OB221 Team 1 - Project Paper Final Draft

8/14/2019 OB221 Team 1 - Project Paper Final Draft

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Final PaperGreatPoint Energy

Team 1 OBillionairesOB221 Professor Jack McCarthy

2009

ASHITA GOPALSARAH ALVY

CHRIS GORDON MANUEL HADJIBAY

TERESA KIM MIN SON


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents 1

Introduction 2

The Organization of Great Point Energy

Leadership 2

Motivation 4

Communication and Interdependency 5

Values 8

Employee Relationships 9

Conclusion 9

Our Recommendation

The Future of GreatPoint Energy

End Notes 12

Appendices 16

Interview Transcripts 30

Thank You Notes 54

Works Cited 57


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Introduction

GreatPoint Energy (GPE) was founded in 2004 by Avi Goldberg, Aaron Mandell and

Andrew Pearlman in Cambridge, Massachusetts with the idea of developing a proprietary,

highly-efficient catalytic process, known as hydromethanation, (Appendix J) by which coal,

petroleum coke and biomass are converted directly into low-cost, clean, pipeline quality natural

gas, while allowing for the capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide. 1 GPE was recognized by

BusinessWeekas one of the Top 25 Companies to Watch in Energy Tech and has been

awarded as the overall winner of the 2009 Going Green East 50 competition.2, 3

(Appendix F)

GPE has proved itself the underdog in the increasingly competitive industry of green energy.

Observation of its culture, values, motivation and characteristics exposed why it is on its path to

great success.

The Organization of GreatPoint Energy

As a startup company, GPE currently employs fewer than 100 employees. This characteristic has

made its culture distinctive through its artifacts, shared values and shared assumptions.

Observations of the close-knit environment show that the culture is based on interdependence

and employee relationships. Moreover, the employees are consistently motivated by the idea of

creating a greener world, which has created innovations such asBluegas and

hydromethanation.

I. Leadership

Our concept of yesteryears leadership has gone and reshaped itself. The image of a controlling

and commanding boss has been erased and replaced with bosses of strategic vision and

empathy.4 The co-founder of GPE, Avi Goldberg, represents this change and the effect of his


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leadership is seen through his empowerment of employees in the company. Unique to GPE is its

flat level of hierarchy. Plant Engineer, Nicole Chaplin commented that if were working on

project development and there is need for technical assistance from a manager, you dont need to

go through a lot of channels to get help. You basically just yell at the person next to you and say

what do you think of this? 5 This exemplifies that the role of leadership in this company is

broadly distributed rather than reserved for the CEO. GPEs commitment to keeping its shared

leadership image has helped sustain its organic culture and helped orient a participative path-goal

leadership environment. All managers at the research plant strengthen the effort-to-performance

expectancy by giving support, alignment and supplying all resources necessary and help needed

for the employees to complete their tasks in an efficient manner. Managers at GPE use their

leadership behaviors to motivate and influence employee performance to boost goal attainment.

Chaplin also commented saying that because of the companys relatively small size it leads to a

greater amount of individual responsibility and thus a motto at GPE is lets just get the job

done, lets not overanalyze, we must always get to the next step. 6 Striving to always get to the

next step entails that management pushes to align employees to work together to get the job done

efficiently. The idea of getting people moving in the same direction appears to be an

organizational problem. But what executives need to do is not organize people but align them.7

GPE is a technology driven company; not all aspects of leadership draw from

interpersonal skills, but rather more technical skills. Charles Powell, plant manager said that as

a general rule, Id say that my interpersonal understanding is critical, but in research my

technical skills come back to play. 8 Leadership is defined as influencing, motivating, and

enabling others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization of which

they are members. 9 All leaders of the company have knowledge of the industry and business,


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self-confidence, integrity, and a drive for achievement to pursue the companies objectives and

high reach goals. 10 This flat level of hierarchy suits the company well since it is only doing

research as of now, however, once the company markets at a commercial level, the structure of

its leaders will change dramatically.

II. Motivation

Employee motivation is a crucial component in any successful organizations. Because

emotions play a central role in employee motivation, it is important to create and maintain a

positive environment for employees.11 Every information we receive and share is unconsciously

tagged with emotional markers; consequently, emotional drives indeed affect logicality and

productivity of business.12, 13, 14 Therefore, GPE uses both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators as

tools to empower their workers while fueling the main underlying motivational drivers to bond,

acquire, learn, and defend.15

Many of GPEs managers agreed that their main extrinsic motivators are a large salary,

stock options, gym membership ($500/year), and a fully stocked kitchen which increases

opportunities for informal interaction.16 GPEs employees have the drive to bond (Appendix A)

with the increased level of informal and interpersonal relationships when sharing a simple snack

or bonding over a lunch break. With these aspects in mind, the employees at GPE desire to work

efficiently because of the beneficial and tangible rewards it offers.

Aside from its extrinsic benefits, GPE does not overlook the importance of intrinsic

motivators.17 Thomas Robinson, VP of Projects and Operations, stated that it is important to

create a climate for motivation to flourishwith no walls or structure.18 The horizontal and

informal structure of the company allows employees to communicate easily unlike other

companies with formal organizational structures; this comfortable environment gives employees


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a sense of a family-like unit and further increases employee involvement with more risk-taking,

which can be explained by the four-drive theory.19

Because an organizations culture is linked to its motivational success, it is important to

understand GPEs invisible shared values and assumptions. (Appendix B) Its friendly

atmosphere fosters common values and assumptions in providing positive feedback by showing

recognition of anothers hard work, which empowers its workers. (Appendix C) Robinson and

Ron Ewan, Project Manager, show appreciation to their co-workers by verbally thanking them or

giving a simple pat on the back which satisfies an employees drive to acquire. 20 Ewan even

purposely shows gratitude to his co-workers by emailing upper management of an individuals

hard work.21 Also, GPEs shared values of creating a more environmentally friendly, clean

technology explains their drive to defend the environment.

Since motivation is additionally derived from the desire to learn new skills or contribute

to an organization, Chaplin, a young and eager employee, has an inner drive to learn more from

her fellow co-workers because she sees them as intelligent and hard-working.22

III. Communication and Interdependency

Communication and a strong interdependence both foster and enable work coordination,

organizational learning, decision-making, and strong employee relationships. Therefore,

effective communication is essential to almost all organizations interdependency and no

company can exist without it. Chester Barnard, a famous telecommunication CEO, said, an

organization is born when there are individuals who are able to communicate.23 GPE, being a

young company, excels in strong communication skills with employees, management, board of

directors, as well as with offices around the nation through effective team meetings, use of

technology, relationships among employees and norms.


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Employing weekly team meetings is just one example of how GPE focuses on

communication. Within these team meetings, employees gather to share ideas, find areas for

improvement, and give feedback and plan for the new plant in Texas. (Appendix F) Furthermore,

because it is a young company, Jaime DAngelo, Vice President of Human Resources, states the

company is trying to steer away from this [formal performance evaluation] and focus more on

constant feedback, communication to achieve more productive working environment.24 What

makes the communication with in the company so effective is that employees at GPE are all a

part of a high performing team. What classifies GPE employees as a high performance team is

the diversity of atmosphere they work in. The employees come from very different backgrounds,

some with PhDs from elite schools, others with work experience, and some who are recent

graduates from college. The more differences that exist on a team, the smarter it can be. As

DAngelo describes, many professionals will find themselves defending their views and

positions and conflicts will most likely arise. What needs to be prevalent is the idea that

everyone is focused on the same goal and healthy disagreement is good sometimes because it

produces many good ideas which can be used.25 A diverse set of skills, experience, and

knowledge needed to divide tasks effectively almost precludes high levels of friendship. GPE

employees exhibit this through the personal level of relationships and friendships the employees

maintain outside the work force. Having a fully stocked kitchen and barbeques on site also

doesnt hurt the case when it comes to building team bonding.

