Gregory Totten
Busi-750
Implementing Strategy
Professor Paulo
2/19/2015
Assignment #2 - Genetech
I had two major takeaways after reading this case. First, statistical analysis is an excellent way to develop the foundation for a discussion on the cultural change of an organization. Second, if you want to drive a company’s bottom line, it is important to set aside short-term profits for longer-term initiatives, such as corporate culture. Cook did an excellent job in the Genetech case shifting the company’s culture utilizing data modeling and statistical analysis. Most importantly, Cook implemented her vision in the organization creating an outstanding culture with employee ownership.
In my experience, culture has always been a direct representation of the founding team. What happens when the company grows to a point that the founders are no longer with the company and it’s time for a cultural pivot? How exactly do you create a customer-centric culture in a large corporation? Cook proved that one answer is an effective company-wide survey focused on key cultural attributes. It is one thing to have the data, but interpreting and implementing the data to move the company forward is the most difficult step. After Cook reviewed the data from the GIO survey, she held many on and off-site meetings with her team. Once a corporate vision was solidified, she met with her extended team to further develop cultural pillars of the company. The effective analysis of this data can develop the foundation for discussions for a company’s cultural pivot. Developing a culture is a long and tedious process that must involve the entire company, as the entire team must have ownership in the new corporate vision for effective implementation.
I’m currently working for a company that has a very customer-centric culture. There are several customer service metrics that must be met to ensure the success of each employee, but these metrics are based entirely on each...