The Hindu Business Line : A key to understanding 21st Century

The company that we work in is in many ways like a family, perhaps even more a home to us than our own families. We certainly spend more daylight time there than at home. And just as in a family, there are some things that are done and others that are not. A culture is something you need not even articulate much. Martin Bower of McKinsey calls it the "way we do things around here". You may be able to recall places you worked in or even competitors where many practices, customs, behaviours and beliefs are very different. Why is this so? In practice, it is simply a function of history, often the personalities of the founding fathers of the enterprise.

In India, regional and religious differences in values and beliefs held add another dimension to culture. For instance, a Tata company would have a very different `smell of the place' as Sumantra Ghosal might have put it, from a Birla, a Bajaj company, or a South Indian, technocrat-led, first generation entrepreneurs' company such as Infosys. This would change the very style of managing, of communication, of people policies, and the assumptions held about how people in general behave - even if they were in the same industry and subject to the same pulls and pressures.

For this reason, a Marwari or Scottish origin would be expected to give a company an austere, frugal flavour. Those founded by Quakers such as Cadbury's have a strong social and community-service orientation. Indian firms started by families with a priestly or scholarly tradition retain a distinct mix of learning orientation, low-profile ways, little self-display, and markedly high integrity and social responsiveness.

As for style of decision making, in autocratic companies, there is an implicit belief in getting approvals first. In exploratory and experimental businesses such as research, pharmaceuticals or media, no one is really chastised for bending the rules a bit if it shows a sense of urgency or initiative. It is simpler to apologise than seek permission, is a prevalent attitude. Next to power, it is the attitude to risk-taking that probably defines a company's culture most vividly.

Terry Deal and Allan Kennedy in their landmark book Corporate Cultures, argued that organisations are social entities; that cultures impact strategy and performance and comprise many intertwined -- tribal habits, well-defined cultural roles for individuals, and various strategies for determining inclusion, identity, and attitudes to change. Their model places cultures into four quadrants, with high/low levels of the following: element of risk taking involved; and the degree to which internal feedback is given promptly. Thus some cultures take fewer risks and feedback on performance is slow, and unclear. Government style bureaucracies work this way. At the other end, in a competitive high-technology industry, everyone is expected to chip in with new ideas, innovation is encouraged. Feedback is quick and decisive. Mistakes are excused, indeed expected, but results are demanded too. Explanations and excuses will not do, and such environments would be comfortable with promoting people rapidly regardless of age and experience. Demonstrated ability and results would be the main criteria. Perhaps such companies businesses would accept the inevitability of people switching jobs often. You can see for yourself how all of these would be culturally the antithesis of a bureaucracy. This analysis remains simple and effective to this day. More on this in later instalments of this column.

More Stories on : Management | Manager's Handbook

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
To sell or not to sell: That is the question

The spiritual organisation

A key to understanding 21st Century

It's a game of empowering your team

Life after the CAT

E-mail essentials

End adversarial commerce