GPEs friendly, warm, family-like environment with minimal hierarchy encourages its

employees to communicate less formally. However, such unstructured and informal grapevine

communication has high possibility of causing rumors and gossips during the times of

uncertainty.26 Consequently, the grapevine can cause communication barriers in which


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employees misinterpret messages due to their established perceptual biases.27Powell reveals that

the earlier founders of the company, concerned with negative aspects of less formal

communication, are trying to build a more vertical arrangement.28 However, he describes the

companys communication process should be even more horizontally structured.29 As all other

interviewees prefers communicating informally, it proves that the most efficient, effective, and

appropriate communication occurs when its medium fits the organizations social influence such

as team norms, individual preferences, work routine, and culture.

The nature of the company also requires strong communication and interdependency

when it comes to being in contact with offices outside the Boston area. When it comes to the

work process of GPE, much of the research and development portion is conducted in Chicago

offices, thus it is extremely crucial that constant contact is kept especially when small-scale

models are being sent to the plant for initial testing. To ensure that information is up to date and

communicated effectively GPE implements information technology to their advantage for more

efficient communication process. Not only do the employees constantly use the internet,

telephone, e-mail and instant messaging to share and exchange their information one another, the

company seeks to use telecommunication as inter-department and inter-plant scale through the

use of walkie-talkies and other radio communication systems. As company expands, the role of

communication has become even more vital. With the new building of the power plant in

Houston, TX next year, top managers expect to oversee operations and employees through the

constant use of email and video chatting.

Conflict

Another form of communication comes when there are problems within the office.

DAngelo once again has the responsibility of making sure that everyone in the office is happy


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and satisfied, and if by chance there is some conflict, it is dealt with efficiently. GPE uses what

they call aprogressive discipline policy. (Appendix C) Employee satisfaction is a very important

to GPE and being a small startup company, enough focus is given to each individual making the

environment very personal and comforting.

V. Values

In 2004, GPE was founded on the desire to creategreen energy. Within the past five

years, GPE has clarified that their espoused values include creating an efficient and

environmentally friendly process that will convert common minerals into alternative energy. The

companys enacted values support this declaration as they created and received the patent

(Appendix G) for their Hydromethanation process. GPE also values Corporate Social

Responsibility (Appendix F). This is exemplified through their hydromethanation process, as

described by Elizabeth Shogren, The catalyst also enables GreatPoint Energy to separate out

about half of the carbon dioxide, a chief cause of climate change Other pollutants also are

removed at the plant, which makes the product much cleaner than the synthesis gas produced by

other gasification processes.30 As described by DAngelo, two other essential values that GPE

possesses are integrity and safety.31 Thus, GPE has appointed their lead operator, Ewan, the task

of creating a safety manual that will be applied to all company plants. Additionally, the company

values interdependency and employee relationships, which is strengthened by their horizontal

structure. However, to allow an employee to become an integral part of the company,

management must make sure that there is value congruence. As described on the company

website, The strong entrepreneurial values and integrity of our founders are reflected

throughout the members of the GreatPoint Energy family.32 To further support this point, when

asked if there are discrepancies between his values and the companys values, Robinson replied,


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We have aligned values.33 Thus, to work at GPE, one not only need to be qualified but must

also possess intrinsic motivation to create an eco-friendly source of energy. To persuade the

qualified employees to work at GPE, the company offers superior benefits (Appendix F) as well.

For further information on GPEs values, refer to the Schwartz and MARS models found in the

Appendix H and I.

VI. Employee Relationships

In the workforce, it is the employee relationships that a company possesses that will

determine how successful that company will be in the future. Relationships are

multidimensional, situational, and are a part of every aspect of a company.34 An aspect that all

relationships have in common is that they all rely on the same attributes. At GPE these variables

lead to relationship strength and future commitment. (Appendix D, E, F) Without out all of these

attributes present in a relationship, the relationship is less likely to be positive and excel. Because

of the existence and high levels of these attributes, GPE has strong employee relationships

needed for growth and success well into the future.

As previously mentioned, leadership is the foundation of positive relationships at GPE.

(Appendix F) The small size and stage of development that GPE is currently operating within

creates an opportunity for leadership to have a lasting effect on the relationships of its

employees. Leading by example and motivation are aspects of leadership that GPE thrives in.

Communication (Appendix F) and balance of power are essential to the strength of

relationships within the company. Also previously mentioned communication is straightforward

with no middle-man involved. This enables the relationships to be truthful and efficient; no one

worries about hurting each others feelings. Ewan describes the communication as I just say

what needs to be said35


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Balance of power (Appendix F) is a product of communication. The managers at GPE do

not place themselves on a pedestal above the employees and through their relaxed

communication channels, employees feel that they can say what needs to be said to whom it

needs to be said to with no hesitance. In turn this creates a level of equality within the company.

The common goals, values, and cooperation (Appendix F) at GPE are astounding.

Robinson says that, we have the future in mind. We want long-term technology that will

improve the environment. So our main value is focusing on how to improve that.36 Everyone at

GPE is focused on the future of the company and what it can bring, this focus shows what the

goals and values of the company are, and when the goals and values are aligned cooperation is

automatic. Ewan states, My only motivation is what the future of this company can bring.37

Relationships can have all of the attributes listed above but without trust the relationships

are not strong enough to carry a company forwards (Appendix E, F). Ewan looks for trust in

those he works with. He says, I look for go-getters. I do not like micro management and I trust

that my co-workers will do what needs to be done with me asking them to do it.38

Commitment (Appendix F) is the last variable that completes an employee relationship.

The employees that work at GPE are committed to the companys goals because they know that

the possibilities of achievement at GPE are endless.

Conclusion

In the coming years, GPE will experience challenges in maintaining their culture during

expansion phases. In the short-term, once the company commercializes its process, it will send

many of their current employees to Texas in an attempt to transfer their cultural ideology to their

commercial plant. However, the company will change one aspect of their culture, as top

management is looking to create a more vertical structure. Also included in the companys future


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outlook is an expansion into China and India, two countries with a rapidly growing energy

market. Although GPE could achieve exponential success by expanding internationally, the

companys culture might experience significant changes. For this reason, top management must

first decide whether to change the culture in foreign plants to adapt to the societal norms or to

impose their current culture in those plants.

After reviewing the companys future outlook, we have developed certain

recommendations that will help them achieve long term success. However, due to the different

societal norms domestically and internationally, the company must customize their expansion

methods for each new plant. With regards to the plant in Texas, we understand the companys

desire to become more hierarchical, but to achieve success, we believe that among top

management and the managers in all of the companys offices and plants should stay

interdependent, and have a flatter-hierarchy among them. Additionally, management must create

a formal feedback system. This will not only strengthen communication in the company, but it

will also allow management to preserve the companys culture. However, once GPE expands

internationally, we believe that it is foolish to assume that by imposing their current culture in a

foreign location, GPE will achieve the same success that theyve experience domestically. We

recommend that certain aspects of the current culture, such as their values, dependence on

communication, and strong leadership should be transferred to foreign plants to ensure that GPE

will experience the same cultural and structural success that it has today.


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End Notes

1. GreatPoint Energy, Our Company: About. http://www.greatpointenergy.

com/about.php (accessed November 17, 2008).

2. A. Aston, P. Engardio, and J. Makower, "25 Companies to Watch in

Energy

Tech,"BusinessWeek,

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/07/0714_sustainable

_planet/12.htm (accessed November 21, 2008).

3. E. Ring, "GoingGreen East 50 Winners," AlwaysOn, February 2009.

http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/31372

(accessed November 19,

2009).

4. S. L. McShane and M. Glinow, Organizational Behavior: [essentials]

(New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2009), 231.

