The character of a corporation : how your company's culture can make or break your business by Goffee Robert

Author:Goffee, Robert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Corporate culture, Organizational behavior, Management, Culture d'entreprise, Comportement organisationnel, Gestion, Corporate culture, Management, Organizational behavior, Bedrijfscultuur
ISBN: 9780887309021
Publisher: New York : HarperBusiness
Published: 1998-01-05T16:00:00+00:00

No Ties That Bind

But perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the mercenary culture, regardless of the competitive situation, is the fragile nature of its psychological contract. If the intimate personal ties of the

networked organization are what lead, ultimately, to its fabric of trust and loyalty, imagine how the lack of personal ties plays out in the mercenary. People stay with a company for as long as it suits them. When the going gets tough, or a better offer comes along, they leave. This is why investment banks and sales organizations are constantly being poached. The best deal makers in these performance-driven institutions job-hop between companies, each time trading up to more money and status. And sometimes not just individuals are poached, but entire departments. If they are only with Morgan Stanley for the thrill of the business and the rewards of success, what is to keep them from seeking the same at First Boston, only more of the same? Nothing.

True, in some organizations, it doesn't mean life or death if your top performers leave, and so this aspect of the mercenary culture is tolerable. For instance, the exit of a top performer would be lamented but not considered a disaster in any industry where the supply of good labor exceeds the demand, such as airline pilots, CPAs, and lawyers. But these situations are few, especially in intensively knowledge-based industries. When the head of R and D at a pharmaceutical company walks out the door, you are talking about a severe impact.

A fragile social contract isn't just dangerous when it comes to departures, however. It affects how people act when they are staying. Mercenary cultures may create environments of intensity, excitement, and energy, and these can be fulfilling to those who work in them. But it is a rare individual who does not seek some kind of meaningful human contact in groups. The absence of this dynamic in many mercenary cultures eventually, albeit invisibly, has a wearing-down effect. People leave, and sometimes you hear the excuse that they want to work at a smaller (read: friendlier) company. Or when they stay, they give just what is expected of them and no more. Often—if the standards of performance are high, as they are in most mercenary organizations—that is quite enough for the company to do well. But it

can take a personal toll as people sense an emptiness in their work. They have become, in the most mechanical sense of the term, mercenaries.

A good CEO can mitigate some of this dynamic by making sure the mercenary culture has some degree of sociability. And mercenary leaders are often quite adept at this skill, usually behind the scenes. Their public face, however, is that of a winner. They are usually superhigh achievers—the best salesman, the biggest deal maker, the sharpest lawyer—reinforcing the culture's most prevalent value. They are also the organization's premier goal setters. In this way, David Johnson at Campbell Soup, with his 20—20—20 program, was the paradigmatic mercenary leader.

ATOP THE MERCENARY MOUNTAIN

Mercenary leaders

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