Gene one Problem Statement

Situation Analysis and Problem Statement

In an ever changing business landscape and dynamic period of start-ups where change is the only thing than seems to be constant, organizations require two key entities: effective teams and transformational leaders. Effective teams are required to adapt to organizational changes, embrace and evolve with the change, and seize opportunities that come with the change to achieve the organizational goals. Transformational leaders require being inspirational in their vision, and through demonstration of commitment and belief to the vision, cause others to embrace and make significant sacrifices to achieve the common goal. Such leaders require having the ability to lead an organization through major changes by strong commitment, consistent use of problem solving techniques, determination in reaching the goals, securing necessary resources that are knowledgeable and aligning the culture and resources with the vision to effect a successful organizational change.

This paper discusses about the changes that occur in a high-growth bio-technology company and the challenges that arise during the transformation to become a public company. The leadership team encounters a great deal of challenges during this transformation. The author uses a nine-step problem-solving approach to help the leadership team to identify the challenges and opportunities in effectively handling the transformation. The author attempts to describe the situation by identifying the issues that exists in the company, the challenges that the leadership team faces during the transformation and the opportunities that exist to be leveraged. The author then identifies the stakeholder perspectives and ethical dilemmas that the organization faces as a result of competing stakeholder values. The problem is then defined as an opportunity with a futuristic outlook and a set of goals are identified that define the desired future state. In the first step the author strives to describe the situation at hand.

Situation Background (Step 1)

Gene One is a high-growth biotechnology company that was started by a group of entrepreneurs who were highly motivated and passionate about their work. Gene One brought cutting edge technologies to the market which eliminated the use of pesticides in growing plants. This created a win-win situation for farmers and consumers. As a result Gene One grew from a $2 million startup to a $400 million company in a very short time and positioned itself to realize further growth.

The CEO and board members recognize the consumer demands, favorable industry trends from regulatory bodies and investors in biotechnology. The CEO and the board believe that it is the opportune moment for expanding the business and achieving growth and realize the need for additional capital, marketing and advertisement. The author notes that the management and board members have a clear vision and investment strategy to go public in the next 3 years, achieve growth and demonstrate its leadership and organizational capabilities to Wall Street.

Gene One has a business process that is highly focused, quick and resourceful. Don Ruiz, CEO of Gene One is a great leader. Teri Robertson, CTO has a passion for technology and innovation and is a world renowned scientist. Michelle Houghton, CFO has earned a credible reputation with the leadership team, board and the FDA in terms of finances. Greg Thoman, CHRO is highly motivated and has equipped Gene One with the required human capital. Charles Jones, Marketing Officer is smart, self-confident, and moral and garners trust for himself and the company. In all, Gene One has a highly talented and motivated leadership team. However, Gene One employees are still in a start-up culture.

Issue Identification

The author observes that Gene One is challenged with a great deal of internal and external issues. Gene One has a highly motivated team and yet very ineffective. Gene One work-teams do not have a shared leadership model to accommodate for the changing circumstances and needs of the group. The teams do not have a collective accountability to foster cooperation and cohesiveness. The teams further suffer from lack of clear vision and the vision of the leadership is not accepted by everyone. Some of the team members such as the marketing officer do not understand roles and responsibilities. The employees thus do not form effective working teams. Kreitner-Kinicki (2003) noted that teams can be effective only if they are nurtured within the organizations' environment. A work team will not be truly effective if it gets the job done but self-destructs in the process and burns everybody out. Some of the team members suffer from lack of cooperation and trust. The team members doubt each other's abilities and the board members do not trust that Gene One employees have the ability to transform into a public company. The Gene One work teams do not have adequate training and as a result are inexperienced in Sarbanes-Oxley Act and regulatory compliances. Human Resources have not invested time and effort in recruiting additional talent and the company suffers from poor team staffing to support future growth. Gene One does not realize the importance of building human capital through knowledge management and formal learning programs. Instead, the company believes in replacing existing employees to achieve the purpose of transforming into a public company. Management did not foster mutuality of interests between the individual and organization interests. This is evident from the fact that while the management felt the need for growth and expansion, some of the technology employees displayed interests in pure research and development which were not served by the company. Management did not persuade or try to positively influence the employees from leaving the company. As a result Gene One lost some critical technologists who were a key for the cutting edge products that Gene One was known for. Changes in the organization fostered an unsteady environment which was responsible for the emotional outbursts by some employees leading to mismanagement of emotions at work and failure to harness and seize opportunities instead. Some employees believed in their own personal interests and lacked an emotional bond with Gene One. When changes were inevitable, such a commitment resulted in Gene One employees to re-evaluate their interests and a decision to separate. McShane-Von Glinow (2004) noted that employees with high levels of affective commitment are less likely to quit the jobs, which can give a company a significant comparative advantage and improve customer satisfaction. Gene One endured a start up company culture and did not have an adaptive culture to changing customer and market demands. This resulted

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