Management and Leadership Styles at Novo Nordisk
Management and Leadership Styles at Novo Nordisk
The Danish company Novo Nordisk has been making waves in the pharmaceutical company as one of the companies to beat when it comes to ensuring that employees stay happy and challenged at work, aside from the main goal of "delivering needed health solutions globally" (Stormer, 2012). Apart from these, the company also guarantees that they work not only on the improvement of people's health but of the environment as well. With this in mind, questions arise about the quality of management and leadership that the company has and how it is able to maintain, and even surpass, the "standards for corporate social, ethical and environmental behavior" (Stormer, 2012).
The answer is simple as it is based on what the company calls the "Novo Nordisk Way of Management" (Novo Nordisk Annual Report, 2006, p. 3) or simply, "The Novo Nordisk Way" (Stormer, 2012). This management method serves as the company's structure of management whereby they are governed by the following factors: the Vision (the company's direction), the Charter (the company's guiding values and principles), and the Policies (the standards and operational guidelines) "Novo Nordisk Annual Report, 2006, p. 4). With everyone on the team fully aware of what the company's vision, values, and principles are, the company is able to deeply ingrain a sense of accountability ("Our Triple Bottom Line", n.d.), which, in turn, makes them "act responsibly as manager, employees and as a business" (Stormer, 2012).
Guided by the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) principle, the company strives to strike a balance in ensuring that decisions are financially viable for the company, display socially responsible actions towards people (patients and employees), and are safe for the environment and the people (Novo Nordisk Annual Report, 2006). Despite the fact that decisions are primarily coming from upper management, all employees are held responsible in carrying out the decisions by following the TBL principle. Therefore, regardless of changes or innovations occurring at the workplace, the TBL works as the focal point when coming up with decisions.
Recognizing the limits of operating in Denmark alone, Novo Nordisk opened satellite offices around the world that also brought about gaps relating to cross-cultural differences when it comes to work ethics. For instance, Danes are more averse to conflict, while Americans are vocal about their thoughts. Despite belonging to a different culture, ensuring everyone adheres to the company goals ("Novo Nordisk – Global Coordination", 2000, p. 8) was challenging. To address the globalization problems, including communication- and production-related issues, management came up with "The Novo Nordisk Way". As Mads Ovlisen claims, "the problems had been caused by a lack of follow up, lack of consequence, lack of ability to listen to better practices from the inside and outside, and a lack of empowerment" (as qtd in Novo Nordisk – Global Coordination, 2000, p. 11). This resulted to the company being one of the preferred companies of graduates in Denmark as prospective employees saw their personal goals in alignment with the Novo Nordisk's company goals (Novo Nordisk Annual Report, 2006, p. 40).
With the development of the Novo Nordisk Way and the TBL as well as the globalization efforts, the company must stay globally competitive and have a good grasp of the global customers' needs. Thus, the answer came in the form of "embracing a multi-cultural mindset" (Novo Nordisk Annual Report, 2006, p. 42) where hiring cultural minorities and women to handle management positions became a norm. In addition, continually retaining a motivated leadership team and workforce could be daunting, thus, the development of growth and learning opportunities to all regardless of one's level in the company.
In conclusion, as a company, Novo Nordisk places huge importance not only on becoming the leading pharmaceutical company to beat diabetes, but also, in the development and employment satisfaction of its employees. With all the necessary trainings given to them, the company heavily relies on the employees to be accountable and responsible in their actions, especially in ensuring that whatever they do are all in alignment with the company's goals. As such, the company is confident in following a management style based on delegation of tasks to its leaders and workforce.
References
Novo nordisk annual report. (2006) Retrieved from http://www.novonordisk.com/images/2006/PDFs/Report-2006-UK.pdf
Novo nordisk – global coordination. (2000) Retrieved from https://gsbapps.stanford.edu/cases/documents/IB20A.pdf
Our triple bottom line. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.novonordisk.com/sustainability/sustainability-approach/the-triple-bottom-line.asp
Stormer, S. (2012, October). How novo nordik's corporate DNA – "to act responsibly" – drives innovation. Retrieved from http://www.managementexchange.com/story/how-novo-nordisk%27s-corporate-dna-drives-innovation
