Culture. Com : Building Corporate Culture in the Connected Workplace

by Neuhauser, Peg; Bender, Ray; Stromberg, Kirk

• ISBN13: 9780471645399
• ISBN10: 0471645397
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-08-22
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

We are living in a .com world. The old rules are changing, but it is not yet clear what the new rules are. Everything is in flux, and the speed and complexity of the changes are difficult for many of us to absorb. Futurists, historians, and social scientists tell us the transition to a networked economy is the biggest shift in the way the world functions since the Industrial Revolution. The people working today are the bridge generation, spanning the gap between the old and new ways of doing business.The business and professional world is working feverishly to learn how to change its business strategies to capitalize on this .com world. A great deal of attention is directed at the external business issues of designing, marketing, selling, and delivering goods and services in the networked environment. But the internal infrastructure and culture changes that are needed to deliver on those new business strategies have received very little attention so far.Culture.com tackles the question of how to create a corporate culture that matches the new .com business strategy. It explains how a company' s internal culture must adapt to complement, support, and be properly aligned with the organization's external business strategy. And it shows how failure to adapt can undermine, or even destroy, a company's ability to carry out its objectives.Culture.com is a highly practical guide to the pressing corporate culture issues that face every e-business, from .com start-ups to traditional organizations making the transition into the clicks-and-mortar world. Explains the 9 key characteristics of a .com culture that are vital for all organizations. Offers practical tips and strategies to ensure that your corporate culture can be a competitive advantage, rather than a liability, in the .com world. Provides hands-on advice on changing your corporate culture to reflect the new realities of e-business: debugging on the fly, rapid risk taking and decision making, developing a culture of collaboration, building corporate culture in virtual organizations, and much more. Shows how to break old organizational habits that no longer fit in the world of e-business, and how to learn now ways to think, believe, and behave. Features examples and interviews from a wide range of companies, government settings, and not-for-profits.Praise for Culture.com"What a simple, yet profound, understanding of culture! This is a wise, practical and important guide in navigating today's 'dot com' whitewater world." - Dr. Stephen R. Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"At last someone has paid attention to that most powerful force called 'culture' at just the right time. As has always been the case, either we manage culture or it manages us. As we go deeper into this new world of bricks and clicks, it is imperative that we rededicate ourselves to the creation and survival of exceptional business cultures." - Jim Hammock, CEO and Chairman, Hire.com"Fast-paced and readable, Culture.com combines examples from successful .com companies with practical tips to guide executives struggling to build lasting corporations in the virtual settings of the global economy. The authors are well ahead of most business school research." - David O. Porter, Professor of Management and former Dean, School of Management, University of Alaska, Fairbanks; Founding Director of the Idaho Department of Commerce"Competing in the e-business world requires companies to shape their corporate culture to implement their business strategies. The authors of Culture.com have recognized this reality and provide practical tips, real-world stories, and smart guidance vital to executives, managers, and employees alike." - J.W. Marriott, Jr., Chairman and CEO, Marriott International"Culture.com is a mu

Author Biography