5. Nicole Chaplin, interview by Sarah Alvy. October 27, 2009.

6. Nicole Chaplin, interview by Sarah Alvy. October 27, 2009.

7. J. P. Kotter, What Leaders Really Do,Harvard Business Review,

Breakthrough Leadership (2001): 90.

8. Charles Powell, interview by Chris Gordon. October 27, 2009.


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9. S. L. McShane and Mary Ann Von Glinow, Organizational Behavior:

[Essentials], (Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2009), pp. 231.





12. A. R. Damasio, Decartes Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain

(New York: Putnam Sons, 1994)

13. J. E. LeDoux, Emotion Circuits in the Brain, Annual Review of

Neuroscience 23 (2000), pp. 155-84

14. P. Winkielman and K.C. Berridge, Unconscious Emotion, Current

Directions in Psychological Science 13, no. 3 (2004), pp. 120-23

15. N. Nohria, B. Groysberg, and L. Lee, Employee Motivation: A Powerful

New Model,Harvard Business Review 86, no.7/8 (July-August 2009):

80, http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/bsi/pdf?

vid=10&hid=5&sid=e9e09fe7- beb1-42a1-993f-

eb7338f608c9%40sessionmgr10.

16. Jamie DAngelo, interview by Ashita Gopal, Fall River, MA, October 27,

2009.


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17. G. Morse, Why We Misread MotivesHarvard Business Review 81, no.1

(2003): 18, http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/bsi/pdf?

vid=1&hid=

5&sid=adbbf693-b900-430e-81bb-58a178d2522a%40sessionmgr14.

18. Thomas F. Robinson, interview by Teresa Kim, Fall River, MA, October

27, 2009.

19. G. L. Neilson, K. L. Martin, and E. Powers, The Secrets to Successful

Strategy Execution,Harvard Business Review 86, no. 6 (2008): 4,

http://web.ebscohost

.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/bsi/pdf?vid=1&hid=5&sid=18e79366-db74-499b-

8bee- bf1a808e5dbd%40sessionmgr12 (accessed November 18, 2009).

20. Ron Ewan, interview by Chris Gordon, Fall River, MA, October 27, 2009.


22. Nicole Chaplin, interview by Sarah Alvy, Fall River, MA, October 27,

2009.

23. C. Barnard, The Functions of the Executive (Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press, 1938).


2009.


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25. Jamie DAngelo, Interview by Ashita Gopal, Fall River, MA, October 27,

2009.

26. C.J. Walker and C.A. Beckerle, The Effect of State Anxiety on Rumor

Transmission,Journal of Social Behaviour & Personality

2 (August 1987), pp. 353-60; and M. Noon and R. Delbridge, News

from Behind My Hand: Gossip in Organizations, Organization Studies 14

(1993), pp. 23-36

27. J. Kruger et al., Egocentrism over E-Mail: Can We Communicate as Well

as We Think?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 89, no. 6

(2005), pp. 925- 36.

28. Charles Powell, interview by Manuel Hadjibay, Fall River, MA, October

27, 2009.

29. Charles Powell, interview by Manuel Hadjibay, Fall River, MA, October

27, 2009.

30. E. Shogren, Turning Dirty Coal into Clean Energy, NPR April 2006.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?

storyId=5356683 (accessed on Novembers 21, 2009).


2009.


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32. GreatPoint Energy, Careers: Why GreatPoint Energy?

http://www.greatpointenergy.com/careers.php (accessed

November 17, 2008).


27, 2009.

34. C. Herington, L. W. Johnson, and D. Scott, Firm-employee relationship

strength A conceptual model Journal of Business Research 62

(2009) pp. 10961107.



27, 2009.




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Appendices

Appendix A

Four-Drive Theory

Source: Steven L. McShane and Mary Ann Von Glinow, Organizational Behavior: [Essentials](Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2009), 95.


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Appendix B

Organizational Culture Assumptions, Values and Artifacts

Source: Steven L. McShane and Mary Ann Von Glinow, Organizational Behavior: [Essentials](Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2009), 276.

ArtifactsStories/Legends

Rituals/ceremonies

Organizationlanguage

Physical structure/dcor

Visible

Shared ValuesConscious beliefs

Evaluates what isgood or bad, right orwrong

Shared AssumptionsUnconscious beliefs,taken-for-granted

Mental models ofideals

Invisible


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Appendix C

Empowerments Four Dimensions

Source: Source: Steven L. McShane and Mary Ann Von Glinow, Organizational Behavior:[Essentials] (Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2009), 95


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Appendix D

According to Carmel Herington, Lester Johnson, and Don Scott in their article on firm employee

relationship strength, attachment and absence of damaging conflict are including in the variables

needed for a strong employee relationship. After visiting GreatPoint Energy and witnessing how

the employees interact with each other and learning about their culture we decided to exclude

attachment and absence of conflict as variables and include strong leadership because they do not

fit into the employee relationships at GreatPoint Energy. Attachment is very similar to

commitment and shared goals and values. It is defined as caring and support, closeness, liking


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and social aspects of a strong relationship. Attachment as an attribute of the employee

relationships at GreatPoint Energy is very repetitive and less pronounced than commitment and

shared values and goals which is why it is not included in the paper. Absence of conflict is not

included as well because GreatPoint Energy is a young company and no matter what there is

going to be conflict in the growing process and in our opinion through our personal team

experiences, conflict is a positive aspect of employee relationships because it often strengthens

communication skills and overall relationships.

Source: Herington, Carmel, Johnson, Lester, Scott, Dan. Firm-employee relationship strength A conceptual model Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 10961107


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Appendix E

As you can see in the diagram above trust is the centerfold of all of the employee relationship

attributes. It brings all of the values together to make a strong bond between the employees.



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Appendix F

Definitions, Examples and Explanations:

Communication and Interdependency Section

Employee Communication: All interviewees stated they use face-to-face interaction or quick and

direct written responses to provide effective feedback and information instead of having a formal

evaluation system.

Values Section

Excelled Benefits: GreatPoint Energy employees are the Companys greatest assets; therefore we

are proud to provide employees with high-quality benefit packages.

GreatPoint Energy benefit packages offer:

- Low-cost monthly premiums

- Quality benefit providers

- 401K matching per pay period

- Paid time off for up to 20 days/annum

- 3X paid life insurance and AD&D

- Paid annual gym/athletic club memberships

- Stock options for new hires

Employees Relationships section

Relationship Variables at GreatPoint Energy

Leadership, communication, a balance of power, common goals and values, trust, cooperation,

and commitment are the variables and attributes that are referred to in the text. These seven


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variables of employee relationships are needed to form a strong employee relationship according

to Herington. We found all variables present in the employee relationships at GreatPoint Energy.

Leadership

Ron Ewan, the lead operator at the test plant for GreatPoint Energy, explained that to motivate

others he would work with them to show that they are all working towards a common goal. He

also says that the fully stocked refrigerators and lunch breaks are motivators for the workers he

oversees and that they bring everybody together. He explains that this technique makes

GreatPoint Energy feel like a community and keeps employee relationships strong. (Ewan) Mr.

Ewan attributes a lot of the positive relationships in the company to Tom Robinson, the plant

manager. And describes Mr. Robinson as an inspiration and motivator (Robinson) The

leadership at GreatPoint is a testament to why the relationships are so strong.

Sources:Ewan, Ron, Interview by Chris Gordon, Fall River, MA, October 27, 2009.Robinson, Thomas F. Interview by Teresa Kim. Fall River, MA, October 27, 2009

Communication

The formal as well as informal sharing of meaningful and timely information


Balance of Power

Balanced power represents the level of equality in the amount of freedom and mutual reliance

within firmemployee relationships

Source: Herington, Carmel, Johnson, Lester, Scott, Dan. Firm-employee relationship strength

A conceptual model Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 10961107

Cooperation

Cooperation refers to situations in which parties work together to achieve mutual goals.



