Analysis of Distinct Features of Bill Gore’s Management Style

Bill Gore is an intelligent business man that found W. L. Gore and Associates. He has found his own ways to make companies work. Gore has found distinct features of organization and management, there are advantages and disadvantages to the techniques he has found, and his approach has latter on been adapted by other companies.

There are distinct features to Gore’s organization and management strategy and this relates to a more better management style. A way that Gore approaches organization and management is his desire to create the energy and passion that he has experienced when he worked at DuPont. With this management style, it will take away the stressful business setting at work and replace it with a place that people will enjoy going to everyday. In addition, with this change to the company, Gore will have improvements in daily work performances because when people enjoy the job, they tend to also work harder at it.

Another distinct feature that Gore takes for organization and management strategy is that he takes a different approach to hierarchy than other people. In other businesses, there is a boss and people would report to their boss. Gore’s hierarchy also has one boss, but that boss will be connected to everyone that is under him. This can create better work environments because when people feel safe with their boss, they are more willing to ask questions or seek help from someone above them. Also, the work environment may feel more personal because you would be able to connect a name to their face, where in other companies, they may never know what their boss what up in the food chain is. An interesting point that Gore brought up about his strategy is that there is no define hierarchy, but even though there may not be an official hierarchy, people naturally will consume this role. You and your team are given a project, but it is your job to get your part done because you are being paid to do it and you should be able to track and finish your projects on time. This is especially true when you have a whole team that is relying on you to get your part done.

Gore’s approach to organization and management had many different advantages and disadvantages to his company and others that may decide to follow him. One of Gore’s thinking was to limit a company’s organizational size. To implement this, when the company reaches 200 employees, they should build a second manufacturing plant. Gore strongly believed this because he found out that by the time that a company reaches 200 employees, their effectiveness in their job begins to decline. The advantages to keeping it small is the amount of productiveness that each person will put out. A disadvantage to this approach is that not all companies can operate this way. For smaller companies, they cannot afford the extra money to build or rent another space. Then, for big companies, they may decide to take this opportunity, but it may increase the amount of money they have to spend to maintain these places. Another disadvantage to this is that you do know if this is really true. Other people that have done this study believes that the work environment should be even smaller that 200, it could be as little as 150.

In addition, Gore’s style of management through connection in the hierarchy may have ups and downs to it. The positives of being connected to everyone under you it that you can hear reports straight from them and not through a whole food chain. Also, as the boss, you will get to build strong relationships with your employees. A disadvantage of this strategy is that you may not have much time for other things. You would have to be very good at time management because you will have to meet with everyone while finishing your own projects. Secondly, with this strategy of management, you will have to remember everyone on your team and their position at the company, and this can also take up a lot of time.

Gore is very strong on having strong relationships between coworker and customers. The positive side in this is that you can build loyal customers and they will have good things to say about you when they talk about your product or company to their friends. A negative side to this is that the company’s expense report may increase due to the amount of traveling their employees will need to take. When an employee meets with a customer, they may do it at a restaurant, for big companies, they may need to fly to their customers. This would cost a lot more than a simple phone call. Also, for small companies, the extra finance expenses can be what sends their company into bankruptcy. Besides the traveling, another negative with strong connections at work could cause awkwardness later down the road. For example, when coworkers become friends, and something bad happens to their friendship outside of work. This can cause a lot of drama in the workplace and that may affect other employees too.

Gore approach to organization and management transferable to other companies because he found and learned different approaches where many companies later adapted into their companies. An example is when Gore learned an organizational structure during World War 2 called the lattice system. This type or organizational structure takes a group and makes them work together to reach a common goal. Many companies have discovered and used this strategy over the year, even schools have taken this and brought their students together to work on projects. Today, almost any job you get, you have to be able to work in a team to succeed. No one can have a successful business if they are the only one that is doing everything. Also, during teamwork, people can collaborate and work together to come up with solutions to solve a problem. This is great of companies because not everyone thinks the same. Some may think of solutions that they learned from a book, while others can think outside the box and come up with a completely different solution. Even though there is team work among the company, Gore still found out that hierarchy works. For example, in his organization, he has a CEO, then followed by 4 divisions that each have a leader, then within these divisions, there is even more hierarchy. Just like the groupwork, every company follows this. This strategy is currently the best one in today’s society. This strategy works for big companies because at the end of the day, someone has to make the final say on things. Also, with hierarchy, whenever there is a problem on a team, the lead can come in and assess the situation where they can decide how they will want to handle it.

Bill Gore was able to make a work environment that he strongly believed in. He made one where he was proud to show the world that you can make a company personal and build strong relationship, but still become a big and powerful company. Through Gore’s strategy, he has found distinct features of organization and management, there are advantages and disadvantages to the techniques he has found, and his approach has latter on been adapted by other companies. Through his findings and beliefs, Gore has set a path the other companies can and do follow today.