Comments on: Social media vs. Culture. Winner: Culture. http://www.brandon-hall.com/workplacelearningtoday/?p=2693 Served Fresh Daily Thu, 9 Sep 2010 15:07:38 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: adam christensen http://www.brandon-hall.com/workplacelearningtoday/?p=2693&cpage=1#comment-950 adam christensen Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:03:51 +0000 http://www.brandon-hall.com/workplacelearningtoday/?p=2693#comment-950 thanks for the nod, Janet. Dave, excellent point. Culture does endure. And I agree with you... some of the stuff going on right now in the finance industry is a very good explanation of it. I liken it to inertia. It takes a lot of energy to slow down, speed up or change the current state of culture within an organization. I think there are things we can do to impact and influence culture, but it takes a LOT of energy. Or, it takes massive external forces. Sometimes, as in the cases you are referencing, even that isn't enough at first. <abbr><em>adam christensens last blog post..<a href="http://adamchristensen.com/2009/01/23/the-impact-of-corporate-culture-on-social-media-ibms-case-study/" rel="nofollow">The Impact of Corporate Culture on Social Media (IBM’s Case Study)</a></em></abbr> thanks for the nod, Janet.

Dave, excellent point. Culture does endure. And I agree with you… some of the stuff going on right now in the finance industry is a very good explanation of it.

I liken it to inertia. It takes a lot of energy to slow down, speed up or change the current state of culture within an organization. I think there are things we can do to impact and influence culture, but it takes a LOT of energy. Or, it takes massive external forces. Sometimes, as in the cases you are referencing, even that isn’t enough at first.

adam christensens last blog post..The Impact of Corporate Culture on Social Media (IBM’s Case Study)

]]> By: Dave Ferguson http://www.brandon-hall.com/workplacelearningtoday/?p=2693&cpage=1#comment-948 Dave Ferguson Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:56:29 +0000 http://www.brandon-hall.com/workplacelearningtoday/?p=2693#comment-948 Culture endures--in fact, that's part of what makes it culture; otherwise, it'd be a fad or a craze. The auto industry arose in a hierarchical, management-knows culture; inevitably developed adversarial labor relations as the status quo; achieved a kind of permanent us-versus-them stance (with management and labor taking that as a given). Effort after effort to change (Chrysler near-death with Iacocca, GM's tryout with Saturn) foundered. "Top-down mandates generally don't work." But people love to pitch to C-level folks, because there's far fewer people required for buy-in. See financial industry cluelessness, with John Thane surprised at hostility to news that bonuses were 40% lower -- seen by mere mortals as wildly excessive rather than unbelievably excessive -- because in <i>that</i> culture, enough was never enough and too much was, well, okay for now. <abbr><em>Dave Fergusons last blog post..<a href="http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/archives/1343" rel="nofollow">Lovin’ Bloom</a></em></abbr> Culture endures–in fact, that’s part of what makes it culture; otherwise, it’d be a fad or a craze. The auto industry arose in a hierarchical, management-knows culture; inevitably developed adversarial labor relations as the status quo; achieved a kind of permanent us-versus-them stance (with management and labor taking that as a given). Effort after effort to change (Chrysler near-death with Iacocca, GM’s tryout with Saturn) foundered.

“Top-down mandates generally don’t work.” But people love to pitch to C-level folks, because there’s far fewer people required for buy-in.

See financial industry cluelessness, with John Thane surprised at hostility to news that bonuses were 40% lower — seen by mere mortals as wildly excessive rather than unbelievably excessive — because in that culture, enough was never enough and too much was, well, okay for now.

Dave Fergusons last blog post..Lovin’ Bloom

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