Whole foods market is well-known for redefining employee-oriented work practices and team-based operations, which have been the main drivers of its growth. It is one of the very few companies that put ideals into practice and shows commitment to pursue its vision. The article examines the unique practices of the market's work culture and how it has helped to create a source of competitive advantage for the company. By creating a high trust organization it has created a sense of purpose for which a community of people work together to make a difference. The management model is based on the value of empowerment that it gives to its employees.

Try to conjure up the fact, how many organizations let its employees decide what benefits they would like to have for themselves and where everyone knows everyone else's salary figure. Does this sound radical? Does this sound revolutionary? Picture, if you can, a company that doesn't think of itself as a company, but as a community of people working to make a difference in the world, where the mission matters as much as the bottom line. Yes, at Whole Foods Market (WFM) this is precisely what is being practiced day in and out.

WFM is the world's largest natural foods retailer, and also stocks several products that are certified as `organic'. It is America's first nationally certified grocer. WFM is among the fastest growing retailers in the US, and is known for its high growth rate in an industry characterized by zero to negative same store sales growth.

In January 2009, Fortune, a prominent business magazine, published its annual list of the `100 Best Companies to Work For' in the US. WFM featured at number 22 in the overall ranking. It was the 12 consecutive time that Fortune had ranked WFM as one of the best companies to work for (WFM was also one of the few companies to have featured on the list every year since Fortune started publishing it in 1998).

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