Values and work ethic vary from organisation to organisation, often from unit to unit within the same organisation, and even from one boss to another in the same unit and is loosely termed the ‘culture of this place’! Successful organisations are usually characterised by a robust culture that pervades the organisation and sometimes gets branded as The IBM Way or the GE Culture.
However, bosses do impact work culture through their leadership style. A case in point: GE’s current CEO Jeff Immelt is actively changing GE’s ‘rank and yank’ culture (under the legendary Jack Welch) obsessed with ‘hitting quarterly numbers’ to a focus on ‘need to generate BIG ideas’ with ‘risking failure’ the new badge of honour. In short, what it takes to succeed at GE has changed.
You may have found that while you were able to easily succeed in Company A, you struggled to make an impact in Company B. Given the hot job market, you moved on. Yet, a feeling of inadequacy may have haunted you. Here are some general guidelines that could help:
INTEGRITY
While some companies view integrity as black and white, in others you would encounter shades of grey. A company may have a tax-friendly or tax-efficient pay structure, to maximise ‘net take home’, but this may amount to tax evasion. Some companies may treat medical or travel reimbursement as part of your compensation, overlooking fake bills or declarations.
‘ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS’
Public companies live QSQT (Quarter Se Quarter Tak), and are under constant pressure to meet or exceed their earnings guidance to investors. This may lead to a message of meeting the numbers ‘at any cost’ with achievement of ends justifying the means compromised in pursuit of short-term targets. This may start as a one-off and can gain epic proportions till some scam or whistle blower blows out. You need to be clear if you can deal with the pressure of ‘living and dying by today’s numbers’ with attendant connotations.
CONFIDENTIALITY OF COMPANY INFORMATION
You’d expect that companies would treat business and competitor information as confidential. This can be carried too far. I know of managers who will keep the strategy or business plan document under lock and key. But, they also keep those responsible for effective strategy implementation from understanding the big picture. Equally, you’ll meet managers who will share everything with employees citing transparency and participation.
E-MAIL/INTERNET USAGE
Company policy, more importantly, practice in this regard, could vary from full and unrestricted access and storage to what you may consider invasive of your privacy, with ‘Big Brother’ type tracking software monitoring the volume of downloads and nature of internet browsing. I know of employees who advocate unrestricted access, including to mail sites and blogs to help in their role as knowledge workers, and abuse it with audio and video downloads. Termination of employment for e-mail/Net abuse in India is still rare, but will undoubtedly grow in future.
HARASSMENT
In many MNCs, any kind of communication, with sexual innuendoes, over e-mail, or even verbally, can get you a pink slip. Remember how the gentle pat that Michael Douglas gave his secretary on the back in Disclosure got thrown up during the harassment proceedings. In other organisations, such communication could be seen as witty and may even get you a pat on the back from your boss!
While organisations do spend time and effort in inducting new hires, it would be in your interest to understand the work ethics that would help you gain acceptance and succeed in a new organisation.
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