Chapter Thirteen
Implementing Strategy: Culture and Leadership

What is Corporate Culture and Why Is It Important?

    1.  The culture of an organization is defined and identified by such factors as
The organization’s set ways of approaching problems and conducting activities and its pattern of "how we do things around here."
The legends and stories that people repeatedly tell about company happenings and company taboos and political do’s and don’ts.
The values, ethical standards, and business principles that management preaches and practices.
The intangibles of a firm’s work environment and atmosphere and the values and beliefs shared by most of the org’s members.
    2.  Which of the following is not a fundamental part of a company’s culture?
    1. The manner in which it deals with employees, unions, stockholders, customers, vendor, and the communities where it operates.
    2. The traditions the org maintains.
    3. The values and business principles that mgt preaches and practices.
    4. The company’s strategy.
    5. The peer pressures that exist and the legends and stories that people repeat about company happenings.
    3.  Beliefs and practices that become embedded in a company’s corporate culture usually originate with
    1. Its business mission and set of financial and strategic objectives.
    2. Influential individuals (often a founder or prior CEOs) and influential work groups, departments, or divisions.
    3. The type of org structure it employs.
    4. The types of core competencies and capabilities it has developed.
    4.  Once established, company cultures can be perpetuated by
Systematic introduction of new employees in the culture’s fundamentals;
Constant reiteration of core values by senior mangers and group members;
    5.  Companies, especially large ones, typically have
    1. Multiple cultures (or subcultures) rather than a single culture.
    2. Strong cultures.
    3. Adaptive cultures.
    4. Low performance cultures.
 Types of Corporate Cultures
    6.  Companies with strong cultures
Have very distinct values, beliefs, rituals, operating styles, and work atmospheres;
Have senior managers who persist in reinforcing the culture through both work and deed;
Are committed to winning employees over to the established values and beliefs;
Work diligently at causing employees to observe cultural norms;
Promote good strategy execution where there is good fit with the strategy and hurt execution where there is poor fit;
    7.  A strong strategy-supportive culture
Nurtures and motivates people to do their jobs in ways conductive to effective strategy execution;
Provides structure, standards, and a value system in which to operate;
Provides a system of informal rules and peer pressures regarding how to conduct business internally and how employees should go about doing their jobs;
Promotes strong employee identification with the company’s vision, performance targets, and strategy.
    8.  Which of the following is not a typical characteristic of a weak company culture?
    1. There are many subcultures.
    2. There is deep hostility to change and to people who champion new ways of doing things.
    3. There are few strong traditions.
    4. Few values and behavioral norms are widely shared.
    5. Org’l members have no strong sense of company identity.
    9.  Which one of the following is not a typical characteristic of a low performance or unhealthy company culture?
    1. Z politicized internal environment.
    2. Hostility to change and to people who champion new ways of doing things.
    3. An aversion to looking outside the company for superior practices and approaches.
    4. Values and behavioral norms are widely shared.
    5. Promotions of managers that are adept at administration and internal organization maneuvering but that are short on entrepreneurial skills and leadership ability.
    10.  Low performance or unhealthy cultures typically have such characteristics as
A politicized internal environment;
Hostility to change and to people who champion new ways of doing things;
Aversion to looking outside the company for superior practices and approaches;
    11.  The hallmark of an adaptive corporate culture include
Strong management concern for the well-being for stakeholders;
Receptiveness to risk-taking, experimentation, and innovation;
A proactive approach to coping with the challenges of changing business conditions;
A spirit of doing what’s necessary to ensure long-term org’l success;
Top management that undertakes the changes in a manner that exhibits genuine concern for the legitimate interests of stakeholders;
 Changing Corporate Cultures and Bringing Them into Better Alignment with Strategy
    12.  Changing Corporate Cultures and Bringing Them into Better Alignment with Strategy
Is one of the toughest managerial tasks;
Involves diagnosing which facets of the present culture are strategy-supportive and which are not;
Requires active leadership by the CEO and other senior executives, including pushing for new behaviors and communicating the reasons for cultural change;
Entails both substantive and symbolic actions to transform the culture.
    13.  Shaping a company’s culture to create alignment with strategy can involve
Replacing old-culture managers with new-breed managers;
Changing long-standing policies and operating practices and making major changes in budgets and resource allocation;
Leadership by example on the part of the CEO and other senior executives;
Using company gatherings and ceremonial occasions to praise individuals and group that display the desired cultural traits and behaviors.
