Web Industries (Hartford, CT)

Recommended Reading From an Employee-Owned Company, one in a series of ESOP articles in the Wall Street Journal, discusses Web Industries, a Hartford, CT, 100% ESOP-owned manufacturer. It discusses how a general manager and some co-workers read " Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution Is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations", a book about "tapping employees' ideas to lift a company's bottom line." This started a trend, as employees started reading more books:

"It's a very weird experience to be in your factory and have people comparing business books they've read," he says.

Mr. Quarrey says the employee-ownership culture can get employees – from machine operators to salespeople – to take the initiative to change the way the business is run. "Decision-making is not all centralized, so a lot of it happens very organically," he says. Employees figure out how to solve their own problems. That often means reading a book, or even taking a college course.

These days, employees in different divisions of the company will request a book they've heard about, and the company will purchase enough copies for everyone who's interested in reading it.

Here is their reading list:

• "Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution Is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations" by Alan G. Robinson and Dean M. Schroeder
• "The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround" by Freddy Ballé and Michael Ballé
• "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable" by Patrick Lencioni
• "It's Your Ship: Management Techniques From the Best Damn Ship in the Navy" by D. Michael Abrashoff
• "Kanban Made Simple: Demystifying and Applying Toyota's Legendary Manufacturing Process" by John M. Gross and Kenneth R. McInnis