Page 51 - MS Year in Review 2020

In addition, if a company is created by the process of corporate acquisitions, or has

experienced at least one acquisition, then even with a fewer number of people the
issue of culture can be critical. Each acquired company comes with its own culture,
and the result can be a kind of a company with multiple personality (culture)

disorder.

HOW TO MANAGE CORPORATE CULTURE TO

ENHANCE ITS VALUE AS AN ASSET OR TO

CONVERT IT FROM A “LIABILITY” INTO AN

“ASSET”?

Based upon our experience in working with companies, we have developed a
systematic approach for the management of corporate culture. This approach

consists of six steps:

Step 1. the culture management process begins with the identification of the
existing corporate culture. These are the current actual values of the organization

with respect to certain key dimensions, such as treatment of customers, etc.

Step 2. The next step is to formulate the ideal or desired culture of the
organization. These are what the organization wants the culture to actually be or

become. In addition, this desired culture can be viewed as the organization’s
“strategic culture” because it is intended to support the overall strategic
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development of the enterprise. This can be accomplished by either having the
culture defined by the Alpha leader of the organization or be the entire senior
leadership team working together. Typically, it will require (or at least be useful to
have) a facilitator to assist with the development of the culture statements.

22 It should also be noted that steps 1 and 2 can be reversed, with the identification of the desired
culture first and then identification of the current culture. This can be necessary in situations where
there is no strong preexisting culture.

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