Peg Neuhauser has worked for over eighteen years as a speaker and organizational consultant, specializing in the areas of organizational culture, communication, and conflict management. Her company, PCN Associates works with clients in many industries, including high-tech, health care, finance, and publishing. Peg completed studies in the United States and England with an M.A. in psychology and undergraduate work in sociology. She is the author of two other books, <I>Tribal Warfare in Organizations </I>and <I>Corporate Legends and Lore: The Power of Storytelling as a Management Tool. <P> </I> Ray Bender, Ph.D. is a speaker and consultant specializing in alliances, leadership, and organizational change. Prior to establishing his own company, he was a Vice President and Research Director for executive programs at the Gartner Group, where he was responsible for setting the research agenda to support the issues of Chief Information Officers of large North American organizations. Prior to joining Gartner Group, he was a Consulting Instructor at IBM&#146; s Advanced Business Institute. He has a B.S. in History and Sociology, an M.S. in Industrial Administration, and a Ph.D. in Management. Ray is a graduate of the Army&#146; s Command and General Staff Course and a retired Army Colonel. <P> Kirk L. Stromberg is the managing partner of the StarCompass Group, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in organizational and individual change. Previously, he was an executive at the senior management level at AARP responsible for strategic planning, several major change initiatives, and management of its research and training operations. He was also a lobbyist at the state and federal levels for two major associations and an Operations Officer in the clandestine services of the CIA.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknowledgements	xxi
Your Corporate Culture in a Clicks-and-Mortar World	1	(22)
Corporate Graffiti Moves to the Web	1	(1)
The Rules of the Game Are Changing	2	(2)
What Is Corporate Culture?	4	(9)
Shared Underlying Assumptions and Core Values of the Group: The Deepest Layer of Culture	6	(2)
Behaviors and Habits: ``The Way We Do Things Around Here''	8	(3)
Symbols and Language: The Most Visible and Simplest Level of Culture	11	(2)
What Do You Change and What Do you Keep?	13	(2)
Cultural Change Is Disrupting and Upsetting to Employees	15	(3)
Breaking Old Habits and Forming New Ones	18	(2)
Applying This Information in Your Organization	20	(3)
Making the Jump to Warp Speed	23	(32)
Living in Net Time	23	(2)
Acxiom's 100-Days Story	25	(4)
Lessons Learned from the Acxiom 100-Days Project	29	(2)
Launch and Learn Is Standard Procedure	31	(1)
Do Products on the Fly Mean the Demise of Quality?	32	(8)
How to Produce Both Speed and Quality	34	(2)
How to Use a Fast/Slow Strategy to Improve Quality	36	(2)
Quicker Prototyping to Improve Quality and Speed	38	(2)
Creating a Culture That Supports Risk Taking	40	(2)
Making Decisions at Warp Speed	42	(3)
Changing Your Approach to Decision Making	45	(4)
Loosening Up on Control Can Be a Difficult Habit to Change	49	(1)
Coping with the Resistance to Rapid Change	49	(3)
The Difference Between Ability and Willingness Resistance	50	(2)
Applying This Information in Your Organization	52	(3)
Building a Corporate Culture in a Virtual Organization	55	(46)
What is a Virtual Organization?	55	(3)
Why Did We Go Virtual?	58	(2)
Virtual Organizations are Used to Recruit and Retain Employees	60	(1)
Being a Virtual Worker Can Feel Like Bowling Alone	61	(1)
Examples of Strong Cultures Supporting the Ability to Perform Well in Virtual Settings	62	(1)
Passing on the Culture through Socialization of Employees	63	(2)
The Challenge of Passing on the Culture to Virtual Employees	65	(1)
The Seven Steps of the Socialization Process	65	(31)
Step One: Selecting	68	(3)
Step Two: Conditioning	71	(4)
Step Three: Training	75	(4)
Step Four: Measure and Reward	79	(2)
Step Five: Shared Values	81	(7)
Step Six: Legends and Folklore	88	(5)
Step Seven: Role Models	93	(3)
The Downside of Socialization	96	(4)
Applying This Information in Your Organization	100	(1)
Living with Parallel Cultures During the Transition to E-Business	101	(36)
How to Get from Here to There	101	(1)
Key Differences in Transition Strategies	102	(5)
Parallel Operations Create Parallel Cultures	104	(1)
Convert All Operations to the Internet	105	(2)
Company Examples of Parallel and Integrated Approaches	107	(12)
IBM	107	(2)
Chapters Inc.	109	(2)
Lucent Technologies	111	(3)
Procter & Gamble	114	(2)
Sears and Whirlpool	116	(2)
Schwab Changed Its Mind	118	(1)
