Part 4: Critical Incident Analysis

You should by now have a view of whether your organizational culture has a positive or negative tilt. In the fourth test, which follows, we offer one more way for you to make this assessment. In our consulting work, we have often found that a vital clue about cultural type can come from reactions to critical incidents. You can tell a lot about culture by the way organizations handle success, failure, innovation, and change. Large or difficult decisions have the same revealing effect. Therefore, pick your quadrant, read the following scenarios, and mark how people in your organization would likely react. The choices may strike you as extreme, but go with the one most similar to your culture.

Table captionNETWORKED

Table captionScenario 1 Someone asks for help with a business issue.

positive	The answer is yes (with the expectation that the favor will be returned one day).
negative	Depending on who is asking, the answer is yes.
Scenario 2 positive	A star performer receives a big reward. In next few weeks, people make sure that they are in his or her network.
negative	Someone starts a rumor that the reward may not have been fully deserved and this rumor is perpet¬ uated by others.
Scenario 3	A new CEO is recruited from outside the com-
positive	pany. A line immediately forms to get to know him or her.
negative	People adopt a wait-and-see attitude.
Scenario 4	A task force is set up to develop the corporate credo.
positive	People are eager to join the task force in order to challenge and extend the organization's values. If they can't get on the committee themselves, they try to ensure good people do.
negative	People politick to make sure the "right" people get on the task force—people who will reaffirm exist- ing ways of doing things.
Scenario 5 positive	The company must downsize. Senior managers talk to their people to ensure that the organization does it the right way.
negative	People throughout the organization start rumors about who should and will go.

Scenario 6

positive

negative

Scenario 7

positive

negative

Scenario 8

positive

negative

Scenario 9

positive

negative

Scenario 10

positive

negative

A major error has been made.

Managers talk to their colleagues about how to respond swiftly and effectively to maximize organizational learning.

Colleagues collude to make sure the blame is placed elsewhere.

A colleague has a big new idea.

People spread the idea around the organization as quickly and informally as possible and organize drinks to discuss it after work.

People undermine the idea because of the not- invented-here syndrome.

A chance meeting occurs with a colleague outside of work.

People take the opportunity to chat and get to know each other better.

People take the opportunity to extract as much information as possible from each other—and give as little as possible back.

A long-serving employee should be dismissed for mediocre performance.

Senior management makes the exit as humane as possible and the employee receives excellent outplacement services.

The employee is found an easier job to do inside the organization.

A new competitor enters the market.

Colleagues work together to figure out ways to make entry difficult and expensive.

People convince each other that the competition is neither serious nor a threat.

Table captionMERCENARY

Table captionScenario 1 Someone asks for help with a business issue.

positive	The typical reaction is to think, how will this help the business?
negative	The typical reaction is to think, what's in it for me?
Scenario 2 positive	A star performer receives a big reward. Everyone works harder to improve their own performance.
negative	People set the goal of beating the star performer by any means, fair or foul.
Scenario 3	A new CEO is recruited from outside the com¬
positive	pany People ask: Was she successful in her previous job?
negative	People ask: So who is this person? Is she a threat to me?
Scenario 4	A task force is set up to develop the corporate credo.
positive	People are supportive because the task force will clarify goals and targets.
negative	Most people perceive the task force as a distrac¬ tion that could get in the way of making their bonus.
Scenario 5 positive	The company must downsize. People see the move as something that will im¬ prove the organization's capacity to win.
negative	People start to look for jobs with competitors to see if they can get a raise out of it.

Scenario 6

positive

negative

Scenario 7

positive

negative Scenario 8 positive negative

Scenario 9

positive

negative

Scenario 10

positive

negative

A major error has been made.

People try to find out who made it, then fix it and move swiftly on.

People try to make it look as if a rival was responsible for the mistake.

A colleague has a big new idea.

People immediately incorporate it into their own work.

People steal the idea and claim it's their own.

A chance meeting occurs with a colleague outside of work.

People talk about work together; when that's finished they stop. There's nothing else to talk about. Conversation is about upstaging each other— proving who is doing better at work.

