My company is going through reorganization so
the environment is very negative. I have
been there less than a year so I was curious if the corporate culture could
have contributed to the tight financial situation we are in. I casually walked around and spoke to some of
my colleagues that have been at the company longer than me to find out their
views on the culture. I thought it was
interesting I found 2 people who sit across from each other who have opposing
views of the culture. They both work for the same Sr. VP but have different
directors. And both positions have equal
pay grades.
Lisa is a sr. manager of marketing and she
has been there for 8 years. She feels
the culture has declined since the company was taken over by a venture capital
firm. In her mind the executives that
were placed there have been on a mission to take everything out of the company
and sell it. According to Lisa, this
creates an environment “where employees are not valued and they are treated
like a nuisance rather than an asset”.
She feels the culture that the venture capital firm has created has
taken away any autonomy and empowerment that is needed to successfully grow an
organization. She does not feel that the
company has a chance to recover from the decline. She said without hesitation, “the culture of
this company is the reason this company is in the situation it is in.” She is looking for another job because she is
very unhappy working there. I asked her
if it was her job and she replied, “I actually like my job, I just can’t handle
the culture where you are criticized if you disagree with management, and I am
tired of being managed by intimidation”.
Tom is a sr. product manager and has been
there for 4 years. He feels the culture
is defined by the core values of the company and the executives lead by those
values. He believes the culture has had nothing
to do with the company’s current financial situation. He enjoys working there and plans on being
there for as long as the company is around.
He believes that the company will grow revenue next year and get back on
track. I asked him if he liked his job and he replied, “Not really…I am really
stressed and I have too much on my plate.”
I was really surprised that the person who
liked her job was planning on leaving strictly due to the culture of the
company, and the one who didn’t mind the culture didn’t like his job but
planned on staying. I also thought it
was interesting that Lisa defined the culture by the way that management
treated employees and not by the core values.
We learned this week that successful
companies like Wal-Mart have a strong corporate culture where everyone clearly
understands the corporate culture and makes decisions in line with them (Sorenson,
J., 2009). If a culture is strong then
there is less volatility, but when a company doesn’t have a strong culture then
a company can expect change (Sorenson, J., 2009). I asked about a dozen
individuals at my company to define our culture and everyone gave a different
answer. This lack of understanding of
company culture could be a contributing factor to our current financial issues
(Sorenson, J., 2009).
References
Sorenson, J. (2009) Note on
Organizational Culture, Harvard
Business School, pp. 1-6 (full
article).
Kristina-
ReplyDeleteWhat I found most interesting about the environment in your workplace was that everyone had a different idea about what the culture of the organization actually was. It appears that it is simply in need of a strong culture, one that resonates amongst all employees. What do you suppose are some ways that management could strengthen the culture within your organization? Strengthening the culture within the organization could resolve many of the issues you outlined such as, employees not feeling supportyed by management, or stress from lack of lateral support, and a feeling of "having to do it all."
Hi Kristina,
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty crazy that two people that have similar positions, similar pay grades, AND sit right by each other have completely different views of the company culture. Obviously that is a red flag for management. Do you think that this is solely the result of the two people having different directors? Sorenson (2009) wrote about making sure that management is all on the same page as one of the foundations of a strong company culture. Do you think that this may be the case for your company? How do you currently feel about the company culture? Do you agree more with Tom or Lisa?
Kristina, very interesting. Thanks for sharing this example from your organization. It sounds like before your organization can work to implement a strong culture, there needs to be some general agreement on what the culture is. Like Cathryn, I'd be interested to hear whether or not you think there is agreement on the organization's culture among members of upper management. Sorenson (2009) also says that, "if organizations want to foster and maintain a strong culture, they need to invest resources and awareness in symbols and signals that are consistent with the basic assumptions of the culture." What form might such symbols and signals take in your organization?
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa, thank you for sharing about your company.
ReplyDeleteIt has been my experience that when a company is brought under new management the old ways of doing things, whether profitable or not, and the established culture are soon deconstructed. Noting that your company was taken over by a venture capital firm, I wonder if the weak culture isn't intentional. Such a stakeholder may be more interested in running a company from a short term perspective rather than for the longevity of the company. Was your company sold by the previous ownership to the VC firm for a profit or was the company in need of a cash infusion? If the VC looks to keep the company in-tact you might expect the bureaucratic culture to take hold. If the VC is planning on parting up the business, there may be no culture at all until the dust settles...
Thank you all for the thoughtful comments. These are all very valid thoughts and questions. They both work for different directors under the same Sr. VP.
ReplyDeleteI think Felipe summarized it best by stating "there may be no culture at all until the dust settles". I think this has been the case since they purchased the company 4 years ago. Interestingly, I had a phone interview today with a consulting firm that the company hired to survey us for a leadership training class we are doing next week. The survey taker asked questions regarding culture, network, trust, and strategic plans, etc. It was like she had taken this class. Because we have covered so much in this class I was able to articulate my observations pretty quickly. Without a clear direction of leadership the culture is disjointed and not consistent. The company needs the CEO to push the company in the direction of a strong culture because I don't think it can happen otherwise. All of the employees are tired of being beaten up and ready to leave. Sadly, I think the survey is too little too late. I think our company needs to publish it's core values and add in a line on how they value employees. This may be the only way the company will be able to retain employees and for management to regain their credibility.