Six Criteria to Use When Determining Whether to Go the Parallel or Integration Route	119	(8)
Is Your Dominant, Mainline Corporate Culture Likely to Be Hostile to a .Com Type of Culture	120	(1)
Do You Need Separate E-Business Operations for Recruiting Purposes?	121	(1)
Are You Changing Business-to-Business Processes or Business-to-Business Activities?	121	(2)
How Clear and Unifying is Your Leadership Vision and Strategy?	123	(2)
Do You Have Enough Resources to Create Separate Parallel Operations?	125	(1)
Do You Have a Large Number of New Employees in Your Company?	126	(1)
A Painful Case of Moving from Parallel Cultures to Integrated Operations	127	(3)
Developing a Game Plan for Merging Parallel Cultures: Four Considerations	130	(4)
Plan the Reintegration from the Beginning	130	(1)
Involve Members from Both Cultures from the Start	131	(1)
Reward Cooperation	132	(1)
Expect Emotional Reactions	133	(1)
Applying This Information in Your Organization	134	(3)
A New Breed of Teams in a .Com Culture	137	(38)
Fast-Moving, Temporary Teams Are the Norm	137	(1)
Lego Teams: Aggregate, Disaggregate, Reaggregate	138	(1)
Characteristics of a .Com Team	139	(6)
Obsessed with Their Goal	140	(1)
Creative and Unconventional Style	140	(1)
Informal and Democratic	141	(1)
Team Member's Feelings or Personalities Are Not Important	142	(1)
When the Team is Done, It's Done	143	(1)
These Teams Are Not a New Creation	144	(1)
Com Teams Are Not Just for .Com Companies	145	(2)
Encouraging and Supporting .Com Teams	146	(1)
What Do .Com Teams Require of Leadership?	147	(7)
What You Do Not Need	147	(1)
Two Kinds of Leaders Playing Different Roles	147	(7)
There are Different Challenges for .Com and Conventional Teams	154	(13)
Hostile Reaction from the Larger Organization	155	(2)
Looks Don't Matter---Results Do	157	(4)
Do Not Use Individual Incentives in a Culture of Teamwork	161	(1)
Keeping People from Feeling Isolated When They Have No Home Base	161	(1)
Employees Find Their Own Ways to Stay Connected	161	(4)
Burn Out is a Serious Danger for a .Com Team Culture	165	(2)
Has Tribal Warfare Disappeared?	167	(6)
Why Would a .Com Culture Have Less Tribal Warfare?	169	(2)
What Type of Tribal Warfare Still Exists?	171	(2)
Applying This Information in Your Organization	173	(2)
Communication Belongs to Everyone in a .Com Culture	175	(30)
Companies Lose Control Over the Distribution of Information	175	(1)
The Upsides and Downsides of the Wired Workplace	176	(15)
Dealing with Cyberspace Name-Calling	178	(7)
Coping with E-Mail Hell	185	(4)
Changing from Push to Pull Communications	189	(2)
Getting the Right Information to the Right People	191	(6)
Moving From Hoarding to Sharing Information	194	(3)
A Case Study of Conflict	197	(2)
What is the Cost of In-House Competition?	199	(1)
Changing From a Culture of Hoarding, Conflict, and Competition to Collaboration	200	(1)
Laughter is a Sign of a Collaborative Culture	201	(1)
Applying This Information in Your Organization	202	(3)
Knowledge Management Is Managing People's Brain Power	205	(46)
What is Knowledge Management?	205	(6)
Is Sharing an Unnatural Human Act?	208	(3)
Looking for Examples of Knowledge Sharing	211	(1)
The Field Marshal Case: A Study in Ancient History, the Eighties	212	(8)
The Field Marshal and the Knowledge Worker: A Disaster in the Making?	213	(1)
Old Veep and New Veep: Doing and Undoing	214	(1)
The New Veep (and His Ego) Arrives on the Scene	215	(2)
Learning from the Case: What Was the Difference Between the Successes and the Failures?	217	(2)
How Did the New Veep Go Wrong?	219	(1)
How Does Your Company Compare? The Knowledge Audit	220	(1)
Kinds of Inquiry for an Inventory-Style Audit	221	(3)
Tacit Knowledge and Explicit Knowledge	222	(2)
The Kinds of Work that Workers Do Affect the Knowledge Culture	224	(9)
Examples of Explicit Knowledge Management Systems for Routine, Structured Work	224	(3)
Tacit Knowledge Management Systems for Unstructured Work	227	(4)
A Case of Knowledge Mismanagement: The Saturn Project for the Apollo Missions	231	(2)
You've Got All This Technology: Use It!	233	(1)
Technology Is Not Always the Answer	234	(1)
A Cultural Characteristics Audit for Knowledge Management	235	(2)
A Cultural Characteristics Audit	237	(1)
A ``Community of Practice'' Cannot Be Appointed	238	(3)
Communities of Practice Go to Cyberspace	241	(1)
A Good Knowledge Management Culture through Recruitment and Retention	242	(3)
