What a silly question. As cc can’t be avoided, how can one ask this question? You can’t have “no culture”. Culture just happens. Remember one of its definitions: “It’s the way things are done around here”. So you can do things this way or another. But as long as you do anything – and you don’t do them alone - there will be a resulting culture.
So, cc just happens. It is there if you like it or not. The question is more about: is it your friend or your enemy? As the grand old man of cc, Geert Hofstede, Emeritus Professor, Maastricht University puts it: "Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster." Geert is certainly right. We can feel it in our daily life. And if you are the member of an international corporation - consider yourself as lucky or not - you may even cite several examples form your company’s folklore.
This statement marks the downside and hints at the possible pitfalls. But where there is a shadow, there must be light. If others suffer from it, why can’t we build a culture which we can thrive on? There are some encouraging sign on the wall. If your were lucky to read Werner Simons book on the “hidden champions” (I will comment on it in a later contribution), or even go back as far as to “In search of excellence” by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman you may derive the idea from the reading, that corporate culture may be the distinguishing factor for the very successful corporations worldwide.
Recent and not so recent research on the advantage of collective organised species over those facing their challenges as a sole individual shows that the roots of a “successful” corporate culture are laid out by our heir from evolution - the behaviour of a successful group, like a horde of Stone Age hunters (next reminder for me to write about it later). Modern globally acting high tech companies draw from the same sources as the wolf pack? You cannot be serious! - This could be your reaction.
Yes, I think it is true: The driving forces within any collective are still the same as we inherited from our ancestors at the dawn of mankind - or even from earlier times. Anyway, I think made it clear now that I started this posting with the wrong question. Perhaps I may come up with the right answer though. A corporation’s success has many causes. We learned about it all in our lessons about management practice. But in modern organisations it’s the culture which directs the people to do things not the orders from the top.
Hmmm, you might think. What is a modern organisation? And does cc affect some corporations more than others? Is the influence of cc depending on how you view a corporation - as a predefined machine or as an evolving community? Well it’s evident, we have to drill a bit deeper. I will do it in one of my following contributions. So please stay tuned.
So, cc just happens. It is there if you like it or not. The question is more about: is it your friend or your enemy? As the grand old man of cc, Geert Hofstede, Emeritus Professor, Maastricht University puts it: "Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster." Geert is certainly right. We can feel it in our daily life. And if you are the member of an international corporation - consider yourself as lucky or not - you may even cite several examples form your company’s folklore.
This statement marks the downside and hints at the possible pitfalls. But where there is a shadow, there must be light. If others suffer from it, why can’t we build a culture which we can thrive on? There are some encouraging sign on the wall. If your were lucky to read Werner Simons book on the “hidden champions” (I will comment on it in a later contribution), or even go back as far as to “In search of excellence” by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman you may derive the idea from the reading, that corporate culture may be the distinguishing factor for the very successful corporations worldwide.
Recent and not so recent research on the advantage of collective organised species over those facing their challenges as a sole individual shows that the roots of a “successful” corporate culture are laid out by our heir from evolution - the behaviour of a successful group, like a horde of Stone Age hunters (next reminder for me to write about it later). Modern globally acting high tech companies draw from the same sources as the wolf pack? You cannot be serious! - This could be your reaction.
Yes, I think it is true: The driving forces within any collective are still the same as we inherited from our ancestors at the dawn of mankind - or even from earlier times. Anyway, I think made it clear now that I started this posting with the wrong question. Perhaps I may come up with the right answer though. A corporation’s success has many causes. We learned about it all in our lessons about management practice. But in modern organisations it’s the culture which directs the people to do things not the orders from the top.
Hmmm, you might think. What is a modern organisation? And does cc affect some corporations more than others? Is the influence of cc depending on how you view a corporation - as a predefined machine or as an evolving community? Well it’s evident, we have to drill a bit deeper. I will do it in one of my following contributions. So please stay tuned.
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