Page 111 - (DK) The Business Book

LIGHTING THE FIRE 109

secret sauce that made this place Geert Hofstede
great and allowed us to earn our
Born in 1928 in Haarlem, the
clients’ trust for 143 years ... I look
Netherlands, Geert Hofstede
around today and see virtually no
went to technical college then
trace of [that] culture.” The letter
gained an MSc in mechanical
made headlines, and the company’s
engineering from Delft
shares fell by 3.4 percent.
Technical University. He
spent two years in military
Culture in practice service with the Dutch army,
The desire by leaders for some sort before going into industrial
of standardized culture—one that management and beginning
is fixed, visible, and stable—is a PhD. In 1965, while studying
understandable, but it likely to part-time, he joined IBM and
The cultural network, devised by operate only in the imaginations of founded a personnel research
Deal and Kennedy, refers to the informal leaders than in the experiences of department. His years at IBM
channels in a company—storytellers, employees. Companies rarely have were to prove formative; the
gossipers, and whisperers—through one culture; they are usually a data and insight gleaned there
which culture is formed and passed on. formed his research base and
combination of many, which
his “bottom-up” view of
overlap across departments,
organizations. Hofstede
Deal and Kennedy also defined four countries, and business units. The
became a professor of
types of organizational culture, task for leaders is to ensure that
management in 1973, and was
which emerge from the interplay these cultures do not diverge too named one of the world’s most
between a company’s attitude to far from core organizational values. influential thinkers by the Wall
risk, and the speed of feedback and Organizational culture is not Street Journal in 2008. The
reward. In the tough-guy, “macho” static. Every type of culture is ideas in his 1980 book Culture’s
culture, rapid feedback and reward dynamic and shifts, incrementally Consequences continue to
are combined with a high tolerance and constantly, in response to inform global debates on
of risk, as in the advertising industry. internal and external pressure. organizational culture.
In the work-hard, play-hard culture Managing culture, especially
—such as a sales company—risk is through periods of deliberate Key works
less prevalent, but rapid feedback change, is one of the most difficult
1980 Culture’s Consequences
and reward produce a high-pressure business tasks a leader can face.
2010 Cultures and
environment. In the “bet-your- The advice for leaders seeking
Organizations: Software
company,” high-stakes culture, the to change culture is start small.
of the Mind
risk attached to decisions is high, Culture is slippery, and trying to
but feedback on success or failure is change everything at once often
slow. The oil industry is typical of the results in failure. Bold new mission
high-stakes culture. In a process statements, big office redesigns, or
culture, such as an insurance exhortations that “working here is
company or government agency, fun” rarely have the desired impact.
feedback is slow and risks are low. Cultural change requires long-term
Leadership and culture are investment in employees, not in Culture eats strategy
interwoven and interdependent. If a buildings and branding. This is for breakfast.
leader does not protect or redefine because culture may be led from Peter Drucker
the core values that made a the top, but it grows from the
US management consultant
company successful, culture can bottom; it requires patient nurturing (1909–2005)
erode. In 2012, a Goldman Sachs over time. Leaders must understand
employee bemoaned the investment the dynamic of an organization’s
bank’s “toxic culture” in an open culture so that they can usefully
letter to The New York Times, draw on its strengths, rather than
claiming: “the culture was the be overcome by its constraints. ■