A long-serving employee should be dismissed for mediocre performance.

It's done quickly and efficiently, and the open space is used to promote talent.

He or she is fired publicly and often in a humiliating way.

A new competitor enters the market.

Resources are quickly mobilized to destroy the new entrant.

People ignore the competitor until the impact hits their own personal or unit performance.

Table captionCOMMUNAL

Scenario 1 positive negative	Someone asks for help with a business issue. The answer is yes, if it will help our business. Answer is yes, of course—anything you need.
Scenario 2 positive	A star performer receives a big reward. A big celebration is arranged and people are gen¬ uinely pleased.
negative	People see it as proof that the organization is infal¬ lible.
Scenario 3	A new CEO is recruited from outside the com-
positive	pany. People help him or her to understand and apply key organizational values.
negative	People wistfully compare him or her to the old CEO.
Scenario 4	A task force is set up to develop the corporate credo.
positive	There is a sense of excitement among people—it's good to develop and refine the core values con¬ stantly.
negative	There is a sense that it's a waste of time—the exist- ing one is excellent and historically proven.
Scenario 5 positive	The company must downsize. Management makes sure the pain is shared equi¬ tably.
negative	People think downsizing would be unnecessary if the organization stuck to its core values.

Scenario 6

positive

negative

Scenario 7

positive

negative

Scenario 8

positive

negative

Scenario 9

positive

negative

Scenario 10

positive

negative

A major error has been made.

People help those responsible for the error to learn from it.

History is rewritten to show that an error was not made after all.

A colleague has a big new idea.

He or she is given public recognition and the organization implements it swiftly, if it works in practice.

People assume it must be a great big idea. They celebrate it as further proof of the organization's invulnerability.

A chance meeting occurs with a colleague outside work.

They talk about work together—endlessly.

They exclude all others (including family, for example) as they talk about work obsessively.

A long-serving employee should be dismissed for mediocre performance.

Their exit is managed quickly and humanely, and events are organized to mark their past achievements. People keep in touch with him or her after they leave.

He or she is carried past the point that is good for the organization and then let go in an emotionally draining process.

A new competitor enters the market.

The organization responds quickly by innovating and applying its capabilities and values.

People think: Nobody could possibly compete with us, and in so doing, diminish the threat.

Table captionFRAGMENTED

Table captionScenario 1 Someone asks for help with a business issue.

positive	People express surprise, then politely decline. There's no value in helping for either of them.
negative	People express surprise, then abruptly decline. It's an imposition to be asked.
Scenario 2 positive	A star performer receives a big reward. People see this as evidence that they are working with stars, and confirmation of their elite status.
negative	People see this as proof that the organization un¬ dervalues them.
Scenario 3	A new CEO is recruited from outside the com¬
positive	pany People ask themselves: What can he or she do for me?
negative	People ask: How can I keep him or her off my back?
Scenario 4	A task force is set up to develop the corporate credo.
positive	People believe it isn't necessary. Individuals should just concentrate on what they do best.
negative	People ignore or undermine the effort.
Scenario 5 positive	The company must downsize. There is lobbying to make sure the best people are retained.
negative	The war of all against all is launched.

Scenario 6 positive	A major error has been made. People believe the individuals responsible no longer deserve their privileged status and should no longer be treated like prima donnas.
negative	People don't care—"It has nothing to do with me."
Scenario 7 positive	A colleague has a big new idea. People bask in the reflected glory and use it to ne¬ gotiate extra resources.
negative	People attack it.
Scenario 8	A chance meeting occurs with a colleague outside work.
positive negative	A perfunctory hello suffices. They recognize each other vaguely and wave.
Scenario 9	A long-serving employee should be dismissed for mediocre performance.
positive	People think it is not their problem and continue to focus on their own personal performance.
negative	People complain bitterly but won't bother to do anything about it.
Scenario 10 positive	A new competitor enters the market The organization tries to steal the stars of the new entrant.
negative	People wonder: So what?

You've now completed the diagnostic section of this book. Read on for in-depth discussions of each culture, the implications for you and your business, and how to effect change if need be.

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