Question: A Culture Problem at High and Tall Form groups of three to five people, discuss the following scenario, and discuss the questions. Be prepared to share your discussions with your class: You are the founding entrepreneurs of High and Tall Company, a fast-growing digital software company that specializes in home consumer electronics. Customer demand to license your software has boomed so much that in just 2 years, you have added over 50 new software programmers to help develop a new range of software products. These people are young and inexperienced but are highly skilled and used to putting in long hours to see their ideas succeed. The growth of your company has been so swift that you still operate informally. You have been so absorbed in your own work that you have paid little attention to the issue of developing a culture for your growing company. Your programmers have been learning how your company works by observing you and by seeing what goes on in their own work groups. There are increasing signs that all is not well, however. There have been increasing complaints from employees that as managers you do not recognize or reward good performance and that they do not feel equitably treated. Moreover, there have been growing concerns that you are either too busy or not willing to listen to their new ideas and act on them. A bad atmosphere seems to be developing in the company, and recently several talented employees have left. You realize in hindsight that you have done a poor job of creating a culture that encourages employees to perform well and stay with your company.
1. What kinds of values and norms do you want to make the heart of your organization's culture?
2. Think about this work situation. How could you try to build an adaptive culture, based on these values and norms, for your organization? (Hint: Focus on the four sources of culture.)
3. In what other ways could you influence and persuade your employees to perform well and stay with your company?