Organizational Culture

In his classic, Talks to Teachers, William James observed that “All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits.” Essentially, from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep, most of our daily activities are repetitive, unconscious habits. We brush our teeth, eat breakfast, go to gym and do things which, on closer examination, happen without much will and reason. They’re just habits. A daily mass of these habits, over time, provides a behavioral map, which helps predict most individuals’ actions. Corporations are no different. Organizational culture is an amalgam of habits…

That which is compensated, is motivated.  Nothing more, nothing less. Between my speaking and consulting, I have many opportunities to compare comp plans and the resulting corporate cultures they create.  If you want to have a strong customer service culture, for example, you’ll need to aim all compensation plans at achieving it.  If you want [...]

Every organization invests a huge amount of money to recruit new employees. What happens when an employee leaves the organization? The employee not only takes the skills and knowledge imparted during training but also leaves a void that needs to be filled once again. Faced with such a scenario, what is the best possible solution for HR managers? Training an internal candidate for the position or hiring an external candidate? Which option would be more viable for the organization?Often, it has been seen that the benefit of hiring an experienced external candidate are negated as the candidate needs time to adjust to the corporate culture and develop amicable relationships before actually delivering results…

By Robert E. Quinn A student wrote to me. He told of working for a large company that was committed to leadership development but not through investment in courses. Instead they invested in altering their culture and involving their managers in the process of deep change. The company, for example, launched a high-performance work system [...]