Organizational Concepts -high :: essays research papers

GreenPages, Inc. hereinafter referred to as GP is a dynamic organization that most closely fits the sociotechnical model put forth by Trist (1963) and Rice (1963) of the Tavis Institute. GP was created by Kurt Blieken in 1992 to be as he put it the most elegant company in existence today. Starting with a blank piece of paper Kurt Blieken crafted a mission statement (attachment A) that served as the underpinnings and catalyst to create an organizational structure that balanced the complex technical systems with a social and economic system which serves as a model to the computer industry today. GP is currently under going tremendous growth of over 100% annually which creates a turbulent environment and tests the organization structure GP was founded on. It is the belief of Kurt Blieken as well as those of us whom work at GP that this unique corporate structure can not only be retained but thrive as the organization scales to new heights. In order to understand the goals and challenges facing GP it is useful to utilize Weisbord’s Six-Box Model to analyse the organizational structure. GP was formed with two purposes in mind. The first was to create the best place to work in the country. The cornerstone of this purpose is a value system which is the very heart of our corporate culture. This value system is as follows: ? The company’s most valuable asset is its corporate culture. The basis of the culture is cheering at another’s success, helping out when a teammate needs a hand and being generous with praise. GP culture is so important that people who cannot or will not embrace it fully will not be allowed to stay. ? GP was designed from the ground up to meet the needs of our customers. We continuosly change and improve ourselves and our systems to meet new needs. ? Every job in the company is critically important. We hire good people, then give the tools and the training to be outstanding. We are always striving for perfect execution of everything we do. ? It’s OK to make a mistake. Since we hire good people, a mistake is just that, a mistake. If many mistakes occur it is the system which needs to be corrected. Following this policy can be difficult but it leads to a wonderful lack of finger pointing and back covering. GP culture encourages new ideas and risk taking.