Gore & Associates in the Mid 1940s,

Gore & Associates In the mid 1940s, Bill Gore was working at Dupont on a product known colloquially as Teflon, but chemically as polytetraflurothylene (PTFE). Gore believed that PTFE had good insulating capabilities and wanted to use it to insulate cables and ribbon cables in computers. With his son acting as muse, Gore was able to get PTFE to stick as insulation on a cable. When Dupont would not agree to fabricate products using the newly formulated PTFE, Gore quit and began working out of his basement.

After a number of very lean years, a $100,000 deal clinched by Gore's wife, Vieve, gave the company much needed funds for operations. The company operates eight divisions with product specialties: "Electronic, medical, waterproofing, fabrics, fibers, industrial filtration, industrial seals, coatings, and microfiltration." The electronics division manufactures wires and cables known for reliability and heat-resistance -- that were used in aerospace, the space program, defense, computers and telecommunications. Lifesaving vascular grafts and cardiovascular patches were made by the medical division. Gore may be most noted for its eponymous Gore-Tex fabric line.

Company Size One of the reasons that the lattice structure works at Gore is because the number of associates at a given facility is purposefully kept small. Gore believes that informality and a sense of being close-knit are fostered in smaller associate groups. In 1991, Gore had over 5,300 associates and 44 global plants. Technology as the common link. From the first days before the company was even an entity, technology provided an avenue for innovative thinking to contribute value to the market.

Bill Gore capitalized on his technical training and the technical expertise that he developed at Dupont. The company holds 155 patents and yet has no formal research and development department. The concept that all associates are capable of innovative thinking has paid off tremendously, in terms of company profits but also in terms of products entering the market with the potential for greatly improving people's lives, health, and safety. Culture that drives Innovation. There has been no unionization at Gore, as it is contraindicated.

The associates basically own the company and, further, because management is integral to the lattice structure and functioning, there is no sense of us (the workers) against them (the management). Bill Gore believed that thick layers of management stifled the creativity of associates. Creativity was an attribute that Bill Gore held was inherent in all people. He encouraged innovation at all levels, and expected his associates to have a stake in applying their creativity, from original idea all the way to the production of a profitable product.

The Belief System and Guiding Principles One of the most telling Gore practices -- and one that illustrates Bill's overarching beliefs in associates is this: Each new associate is charged with finding out what contribution he or she can make for the good of the company -- it is up to them to figure out what they can do best. Aims of the company.

The aims of Gore were to provide exceptional products that associates would be pleased to put on the market -- proud of the quality and the commitment to customers -- and to create a company culture in which innovation thrived and as did associates. In a manner that is decidedly more Main Street than Wall Street, Bill Gore worked to ensure that a principle of commitment was fundamental to expectations made of associates and of the company.

When times were fiscally hard, Gore avoided cutting pay and making layoffs by transferring associates temporarily and asking for voluntary layoffs. Structure of the company Lattice. The structure of the organization is organic forming a network in which processes are directed primarily by those who have responsibility for the work. Essentially, there are a number of concomitant work groups functioning in what appears to be a seamless fashion. The lattice system is flexible and evolved as the company grew.

Bill Gore's sense was that this leadership structure would have to be in place at the beginning in a start-up company peopled by entrepreneurs. Leaders not managers. In an elaborate conceptualization to capture the contributions and functions of associates, Gore.