Networked Teams: Hewlett-Packard's Colorado Springs Story Book

The Power of Networked Teams tells the story of HP's experience with creating both a new organisation and a new organisational form. Since its founding more than 60 years ago, the now-47-billion-dollar Hewlett-Packard Company has been proudly run in a distinctive decentralised fashion. Over the decades this has become a major component of the vaunted HP Way, its unique overall management style that has probably garnered as much outside praise as the company's innovative technological products. Pressure to increase profits as the 90s began forced a corporate-wide navel gazing, however, ultimately leading officials to turn their attention on one particularly costly business function--financial transaction processing--and the dramatic realisation that it could be administered more effectively as a centralised operation handled entirely at a facility the firm operated in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Power of Networked Teams by Pamela Shockley-Zalabak and Sandra Buffington-Burmester shows exactly how HP made the transformation, and how it subsequently slashed accounting and related costs by an astounding 75 per cent while introducing an effective new structure (networked teams) into Hewlett-Packard's renowned corporate culture. Shockley-Zalabak and Buffington-Burmester have each been personally involved in the process from near the beginning, and with direct input from other initial participants are able to detail precisely how this new model works both generally and specifically. The advice, and the process, are clearly spelled out and could prove applicable in many other business situations. --Howard RothmanRead More