A Quick and Easy Knowledge Audit	245	(2)
At the End of the Day: You'd Never Not Ask	247	(1)
Applying This Information in Your Organization	248	(3)
The New Corporate IQ and Getting Smart	251	(34)
How Do You Know If Your Company Has a High IQ?	253	(1)
Symptoms of a High IQ Culture	254	(1)
Symptoms of a Low IQ Culture	255	(3)
Learning to Identify What You Don't Know Is a Key to Getting Smart	258	(2)
Individuals in High IQ Cultures Have Three Kinds of Smarts	260	(5)
Job Smarts Focus on the Capacities to Do the Job Well	260	(1)
Thinking Smarts Is Not Necessarily Learned in School	261	(3)
Emotional Smarts Bring It All Together	264	(1)
Increasing Your EQ: Park Your Road Rage at the Door	265	(4)
How To Smarten Up: Creating a Learning Culture that Produces a High Corporate IQ	269	(2)
Who is Responsible for This Rapid, Complex Learning?	270	(1)
Helping Employees Improve Their EQ	271	(5)
The Company That Changed By Using Conversation as Its Learning Tool	273	(3)
Sheep Dip Training Is Not Adequate Anymore	276	(4)
Alternatives to Sheep Dip Training---Learning and E-Learning	276	(2)
What Is High-Quality E-Training?	278	(2)
Learning By Doing	280	(1)
Mistake Learning Becomes Acceptable in the Corporate Culture	280	(2)
A Conversation Tool for Developing Job, Thinking, and Emotional IQ	282	(1)
You Must Be Willing to Change Yourself	283	(1)
Applying This Information in Your Organization	284	(1)
Linkages and Relationships Outside the Organization: A Cultural Challenge	285	(28)
Mergers and Acquisitions: The Traditional Option Is Still Used in a .Com World	287	(1)
Why Merge and What Are the Risks?	287	(2)
The Odds Are Against Pulling Off a Successful Merger	289	(1)
The Culture That Can Be Stumbling Block	290	(2)
What Happens When a Merger Is Announced?	292	(1)
Do Mergers Really Exist or Are They All Really Acquisitions?	293	(1)
The Different Ways to Deal with Culture After the Merger	293	(5)
Keeping Separate Cultures After the Merger	294	(1)
The Acquiring Company Dominates and Absorbs the Other Culture	295	(3)
Blending Cultures is an Attempt to Retain the Best of Both Cultures	298	(1)
Choosing An Option: Separate, Dominate, or Blend	298	(2)
Merging at .Com Speed	300	(1)
Cisco Systems: The Acquisitions Success Story	301	(1)
Creating Alliances: Another Option	302	(1)
Alliances Are Not New to the .Com World	303	(1)
Four Types of Alliances	304	(4)
Transactions	305	(1)
Performance Contract	305	(1)
Specialized Relationship	306	(1)
Partnerships	307	(1)
Factors Determining the Success of Alliances	308	(2)
Factors Affecting the Long-Term Success of Alliances	308	(1)
Factors Affecting Day-to-Day Actions in Alliances	309	(1)
The E-Business World Requires the Full Range of Relationships	310	(1)
Applying This Information in Your Organization	311	(2)
Leading the Journey to the Wired Enterprise	313	(30)
The Leader as Culture Carrier	313	(1)
Defining Leadership in the E-Business Arena	314	(4)
The Difference Between Leadership in Traditional Companies and the .Com World	315	(3)
Core Activities of a Leader that Shape the Culture	318	(4)
Broadcasting the Guiding Principles	318	(1)
Creating a Vision	319	(3)
Day-to-Day Activities of a Leader that Shape the Culture	322	(10)
Paying Attention to the Right Things	322	(1)
Reacting to Bad News	323	(1)
Allocating Resources	324	(1)
Being a Role Model	325	(1)
Rewarding the Right People	325	(3)
Using Influence More and Power Less	328	(4)
E-Business Requires More Leadership and Less Management	332	(1)
Peacetime Management and Wartime Leadership	333	(2)
Informal Leaders and Empowerment in a .Com Culture	335	(4)
Complexity of the E-Business World: Leading at the Edge of Chaos	339	(2)
Applying This Information in Your Organization	341	(2)
Conclusion: Ten Final Tips on Building a Corporate Culture for the Connected Workplace	343	(6)
1. Recruiting for Cultural Fit	344	(1)
2. Speed Up Your Culture	344	(1)
3. When Changing Your Culture, You Get One Point for Each Action	344	(1)
4. Lead More, Manage Less in a .Com Culture	345	(1)
5. Pick Credible Role Models	345	(1)
6. Protect the .Com Teams for the Corporate Immune System	345	(1)
7. Increase the Collective IQ of Your Company	345	(1)
8. Enhance Your Company's Knowledge Management System	346	(1)
9. Plan the Integration of Your Parallel Cultures	346	(1)
10. Clarify Each Party's Commitment Level in Alliances	346	(3)
We Will Keep You Posted as the Story Unfolds	347	(2)
Index	349