W. L. Gore & Associates is a worldwide advanced materials corporation focused on revolutionizing industries and enhancing people’s lives. From the outer cosmos to the planet’s highest altitudes to the inner study of the human body, Gore has tackled complex technical issues in harsh situations since 1958 (“W.L. Gore & Associates,” n.d.). Gore, a privately held corporation with annual revenues over three billion dollars, is dedicated to continuing its fifty-year legacy of product innovation.
Importance of Flexible Cross-structural Teams
Several of the products on the W. L. Gore & Associates’ webpage appears to be interdependent. As a result, if a customer asks about the possibility of using a commodity from greater than one range of products presented, it would be advantageous for the organization to have a cross-functional team. As a result, the team will be capable of determining which items are comparable with each other and will be able to collaborate to assist and personalize the products desired by the client to match their needs. Furthermore, being cross-trained allows other staff members to stand in for each other if someone is unavailable to accomplish a particular task (Lynn, n.d.). As a result, production may be maintained with fewer disruptions.
Cross-functional product developing teams and shared values will assist W.L. Gore by encouraging organizational growth through innovation and commodity differentiation. Without formal structural features, the organization successfully integrates the activities associated with internal innovation efforts. Integration and autonomous purposeful conduct are facilitated through allocating resources, activity synchronization, and communication across the company (Lynn, n.d.). W.L. Gore expands into new areas and develops new value by continuously disseminating intellectual capital and encouraging internal innovation. The company’s level of autonomy, entrepreneurial orientation, risk-taking, and proactiveness show that it maintains an entrepreneurial mindset as a source of internal innovation.
The company’s cross-functional, collaborative product development teams maintain robust new product generation methods that fit distinctive core capabilities to market needs and allow new products to be commercialized quickly (“W.L. Gore & Associates,” 2022). W.L. Gore’s teams serve to encourage integration to develop fresh product design proposals through ongoing, face-to-face collaboration.
Expectations of Type of Norms Found At W.L. Gore
In terms of norms, the company does seem to have a culture that encourages people and the industry to expand regarding information, abilities, and scope of accountability. In addition, the corporation has placed a strong emphasis on adhering to its industrial commitments. As a result, it appears that these norms, when paired with the company’s concentration on teamwork, inventiveness, and innovation, make it an appropriate organization for cross-functional collaboration to enable significantly improve their ambition to sustain a high standard of advancement within their sector.
The W.L. Gore norms will maintain the team self-directed. The standards will benefit a wide range of people with varying skill sets. Moreover, it will enable individuals to exchange their knowledge and talents to attain the desired results. However, managing such groups may prove challenging in the long term. People have a lot of freedom, and there are no tight formal hierarchies; there may be future conflicts of ideas and interests.
In conclusion, cross-functional teams help companies put their clients foremost by encouraging strong interaction across teams. Bringing together people with different perspectives can help address challenges and make smarter, longer-term solutions. Creating a working environment where individuals become part of the team generates a behavior change; therefore, the workers conform to the norms of a company. The standards enable the staff to understand the work and effort required to produce a successful output.
References
Lynn, R. (n.d.). What are cross functional teams? Planview. Web.
W.L. Gore & Associates. (n.d.). Crunchbase. Web.
W.L. Gore & Associates. (2022). Gore. Web.