Gene One Problem Solution

Problem Solution: Gene One

To adapt and change or to remain as created is a decision many privately owned companies face in today’s competitive market. Changes include the redevelopment of the existing culture of an organization and the company’s leadership roles and philosophy. McShane and Von Glinow (2004) define organizational culture as the set of core values, beliefs and behaviors shared by the members of an organization. In this paper, the writer will attempt to show how Gene One, a privately owned gene technology company, made its decision to become a publicly traded company. In 1996, Gene One entered into the biotech industry with groundbreaking gene technology that eradicated disease in tomatoes and potatoes (University of Phoenix, 2007). The developments of this technology lead to Gene One’s success in becoming a $400 million dollar company in eight years. Currently, Gene One seeks to increase its capital in order to invest in new developments, advertising and new marketing schemes.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Many issues and challenges are identified in Gene One’s scenario and were taken into consideration in choosing the best solution. The changing of the organizational culture is a major factor which is affecting Gene One’s ability to make dramatic changes to the company’s financial structure to meet the Board of Directors expectations for growth and advancement.

“Organizational culture is the basic pattern of shared assumptions, values and beliefs considered to be the correct way of thinking about and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization (Kreitner, 2004).” The current culture of Gene One revolves around its it’s five start-up members, Don Ruiz, CEO, Michelle Houghton, CFO, Charles Jones, Marketing Manager, Teri Robertson, CTO and Greg Thoman, CHRO. They have all contributed to the organizations success and are valued leaders of Gene One. Currently the Board of Directors are seeking to expand annual growth targets to 40% per year. It was also identified that in order to meet annual growth targets the Technology Department would have to develop one new technology as well as six other products to advance and remain competitive in their particular field. The company realizes that in order to meet stated visions an increase in capital is required to meet the investment needs for expansion. It has been decided by the Board of Directors that entering the company to become an IPO would meet the financial needs for expansion and have set an expected time of completion of 36 months.

With the new direction Gene One has chosen to take the companies’ organizational culture and structure are threatened. Based on the announcement of becoming an IPO, technology researchers have gained a sense of compromising their professionalism to meet the Board of Directors deadlines for creation of new products. This threat has caused VP Angela Thomas to send a letter of resignation to Don Ruiz and Teri Robertson. Angela states that her passion centers on doing pure and applied research, not pleasing Wall Street. Teri Robertson has also expressed her concerns in regard to becoming an IPO and has requested the attention of Don Ruiz. If Teri Robertson seeks to resign from Gene One, the company will struggle to maintain its current reputation due to Teri’s influence in the research field. Teri has gained numerous recognitions that have put Gene One in a creditable position. Greg Thoman has also expressed his concern to Don Ruiz in regard to current key members and his personal relations which are creating conflicts in order to many any transition. Don Ruiz is also questioning his ability to lead the company into an IPO conversion. John Kirby and Susan Wells, Board Members, have also expressed their concerns to the current team members and their ability to adapt and become successful in the company’s proposed change.

Every issue provides an opportunity for companies and in Gene One its organizational culture and leadership structure can be modified to meet the organizations need to advance. Gene One currently carries a personal and research driven culture. With Gene One seeking to become an IPO Don Ruiz must first look at its organizational culture and identify what type of culture he would like to obtain to match the companies future goals. Don Ruiz must formulate a strategy to implement changes to the company’s culture and address items of its structure, leadership and management.

Don Ruiz must first become confident in his role as the CEO of Gene One and begin to motivate people “to rise to their potential for the benefit of the group and create and encourage a higher level of socially responsible organizational performance (Warner, 2003).” In this manner Don will be establishing a foundation in restructuring the current organizational culture. Don must reestablish the vision of the Technology Development team to reassure them that their scientific mission to provide pure and applied research is not forgotten and incorporate their values into the strategy for change. This reassurance will provide value to Gene One’s employees, thus establishing social responsibility. Don must also identify weaknesses within Gene One’s head departments such as finance and marketing and determine what necessary training and support would be needed to assist them and prepare them for the IPO conversion. This can be achieved by providing support staff to assist and train the current staff on IPO requirements and to create a marketing infrastructure. When Don successfully gains the management teams support, the confidence provided will be filtered throughout the company and individuals will be prepared and in support of company organizational changes. Those individuals not in support of the required changes will begin to filter themselves out and Don Ruiz can remain focused on the proposed target.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

Stakeholders such as Gene One’s board of directors and investors identify Gene One’s capability of growth through its current technology as well as its potential to develop an additional technology to meet the industry’s demand. Stakeholders such as the company’s employees and researchers all seek stability within a corporation, but moreover the researchers value the effects of their research. Currently researchers have incurred an ethical dilemma in which they have come to believe that becoming an IPO would negatively affect their researching values and become the focus for Wall Street