Building And Managing A Company - 1439 Words

The HP Way Building and managing a company to become successful takes lots of hard work and determination from the company’s management. The founders of the technology company Hewlett Packard (HP), Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard set out to do just that. The vision of success for the company was clear to the founders. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard formed a two-person company in a rented garage, which was the original Silicon Valley startup. Working with limited resources, the pair created a series of products and set the course for a legacy of innovation and leadership. However, this paper provides a review of the history, strategic direction, and the management practices that describes how HP encountered a downturn under one leader and†¦show more content†¦In its strategic direction, the ‘HP Way’ is what truly differentiates HP from other companies in the industry. It guided employees on how to act, treat each other, and conduct business. In 2012, HP introduced †˜The HP Way Now.’ It is a cultural ecosystem grounded in the past, but relevant for our present and future, with a focus on what truly differentiates HP from the rest. HP used a style known as ‘manage by walking around.’ They encouraged senior executives to get out, bypass middle management, and spend time with the line workers. They believed through these two-way dialogues that line workers would understand how they impact strategic objectives. In addition, senior management would recognize required changes to corporate strategy that might be otherwise invisible from their lofty perches. Managing by walking around was a way to get everyone on the same page; what HP believed was the secret to their success. They became one of the first businesses to endorse the idea that employees, customers, and the community have as valid an interest in company performance as do the shareholders. In 1957, the true leadership strengths of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard became apparent to the world, when the company went public. According to Kaufman, â€Å"Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard’s legendary management style, which came to be known as the ‘HP Way,’ has been the topic of many case studies by ivory-tower professionals, management theorists,