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Trust

Trust is defined as having confidence in your partners reliability and integrity

Source: Herington, Carmel, Johnson, Lester, Scott, Dan. Firm-employee relationship strength

A conceptual model Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 10961107

Commitment

The desire to remain in, and be involved in the success of the firm, because of the feeling of

desiring to remain.


Social Corporate Responsibility

the organizational activities intended to benefit society and the environment beyond the firms

immediate financial interest or legal obligationSource: Glinow, Mary and McShane Steven, Organizational Behavior. (Boston: McGraw-HillIrwin, 2009

Progressive discipline policy

A step-by-step process when dealing with any type of intercompany issue.

Source: GreatPoint Energy. Home Page. www.greatpointenergy.com (accessed November 20,2009).

The Going Green East 50 competition

Recognizes the top 50 next generations, game-changing clean-tech companies from the Eastern

U.S. and Canada.

Source: E. Ring, "Going Green East 50 Winners," Always On, February 2009.http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/31372 (accessed November 19, 2008).


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Appendix G


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Appendix H

MARS Model of Individual Behavior and Results

Source: OB221 section D1 Discussion Lecture: Values, Attitudes and Motivation by ProfessorMcCarthy September 17th 2009 slide 11

Motivation

Direction- uses process to achieve success and benefit environmentEmployees are affected by intrinsic motivation and their desire to create a moreefficient way to create natural gas

Intensity- amount of effort allocated to the goalThe desire to create a successful process to create natural gas, pushes them to

complete their work. Additionally, management uses extrinsic motivation byoffering superior benefits

Ability = natural aptitude + learned capabilityEmployee requirements include being educated in technical skills and having experiencesin similar companies. The company also uses behavior interviews to see how thepotential employee will react during a specific event

Role Perception

Understand their duties, assigned tasks Based on their qualifications, each employeeis hired to work in the operations, engineering, or support sector. In a small company, byassigning roles, its easy to understand what is required of the employee

Understand priorities safety is the greatest priority, but integrity and team unity arealso valued at a high level.

Understand preferred behavior to fulfill task Every employee realizes that he/she mustbe responsible, be aware of his/her surroundings, be in constant communication, and beready to solve unexpected problems

Situational factors

Although external situational factors are impossible to control, GreatPoint Energy does agreat job of controlling the internal factors. Management has the responsibility of


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managing the companys budget. Even though they invest money to keep their employeeshappy, they never lose focus on their main objective. Additionally, management created astate-of-the art research plan and is developing a commercial plant in Texas. However,management does not control all internal situational factors. Due to the horizontalstructures, employees in the same sector often schedule their working times with oneanother, and make adjustments based on their personal requirements.


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Appendix I

Schwartzs Model

Opennes to Change Self-transcendence

Self-enhancement Conservation

Currently, GreatPoint Energy is in the conservation and self-transcendence phase. However, asthe company expands, I believe that the board will want to shift towards the openness to changeside and become more vertically structured.

Source: OB221 section D1 Discussion Lecture: Values, Attitudes and Motivation by ProfessorMcCarthy September 17th 2009 slide 16


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Appendix J


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Interview Transcriptions

Ashita Gopal

Jaime DAngelo, Vice President of Human Resources

222 Third Street, Suite 2163

Cambridge, MA 02142

[email protected]

Jaime DAngelos Office; October 27, 2009 at 9:00 AM

Q: What are your primary responsibilities as the Vice President of Human Resources for

Great Point?

A: In addition to handling the recruiting and hiring process (interviews, posting jobs, findingcandidates), Jaime also deals with day-to-day employee relations and being the mediator and

harmonizer for the company. Another aspect of employee satisfaction includes employeebenefits (insurance, gym, food...). Jaime also deals with the labor relations (unions) and makessure that the agreements such as safety and regulations are secure when workers are on site. Aunique responsibility that Jaime has is to coach the executives (the three founders of thecompany) and make sure that they are all on the same level and being guided by an experiencedhand.

Q: What would you consider your most important responsibility?

A: The most important responsibility is to make sure all the employees are comfortable andhappy. Especially so as the company is very small making the relationships between theemployees and personnel very intimate, versus a larger company where there is a larger HR

sector and limited interaction between each other.

Q: What specific responsibilities does GreatPoint Energy expect from employees and

towards your particular position?

A: As the company is small and in its growing stages, it requires many hours (between 70 80hours per week when the plan is running). In addition, there is a high stress level when it comesto the situation and environment of the company and many important decisions have to be madeunder pressure. Employees have to handle a lot of responsibility at all levels.

Q: What is your typical day like?

A: Every day is different, and you never know what to expect. The main part of the job is the

administrative portion which calls for many meetings with vendors, potential employees etc

Q: What is the work process at GreatPoint Energy like?

A: There are many stages to this job. The first stage is research and development where smallteams in Chicago conduct lab work and ideas are put into practice in a small scale environment.Testing is done on these small scale ideas and if they are successful, they are scaled up directlyto the plant. The data is then analyzed by process engineers where a group collects data. The data


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is then reviewed to see if it works or if there is improvisation needed to take place. And then theentire process is repeated.

Q: Do you oversee a certain amount of people? If so, how many? How does this work?

(Feedback, areas for improvement, training)

A: As of now, Jaime oversees about 12 people directly in the office. While there is a formalperformance evaluation overview system but the company is trying to steer away from this andfocus more on constant feedback, communication, and focus on strengths making the workingenvironment more productive.

Q: if your job an individual job or is it closer to a team process?

A: Definitely more of a team process more than anything.

Q: What do you look for in employees or coworkers?

A: Education is a very important aspect when hiring a new employee. GreatPoint looks forcandidates who have skill sets specific to the job. Soft Skills are also necessary such as criticalthinking, problem solving, working under pressure. The interview is conducted as a behaviorinterview making it easier to sort out excellent candidates from ones who would not be good forthe job.

Q: How do the environmental characteristics result in communication flow with other

coworkers?

A: Communication flow comes mostly through technology which is one of the biggest assets tothe company. There is constant work that needs to be done which forces you to communicatewith other employees all the time.

Q: Is there room for promotion?

A: As it is a small company right now there isnt much room for promotions.

Q: How do you deal with problems?

A: I) Identify the problem a meeting is set up with the individual to find out what theproblem exactly is and to try resolving it right then and there.

* If the problem is not resolved aprogressive discipline policy is put forwardII) Verbal WarningIII) Written warning which needs to be signed by both partiesIV)Termination

Q: How do you promote team and employee bonding?A: This is a very unique company and there is only one in the world. Team work and teambonding is very necessary as there are long meetings and everyone needs to put forth a positivefoot and work together during meetings.Employee bonding comes in the shape of having cook outs, stocked kitchen, and buildingpersonal relationships outside the company with coworkers.


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Q: Who evaluates you?

A: The CEO of the company evaluates Jaime. But like mentioned before, Jaime acts like asupport and coach for him also. So in the end it is a good balance on both parties.

Q: Since your company is very small, sixty or less employees, what is the level of

interdependence?

A: There is a very high level of interdependence. (from team work, to constant communication toemployee relations)

Q: In a team project / setting, do you face a lot of conflicts within the team? If so how do

you resolve them?

A: During team meetings many professionals who hold PhDs will find themselves defendingtheir views and positions and conflicts will most likely arise. What needs to be prevalent is theidea that everyone is focused on the same goal and healthy disagreement is good sometimesbecause it produces many good ideas which can be used.

Q: How does your company motivate you?

