H-P Sues to Stop Ex-Chief's Job

Leader-Member Exchange Theory is a very important in business. In class, we learned that there are two groups associated with the theory: In-group and Out-group. Leaders and their subordinates form relationships and their subordinates fall into one of these groups.   In this case, former CEO Mark Hurd is in an out group with H-P.  He is in an out group because there is no trust between him and the rest of the executives a H-P. H-P does not trust Hurd to keep a secret.

I think in this article, Mark Hurd is task motivated. Within Contingency Theory have low to middle LPC scores. In this case, Mark Hurd, has good leader-member relations, his task structure is high and his position power is strong because he was the CEO of HP.

In this article, the author (Guth) discusses trust in the workplace. In this case, a confidentiality agreement between Hewlett-Packard and its former CEO Mark Hurd.  H-P is suing Hurd because they think his recent hiring, as a senior executive at Oracle Corp., violates his current confidentiality agreement. H-P’s former CEO, Hurd, has deep knowledge of its operations that could prove useful at Oracle. Hurd signed a confidentiality agreement stating he must always comply with keeping H-P’s trade secrets confidential. H-P claims Hurd is violating his legal obligations stated in his exit agreement. Oracle’s CEO, Larry Ellison, is countering by stating that H-P and his company have always been partners and have had joint customers. Also, prior to Hurd resigning, there were sexual harassment allegations towards him from a former employee, Jodie Fisher. Hurd did not violate the company’s sexual harassment policy only its code of business conduct, H-P stated. Hurd reached a private settlement with Fisher on those allegations.

Trust will continue to be a huge part of everyday life in organizations.  Hurd should have some moral awareness about keeping H-P’s trade secrets. Hurd has a personal choice to tell the secrets, but either way H-P will always question is trustworthiness. Hurd lost his employees’ trust with the sexual harassment allegations; that is why H-P does not trust him with keeping its trade secrets. Sexual harassment is a very negative issue in the workplace and it affects many organizations every day, and in this case, it’s affecting H-P and rival Oracle.

I encourage everyone to Click Here to read the full article. It is very interesting to learn about a high profile leadership scandal. 

Please leave any comments and/or your thoughts on this article and issue. And put yourself in HP's shoes, would you trust your ex-CEO to keep your trade secrets?


In my opinion, I would have to know and trust the person well before I would consider trusting someone in this situation. 


--Michael Cosentino