Page 118 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

108 HBR Leader’s Handbook
FIGURE 3-1
Assessing culture

Instructions: Place an X where you are today and a XX where you need to be Gap
1 2 3 4 5

1. Decision making
Authority to make decisions Authority to make decisions dispersed
centralized at top throughout the company
2. Business information
Information about business and strategy Information about business and
reserved for senior management strategy available to everyone

3. Communication style
Formally through written memos Informally through conversations
and official meetings and impromptu meetings

4. Employee expertise
People encouraged to focus on functional People encouraged to develop many
expertise and a single job skills for a variety of jobs

5. External relations
Company has traditional contractual relationships Company develops formal and informal
with customers and suppliers partnerships with customers and suppliers

6. Solutions sharing
New ideas and solutions infrequently New ideas and solutions regularly shared
shared with other departments throughout entire organization
7. Rewards
Rewards and responsibility based Rewards and responsibility based
on accomplishments
on title or tenure
8. Work behavior Company uses teams and
Company encourages and recognizes recognizes teamwork
individual performance

9. Work orientation Emphasis placed on getting
Emphasis placed on defined work measurable, bottom-line results
processes and roles

10. Innovation
Employees use traditional and tested Employees looking for and experimenting with
innovative ways of getting work done
approaches to getting the work done Total gap
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