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CASE 24
W.L. Gore & Associates: Rethinking Management
TEACHING NOTE
■ SYNOPSIS ■
W. L. Gore, the manufacturer of Gore-Tex, has a unique organization structure and management style
built around its “lattice” principle. The result is a remarkable lack of hierarchy and exceptional
■ TEACHING OBJECTIVES ■
To encourage students to think about alternatives to conventional approaches to management
based upon hierarchical control.
organization?
■ POSITION IN THE COURSE ■
I typically conclude my strategy course with a look to the future. My focus here is on the challenges and
ideas that are reshaping strategic management thinking and practices. My emphasis tends to be on
internal aspects of the firm: the structures and systems conducive to flexibility, innovation, and
■ ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS ■
1. What are the distinctive features of W.L Gore’s organization and management? To what
extent do they represent a consistent management based upon identifiable principles?
■ READING ■
R.M. Grant Contemporary Strategy Analysis (9th edn.), Wiley, 2016, Chapter 16 “Current Trends in
Strategic Management.”
■ CLASS ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ■
What are the distinctive features of W.L Gore’s organization and management? To
what extent do they represent a consistent management based upon identifiable
principles?
As the case states, the W.L. Gore approach to management explicitly rejects the conventional
hierarchical (“pyramid”) model of management. The key features of the Gore system are easy to
identify:
No job titles
Job responsibilities defined only in relation to broad organizational purposes and principles
Embracing uncertainty and viewing it as an opportunity rather than seeking its elimination
Gore’s management and organization contrasts sharply with that of Weber’s model of bureaucracy (see
Mechanistic vs. organic organizational forms (extension of Table 6.2 (p. 153) in the textbook)
As the case explains, the Gore management system has its foundations in the principles of humanistic
management (McGregor’s “Theory Y”) based upon the notions that organizations are defined primarily
by the social relationships between their members, that alienation and goal conflict are not inherent
features of organizational life, and that work relationships could foster engagement, collaboration, and
creativity.
The mentoring system which socializes new employees and guides them into the Gore
system
The compensation system that empowers the team thereby reinforcing individuals’
commitment to their teams
Feature
Mechanistic Forms
Organic Forms
W.L. Gore
Task definition
Rigid and highly
specialized
Flexible and less narrowly
defined
Almost absent. Associate choose a team
and their role emerges.
Knowledge
Centralized
Dispersed
Dispersed
What are the advantages and disadvantages of W.L. Gore’s approach to organization
and management of the company?
Advantages:
Fosters high levels of employee motivation and effort.
Encourages innovation both at the individual level and the group level—the “lattice”
structure encourages high levels of interaction and knowledge flow.
Disadvantages:
Lattice model requires organizational units with >200 people.
To what extent is the W.L. Gore approach to organization and management transferrable
to other companies? And, if it is, to what types of company?
Gore’s management system is based upon a set of management principles and assumptions about human
nature. It is not the result of one company’s responses to a set of unique organizational circumstances. To
this extent, there are reasons to expect that the Gore management model may be applicable to other
companies.
