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ARE YOU SAVVY ABOUT IT CULTURE?

Culture is arguably the root cause of what's wonderful, good, bad, or ugly about a company. Consider Arthur Andersen, Enron, GE, IBM, MCI/WorldCom, Microsoft, Motorola, and Southwest Airlines. Can the long-term success or failure of a company really be determined by the quality of its culture? We know that poor ethics can sink a company; can strong ethics help it succeed?

And, for all the talk and attention paid to it, just how measurable is company culture? Can it really be deliberately managed and changed or is it just a lucky accident when the stars align with the tides? Is culture the mere window dressing of a company or does it truly significantly affect the bottom line? Is there any real organic connection between company culture and financial performance?

InformationWeek asked Pittsburgh-based culture consultants George Borowsky and Lou Musante to prepare this brief interactive exercise aimed at helping us find answers to these important questions. It's fast, free, and confidential.
 
1. Which of the following best defines what culture actually is?
a. The critical ingredient in a sourdough-bread starter.
b. The bacterial component in yogurt that gives it beneficial qualities.
c. The company’s level of charitable giving as measured by how much money it donates to art, symphony and ballet endeavors.
d. The values, beliefs, behaviors and practices that govern how a company conducts its business day-to-day.


2. True or False? The bigger and stronger the company culture, the greater the likelihood of financial success of that organization?
a. True
b. False


3. Which of the following best describes an enlightened leader’s attitude toward company culture?
a. Culture is a silly waste of time. It’s more important to focus on financial stuff like cutting costs and earning bigger profits.
b. What you see is what you get. There’s no use trying to change it.
c. We really ought to appoint a committee to do something about cultural issues, but there never seems to be enough time.
d. The fundamental role of leadership is to create and proactively manage the culture of their company.


4. You’ve just been put in charge of a mutual fund dedicated to achieving superior results over a 10-year period. If you could only employ a single criteria as the basis of selecting the companies in which you will invest, which of the following would you use?
a. The I.Q. of the CEOs.
b. The design quality of the company logos.
c. Last year’s financial returns.
d. An accurate index of robust, adaptable, high-performance company cultures.


5. When compared to their weaker counterparts, companies with healthier, more adaptive cultures demonstrated which of the following economic results over an eleven-year study period?
a. Average Increase in Revenues: more than 400% greater.
b. Workforce Expansion: almost 8 times greater.
c. Growth in Stock Price: more than 12 times greater.
d. Improved Net Income: 756 times greater.
e. All of the above!


6. True or False? While it may be important, company culture is far too complex to really understand and, even if we could begin to understand it, it would definitely be an impossible challenge to measure or manage.
a. True
b. False


7. True or False? The overall culture of a company dictates and defines the culture of all its departments and subdivisions.
a. True
b. False


8. When it comes to technology investments, companies with robust cultures outperform companies with deficient cultures. How much bigger return on investment is possible when the culture is strong, healthy, and adaptive?
a. > 200%
b. 100%
c. 50%
d. 5%


9. The 11-ingredient Motherhood and Apple Pie Culture Stew: You've just been designated executive chef and have been charged with developing a high-performance Company Culture Stew.

Which three of the following 14 ingredients of company culture would you be most willing to sacrifice (unfortunately, life is inevitably full of trade-offs!)?
a. Mission clarity and buy-in
b. Foosball and ping pong in the employee lounge
c. Fully empowered employees
d. High-integrity and trust relationships
e. Highly effective leadership
f. Company picnic and holiday party
g. High-performance systems and processes
h. Performance-based incentive compensation and rewards
i. Employee-of-the-month recognition program
j. Continuous product and service-improvement program
k. Formal customer-listening programs
l. Effective 360-degree communications throughout
m. Commitment to continuous training and skill development
n. Ongoing emphasis on recruiting and retaining top-notch employees


10. Employee loyalty and retention is fundamental to a successful company. Though they're all important, which of the following has consistently scored lower than the others in almost all scientific employee-satisfaction surveys?
a. Achievement
b. Recognition
c. The work itself
d. Responsibility
e. Growth
f. Work conditions
g. Salary


11. Which of the following is the best reason to be actively engaged in designing and nurturing the culture of your company proactively?
a. It makes good conversation at cocktail parties.
b. To attract the most talented employee candidates to join your team.
c. To effectively foster employee loyalty and retain employees.
d. To increase shareholder value and sustain ongoing, competitive advantage by becoming a more efficient, effective, profitable, and fun place to work.
e. All of the above!


         


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