Page 121 - MS Year in Review 2020

Architects have a concept to “negative space.” Roughly, it’s not the space that the

structure occupies, but the space that it does not occupy! At IBM, the problem was
not what the culture was-- but what it wasn’t!

What does that mean? IBM was strong in culture management; it had a set of three
core values (termed beliefs). Specifically, there core values were:

 Respect for the individual

 Excellence in customer service and
 Excellence in everything we do.

There was nothing wrong with these core values. The problem was the values that
were not there, as explained below!

FIVE KEY DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE

My published empirical research has found that there are five key dimensions of
culture:

(1) customer orientation,
(2) orientation toward employees,

(3) standards of performance and accountability
(4) innovation and/or commitment to change and
(5) company process orientation.

These dimensions of culture are explained below.

Customer-Client Orientation. The importance attached to how the company
views its customers or clients as well as the assumptions employees hold about the

nature of their customers and clients can have a profound impact on how the
company operates and thus on its success.

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