Expand Your Mind: 4 Views of Culture
by Miki Saxon
Our first view of culture looks at Lehman Brothers, whose corporate death touched off the financial meltdown in September 2008. In case you didn’t see a news article there is a 30 million dollar 2200 page report on what went wrong, but if you don’t feel like tackling that here is a readable review and analysis you’ll find useful.
While Lehman’s huge indebtedness and other mistakes have been well documented, the $30 million study by Anton Valukas, assigned by the bankruptcy court, contains a number of surprises and new insights, several Wharton faculty members say.
Another symbol of the mortgage mess is Freddie Mac, which Charles Haldeman is turning around using the same template he has used in the past.
Haldeman applies the same management principles to any company he joins. “The first day you come in,” he said, “you literally don’t know one person. You’ve got to have a template … some philosophy to bring” that can be applied to an organization and the culture that already exists. Haldeman said his ideal management model has eight necessary ingredients:
- Make integrity and high ethics prerequisites.
- Create a workplace that’s open, direct, candid and honest.
- Make sure employees understand the company mission.
- Develop a business plan that all employees can understand and repeat.
- Communicate the mission and plan constantly.
- Give other people autonomy.
- Enforce teamwork.
- Senior managers must spend time walking around.
Our third view explains why the right culture needs to be in place before collaborative-enabling technology can work—no matter what the under 30 crowd believes.
The tools alone have failed to make the company collaborative. … Are the tools the problem? More likely, the problem is the organization. When tools fail to create value, it’s usually because decision-makers adopt tools before the company’s culture and processes are collaboration-ready.
Finally, a more personal look at culture, because finding your way around a new culture is critical to your long-term success at that company.
Adjusting to an employer’s corporate culture may be the hardest part of starting a new job. In a recent survey by OfficeTeam, nearly one-third (32%) of workers interviewed said acclimating to a new corporate culture poses the greatest challenge when re-entering the workforce after an extended absence.
And it applies whether you have been out of work for awhile, recruited from your current position or joining your first company after school.
Flickr photo credit to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedroelcarvalho/2812091311/