A: It is very had to find a good source of motivation in a startup company such as GreatPoint.The biggest motivation comes from the fact that they are setting forth a brand new idea whichhas the possibility of changing the future. Small failures and setbacks may sometimes hinder themotivation level, but employees have to remain positive and hopeful for the future.

Q: What motivates the employees?

A: Avi always says we have an opportunity for greatness. The idea is to focus on the bigpicture even though there may be minor setbacks even now and then.

Q: What rewards does the company offer other than financial? What particular benefit do

you receive for your position? Does it give what you value or what motivates you?

A: There is a annual incentives program for bonuses, gym membership ($500/yr), a fullystocked kitchen, etc..). In addition, as this is a private and startup company, there are many stockoptions available for employees. If and when the company does go public, there is a possibilityfor receiving a lot of money.

Q: What do you find is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

A: The most rewarding part of the job is having a successful and cohesive culture and seeingthings work out to their full potential.

Q: What are the companys values?A: Integrity and Safety are the two biggest values of this company. Being green is also anothergreat value as the company relies on not emitting any gases into the air and protecting theenvironment for the future especially when compared to coal plants which do the opposite.

Q: Corporate Social Responsibility

A: The industry and goal for the company is to try to promote a social change which is build intowhat the company is actually doing.


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Q: With the new building of the power plant in Houston next year, how will you and other

mangers deal with the expansion and what will the expansion entail in terms of managing a

growing company?

A: Communication is a major part of this new expansion. As of now GreatPoint is beginningwith 5 employees in the Houston area. They are in the beginning stages of hiring and employeesincluding a new HR manager.

Q: Greatpoint focuses on coal here in Massachusetts but it has other operation across the

nation, for example your geothermal activities in California. How is the communication

with other offices going?

A: Employees are spread out all over the place and sections of the company are very fragmented.Need to focus on communication and technology such as skype

Q: The companys technology is the biggest asset. Does the company still put a lot of effort

to expand its technological boundary? If so, in what way? Aside from technology, how does

the company seek to expand its size? Investing in other companies..?

A: To expand upstream

Q: How soon will Futuregen be ready to be fully commercialized?

A: Futuregen is the next generation of coal plant. Coal plants of future will not emit any greenhouse gasses. As of now there are government funded projects in Illinois which are in work as ofnow.


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Chris Gordon

Ron Ewan, Lead Operator

407 Brayton Point Road

Somerset, MA 02725

[email protected]

Greatpoint Energy Research Plant Boardroom; October 27, 2009 at 9:00 AM

Q: What is your current position?

A: Lead operator/ Operating supervisorI recently was promoted

Q: What are your responsibilities?

A: I oversee 5 operators, make assignments and schedules for the week, prepare for meetings,safety of the plant and workers, writing safety manual for the plant and new plants.

Q: What is your usual day like?

A: I will usually come in a walk the plant. Check in with everyone. Then check e-mail and attendmeetings. After lunch I will usually help out on the floor or work on safety manuals.

Q: What are your expectations of those you oversee?

A: To do things that without having to be asked. Ex: take out the trash and plant maintenance.Be safe. Complete training. Run a shaft every morning. ()To help each other and clean up after construction

Q: What do you look for in an employee?

A: I look for go-getters. I do not like micro management and I trust that my co-workers will dowhat needs to be done with me asking them to do it

Q: What are the day to day safety precautions?

A: Lock out tag out systemIsolating hazards. Electrical/chemicalConstruction hazards

Q: What is the team process? Horizontal or vertical?

A: There is a hierarchy but I would say it is mostly vertical at the bottom and then morehorizontal at the top.

Q: What is your leadership style?

A: I Dont want to assign something that I wouldnt myselfI like to constantly meet and checking up on workersI will also meet every week with upper management and let them know how things are going

Q: How do you handle conflict?

A: I prefer to tell the person straight up what is wrong and how it needs to be changed.


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I just say what needs to be said.

Q: How are you evaluated?

A: We do not have formal evaluations right now but would say that Im evaluated by my peersand upper management right now.

Q: How do you evaluate others?

A: I evaluate others by if they initiate and follow through with plansI am currently working on making the official evaluations with HR. (New Plant)

Q: Is there a lot of Interdependence?

A: Yes. We have a lot of close-knit groups that depend on each other but some have moreresponsibilitySafety first

Q: How do you motivate your employees?A: I thank them all the time. Give them a pat on the backI will also get involved to show appreciation.I also Complement them and send out emails to upper management when someone doessomething good

Q: How are you motivated?

A: My only motivation is what the future of this company can bring. I am helping buildsomething that is important and helps the environment.I think about what it can become

Q: What are you rewards?

A: The Future and appreciationTom Robinson is a great man. I learn from him every day and enjoy being around him.HR gives us food all the timeI am rewarded by seeing accomplishments

Q: What are your values?

A: Safety in the plants and putting co-workers and employees firstI also think Doing your fair share is important

Q: Any Conflict of Values?

A: Sometime I work too many hours but that comes with territoryThere is a lot more work during a run (converting energy)I do get to set own schedule but when there is a run hours increaseA Run can last from a week to a month

Q: What do you attribute your success to? Technical Skills or interpersonal skills?

A: I Got hired from technical skills but succeed because of interpersonal skills


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Q: Do you see yourself in a new role in the future?

A: Hopefully having an upper management job.I would consider moving to a new plant but not likely because my home is here with my family

Q: Is there a lot of Expansion?

A: The Company is expanding in Texas, and out westI am personally expanding by writing the safety manual, and dealing with more employees.Hopefully will become plant manager

Q: Future?

A: Expand based on supply and demand of industryStarted off as coal gasificationNow do biomass etc


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Manuel Hadjibay

Charles A. Powell, Plant Manager


Somerset, MA 02725

[email protected]

Charles Powells Office; October 27th, 2009 at 9:00 am

Q: Would you mind explaining your primary responsibilities as a plant manager?

A: 2 types of responsibilities

Strategic safety, environment concerns, HR, completing the process- is more of a long term responsibility that allows them to plan for the future and

stay more efficient

Tactical issues issue of the day, problems due to the process and production

Q: What is a typical day like for you?

A: No such thing as a typical day. Nothing around here is typical

Q: Do you experience any frustrations? An example?

A: Whenever you are dealing with a big process that has many people working on it, your goingto experience a lot of frustration. The biggest frustration usually has to do with getting everyoneto work together as a team.

Q: How many people do you directly manage?

A: 55 people

Q: Do you find that your success as a manager is from your technical skills or your

interpersonal skills?

A: Well, it depends on the situation. As a general rule, Id say that my interpersonalunderstanding is critical. But in Research, technical skills come back to play

Q: Can you explain the working environment and the communication process at

GreatPoint Energy, is it horizontal or vertical (structured, hierarchy)?

A: Currently, the company is structured more horizontally. But the earlier founders are trying tobuild a more vertical arrangement. However, as the company evolves into a more coherentcompany, it should become even more horizontally structured.

Q: Do you often work individually, or do you work more in a team process?

A: Well, due to the nature of the process, we are driven towards collaboration. So, people areexpected to work with the people in front of them and behind them. As we become morecommercialized, we will become more collaborative and multi-disciplinary.

Q: What would you consider ideal characteristics for your employees or coworkers?

(characteristics, education, experience, skill)


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A: There are three levels of workers:

Operations need a good background (at least 2 years of technical school, if nota bachelors) in Science and Math

Engineering

at least a bachelor in engineering; experience in similar industrywould be beneficial too.

Support(maintenance) need substantial experience and degrees

Q: With the new building of the power plant in Houston next year, how will you and other

managers deal with this expansion and what will this expansion entail in terms of

managing a growing company?

A: Well, several steps are going to be taken:1. there will be daily interaction via internet, email, and telephone

2. They are currently planning on sending some people from the Massachusetts plant tobecome the core managers of that plant

3. We will prototype for them we will watch their operations and help themanticipate problems.

Q: How often do you evaluate your employees? How do you do this (in person, in writing)?

