The Problem of Culture and Identity

The readings talk about the importance of culture and values in the workings of every company. A company

cannot, and more importantly, should not function without a set of values to guide its decisions and operations.

Organizational culture is essentially a system of values and beliefs which heavily influence every employee of

the company, from the way they dress, interact with each other to making important decisions for clients. It

gives employees a sense of belonging to the organization and acts as a guiding light to help them make

important decisions.

The first reading talks about how IBM managed to update their values taking into account the opinions of

thousands of their employees. It was a very democratic process and the end result was very fruitful. Sam

Palmisano updated the companys values in such a way that he got people excited about their role at IBM,

which greatly helped pull the company. When all the people start working towards the companys goal, things

start taking a positive direction towards growth. The senior executives can then worry about broader issues

instead of pulling their hair out on problems like budget approvals. These values are what led to the creation of a

positive culture at IBM, a culture of trust, loyalty, responsibility, innovation and integration. Similarly, Doug

Baker was successful in bringing about similar changes in the culture of the company through reforms in a few

management practices. A shift from a level of higher bureaucracy to more frontline decision-makers was able to

bring about a sense of trust and personal responsibility at Ecolab. A culture of autonomy was introduced at

Ecolab as more employees were able to make decisions with greater impact. After a point, employees actually

started to buy into the companys mission statement to make the world, cleaner, safer and healthier, which is a

very good sign for any company.

Culture comes from a set of values. Values are not just the words printed at the back of your access card for

example, or printed on the poster at the entrance of the office, they are a set of beliefs which each manager in

the company should follow while making any decision of impact. Once that starts happening at every level, a

culture is formed. It defines the structure, the growth and the work practices of the firm. Is it a top-down

management, or is the workplace people-driven? Does the company operate as single units, or is so integrated

that it feels like a big family? Is the work-setting very casual and open, or is it very formal and communication
to the top has to go through multiple levels? The companys culture should answer questions like these. The title

or the rank of an employee will not influence their functions as much as culture; if a company has a very formal

setting, it will not be okay for even the CEO to turn up in casual jeans on a Monday morning. If the values of a

firm require customer-focus, like Ecolab, then the culture will indicate freedom to make decisions among front-

line employees, not because they hold an authoritative position but to attain customer-centricity.

Figuring out what kind of culture a company follows should definitely be on a jobseekers checklist. The title

and the pay are important, but it should be confirmed that the culture of an organization would match with your

beliefs and ways, only then the pay and title would actually matter. This is exactly what the second reading

talks about. It illustrates a few ways of being able to identify the culture of a company during a short visit. The

way people dress, talk to each other, the amount of interaction in the common areas, the basic facilities provided

for the employees, factors like these can help derive the norms of the workplace. Is it conducive for you? Would

be able to perform well in an environment like that? Those are important things to think about.

I was offered two jobs after college. The job roles, the pay, the titles offered were the same. I didnt know how

to make the choice until I decided to do a little more digging only to find the differences in the culture at both

firms. One was more of a manager dictated father knows best setting. As an entry-level employee, I would be

told exactly what to do and how to do it most of the time and that is how I was expected to learn. After a few

years of experience, I would be a manager myself and would be giving others similar rigid instructions. The

other firm was a much more people-driven company. I noticed that from a few of their social media posts. It was

a smaller yet much more integrated workforce. I decided to join them. A few of the values they expected of all

the employees were agility, continuous learning, driving innovation and collaborating for success. I could see

the culture complementing those values. Thoughts and ideas could quickly be taken to top managers ensuring

agility. Frequent town hall meetings are a platform for employees to suggest ideas for improvement, directly

to the CEO and CTO. A colleague of mine once suggested sleeping pods in the new, upcoming office. Now the

new office has a Revive Room with five sleeping pods. Continuous learning was taken care of through

initiatives called Centres of Excellence which were training sessions on an array of concepts like python

programming to basic statistics. I noticed that they were not only meant for newly recruited entry-level

employees but some of the team leads and the directors were taking these sessions too! Collaborating for
success was always taken care of through easy movement of manpower across divisions and weekly project

huddles to keep every employee up to date with the ongoing work in each division.

Culture and values always go hand-in-hand. Values will determine the culture of a company and embed a sense

of belonging and a common mission among all the employees. This is important for the growth of any company.

This is what lays a strong foundation for the company to grow upon and provides a more natural system sort of

growth pattern. The managerial principle I learnt from this session is that values are not just words printed on

some poster in the office but are very important guidelines that determine how the company would grow and

how an employee would grow with it. The right set of values can fix goals and help everyone to achieve them

together and keep the organization on the right track to fulfilling their mission. Every manager should embed

those values in the way they operate and make decisions.