    14.  Which of the following is not one of the managerial actions typically taken to build a more strategy-supportive corporate culture?
    1. Employing both symbolic and substantive actions
    2. Moving in ways that are highly visible and serve as unmistakable signals of the seriousness of management’s commitment to a new climate and culture.
    3. Trying to mold the org into a solid, competent team that is psychologically committed to superior execution
    4. Changing the organization culture in ways which promote decentralization and employee empowerment
    5. Executive appearances at company gatherings and ceremonial event to praise individuals and groups that serve as role models for the desire cultural traits and behavior
 Building a Spirit Performance into the Corporate Culture
    15.  Companies that succeed in building a spirit of high performance into their culture
    1. Treat employees with respect and dignity and are intensely people-oriented.
    2. Utilize the full range of rewards and punishment to enforce high performance standards.
    3. Grant employees enough autonomy to stand out, excel, and contribute.
    4. Hold managers at every level responsible for developing the people who report to them.
    16.  In assessing whether an org is instilled with a spirit of high performance, the key test is
    1. Whether employees are happy and satisfied.
    2. The level of employee morale.
    3. Whether employees get along and work well together.
    4. Whether employee turnover rates and absenteeism are minimal.
    5. The extent to which the org is focused on achievement and excellence, has a results-oriented culture, and pursues policies and practices that inspire employees to do their best.
 Exercising Strategic Leadership
    17.  Successful strategy implementers
Are experts in the use of symbols to build and nurture a strategy-supportive culture;
Serve as role models for the rest of the org and spend a lot of time coaching others how to be like them;
Do a lot of managing by walking around;
Have charismatic personalities and inspire others to follow their lead;
    18.  MBWA refers to
The management practice of informally communicating with employees;
Getting out into the field to see what is happening;
Purpose: gather info informally about what is happening and what is on people’s mind
    19.  One of the keys to successful performance as a strategic leader is
Shaping the values and beliefs which undergird the corporate culture;
Bringing culture into strong alignment with strategy;
The task of implanting a corporate culture that is supportive of strategy requires a sincere, sustained commitment by the chief executive who reinforces the desired cultural norms at every opportunity through both word and deed.
    20.  Effective mgt action to match culture and strategy includes such attributes as
A stakeholder-are-king philosophy that links the need to change to the need to serve the best long-term interests of the firm’s key constituencies;
An openness to new ideas;
Challenging the status quo with very basic questions—Are we really giving customers what they want? How can we be more competitive on cost? Where will the company be in five years if it just sticks with its present business?
Creating events where everyone in mgt is forced to listen to angry customers, alienated employees, and disgruntled stockholders.
    21.  Creating a flexible, responsive, innovative internal environment involves
Promoting a culture that accepts continuous adaptation to changing conditions;
Generating a dependable supply of fresh ideas from managers and employees;
Being a leader in developing new org’l capabilities;
Empowering people who are willing to champion new technologies, operating practices, better services, and new products.
    22.  Top management leadership in creating a flexible, responsive, innovative internal environment is especially important in
Fast-moving, high technology businesses;
Businesses where product life cycles are short;
Widely-diversified corporations where opportunities are varied and scattered;
Businesses where product differentiation via continuous product improvement is key.
    23.  The leadership task of empowering champions includes
Tolerating radicals’ ideas and proposals and giving mavericks room to operate;
Tolerating mistakes and failures and not punishing those people whose ideas don’t succeed;
Using such ad hoc org’l forms as task forces, venture teams, performance shootouts, and projects staffed with volunteers to develop and test new ideas and explore opportunities;
Providing large, visible rewards for successful champions.
    24.  The strategy manager’s leadership task in implementing strategy does not involve which one of the following?
    1. Fostering an overall climate and culture in which the org becomes "energized" to execute strategy proficiently and perform at a high level.
    2. Enforcing ethical standards and values.
    3. Pushing corrective action to improve strategy execution and overall performance.
    4. Making sure that the culture is well matched to the org structure.
    5. Keeping the org responsive to changing conditions, alter for new opportunities, and innovative.
    25.  When approaching the task of creating a "fit" between strategy and culture, the strategist's first step should be to
    1. Contact an organizational behavior consultant.
    2. Obtain a set of guidelines from senior management.
    3. Conduct an employee survey.
    4. Identify which aspects of the culture are congruent with the strategy and which ones are not.