Week 5 - Topic 1: Initiating and Leading Change – Gene One scenario
Gene One is a company that is only eight years old and was started by founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Don Ruiz. Gene One has recently enjoyed innovative success with a discovery that benefits the agricultural farming industry. This gene technology intervenes with the eradication of disease in tomatoes and potatoes. "As a result, farmers no longer needed to use pesticides when growing these plants and consumers were pleased to buy homegrown products untainted by chemicals" (Gene one, 2009). Teri Robertson, Gene One's chief technology officer and research scientist is credited with the discovery in the biotech division of the company. The discovery is acknowledged for helping Gene One to develop from a $2 million dollar company to the current $400 million dollar company of today.
Gene One is coming up on an opportunity for their organization with the transition to an initial public offering (IPO). A milestone for any company is the issuance of publicly traded stock. While the motivations for an initial public offering are clear-cut, the means for doing so is complex. The opportunity they have is to develop an effectively performing culture all working towards the same goal. The company is in a transition phase. I believe that Gene One needs transformational leadership to realize the vision of taking the company into the public sector. Transformational leadership requires charisma, motivation, selflessness, and intellectual stimulation. Research on charismatic and transformational leadership indicates that a clear and compelling vision is useful to guide change in an organization (Yukl, 2006).
The key issue in this scenario is their organizational culture. The company consists of individuals who each have a passion in relation to working in the biotech industry. The Board of Directors for Gene One are accustomed to operating on a private level. A difficulty for Gene One is...