He was ready for anything—or so he thought. Dressed in his finest and armed with an MBA degree fresh off the press, Jack Dougherty walked in for his first day of work at Newark, Delaware–based W. L. Gore and Associates, the global fluoropolymer technology and manufacturing giant that is best known as the maker of Gore-Tex.

But it turned out he wasn’t ready for this: “Why don’t you look around and find something you’d like to do,”

founder and CEO Bill Gore said to him after a quick introduction. Although many things have changed over the course of W. L. Gore and Associates’ 50+ years in business, the late Gore stuck to his principles regarding organizational structure (or lack thereof), a legacy he passed down to subsequent generations of management.

Gore wasn’t fond of thick layers of formal management, which he believed smothered individual creativity.

According to Gore, “A lattice (flat) organization is one that involves direct transactions, self-commitment, natural leadership, and lacks assigned or assumed authority.”

In the 1930s, Gore received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in physical chemistry. During his career, he worked on a team to develop applications for polytetraflurothylene (PTFE), commonly known as Teflon. Through this experience, Gore discovered a sense of excited commitment, personal fulfillment, and self-direction, which he yearned to share with others. Spending nights tinkering in his own workshop, he did what he had previously thought to be impossible: he created a PTFE-coated ribbon cable. It occurred to Gore that he might be able to start his own business producing his invention, so he left his stable career of 17 years, borrowed money, and drained his savings. Though his friends advised him against taking such a risk, W. L. Gore and Associates was born in January 1958. The basement of the Gore home was the company’s first facility.

Although no longer operating from a family basement (Gore boasts more than $3 billion in annual sales and 9,000 employees in more than 45 facilities worldwide), the sense of informality has stuck. “It absolutely is less efficient upfront,” said Terri Kelly, chief executive of W. L. Gore. (Her title is one of the few at the company.)

“[But] once you have the organization behind it . . . the buy-in and the execution happens quickly,” she added.

Questions 1. How did Bill Gore structure management within his company and why is this relevant to personality and individual differences?
2. Explain why the diversity leadership program developed by W. L. Gore and Associates is a positive way to better understand and foster individual differences.
3. Describe how the sponsor program developed higher levels of employee satisfaction as well as maintained the “unmanagement” culture.