A: Because this is a small and young company, we dont have a formal evaluation system. Sofar, we provide evaluation about specific instances (the most important things). As the companygrows, we will have an organized feedback system, but were not there yet.

Q: Are you ever evaluated? If so, how often? And how do your superiors share their

evaluation of your work with you?

A: Not currently.

Q: What are the companys main values?

A: Corporately, we have the future in mind. We want long-term sustainable technology that willimprove the environment. So our main value is focusing on how to improve that.

Q: Have you every experienced conflicts that went against the companys values? IF so,

how did you resolve them?

A: Never, the biggest challenge however, is trying to get people outside the company to see thefuture and support us.Q: So do you find that the company and your co-workers often motivate you, or are you

more intrinsically motivated?A: I am more intrinsically motivated. I am at a point in my career where I want to see thecommercial plant be built and I know what I need to do to get that done. Additionally, thebiggest way that I motivate the people under me is by getting them to share my view for thefuture.

Q: What rewards does the company offer that motivates you, other than financial reasons?

Do you receive any special benefits as a plant manager?


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A: The corporations real motivation now is mostly monetary, especially with the economy as itis. However, the motivation factor also depends on the person. You have people that simplycome to work every day just to earn a paycheck. Then there are the people who work and try tosolve problems on personal time as well. For example, this would be a person who goes homeand wakes up in the middle of the night with a solution to solve a problem at work.

Q: What are the main challenges now?A: Having others understand how unique our company is and to start supporting us.Additionally, there is the financial issue. As venture capitalists, GreatPoint does not have deeppockets, so sometimes they move faster than their funding allows.

Q: What is the biggest advantage of this new process:A: It can deal with market flexibility because the process allows them to make natural gas, oil, orother energy processes. So based on market demand, GreatPoint energy can change their outputto please the current demand.


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Min Son

Edward Krule, Financial and Market Analyst

222 Third St. Suite 2163.

Cambridge, MA 02142

[email protected]

Edward Krules Office; October 30, 2009 at 1:00 PM

Q: Describe your current position at GreatPoint Energy.

A: Senior Financial and Market Analyst; however, it is just a title. As a start up, he does a lot ofother jobs including business development

Q: What other particular skills does the company require, or recommend, besides certain

levels of experience are required for your job?

A: Manage oneself as well as understanding managing others.

Q: Around how many people do you directly manage? How do you manage them?

A: None. Its like the aloneand the wholeteam (hes the only one in the department)

Q: What are your primary responsibilities as a manager?

A: He doesnt really have responsibilities as a manager.Again, because his job is close to more

like all over the place responsibilities.

Q: What are your day-to-day responsibilities? Most important one?

A: Working on numerous projects spontaneously such as a-month-long project (such as gettinggovernment grant), daily projects, temporary projects, data, presentation

Q: What specific responsibilities does GreatPoint Energy expect to employees and to your

particular position?

A: Do your job, proactive, spirit of going out there and try out.

Q: What is your typical day like?

A: Working on projects: from temporary to long-term. (He did not mention anything more thanthat.)


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Q: What kind of frustration do you experience in your position?

A: Deadline is stressful: making sure to get lots of things on time and especially when hehas a lot more to do. Besides, when projects he has been working on does not succeed orturns out to be not selected or not working out.

Q: Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

A: Working at another start-up office he likes.

Q: Any particular reason?

A: Because I like the atmosphere of startup companies(He did not mention a thing about staying within the organization.)


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Q: Are the working environment, communication process, working process etc.

horizontal or Vertical?

A: Its horizontal, informal, friendly, and really close relationship with coworkers.

Q: So its more like a family like environment?

A: Yes. Like a family. But as the company gets bigger and bigger, the company movesfrom the horizontal to the vertical. GreatPoint Energy is at the stage of the transformation tothe vertical environment.

Q: What do you think is what differentiates GreatPoint Energy from other similar

companies?

A: GreatPoint Energy is different from other companies because of its informal, family likeessence. As you can see, there isnt any wallbetween the colleagues.

Q: How do the environmental characteristics result in communication flow with othercoworkers?

A: Everyone works with everyone and there is no problem in communication. Even with CEOand the founder of the company like you just saw. (A guy who was one of the founders came induring the interview and had a bit of chit-chat)

Q: Is your job an individual process or is it closer to team process?

A: Both, but closer to team process because every different task ultimately reaches to thesame project, or goal.

Q: How do you deal with problems with coworkers? What do you do to resolve them?

A: If there is any problem, give feedback or report the issue to supervisor.(He talked a lot more about reporting to the supervisor and didnt really mention feedbackuntil I asked)

Q: Who evaluates you? Also, (in horizontal perspective) how does each employee evaluate

one another? By feedback? Constructive Criticism?

A: There is no formal evaluation system but if seeing any problem, he would reach to hissupervisors. Feedback? Depending on project leader, the feedback would be different. (I didntget this part. I assume he was talking about giving feedback to project leaders rather than people

in lower organizational hierarchy)

Q: How do you encourage your coworkers?

A: I identify them importance of the project. Basically telling them Just get into it.

Q: Since your company is small, sixty or less employees, what is the level of

interdependence?


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A: Because of the small size and the friendly, informal, laid-back environment, everyone doeswork interdependently. And the interdependence level is really high.

Q: What motivates you working at GreatPoint Energy?

A: Honestly, salary.


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Q: Is there anything besides the financial benefits?

A: Because you want to work here. If you dont want to, you cannot work efficiently and its notgood for yourself and the company. Also, Start-up companies give their shares. You have the

stake of the company so you want it to do well.

Q: What rewards does the company offer other than financial? What particular benefit do

you receive for your position? Does it give what you value or motivate you?

A: He seemed to be interested in the financial stuff as the only (or the most beneficial) source formotivation

Q: What do you find most rewarding from your job? Or your particular position?

A: You feel like youre building something. And thats the merit of working at startupcompanies. You can see your impact on the company.

Q: Like you said earlier, you work here because you want to. Then, do you actually believe

in being green?

A: Yes, the same. If youre not passionate about the value, you would not work here.

Q: So you experience a perfect value congruency?

A: Yes.

Q: Do you find that your success as a manager is from your technical skills or your


A: From experience. Learn the way to interact.

Q: How does each department inter-depend on each other?

A: Interdependency is very big part. No department can work alone here.

Q: The companys technology is the biggest asset. Does it company still put a lot of

effort to expand its technological boundary? If so, in what way? Aside from

technology, how does the company seek to expand its size? Investing into other

company, etc.?


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A: Technology itself is the biggest asset but its done. Thus, the company tries to work moreof developing it to make it commercially ready for use. No further investment in differenttechnology and so on. Just focus in one area.

Q: With the new building of the power plant in Houston next year, how will you and

other managers deal with this expansion and what will this expansion entail in terms

of managing a growing company?

A: Actually, its a different company. Maybe from the company that developed ourtechnology, like a branch that came out of it.

Q: How soon will the technology be fully commercialized?

A: Hopefully today. (This was it he didnt mention specifically and in detail.)


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Q: I understand that this is a private company and that you may not be allowed to share

much financial information, but can you explain how this company has been affected by

the recession in comparison to the industry?

A: Startup company; thus, no documents will be available. The company is not in fact generatingany revenues since the technology is not really ready to be fully commercialized. Companyneeds more money for development in fact.


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Sarah Alvy

Nicole Chaplin, Plant Engineer


Somerset, MA 02725

[email protected]

GreatPoint Energy Research Plant Conference Room; October 27, 2009 at 9:00 AM

Q: How did you get your current position? What level of experience and education are

necessary to perform your job? What strategic management skills does your job

necessitate? Planning, organizing, training/coaching, time management, directing,

leadership?

