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Corporate Culture
Managing corporate culture was once relegated As companies continue to reorganize their work-
to the annual company picnic. Today, we’ve evolved force, and workers move from team to team, change
from walking on coals to participating in group jobs and even industries, ‘learning the ropes’
cooking classes. Reality bonding is not far behind. is going to be an ongoing effort.
Recovery “First there was the dream: Everybody gets Getting the right “fit” Corporate culture gets its most
to be a millionaire! Then there was the nightmare: intensive focus during recruiting. HR deploys an
Will I have a job? Now there’s a back-to-basics array of tools to determine “fit,” e.g., having candi-
search for clarity.” This recent description of Yahoo dates take Myers-Briggs tests and submit SAT scores.
in a May 2003 Fast Company article sums up the They also turn to third-party websites that specialize
corporate reality for many organizations that are in helping companies attract, hire and retain the
still recovering from the post-Bubble economy. right people. Once hired, HR moves quickly to
As companies have been downsized, taken over, socialize employees in order to acculturate them.
merged or realigned, business leaders find that
re-energizing or redirecting corporate cultures is Job-seekers are heading to sites that feature
one of the most difficult tasks facing management. personality-assessment tests to analyze their skills
and find their “inner executive.”
Resiliency Experts believe that strong cultures exhibit
two characteristics: high levels of agreement among HR challenges Today companies are grappling
employees about what’s valued, and high levels with a wide range of cultural issues:
of intensity about these values. Some organizations
exhibit high levels of intensity but low levels of • How they manage teams versus individuals
agreement, e.g., marketing’s focus on the consumer
versus engineering’s focus on technological innova- • Managing and staying connected to free agents
tion. Others agree about what’s important but are
unwilling to go the extra mile to make it happen. • Creating a global corporate culture
Cultures that thrive over time are also usually heavily • Attracting and keeping knowledge workers
influenced by the founder’s model of behavior.
• Stimulating innovation
Emphasis on Innovation Experts agree that
organizations with particularly strong cultures are • Inspiring loyalty in times of change
deeply committed to norms and values that promote
innovation, risk-taking and change. Leaders make it • Helping employees integrate work and life needs,
safe for employees to take risks and move quickly e.g., offering family-friendly policies and helping
to implement promising ideas. employees negotiate blurred boundaries between
home and office.
Corporate Reputation: The Top Three Scoring Companies Across Eight Key Attributes
Fortune, March 8, 2004
Key takeaways • There is no formula for developing a • A more mobile and diverse workforce
strong corporate culture. will increasingly strain the concept of
a unifying corporate culture.
• The strength of an organization’s culture
depends on how closely members share
the same values and how committed
they are to working together to realize
them.
Language Just-in-time worker Change agent A person 360-degree reviews Schwag Anything
New name for a whose role is to imple- A performance review emblazoned with
temporary worker ment a change; change that combines input from a company logo, from
agents may be inside an supervisors, peers, and t-shirts to license plates
B2E Business-to-employ- organization or come direct reports to provide to troll dolls
ee communication, typi- from an outside source a broad perspective on
cally company intranets, and they play a key role an employee’s strengths Toxic boss A boss that
emails, etc in sustaining the momen- and developmental bullies and/or harasses
tum and direction of a needs employees
change effort
Examples of practice Southwest Many experts Enron In the case of Tickle.com Individuals Microsoft There are
do not simply credit the Enron, where the culture go to this site to take so many people inter-
airline’s strategy for its rewarded innovation tests that assess their viewing at Microsoft
success today.They also and risk-taking, the personality types and every year, someone
point to Southwest’s consequences were help them determine wrote a book about
alignment between their extraordinarily sobering. the most appropriate the experience. William
culture and strategy, and careers. Poundstone tells appli-
how clearly employees Google In the “About cants how to crack the
understand the culture Google” section of their WetFeet.com A site code on getting a job at
and how intensely they site, there is an entire that specializes in help- Microsoft in How Would
dentify with it. page devoted to ing employers recruit, You Move Mount Fuji?
“Google Culture” manage and retain Microsoft’s Cult of the
describing everything employees. Puzzle – How the
from Google’s world World’s Smartest
headquarters, the Company Selects the
“Googleplex,” to what Most Creative Thinkers
employees talk about
over lunch.