Whither HP? Hopefully, forward

?Ding-dong, the witch is dead.?
That?s how one local employee of Hewlett-Packard Co. ? in a sentiment undoubtedly echoed by many more ? reacted to news that the company?s board of directors had asked CEO Carly Fiorina to resign. That same worker spoke of employees ?high-fiving it? in the hallways, jumping up and down, and dancing in the parking lot of the plant on East Harmony Road in Fort Collins.
Another Fort Collins worker put it a little more diplomatically in an article in The Wall Street Journal: “We see this as a big opportunity for change,´ said Jon Wade, an HP employee in the inkjet products group. “The mood is very optimistic.”
Fiorina, recruited in 1999 from Lucent Technologies Inc., disrupted the culture of HP, which for decades prided itself on the ?HP Way,? a philosophy that promoted innovation, a collegial respect for employees and great value for customers.
Instead, Fiorina implemented the ?Fiorina Way,? amassing power in her own hands, laying off tens of thousands of workers, muzzling employees and creating a general climate of angst within the company.
She forced through an unpopular, $19 billion merger with Compaq Computer Corp. in 2002, in an attempt to battle IBM Corp. and Dell Inc. in the personal-computer business. The deal was opposed by the son of one of the company?s founders, Walter Hewlett, who was forced off the HP board as a result.
Fiorina proceeded to lay off thousands worldwide. More than that, she consolidated power in her own hands. Recently, when the board promoted a plan to disperse some of that power in three other executives, Fiorina battled back, leading to her departure.
Northern Colorado business and civic leaders, as well as thousands of local HP employees, have had reason to be wary about the future of facilities in Fort Collins and Loveland. Some of that wariness can be traced back to years before Fiorina took over the helm.
In recent years, HP in Northern Colorado has:
? Sold its Loveland printed-circuit-board division to Merix Corp. That facility later was shut down entirely.
? Sold manufacturing assets of its Storage Systems Division in Greeley to Flextronics. That division, too, was shut down.
? Sold its Fort Collins printed-circuit-board division to Celestica Colorado.
? Shut down the Greeley plant entirely.
? Spun off entire divisions as Agilent Technologies Inc.
? Spun off CoCreate Software Inc., a Fort Collins maker of collaborative engineering software.
? Sold its Itanium design unit to Intel Corp., a team of Fort Collins employees.
Layoffs have been plenty in Northern Colorado, but Fiorina?s desire to control everything makes it tough to gauge exactly how many workers have been eliminated. That?s because she has banned public-relations officials from revealing how many employees work at a particular plant. Best estimates peg the company?s Northern Colorado employment at 3,800 to 4,000.
Local employees seem cautiously optimistic about HP?s future now that the controversial Fiorina is gone. But the board of directors seems determined to follow the same course, but with a different style in the implementation.
Should HP fail in its attempts to battle IBM, Dell and others, a breakup in the company is likely. And further consolidation of divisions has already been announced.
No matter what, HP is bound for change. The board and the next CEO will determine whether that change occurs with a restoration of the HP Way, or with further needless angst and disillusionment among employees.

Christopher Wood can be reached at (970) 221-5400, (970) 356-1683 or via e-mail at cwood@ncbr.com. His fax number is (970) 221-5432.