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The
Morgan Group Corporate Culture and Personality Assessments
Corporate Culture - OPC
While there are many items
that define corporate culture, we have focused on the key aspects that
define your competitiveness in your market, (rather than the
“touchy-feely” items that have to do more with employee morale,
that are usually referred to under this concept).
The basis for this
assessment is the observation that companies come in three basic types, and
that the best companies “meet standards in all areas, but choose one
area with which to compete”.
These company types are:
These tests attempt to
determine first what you “perceive” or want your company
to be, and then to check how your key people and core processes are aligned
with this perception.
If your scores are high in
more than one area, you may have a conflicting focus in the company. If the scores of the
“Perception” and the “Operating Model” are
significantly different, then you may have severe problems implementing
your mission, as your organization is not structured to support it. Problems often arise when a company
is trying to have a particular focus (e.g. new product development), but
their people and core processes do not support this focus efficiently.
In the best companies,
there will be agreement between a single perception, and the operating
model
Operationally Excellent
Companies
(“O”) compete on the best total cost for a product or service,
quality, and ease of purchase.
They have a slow response to market change. They focus on producing a quality
product reliably, and understand the importance of delivering to the
customer’s expectations.
They have “team people”, and seldom have any
“superstars”. They
tend to purchase or license technology, rather than develop it
internally. They have lots of well
documented procedures, and spend significant time and $ on training. They often have a large investment
in fixed assets. These
“O” companies can be quite bureaucratic and resistant to
change.
The Operating Model for
these “O” companies focuses on reliable and efficient
production systems. The culture
abhors waste, and rewards efficiency.
Operations are standardized, centrally planned, and tightly
controlled. The culture is one
of “teamwork”.
Information systems are centralized, and focused on transactions. Manufacturing and production is
“king” internally.
These companies often have a proprietary production process. They are “today”
focused.
Examples of
“O” companies include:
Fedex, Costco, McDonalds, Hertz, Dell, Microsoft
(yes, I know this is tough), and the US Military. (“You want a building taken
down in Iraq?
– We can do it more efficiently than anyone else”.)
Product Leadership
Companies
(“P”) compete on products and technology. They plan their research and product
introductions carefully. They
relentlessly obsolete their own products, and are often their own fiercest
competitor. Their products may
be expensive, but the customers will pay the premium to get the
technology. They employ
“A+ people”.
PhD’s abound. They
have a quick response to a change in the market, and develop their own
“proprietary technology”.
They have a large investment in R&D. They avoid bureaucracy at
all costs. Their structures are
flexible, with “killer teams” forming around new product
development.
The Operating Model for these “P” companies is a focus on
invention, product development and market exploitation. They have loose business structures,
and entrepreneurial teams.
Management is results driven, and does not punish “out of the
box” thinking or experimentation. They are future focused. They have a large tolerance for
risk, and reward innovation.
“Research and Development” is King internally. Recruiting top people is the
CEO’s top job.
Examples of “P” companies include Sony, HP, 3M, Nike,
J&J, and Gillette.
Customer Intimacy
Companies (“C”) compete to solve a customer’s broad
problem, and share in the result.
They have quick response to customer demands. They cultivate proprietary customer
relationships, as customer loyalty is their greatest asset. They have a large investment in
sales staff and training. They
employ relationship-focused people.
Their structures are decentralized.
The Operating Model for these “C” companies is a focus on
relationship management, customer solutions, and managing expectations and
results. Decisions are
delegated to those employees closest to the customer. Management selects customers
carefully. There is a culture
of deep lasting relationships.
The company will know the “lifetime value” of a
customer. These companies often
outsource aggressively for non-core functions that the customer does not
detect.
Examples of “C” companies include LL Bean, Home Depot,
IBM, Intuit, Hilton Hotels, and good car dealers.
Corporate Motivational Behaviors
Many
companies unintentionally destroy motivation and value by not understanding
the effect of some core behaviors.
Unlike personality, for which there is no “right or
wrong”, these motivational have best practices well documented. Thus, we have benchmarked your
results against these “best practices” to give you a score
which identifies healthy or unhealthy.
A score of 10 or over is good.
Negative numbers are a concern.
You may click on the links below for additional information
Accountability and Empowerment
(AE). The best companies
delegate authority to act, with the associated responsibility. This is called empowerment. If you perform well (or poorly) you
will be held accountable for the results. This accountability often shows up
as
Results and Rewards (RR). In good companies, these are highly
linked. The best performers
will receive the best rewards, and vice versa. In poor companies, the results and
rewards are poorly linked, and politics and “being liked”
become more important than performance. Since rewards tend to show up
infrequently (e.g. bonus time), many of the rewards along the way are
Strokes (ST). Some
companies give a lot of strokes, some give out very few. These can be positive (“good
job”), negative (“get you’re a** in here”), or boomerangs
(“nice job, but -corrective suggestion”). They can be conditional (given in
return for value performed), or unconditional (“thanks for just being
you”). Like any
commodity, overuse devalues the product, and inappropriate use destroys the
value completely.
These
motivating behaviors are usually set by the company’s
Leadership (LS). Of all the facets that motivate
those working in a company, the most important, and least understood by
those involved is leadership. Mission statements, corporate values, etc. are
worthless if the leader does not behave appropriately. Most people thrust into a leadership
role do not know best practices, and no one ever tells them directly. Those who do learn, usually learn by
detecting reinforcement from their team. Benchmarking your leader against
best-practices gives you a way to learn what you need to reinforce
(positively and negatively).
If
you score highly on all of these measures, you may have an
Effective Organization (EO). An effective organization has a set
of skills, attitudes, behaviors and values that make it successful. These have to be appropriate to your
business, society, market, and government. However, there are some universal
best-practices against which we have benchmarked your responses, including:
q Long term view
q Strong
Corporate Culture
q Common Goals
and Vision
q Focused
q Decisive
q Good systems
and procedures
q Clearly
delegated authority to act
q Clear
Measurables
q Reward
structure linked to performance
q Non-Political
q Good people (no
incompetents)
q Diverse
q Open, Trusting,
Fair
q Strong teamwork
q Care about
their employees, customers
q No
micro-management
If
you have actually read this far, your have my respect. Most people never make it here. If you need more information, or
wish to contact me for any reason, please send an e-mail to lesgray@morganllc.com .
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02809
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