Gene One
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Problem Solution: GeneOne
Gene One is a company that has set some goals of where they want to be over the next several years. To reach these goals they are faced with some issues that need to be addressed, from the issues a problem statement will be created and addressed in this paper. Throughout this paper the issues and opportunities that face Gene One will be discussed and analyzed to come up with an optimal solution that would be implemented to reach the end state goals of the company.
Situation Analysis
Issue and Opportunity Identification
Gene One is a company that has great success in the past, but mixed with that great success is some issues that may be preventing them from reaching their full potential as a company in the future. When looking at Gene One there are several issues that have been identified that are key ones to be addressed if the company is going to be successful, they are: the lack of an organizational culture, loss of intellectual capital, cognitive dissonance and a high-level of organizational commitment.
The first issue to look at is the fact the company is lacking an organizational culture; it does appear that different departments have a culture, but a corporate culture is lacking. An organizational culture is something that all employees in the company can embrace that allows the company to focus on their mission, values, and goals as a company not as individual departments that are not focused on the entire company. (McShane & Von Glinow, 2004, p. 16) When looking at Gene One the head of Human Resources (Greg) has lacked the time to work on developing future talent and building an organizational culture. By taking the time to focus on the culture of the company they stand the opportunity to build a culture that will stand the transition from a private to a public company. This change in culture could also have an affect on the employees to embrace the changes better and develop the new products faster to support the second goal of growing by 40%.
The second issue to look at is the loss of intellectual capital that is facing the company. Gene One is a company that is full of intellectual capital that has allowed them to grow over the past several years to a $400 million company. The human capital has allowed them to develop such great products from Teri and her team. When Angela resigns the company again is losing great human capital that could be difficult for the company to replace. From a structural capital standpoint the company is missing the knowledge that they will lose when team members leave the company. As for relationship capital not enough is known about the state of the relationship between Gene One and its suppliers. However, with the growth of the company they appear to have a great relationship capital with their customers. (McShane & Von Glinow, 2004, p. 23) By taking the time to focus on their strategy they can protect their intellectual capital which is a great opportunity for the company allowing them to focus on their growth without the loss of highly talented employees.
The third issue to look at is the cognitive dissonance at Gene One. The resignation letter of Angela is an example of cognitive dissonance at Gene One. “Cognitive dissonance occurs when we perceive an inconsistency between our beliefs, feelings, and behavior. This inconsistency creates an uncomfortable tension (dissonance) that we are motivated to reduce by changing one or more of these elements.” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2004, p. 115) The resignation letter of Angela is an example of cognitive dissonance at Gene One. In her resignation email she states “My passion centers around doing pure and applied research, not pleasing Wall Street. I just dont have the energy or desire to push myself to deliver new technologies on a schedule; thats not the way breakthrough technologies happen”. By making this comment she is uncomfortable with the changes that are occurring at Gene One with the IPO on the horizon. Angela is not the only one feeling cognitive dissonance; Teri is feeling it as well from her email she states “Im not so sure this is the right place for me either. I want to do research, not keep Wall Street happy”. As the company changes many employees may feel this way based upon the fear of change. By creating a corporate culture and a strategy the comments like Angelas would not be coming from employees, plus the company would have fewer turnovers, allowing the company to meet both of their goals in the time they want.
The final issue to look at is the organizational commitment at Gene One. At Gene One all executive members appear to have a high commitment to the organization based upon the fact that they came to the company in the early days. However, the team is afraid that the company will lose what it is about with the IPO process. Even though they are worried most are still committed to making the company successful. An example is Don whom has a strong connection to the company because he provided most of the initial capital to start the company and has brought a great deal of creative components to the company. By building a strategy around what the company was built on Gene One has the chance to be a very successful public company and using the organizational commitment to their advantage. (McShane & Von Glinow, 2004, p. 126)
Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas
At Gene One there are several groups of stakeholders that have interest in the current state and the future state of the company. The one person who is the largest stakeholder in the entire process is the CEO, who provided most of the capital to start Gene One up. From his perspective he is looking at for his personal investment and the return he is going to receive once the company goes public. By having this much invested interest in the financials of the company he could be faced with an ethical dilemma to push the IPO through fast with no strategic plan or culture in order to get a fast payday. But looking at his past passion for the company this does not appear to be the road that he is going down; instead he is working to make sure the company will be successful in the long run.
The board members are also key stakeholders to making the IPO work and having a good understanding of the strategy of the company. If the company decides to bring in new board members the current members need to be willing to help the new members get up to speed on the plans at Gene One. Again the board members are faced with ethical decisions on whether they want to stay and support the company through the IPO process or take the money and run.
The current senior leaders are