Week 10 Application Assignment - Felipe Camacho

While reading the articles on organizational culture this week I reflected back on the various companies I’ve worked for over the years and noted that they were all small organizations with an entrepreneurial culture, which is to say “do what it takes, with the resources on hand, to get it done”. For some additional perspective, relevant to this week’s reading, I interviewed Angelica Herrera. Angelica graduated in 2001 from the USC Levanthal School of accounting from which she was recruited to work for PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Since leaving public accounting in 2004 she has gone on to build a very diverse resume, with stints at First5LA, Tower Energy Group, JonesLangLassalle, and Sony Corporation. These were a publicly funded not-for-profit, a privately owned fuel wholesaler, an international real estate management company, and an entertainment/manufacturing conglomerate respectively. Each of these companies exposed Angelica to the variety of organizational cultures, and the accompanying benefits and pitfalls, described in the literature written by Sorenson (2009) and Denison & Mishra (1995).

When I asked Angelica about the culture, in general, of these different firms she replied that except for Tower Energy Group, all were very bureaucratic. Tower Energy Group, being owned by a husband and wife, was the only one that operated with an entrepreneurial spirit. The culture there was engendered by the owners, he a commodities trader and she a financial manager/accountant. The couple effectively split the company into two operations, commodities trading, where oil futures were traded, and the gasoline retail business. Training was non-existent at this company and was very much a learn on-the-job situation. This though, had the positive effect of unifying the staff as they had a vested interest in the success of newcomers. When asked if she believed this was purposely set-up this way by the owners Angelica replied, “It was more because of the people working there needing to pull together”(personal communication, 2012). This actually resonates with me, as it has been my experience that small companies often don’t have the resources (money, staff, or time) to spend on extensive training for new hires. Upon further consideration, and in reviewing Sorenson’s article, we agreed that this company is an example of weak corporate culture (2009) that enjoys the flexibility to adapt to changes in its highly competitive, low margin industry.

Moving past this singular example, we discussed Angelica’s experience at the more “bureaucratic” companies. It is worth noting that Angelica has not stayed longer than three years at any given company. This is due in large part, except for PWC, because of the corporate cultures at these companies. Talking specifically about Sony, her current employer, for example, the company is one that is obviously hugely successful. Yet, based on Angelica’s experience within her department, and with her manager, Sony has a culture that does not correlate involvement with effectiveness, but rather maintains its competitive advantage through consistency (Denison & Mishra, (1995). The “normative integration” Denison & Mishra describe is strong enough to overcome the lack of managerial ability on the part of the department’s director.

It is now also worth mentioning that Angelica is interviewing in the hope of leaving Sony as soon as possible. She is, in fact, hoping to return to PWC. Her reason is, “they have the best organizational culture”. Based on her first experience with the company Angelica believes PWC is an example of the four hypotheses Denison and Mishra’s (1995) put forth. When asked what her reason for leaving the company in 2004 was she said it was to gain hands-on experience in the private sector, which would help her promote up the ranks faster upon returning to public accounting (PWC). Delving into this statement further we see that the organizational culture of a firm like PWC is built from the experience gained outside its boundaries. PWC is an example of strong corporate culture that retains the feel of a small company with the flexibility and (and individual engagement) of a small company.

What I took away from this interview, and the readings this week, is that even large companies, like Proctor & Gamble and PWC, can offer a great place to work for those of us who’ve preferred to stay with small companies with more familial corporate cultures. I’m looking forward to putting this communication management degree to good use at just such a firm…

Denison, D.R. & Mishra, A.K. (1995) Toward a theory of organizational culture and effectiveness.Organization Science, 6, 204-223

Sorenson, J. (2009) Note on Organizational Culture, Harvard Business School, pp. 1-6