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CHAPTER 14: SHAPING CULTURE AND VALUES 447

Fifth person’s examples (and why):

What patterns and themes do you see in the responses? Is there a common type of
walk/talk gap? What is the most common reason why these gaps occur? Which is the real
culture—the leader’s espoused values or the values in action?
In Class: Students can be organized into small groups in class and do the above
exercise all at once. Each person in the circle can give examples of an organization’s walk
not fitting its talk from their work and student experiences, and explain why they think
the gaps occurred. Then students can identify the common themes from their discussion.
The instructor can help students probe into this issue by writing good examples from
students on the board and asking students to help identify key themes. Students can be
engaged to discuss the walk versus talk phenomenon via key questions, such as: What does
it mean to you when you discover a walk/talk gap in your organization? Are espoused
values or values-in-action more indicative of a company’s culture (or are both the culture)?
Are walk/talk gaps likely to be associated with an adaptive culture? A strong culture?
Do symbols, stories, ceremonies, and other signals of corporate culture mean what they
imply?

Leadership Development: Cases for Analysis

Lisa Benavides, Forest International
Lisa Benavides has just been hired as the vice president of human resources for Forest
International. Previously, the company had only a personnel officer and a benefits special-
ist, who spent most of their time processing applications and benefit forms and tracking
vacation and sick days. However, a new CEO came to Forest believing that HR could play
a key strategic role in the organization, and he recruited Benavides from a well-known HR
consulting firm soon after he took over the top job. The new CEO has lots of ideas about
empowerment, shared leadership, and teamwork that he hopes to eventually implement
at the company.
Forest International operates in one of the most dangerous industries around. Paper
mills, sawmills, and plywood factories are filled with constant noise, giant razor-toothed
saw blades, caustic chemicals, and chutes loaded with tons of lumber. Even in this noto-
riously hazardous industry, Forest’s safety record stinks. Within a four-year period,
29 workers were killed on the job. There are an average of 9 serious injuries per
100 employees each year. In addition, productivity has been declining in recent years, and
Forest’s competitors are gaining market share. As one of her first major projects, the CEO
has asked Benavides for her advice on how to improve the company’s safety record and
increase productivity.
The company, based outside Atlanta, Georgia, has around $11 billion in annual
revenues and employs 45,000 people. Many employees’ parents and grandparents also
worked in Forest’s mills and factories. Among many of the workers, missing a finger or
two is considered a badge of honor. Taking chances is a way of proving that you’re a
true Forest-man (the term persists even though the company now has a good percentage