Why is company culture hard to emulate
I met an ex-employee of Google who has now turned an entrepreneur. The first thing he did was to give the employees one day in the week (on Wednesdays) to work on a project of their choice. He withdrew the perk a year later after several employees wrote in to ask if they could take time off instead on Wednesdays until they had something interesting to work on.The book "How Google Works" lists in great detail the beliefs that drive the culture of the company. The famous Google perk of having 20% time to pursue one's pet innovation project has inspired many. So why have we not seen more Google like company cultures?Apple and Samsung trade charges of intellectual property infringement. But you have never heard of anyone stealing the culture of another company. Culture is a proprietary secret that is hard to hide because every employee knows what it is. Yet, even after you know everything about a company's culture, it is impossible to replicate.The design and technology behind a company's products are locked behind the legal frameworks - but they get copied. The company culture is an open secret that no one can copy.Go to any company that is more than five years old and you will meet old timers who lament the dilution of the company's culture. They shake their heads and say that the company has lost its soul over the years and blame the new hires for what they view as an irreversible loss.A firm's culture is a unique by product shaped by the interplay of three factors:
The business environment
The view of the employee
The view of the customer
Change in Business Drivers
Frugality versus opulence is a very visible part of a company's culture. The business drivers have a profound impact on shaping choices made by companies. Many start ups start off with headline grabbing perks and then withdraw them in stages as the funding dries up. Some start of as frugal and then loosen the purse strings gradually as a way to attract talent. That's a tough cultural transition to manage and often comes at a price.A supply driven business has a different mindset than one which survives everyday by generating demand. That in turn makes some functions more influential in shaping the culture. Most CEOs pick one or two functions as prime drivers of their vision as soon as they take over. This decision itself rearranges the power dynamics in the firm and changes culture.When the fortunes of the company depend on a few rain makers they occupy top spots in the firm and that changes how the rest of the employees collaborate.
A View of the Employees
Industries where the individual employee's contribution meshes with the collective output, the individual achievements don't get celebrated the way they do in say investment banking. The individual trader and banker's success or expertise drives the reputation of the firm. Such firms have culture that celebrate the individual stars.Generally firms that operate at the high end of the value chain tend to celebrate individual achievements in their culture. Those at the low end of the value totem pole have collectivist cultures where group achievements matter.A firm that has all its employees in the same location will have a very different culture compared to a firm that has offices around the world. Culture is shaped by the behaviour of role models of the firm. In many cases that means the senior leaders and the choices they exhibit through their daily behaviors.
A View of the Customer
Zappos minus its culture of fussing over its customers is just another retailer of shoes. They view the customer as an individual who they need to know and cultivate. The customer service agents are rewarded for spending more time (not less time) talking to customers and hearing their stories. The customer service agents in many other industries view the unhappy customer as a necessary by product they have to learn to ignore.Disney employees do not use the term "customers". They are trained to call them "guests". That can have a marked impact on the perception of employees. In several b2b businesses the customer is a faceless corporation. Choosing to look at the customer as a faceless group can impact a company’s culture. Seeing them as individuals who need to be prioritized needs a different culture.It is the amalgamation of the firm's view of employees and customers combined with the business drivers and the size of the Organization that shapes culture.Culture is a commonly held world view that is shaped by the behavior of its key leaders. Office decor, policies etc are easy to replicate. Culture is the most powerful factor in the success of the firm. That is the hardest to steal from someone because they reside in the organization's DNA.---------------
First published by The Economic Times dated 27 Jan 2015
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