Do Companies Take Culture and Corporate Values Seriously?
I received the following email from a reader in Italy and i thought i would reprint it as i think it is a well thought out piece on the importance of culture and how many companies are approaching the management of people. I would love the thoughts on this article. Here it is …
While reading about your experience, I’ve been strucked by how you point out not to the fact in itself (indeed the risk is part of the game) but on the way things have been managed, fully conflicting with the culture you had been building within the company over the years. Not a question of “what”, but of “how”.
Over the past couple of years I’ve been thinking a lot at what companies profess as “culture” and “corporate values”. And what I’ve increasingly seen is that these are too often empty words, that have virtually no application in the day-to-day work. Where on the contrary what I see is an increasing mediocrity, struggling to affirm personal values and ambitions, if and when necessary at the expenses of their colleagues, exploiting people and teams mostly for personal purposes of power. Not only words as “integrity”, “oppenness”, “respect”, etc are handled by the company as pure window-dressing. What is worst, in my opinion, is that mediocrity leads to mediocrity, and those people believe that the leadership is a matter of exercising power, with any mean (which means very often by lacking of respect and by rejecting any possible external contribution, idea and proposal).
Besides my personal experience, this is a phenomen that according to what I hear from a lot of people seems to be widespread – at least in Italy, and mostly among large multinationals.
Frankly, although it might be rewarding in the short term, I do not believe that this attitude is likely to be successful in the long term. It seems to me something incredibly old fashioned, out of time, linked to a world that changed and is still be changing a lot. I wonder however how so many companies are still believing that wrinting and disseminating a couple of pages on coporate values and culture is just enough. Culture and values do not exist if they are not reflected in how people handle day-by-day, and the impulse is to come from the top through a continuous application.
Too many companies do not seem to realize how the lack of true corporate culture and values are having devastating effects on motivation and passion, with the subsequent effects on productivity. The obsession toward results at any costs have often led to a “de-humanisation” process, in spite of the values so often professed. People are increasingly seen as completely interchangable, and considered as headcount instead of as a team. But I believe that results and success can be reached only with a good team, and that a good team can be build only on solid culture and values. And only the ones applying these principles will be the winning ones.
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Sad but frequent ( only in Italy? ).
I personally often had to define codes of conduct, based on values, beliefs and ideals of conduct but at the same time having to implement corporate strategies seemingly contradictory values compared to the famous one “carved in the rock”.
This leads me to think very often about this matter: I do not think that these are “empty words” or abstract concepts but aspirations often diverted by misunderstood urgency to achieve results at all costs, while the only cost to be paid should be the proper planning and definition of strategy and structure.
The biggest problem I fear is insecurity, poor education and preparation of the leader (no matter what level).
As I often state, there are 2 ways to emerge: the first is by demonstrating own capabilities, the second by denigrating capabilities of the others.
Maybe an even more deeper reflection is required: who is interested in having people leading a company that behave according to the second mentioned way?
However, the process is “top down” and being aware of this abnormality is the first important step towards change.
Hi
I absolutely agree that this is a top-down process. And it starts way up at the very top of the company. It has to reflect back down the various levels of management.
It is easy to fall into the trap of mediocrity and self-protectionism when the environment changes abruptly, like in the case of an acquisition. It takes strength and a good global view (and courage!) to not let it happen.
Very interesting topic!
I agree with all of the above, it is endemic in large organisations that the people at the top will talk about values and culture as a matter of habit, however we see more and more often that there is no perception amoungst the “lower ranks” that senior management act or manage others using these said values and cultures as a guideline.
I know as a manager, I ensure to the best of my ability that my direct reports are adhering as closely to the published values of my employer as possible, but how am I to know if Senior Management are doing the same?
Culture however is something completely different. I recently found out what senior management though was the culture of the business in which I work, but to be honest, I not only disagreed, I was confused as to where they were looking to develop this opinion. I find that culture can be difficult to pinpoint business wide, especially with a Head Office and remote office structure, as no one seems to look beyond their immediate group or office to gain a feel on what the remainder of the business sees the culture to be.
Again this could be my perception, but is not perception in fact reality?