Seagate Technology
Executive Summary
Seagate Technology, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets products for
storage, retrieval, and management of data computer and data communications systems.
The company has 85,000 employees located around the world. The case is centered on
the Enterprise Storage group (ESP), a business segment that comprises roughly 40
percent of Seagate’s total annual sales and specializes in the design, manufacturing, and
the marketing of ultra high performance disc drives.
Beginning in early 1998, Seagate shifted to a team-based work environment that
involved redesigning the organization into core teams. CEO Steve Luczo and CTO Tom
Porter characterized the core team restructuring as necessary to ensure the company’s
time-to-market (TTM) leadership, continued product performance, competitive
advantage, and profitability. As of January 1999, there were a total of 17 core teams in
operation at Seagate sites in Minnesota, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Singapore.
With major changes underway at Seagate, John Weyandt, the senior vice
president in charge of ESG, articulated his business objectives as faster time to market,
and employee work/life balance.
The case looks at the core team change initiative in the context of achieving
employee work/life balance. In particular, the case examines: the role of key individuals
in managing the change process; initial outcomes with respect to the TTM objective;
initial outcomes with respect to the work/life balance objective; and remaining challenges
as Seagate continues to manage the change process.
Several players are part of the case. Key change agents are Esther Williams
(manager, Corporate Benefits) and Sue Eklund (in charge of Training, Organizational
Learning, and Development for Seagate’s Twin Cities Operations (TCO)), who have
been indispensable in their roles as champions of change. They have been the energy
force that has focused TCO and the ESG on the importance of work/life issues. Their
success in getting both senior leaders and grassroots employees to embrace work/life
balance as an important business objective is, in part, a function of their dogged
persistence in dialoguing with individuals to the point that “when they start thinking
differently, they act differently.”
Key players from Seagate’s senior leadership include Tom Porter, who champions
work/life by providing financial resources for various work/life initiatives and related
programs, making himself available to speak with Esther and Sue on work/life issues, and
being supportive and accommodating of his employees’ needs. While an “enabler” and
motivator, he views work/life balance as a byproduct of TTM rather than a means to an
end.
Another key senior leader, John Weyandt, has made a visible commitment to
work/life balance by stating this up-front at a meeting with the CEO and other corporate
executives. As a leader of change, he demonstrates the importance of work/life balance
by walking the talk.