ahlemann 2015)
Disadvantages
Loss of control of the management- Although this structure is ideal for the startup
businesses where there are less number of employees and they are manageable (Morden 2016).
Tis system can pose issues to the entire organization when the employee ratio and the managers
ratio go out of the proportion. It is likely that the management will lose control.
Work-relationships can be affected- Lasserre (2017), is of the opinion that when there
are too many employees, it becomes difficult to manage them and interact with them on a regular
basis personally. The personal interaction is crucial for the maintenance of trust and keep
accountability of the employees. t can also create issues related to the morale and respect at the
organizational levels.
Creates confusion of roles- The lattice organizational structure provides the liberty
choose a defined job role. It is possible that the employee later finds that there are many other
jobs too which he/ she has to do. Hence, there are chances of confusing the given job roles.
Creates power struggle- As far as the views of Kaiser, El Arbi and Ahlemann (2015), are
concerned, since under this organizational structure, there is lack of a particular boss to report to,
more specifically when the CEO is not around. It can create power struggles among the
management employees and confuse the entire system.
Hence, it can be said that like any other organizational structure, the lattice organizational
structure also has its own advantage and disadvantages. It depends on the type and size of the

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company and any company should consider the pros and cons both before incorporating this type
in the organizational culture.
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?
The Lattice organizational structure is also known as the flat or horizontal organizational
structure. As it has been perceived in the above discussion, there are lesser layers at the
managerial levels. According to Brustbauer (2016), the organizational structure is the
distribution of the units and positions among the people of the organization. The tall and flat
organizational structure differ on the basis of levels of management which are present in the
organization. The case study of WL Gore shows that it is one of the most properly managed
organization in the world. The flat organizational structure has leveraged the company to find,
accept and apply new and innovative ideas in the organization. Chang (2016) suggests that the
company has become successful by following the steps of lattice structure and their unique
management style. It helps the employees to reduce the work –life stress and provide maximum
production along with standard quality. It has been the main reason for their success.
However, the approach adopted by the WL Gore is transferable to the start-up businesses.
The more the company is developed, the more the employees are there working in it. With
maximum number of employees, it becomes difficult to retain the atmosphere of innovation in
the workplace say Brunsson and Olsen (2018). This type of organizational structure is ideal for
the startups and small businesses where there are limited number of employees. This type of
system can be problematic for the organizations in which the number has gone beyond the
proportion. Here, the management is likely to lose control due to lack of less people to manage
the bas behaviors and back them up.

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The agile workforce structure
Source – (Albers, Wohlgezogen and Zajac 2016)
It has been found that when a city increases in size, the rates of productivity also
increases by 15 % per person. According to Albers, Wohlgezogen and Zajac (2016), when a
company doubles in size, the opposite happens. The tech industry, especially the software
companies are able to make god use of the organizational structure for innovative approaches,
organization and management. In the companies like Zappos can apply this type of
organizational structure to facilitate innovation and success as suggested by Annarelli and
Nonino (2016). The effect of the way an organization is managed is tremendous. It either helps
to manage the position it holds or leaves the company diminished. It also shoes the way the
customers perceive the organization and maintain their relationships with it. Hence,

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organizations must be well aware before choosing the organizational structure. Ansoff et al.
(2019) are of the opinion that there are many factors which are interlinked with it. Notably, many
organizations at first use the horizontal/ flat/ lattice structure but with the passage of time, they
shift to the vertical one which facilitates better management. The vertical organizational structure
helps the organization to compete properly with other companies that operate all around the
world as projected by Argyris (2017). Thus this type of organizational structure is ideal for the
consultancy firms, the IT companies or any other start-up companies.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be said that organizational structure is a
disciplined combination of the functions, people and facilities. The function is to establish the
relationships between the authority of the enterprise and the business activities. In the highly
competitive industry every organization is concerned about the sustainability in the industry. The
customer demands are ever changing and it is the focus of the companies to stick to their
preferences and fulfill the consumer demands. A well-defined organizational structure provides
clarity and guidance on certain human resource issues. The report has analyzed the distinctive
features of WL Gore and analyzed how much it is consistent with the management approach
based upon the identifiable principles. It is suggested that the approach was ideal for the
company as long as it was a startup. It must go beyond the present approach and try the other
structures for better outcomes.

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