The document discusses strengthening corporate culture at Emissary Info Services. It begins with an agenda for a meeting on culture shaping. A presentation is then given on the importance of corporate culture, citing examples of companies with strong cultures like Walmart, Starbucks, GE, and GM. Marquee companies like Ritz-Carlton, Yahoo, Google, and IBM are examined for their core values and beliefs. The presentation emphasizes aligning employee behavior with a company's stated values. Employees are asked to reflect on questions about desired core values and codes of conduct. Next steps proposed include compiling values/conduct, employee workshops, and rolling out communication materials. The importance of now and individual alignment with company values is stressed.
4. Corporate Enigmas
ď‚ž How does a little company headquartered in
Bentonville Arkansas become one of the largest retailers
in the world with more than $315 billion in sales (Wal-
Mart)?
ď‚ž How does a company selling a commodity product
grow from $122 million in sales to more than $5 billion
in slightly more than a decade (Starbucks)?
ď‚ž How does a company retain its vitality for more than
100 years (GE)?
ď‚ž How does a company with a dominant market position
(more than 42% market share) fall from grace over a
period of 20 years (General Motors)?
6. "Every excellent company we studied is clear on what it
stands for, and takes the process of value shaping
seriously. In fact, we wonder whether it is possible to
be an excellent company without clarity on values and
without having the right sorts of beliefs."
Tom Peters & Bob Waterman, Jr.
In Search of Excellence
7. What is Organizational Culture?
Culture is “corporate personality”
The underlying values, beliefs, and norms which
govern the behavior of people as members of an
organization.
9. Ritz-Carlton Values
 “The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine
care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission.
ď‚ž We pledge to provide the finest personal service and
facilities for our guests who will always enjoy a warm,
relaxed yet refined ambience.
ď‚ž The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills
well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes
and needs of our guests”.
11. Yahoo’s Values
ď‚ž Excellence:
We are committed to winning with integrity. We know
leadership is hard won and should never be taken for
granted. We aspire to flawless execution and don't take
shortcuts on quality. We seek the best talent and
promote its development. We are flexible and learn
from our mistakes.
ď‚ž Teamwork:
We treat one another with respect and communicate
openly. We foster collaboration while maintaining
individual accountability. We encourage the best ideas
to surface from anywhere within the organization. We
appreciate the value of multiple perspectives and
diverse expertise.
12. Yahoo’s Values
ď‚ž Innovation:
We thrive on creativity and ingenuity. We seek the
innovations and ideas that can change the world. We
anticipate market trends and move quickly to embrace
them. We are not afraid to take informed, responsible
risk.
ď‚ž Community:
We share an infectious sense of mission to make an
impact on society and empower consumers in ways
never before possible. We are committed to serving
both the Internet community and our own
communities.
13. Google: Corporate values

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
 The interface is clear and simple.
 Pages load instantly.
 Placement in search results is never sold to anyone.
 Advertising on the site must offer relevant content and not
be a distraction.
2. It's best to do one thing really, really well.
 Google does search.
 Gmail, Google Desktop, and Google Maps => bring the
power of search to previously unexplored areas.
14. Google: Corporate values
3. Fast is better than slow.
* Google believes in instant gratification.
4. Democracy on the web works.
* PageRank™ evaluates all of the sites linking to a web
page and assigns them a value.
5. You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer.
* PDAs, wireless phones or automobiles.
15. Google: Corporate values
6. You can make money without doing evil.
* relevant ads
* non-manipulative ads
7. There's always more information out there.
* images, PDF files, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
* HTML for mobile phones.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
*restrict results to pages written in more than 35 languages.
* translation feature.
* Google's interface can be customized into more than 100
languages.
16. Google: Corporate values
9. You can be serious without a suit.
* work should be challenging and the challenge
should be fun.
* emphasis on team achievements and pride in
individual accomplishments.
* ideas are traded, tested and put into practice.
* give the proper tools to a group of people who like
to make a difference, and they will.
10. Great just isn't good enough.
* innovation and iteration.
* anticipate the needs and meet them with products
and services that set new standards.
17. IBM Core “Values”
 Respect for the individual.
 Excellence in customer service.
 Excellence in everything we do
18. The Secret to Wal*Mart’s Success: Its Culture
Two key Dimensions of “The Wal*Mart Way”
 Respect for the individual, and
 Focus upon the customer.
19. The Difference Between “Real” and
“Stated” Cultures
Stated Culture: What we say our culture is with respect to
how we treat our customers, our people, and the
standards we have.
Real Culture: The culture that our employees “live and
breathe.”
20. IBM Stated versus Real Culture
 Stated Culture:
 Respect for the individual.
 Excellence in customer service.
 Excellence in everything we do.
