M: Business 3rd Edition by O. C. Ferrell, Geoffrey Hirt, Linda Ferrell

Exercise 2

You might think flour is boring, but at King Arthur Flour employees love the stuff! The company was founded in 1790—the year after George Washington was elected president. It has grown slowly from five employees in 1990 to over 160 today. What makes these employees so passionate about flour? They own the business. Although King Arthur Flour operated as a family-owned business for five decades, it is now 100 percent employee owned. Therefore, employees control their fate and have a true stake in their flour.

In 1990 King Arthur was essentially a mail-order business. Today it sells to bakeries and grocery stores, runs a retail store in Vermont, and excels in public relations and marketing. Employees throughout the business are honored as valuable members of a team. All employees are offered training and development opportunities such as baking/cooking workshops, along with free products and store discounts. The company has won awards based on its structure: number six on Best Places to Work in Vermont and part of The Wall Street Journal’s Top Small Workplaces.

Employees at King Arthur are also dedicated to sustainability and the environment. The company advocates sustainable living by recycling, composting, decreasing energy consumption, and reducing its use of toxic products. King Arthur does not use chemical additives in its flour, nor does it use genetically modified wheat. The company is a member of the Vermont Business Environmental Partnership (promoting improved environmental and economic performance) and Green Up Day, and it is a certified Founding B Corporation (meaning it has met rigorous social and environmental performance standards).

Overall, King Arthur appears to be a fun place to work—where those who love cooking, baking, and sustainability can come together in partnership to run their own company.

King Arthur Flour is 100 percent employee owned. How does this change how the business operates, and how is it run versus other organizational models?

Step 1 of 2

A strong company culture plays a vital role in employee’s productivity and satisfaction. Moreover, a distinct workplace culture is important for the success of an organization. However, building and protecting an organizational culture is a challenging job for the HR leaders, particularly when the company grows by the number of employees. Being an employee centered company culture at KA; it makes it unique and distinct as compared to other organizational model.