A small group of managers at Falcon Computer met regularly on Wednesday mornings to develop a statement capturing what they considered to be the "Falcon culture." Their dis- cussions were wide-ranging, covering what they thought their firm's culture was, what it should be, and how to create it. They were probably influenced by other firms in their environment, since they were located in the Silicon Valley area of California. Falcon Computer was a new firm, having been created just eight months earlier. Since the corporation was still in the start-up phase, managers decided that it would be timely to create and instill the type of culture they thought would be most appropriate for their orga- nization. After several weeks of brainstorming, writing, debating, and rewriting, the man- agement group eventually produced a document called "Falcon Values," which described the culture of the company as they saw it. The organizational culture statement covered such topics as treatment of customers, relations among work colleagues, preferred style of social communication, the decision-making process, and the nature of the working environment. Peter Richards read over the Falcon Values statement shortly after he was hired as a software trainer. After observing managerial and employee behaviors at Falcon for a few weeks, he was struck by the wide discrepancy between the values expressed in the docu- ment and what he observed as actual practice within the organization. For example, the Falcon values document contained statements such as this: "Quality: Attention to detail is our trademark; our goal is to do it right the first time. We intend to deliver defect-free products and services to our customers on the date promised." However, Richards had al- ready seen shipping reports showing that a number of defective computers were being shipped to customers. And his personal experience supported his worst fears. When he borrowed four brand-new Falcon computers from the shipping room for use in a training class, he found that only two of them started up correctly without additional technical work on his part. Another example of the difference between the Falcon values document and actual prac- tice concerned this statement on communication: "Managing by personal communication is part of the Falcon way. We value and encourage open, direct, person-to-person commu- nication as part of our daily routine." Executives bragged about how they arranged their chairs in a circle to show equality and to facilitate open communications whenever they met to discuss the Falcon values document. Richards had heard the "open communication" buzzword a lot since coming to Falcon, but he hadn't seen much evidence of such commu- nication. As a matter of fact, all other meetings used a more traditional layout, with top ex- ecutives at the front of the room. Richards believed that the real organizational culture that was developing at Falcon was characterized by secrecy and communications that followed the formal chain of command. Even the Falcon values document, Richards was told, had been created in secret. Richards soon became disillusioned. He confided in a co-worker one afternoon that "the Falcon values document was so at variance with what people saw every day that very few of them took it seriously." Employees quickly learned what was truly emphasized in the organization-hierarchy, secrecy, and expediency and focused on those realities instead, ignoring many of the concepts incorporated in the values document. Despite his frustration, Richards stayed with Falcon until it filed for bankruptcy two years later. "Next time," he thought to himself as he cleaned out his desk, "I'll pay more attention to what is actually going on, and less to what top management says is true. Furthermore," he thought to himself, "I guess you just can't create values." Study Guide: 1. What is more important, the statements in a corporate culture document or actual managerial behavior? 2. Why did the Falcon executives act as they did? 3. Why didn't employees like Richards blow the whistle on Falcon, challenging the inconsistency between values and behavior? 4. How can executives go about changing the old values that govern an organization?
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A small group of managers at Falcon Computer met regularly on Wednesday mornings to develop a statement capturing what they considered to be the "Falcon culture." Their dis- cussions were wide-ranging, covering what they thought their firm's culture was, what it should be, and how to create it. They were probably influenced by other firms in their environment, since they were located in the Silicon Valley area of California.
Falcon Computer was a new firm, having been created just eight months earlier. Since the corporation was still in the start-up phase, managers decided that it would be timely to create and instill the type of culture they thought would be most appropriate for their orga- nization. After several weeks of brainstorming, writing, debating, and rewriting, the man- agement group eventually produced a document called "Falcon Values," which described the culture of the company as they saw it. The organizational culture statement covered such topics as treatment of customers, relations among work colleagues, preferred style of social communication, the decision-making process, and the nature of the working environment.
Peter Richards read over the Falcon Values statement shortly after he was hired as a software trainer. After observing managerial and employee behaviors at Falcon for a few weeks, he was struck by the wide discrepancy between the values expressed in the docu- ment and what he observed as actual practice within the organization. For example, the Falcon values document contained statements such as this: "Quality: Attention to detail is our trademark; our goal is to do it right the first time. We intend to deliver defect-free products and services to our customers on the date promised." However, Richards had al- ready seen shipping reports showing that a number of defective computers were being shipped to customers. And his personal experience supported his worst fears. When he borrowed four brand-new Falcon computers from the shipping room for use in a training class, he found that only two of them started up correctly without additional technical work on his part.
Another example of the difference between the Falcon values document and actual prac- tice concerned this statement on communication: "Managing by personal communication is part of the Falcon way. We value and encourage open, direct, person-to-person commu- nication as part of our daily routine." Executives bragged about how they arranged their chairs in a circle to show equality and to facilitate open communications whenever they met to discuss the Falcon values document. Richards had heard the "open communication" buzzword a lot since coming to Falcon, but he hadn't seen much evidence of such commu- nication. As a matter of fact, all other meetings used a more traditional layout, with top ex- ecutives at the front of the room. Richards believed that the real organizational culture that was developing at Falcon was characterized by secrecy and communications that followed the formal chain of command. Even the Falcon values document, Richards was told, had
been created in secret.
Richards soon became disillusioned. He confided in a co-worker one afternoon that "the Falcon values document was so at variance with what people saw every day that very few of them took it seriously." Employees quickly learned what was truly emphasized in the organization-hierarchy, secrecy, and expediency and focused on those realities instead, ignoring many of the concepts incorporated in the values document. Despite his frustration, Richards stayed with Falcon until it filed for bankruptcy two years later. "Next time," he thought to himself as he cleaned out his desk, "I'll pay more attention to what is actually going on, and less to what top management says is true. Furthermore," he thought to himself, "I guess you just can't create values."
Study Guide:
1. What is more important, the statements in a corporate culture document or actual managerial behavior?
2. Why did the Falcon executives act as they did?
3. Why didn't employees like Richards blow the whistle on Falcon, challenging the inconsistency between values and behavior?
4. How can executives go about changing the old values that govern an organization?
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