 Real Culture (“Organizational Reciprocity”):
 “You take care of IBM, and IBM will take care of
you.”
21. Emissary Info way of Culture Shaping
Subscription to a philosophy ( Aristotle, Kant, Mills)
State the core values:
» Based on common values (People managers)
Define behaviors, both desired and not desired:
» Based on values and experiences.
Establish sustaining practices:
» Remind, reinforce and review
22. Questions you have to answer
ď‚ž Core values
2. What do you feel are your core values
3. What behavior you expect out of your colleagues
4. What behavior you expect out of your managers/seniors
5. What values you expect your organization to have?
6. How would you want your company to be viewed by your customers,
shareholders, vendors, govt agencies?
7. How would you want your family to look at your organization as?
ď‚ž Code of conduct/behavior continuum (list of red, orange and green
behavioral patterns).
9. In order to build best in class workplace: Could you please list good
behavior that should be encouraged and negative behavior around that
should be stopped.
10. What do you think we should start doing, stop doing and continue
to do (in terms of values such as: respect for individuals, honest
organization, and creative organization)
23. Next steps
 Compilation of core values and code of
conduct ( prefd behavior at work)
 Employee workshops: Naveen & Vasavi.
 Roll-out posters ( for walls and cubes)
 Roll-out policy ( discipline processes, ethics
council launch, contact #s)
24. Translation of values into practices – an example
Corporate Values Organization Practices Success Habits Taboos
1. We value respect for • Structured and objective • Respect others opinions and • Discrimination or personal attack
the individual accountability perspectives based on personal prejudices / sex /
• Recognition of whole person, work- • Listening for understanding race / age
life balance • Punctuality • Destructive gossip and rumour-
• Career growth and growth mongering
opportunities based on capability • Lack of / Delays in feedback
1. We value our ability • Walk away from business if it is not • Learn client’s business • “No problem” when there is one /
to create and in the best interest of the client • Constantly seek new ways to Hiding bad news
exceed high client • Commitment to customer deliver value to clients • By-passing laid out processes and
communication • Operate from the clients standards
expectations
• Documented client satisfaction perspective • Sharing confidential information
measures
1. We value honesty, • Regular forums for decision • Speak from the perspective of the • Not dealing with people who do not
integrity, and open making, resolving issues and listener perform
thinking through future company • Talk directly to those concerned • Not speaking up in meetings
and caring development. about any subject or matter of • Saying one thing and doing another
communication • Organization-wide communication concern
on priorities, performance and • Give regular and timely
results development feedback
25. Why You?
"Our study of nearly 1,500 executives and managers
provides solid evidence that shared values between
the individual and the company a major source of both
personal and organizational effectiveness."
Warren Schmidt & Barry Posner
AMA Survey report
27. “Consider any great corporation-- one that has
lasted over the years -- I think you will find that it
owes its resiliency not to its form of organization
or administration skills, but to the power of what
we call beliefs and the appeal these beliefs have
for its people."
Thomas Watson, Sr. Founder, IBM
28. Measures of Success – Survey method
 Cultural Alignment: Agreement with the
proposed culture.
 Behavioral Consistency: The extent to which
behavior is consistent with the desired culture.
 Cultural Gaps: The difference between the
stated or desired culture for a given value and
the actual or observed culture in practice.
Which is the biggest company in the world? How many of us hang-out at coffee day/barista – concept is copy of star-bucks. GE is in about 45 businesses right from making plastic to giant turbines. In all business that they are either they are number 1 or 2. In a Research conducted by UCLA covering these corporate entities has revealed:
Corporate culture can be a asset or liability for a company.
Lets take a look at what Tom peters ( legendary mgt guru) has to say. Gurus like tom peters who were so glued onto processes still believed that for processes to succeed the underlying values are supposed to be clear.
So what is this corp culture? One way of defining it… defns of values: ones judgement of what is impt in life, beliefs: firm opinions/acceptance of facts, norms: standards or patterns of behavior.
Lets look at cultures on marquee companies
Comfort of their guests is the most impt thing. Its not profit or anything else.
They believe that their guests are fine ppl. For that they believe that they themselves are fine ppl.
Do your work flawlessly however you can make mistakes, mistakes are not the end of the world. Essence of teamwork is based on repsoect, communication, value for multiple perscpectives.
Among first cos on internet. U can understand how deeply they value innovation. Nobody can deny yahoo is a great tool for our society.
Again they are focusing on customer (user). Another word for google is search.
Google beilves in speed that’s the reason they have nothing on their first apge.
Ethical co
Informal workplace helps breed creativity.
Stay world leaders
Simillar to above values. Common theme: respect for the individual.
You take care of ibm’s interest. Ibm will look after you.