A: She got her position by finding out through a job posting that the position was open. Therewas no experience required for the position that she initially started with. She started out as anengineering assistant position. She has since been promoted and the education level that isneeded is a technical field related to the kinds of things they are doing there, there is a lot ofinformation regarding chemical processing and mechanical/electrical engineering. BSBA inchemical engineering from Cornell University. She manages 2 interns during the summer. Shemoved up quickly because she was overqualified from day one. Luckily, the manager noticedwhat she was capable and wanted her more involved in the engineering and design work. Sheshad a lot of opportunities with working with senior managements, which she would not havebeen exposed to if she worked with a larger firm. Shes currently working with people that have20-30 years experience. Started working two years ago.

Q: As a manager what are your day-to-day responsibilities? Most important one? Come

responsibility there can be a great level of frustration, is there anything that is frustrating

about your job?

A. Depends on the operating status here at the facility. If they are getting ready for runs, she ispreparing with all of the analysis, making sure they need the correct supply amounts, drawingsare up to date, things are just ready to go for D-day from an engineering standpoint. When thingsare up and running her responsibilities is quantitatively communicating what the performance isof the process, how well they are doing at converting material and if there are any upsetconditions in the process. What they do here, is demonstrating the core technology of thecompany, which is a technology that converts coal to natural gas. On a commercial scale theyseparate all of those gases and put them on a natural gas market.

Q: Around how many people do you directly manage? How do you manage them?

A: She doesnt directly manage anyone. They are not operating, when they were operating andnot just doing research she was in charge of 2. However, there are a lot of people she mustdirectly coordinate with when they are operating. When they are operating they must work inshifts, there are five engineers, b/c there must be someone there twenty-four-seven. Or they havebetween one and three people present from the engineering group. They arent controllinganyone, it more a team work. You have to make sure that you are replaceable at the end of yourshift. No one is on call, so therefore you have to be very particular in transferring all of your data


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at the end of your shift, because no one wants to get a call in the middle of the night, askingabout some data inputs.

Q: What specific responsibilities does GreatPoint Energy expect of employees and to your

particular position?

A: They expect their employees to work together in working as a team, and also because in theengineering group you must be replaceable, they expect each other to share information andcommunicate very well what they are doing. Very interdependent.

Q: Try to look at GreatPoint as an outsider (or an investor), what would you consider

GreatPoints strongest management approach? Is your team based work, or.what?

A: Usually adapt or change course because they are a smaller company, if they decide to changetheir business objective, they could just make a two or three person phone call. High availabilityfor change in the workforce. They change their objectives based on the market. Two years agoprices for natural gas were in the 18-19$ range, and now they are in the 2$ range. They have hadto do a change in their business model accordingly.

Q: Do you think there are certain things that GreatPoint could do to improve

management?

A: Theres a really big change between the way a startup company works and the way a largercompany works, it is very different. She knows from working with friends, that things thathappen at GreatPoint would never happen there.

Q: Since your company is small what is the level of interdependence?

A: Very small, we all work together. Very flat organization in terms of there is not a lot ofhierarchy in the organization. If were working on project development and there is a need fortechnical assistance, you dont need to go through a lot of channels to get help, you basically justyell at the person next to you and say what do you think of this?

Q: What is the work process at GreatPoint Energy like? Is it more individual or team

based? Can you tell me a little about its interdependence? Can you talk a little about a

previous team project? And if it worked well, then why did it work well?

A: Its a really small organization, your responsible for a lot, even though there are 8 otherengineers. A lot of the things you have to do may be working on a team, but it is veryindividually tailored there isnt really a detailed job description. Our job description is to get itdone. So it depends on who is available and who has time, they will split up information and labanalysis work. Sometimes, it takes a lot of people to do- people in the field to fill out the

paperwork correctly, then the engineers to do an analysis of the data and the help of the lab. Ittypically goes fairly well because they have the forms all ready to go, and especially sincetheyve done this many times. There is still a lot of work to do in terms of accounting for thingsin more of an automated way. One thing they struggle with is getting it done in a moreautomated ways. It took them a number of iterations to figure out a form and way to get thingsdone the most efficiently. They dont want to get stuck in the middle of run and say shoot, I haveno way of capturing this data. They give feedback to everyone, to find the easiest way to capturethe information.


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Q: How does GreatPoint generate new ideas?

A: When we are thinking about new ideas in a technical standpoint we do that moreindependently and present it to the group. She had an idea on estimating how long it would taketo fill up a particular vessel so she did a preliminary analysis, she reviewed it with the manager,and the manager liked it and then all the shifts were required to do it. It is very hard to geteveryone there because they have to work twenty-four seven.

Has anything gone wrong that everyone had to fix together? Typically if something goeswrong its because it wasnt communicated very well. For example, huge trailers of hydrogen andthey are very expensive. Either you work together to order the right amount. Also, weve hadmistakes in communication in not ordering the hydrogen. They would then have to shut down inthe middle of a run. It takes very careful management of the inventory here and communicationof okay who ordered what. Typically thats where we go wrong, it puts an entire run campaign injeopardy.

Q: Besides working on a team, what do you look for in your employees, or coworkers?

Ex) Personal characteristics, education, experience, skills

A: Since this is a small organization, there is a lot of work to do. There is not much room forpeople who loaf- people who want to take the easy way out. There is so much work to be doneand not all of it is going ot be easy, or impressive or amazing or gratifying all the time, but it hasto get done. There is also a lot of things that have to get done and you think wow I am so underqualified to be able to do this and its amazing that I can. There is a lot of opportunity here, andwhat she looks for in her fellow co-workers is someone who at least tries their best and really canget the job done. There is no one else to really do it. Someone who communicates well and whois willing to meet them halfway. Lets work together in solving this problem instead ofwill youdo it for me? Its very frustrating to work with people who loaf because at GreatPoint you mustrely very heavily on your fellow co-workers.

Q: How would you describe Greatpoints culture? Are there any norms that stand out?

A: The norm is that it is a very dynamic environment- things are constantly changing because itis a start up company and there is a high level of responsibility because there are so fewemployees. Their mentality is very much lets just get the job done, lets not overanalyze, theymust always get to the next step. They are a R & D company, they cant sit there for two yearsthinking about things because they will run out of capitol. It is a very dynamic culture almost tothe point of shoot from the hip. Its almost expected from a small organization.

Q: How does the environment at GreatPoint cater to the communication flow of business?

What is communication like at the Fall River Plant? GreatPoint focuses on coal here inMassachusetts but it has other operations across the nation, for example your geothermal

activities in California. How is the communication with other offices going?

A: There are many offices- lab in fall river, Houston office, Cambridge, Somerset, Chicagooffice and lab. You have to be really good at coordinating with people who you cant see everyday. If there is something that she needs she calls and e-mails them. She just got back fromHouston and is going out to Chicago later on that day. She is coordinating with the lab chemist


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manager in shipping some samples out to the lab in Chicago. It takes a lot of coordination aboutpreparing and it takes a lot of planning. Definitely a lot of communication with other offices.

Q: Who evaluates you? Do employees ever get the chance to evaluate one another? By

feedback? Constructive Criticism?

A: Good question, I ask that every day. Every person there evaluates her. There is no regularannual review. There is alto of face time with the people that are very senior. They dont tell herwhat to do, but she gets a good chance to observe how they behave in their positions and shemodels her behavior accordingly.

Q: What are the current issues you face today in trying to expand GreatPoint?

A: Business development perspective, current issues are in forming strategic alliances andpartnerships. Were in the project development stage in forming those partnerships and talking tothe right people. They are talking to huge organizations, they want to make sure to talk tosomeone at the top, someone with real authority to say yes or no to the deal.

