Contemporary Organisational Theory - Essay Example

CONTEMPORARY ORGANISATIONAL THEORY of the What are the distinctive features of WL Gores organisation and management? The lattice structural system of organisation was adopted by Gore because it was associated with enhanced performance and ingenuity toward realisation of goals as a group. The organisation did not have job titles and hierarchical orders for the employees. These contrasts with how most organisations are managed. Most organisations will reflect the founder’s value and their personality, unlike the Gore organisation. All employees are referred to as associates. Although the organisation has 8500 employees and a turnover of about $2.5 billion with the expansion felt in 24 nations in the world, signifying the complexities required for the management of such organisation, it has defiled the conventional methods adopted by organisations with the same complexities. The system adopted by Gore sought to deviate from the conventional methods of management. The concept was based on theory Y, which sought to build human relation. The theory assumes that people get motivation within self. When one is self-motivated, they become anxious to identify solutions for different problems. Besides, the theory ascribes that such individuals have the potential of working together in tasks without jeopardising the peace in the work environment. The method used by Bill and Vieve limited the number of employees for every given plant facility. For instance, they believe that 200 associates are appropriate for the model because it encourage the development of interpersonal trust. The two believes that if the number is exceeded, the productivity is likely to decline. They solved the problem by ensuring that every time the number is reached they opened a new facility instead of expanding. The concept of a limited number of employees is based on the anthropological concepts developed by Robin Dunbar. The concept asserts that social groupings correlates with the size that human can manage. Cases of complex social relations are not appropriate when encouraging human relationship. The number of people each employee can relate with was estimated to be 148 according to Dunbar. The new associates were given mentors who guided them and carried them through the units in the organisation to identify areas that match with their skills and talents. The approach is unique because it enables new entrance to identify areas within the organisation that matches with their preferences and hence improves their output. These strategies are unique because most organisations have right job descriptions used for employing new people based on the items listed in the job requirement. To what extend do they present a consistent management based upon identifiable principles Their management philosophy was based on the need to encourage innovation and creativity because he felt that the vogue philosophy that were in place were not sustainable in maintaining efficiency and productivity. The concept of lattice management encourages a consistent relationship between the employees, this relation cuts across the team members and those outside the designated teams. The management adopted a principle that grouped the four divisions as teams headed by a leader. Each of the division had business units that were made of product groups. The essence of the strategy was to encourage specialisation among the employees. When employees are specialised for a particular job, their performance and output is likely to increase, which translates to improvement in service delivery and growth of the organisation. The sustainability of various teams in the divisions required effective leadership. Leadership played a critical in the implementation of the strategy. The leadership style adopted did not follow the convention style synonymous with most organisations. For instance, Gore believed that natural elements of leadership are the most important virtues for any organisational leadership. Gore did not influence the selection of leaders but rather instituted a protocol that allowed the team members to select the team members. Besides, the team members were at will of replacing the team leader. This developed the accountability of every team member to the team rather than to the team leader. What are the advantages and disadvantages of WL Gores approach to organisation and management of the company The advantages of the lattice system of organisation are the fact that it encourages creativity and innovation. Employees become creative and innovative because the system allows them to think outside the box. The system makes the employees to have a sense of belonging toward the organisation and this improves their overall performance in achieving the goals set by the organisation. The system enhances the need to implement cooperation and communication among the employees because it does not place employees in hierarchy. The system empowered all the employees to make independent decisions as long as the decisions were deemed to encourage other employees, fair, and that their decisions played a commitment to the institution. However, employees were allowed to carry out consultations on decisions with the potential of causing harm to the organisation. The underlying principle at Gore involves giving back to the employees without discouraging competition among the employees and increasing the self-competition. Every employee had the power of promoting themselves on their hard through hard work. Employees promoted themselves by increasing their knowledge in their areas of their work. In fact, the system encouraged creativity among the workers. These virtues build their capabilities of taking risks and scaling their performance to optimal levels. The decision to have all the new employees joining the organisation at the same level of authority made employees have the empowerment of playing a critical role in implementing the visions of the organisation. Besides, the organisation did not have levels of seniorities because all employees were referred to as the associates. Personal commitment replaced the command systems synonymous with most organisations. The organisations had a good mentorship program for the employees. For instance, all new employees were placed in areas that matched with their individual skills and talents. The employees received mentorship and guidance from the sponsors. These strategies improve the individuals’ output and performance toward a chore. The new employees were allowed to spent time in different units for them to identify areas that match with their talents and skills. Employees with additional roles got additional remuneration. For instance, when the employee progressed in the organisation they got more responsibilities. However, the most important part is the increase in the wages according to their individual contribution. The approach is important in encouraging growth among the employees. For instance, employees working in areas that best suit their talents are likely to bring on board new ideas and create additional opportunities for the organisation. Contrary to most other conventional approach used by most organisation, Gore used a system that rewarded employees based on their contribution to the organisation. The disadvantage to this model of organisation is that not all employees can exercise the self-drive need in such a workplace. Some employees who need clear job descriptions and set targets may not acclimatise to such environments. If such organisation has these kinds of employees, it may take them a lengthy time to identify these weakness and tailor a strategy that best suit such employees. The organisation may not make good use of such employees and this would mean loss of revenue by paying employees who do not perform as required. Besides, the model is based on the self-motivation of the employees. However, self-motivation is a generic term that cuts across issues related to home and social. In fact, it is very difficult to measure the level of self-motivation among the employees, which makes it difficult to identify employees that lack the elements of self-motivation. Therefore, it is difficult to champion the concept of lattice organisation based on self-motivation among the employees if one cannot quantify the level of employees, motivation at workplace. To what extend is the W.L Gore approach to organisation and management transferrable to other companies, and if it is to what types of company Other organisations can borrow the concept of excluding elements of hierarchy in their management system. When employees are categorised based on hierarchy, it creates a form of stereotyping that may not go well with others who may feel undermined for not getting titles despite their contribution to the organisation. In fact, the eradication of titles and hierarchy creates an ample environment for all the employees to have a sense of belonging toward the organisation. Gore refers to all the employees as associates. All the employees are associates irrespective of their entry level and this makes the work environment appropriate to encourage innovation and creativity. In fact, conventional methods of management deter the growth of employees because most of them are based on job description that limits their participation in other chores outside their job description. Other organisations can adopt the concept of lattice system by opening the various sectors of their business to the employees so that individual employees can identify areas that best suits their skills and talent. The types of organisations that can adopt the lattice concept are those that require development of new products and services because the concept empowers the employees to identify areas that match with their talents. List of Reference Gore.com (n.d) W. L. Gore & Associates: Rethinking Management? Retrieved from http://www.gore.com/ Read More