Pros
The strength of Eastman will always be the boots on the ground. Coworkers are friendly and genuinely motivated to help you succeed. Front line management is focused on providing their employees with the tools they need to do their jobs. They also excel at mentoring and growing their employees. Driven and successful people are highly rewarded.
Cons
There are many layers of middle management, and from the bottom it is unclear how much value they add. Lower middle management (just above front-line supervisors) tends to be populated by yes-men that have little understanding of the processes or people they manage. Ineffective managers who have impressed somebody in the past are shuffled around to where they can do the least damage. Kingsport is a small town, and those who's parents work at Eastman get promoted with uncanny regularity. Decision-making is slow (except in the case of a manager's pet project!) such that most good ideas are not commercialized until the market has moved on and the product will no longer be profitable. The Executive Suite like to talk about the strength of Eastman's employees and how they are the reason for the company's success, especially before and after announcing layoffs or benefit reductions so the company can meet its earning growth targets. Layoffs are often done quietly. What was once a very paternalistic company where "Uncle George" Eastman took care of his employees is quickly becoming an investor-focused profit machine.