Q: What motivates you at work? To make your work harder, more efficiently, smarter?

A: I am that person who has that little person in my head that tells me to work harder. I think thatworking in the field with people in that have so much experience in the industry, really brightpeople, really motivates me to learn as much as I can from them. She doesnt want to burdenanyone with stupid questions, so she studies what is going on.

Q: How do you motivate your coworkers?

A: Something she is still figuring out. She is realizing that maybe just doing a good job is alwaysthe answer. What does she want? She thinks that her needs and motivation to advance in hercareer is what she wants. She wants to continue to advance into her career, she doesnt want topeak very early.

Q: What rewards does the company offer other than financial?

A: Avi is a big believer in feeding his employees. He likes to make sure that we are well fed. Hegets groceries delivery at the kitchen in the plant.

Q: What do you find most rewarding from your job?

A: What is most rewarding is how much she can learn, and how much she can be exposed tosuch a broad range of activities, in terms of business development and project managements, andvery technical process designs. Just so many things that she can learn and contribute to.

Q: What are GreatPoint Energys main values?A: Not sure.

Q: Have you ever had a value that conflicts with your companys values? If so, how did you

resolve this?

A: Not sure.


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Q: Do you think that coal gasification has the potential to fit into our domestic supply?

A: Mostly working on the commercial design over in Houston. She is working on getting a lot ofpartners in the industry figuring out what they need and what they can provide and if they havingany standing partnerships that could be beneficial. So the actual building time is a couple years,and the design work that has to happen before and the project development (making the deals)that must happen first. So a couple more years after that.

Q: Coal sequestering is not a new technique, and many companies, such as the huge power

players in the petroleum industry, have been investing in this renewable resource for a

while, what makes your small company measure up against them?

A: Conoco Philips they are a competitor. They have a similar technology. We have certain, ourtechnology is a little bit different and they have different flaws in their technology where we mayhave advantages. People are more interested in a new venture in developing technology. But it isalways a question that we face. Why are we better than GE or Conoco Phillips.

Q: Coal may be an abundant and cheap resource but the costs of new reactors and

equipment is not cheap. Will there be a gain on investment in the next 5 years, 10 years?

A: Still figuring out what type of market they will enter, once they have their strategic partners, itwill give them a better idea of what the deal should look like. Some partners may want a firmcontract for ten years.

How much money has been raised to date? We initially raised 130M, and a lot of that wenttowards building this facility here and operating it. Once everything works out will there be agreat return on investment? That depends on how much they put into it, it depends on us and alot of the success here is in the management. Success is determined on the preparation here.

Q: Because of the American Recovery act, the government has put in great investments

into wind and solar energy. Do you find this to be a threat to the coal sector in the energy

industry?

A: If they wanted to produce electricity instead then there would a competition. Certainly there ismore interest because its a more passive form of energy commercialization and its more green.

Q: Natural gas is a growing market in Asia, is the company looking to expand

internationally?

A: It is in GreatPoints future providing that we want to pursue that opportunity although thenatural gas market in asia has potential. There are however many IP issues. What happens is thatthey will essentially steal proprietary information and they will copy the companies plant andtechnology techniques.

Q: Since this is a private company I dont have access to the financial statements, is there

anything you can tell me financially about the health of GreatPoint? Has it been affected by

the recession?

A: It gets investments from Kliner Perkins and other venture capitol firms.

Q: Are there any policies in the US that are prohibiting the scale and development of

natural gas? Like the ARS standard (agriculture research center)? Aaron Mandel at the


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BU Energy Club meeting stated that natural gas prices have fallen significantly in the past

year. Has this deterred any potential investors?

A: Forced them to look at other products they could make, Its not to say that natural gas will bethis cheap forever. Its changed their perspectives on what else they could make and what else isvaluable now. Lets come up with a couple of different process schemes, instead of just one justincase the market wont perform the way they think it will.


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Teresa Kim

Thomas F. Robinson, Projects/Operations Manager

One Broadway, 14th Floor

Cambridge, MA 02142

[email protected]

Thomas Robinsons Office; October 27, 2009 at 9:00 AM

Q:What are your primary responsibilities as a manager?

A: To manage the organization that operates plants. We run tests with data.

Q: What are your day-to-day responsibilities? Most important?

A: I have to manage operations where data is copied. Im the leader of the operating team. Thenumber one issue is safety like dangerous gases and the electricity. The next is to operate theplant according to test plan and make sure the data is valid. We dont product products, but data.We put numbers on paper; it is a scientific experiment.

Q: what specific responsibilities does GreatPoint Energy expect from their employees?

A: I take roles seriously, especially safety. I expect them to have a close communication cycleand to understand the plans before doing so. They must speak up(communication)! When weredoing a test, they should behave professionally. There are grueling tests with 12 hr day shifts 10-12 days in a row. It turns life off so they need dedication and commitment. It is beyondnormal jobs.

Q: What is a typical day like?

A: In general, it is a normal life when theres no tests, but abnormal when there are tests. Testdays include 12 hrs while I overlap with my partner. When theres no test it is a 10 hr. day. Myjob is rewarding because I get to see things get done, like real time. I see things happen and itsa sense of accomplishment.

Q: Do you find that your success as a manger is from your technical skills or your


A: It is a combination because I must communicate complex technical things to a wide audience.I must speak with doctorates and people of high school(1/2 of staff) education but make themunderstand, a spectrum of people.

Q: What are the frustrations of being a manager? Examples?

A: 1. me being driven. Also planning, there cant be enough. When coming into an operation, Imay say I couldve planned more, but you didnt foresee them. 2. bringing people out has a lotto offer but people arent all extroverted, but I want to get people to speak up. It is a long termthing, need trust and a need to feel theyre not at risk or be criticized I want them to trytheir best to contribute to participate by meeting every day, frequency of opportunity.. and aclimate creating during opportunities; build team and collegial relationship instead of officer andenlisted man relationship, which I dont like.


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Q: Does your job entail an individual process or more of a team process? examples?

A: Team! Team leadership by working hard to set examples and let people ask, listen and createa climate that creates relaxness.

Q: What do you look for in your employees/coworkers? Ex: personal characteristics,

education, experience, skills.

A: Willingness and curiosity and dont expect to know everything. I like team membership. Theyshould have technical experience in this technical world. Skills: operating equipment at thecontrol panel with knobs adjustments in process in 100 feet away, a million dollar controlcomputer system with experience at this equipment.

Q: How do the people above you manage you? How do you manage them?

A: We have a daily meeting; the people there and others represented. We communicate plans anddeal with things not according to the plan. I direct around 18 people. Second hand information iftheyre not there. There are 2 shifts so other shift gets communicated different things. Themeetings at every shift change at 7 am and 7 pm. Consists of safety and topics discussion.Supervisors have the mini meetings at 9 pm(less formal).

Q: How does the structure of the company affect the communication flow to other

coworkers? How do the different sections of the company communicate with one another?

A: We have sign in books at meetings(formal process) , but its a loose structure( informalcompared to larger/older companies) it opened in October 2005, so theres no culture; it is acomposite culture of other companies of people. Positives: not bound up and constrained inculture, but negative: cultures good and can guide in absence of formal. We cut throughorganizational lines and communicate. It is not as well as we could with sections. There are 3major pieces, this facilities, Houston (staff) offices, and corporate(accounting, legal uppermanagement). All three parts dont communicate as well as they could and they should becloser or feel like were closer. We dont always take advantage of it. We try to have periodiccommunications about specific topics to get to know what everyones doing.

Q: What kinds of problems as a manager do you deal with?

A: Attendance for tests. Corporate communications in small company we need to be prettynimble) because different tasks. Its a problem because we dont like change but in a smallc

OB221 Team 1 - Project Paper Final Draft

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