Going far beyond previous empirical work, John Kotter
and James Heskett provide the first comprehensive
critical analysis of how the "culture" of a corporation
powerfully influences its economic performance, for
better or for worse. Through painstaking research at
such firms as Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, ICI, Nissan, and
First Chicago, as well as a quantitative study of the
relationship between culture and performance in more
than 200 companies, the authors describe how shared
values and unwritten rules can profoundly enhance
economic success or, conversely, lead to failure to
adapt to changing markets and environments. With
penetrating insight, Kotter and Heskett trace the roots
of both healthy and unhealthy cultures, demonstrating
how easily the latter emerge, especially in firms which
have experienced much past success. Challenging the
widely held belief that "strong" corporate cultures
create excellent business performance, Kotter and
Heskett show that while many shared values and
institutionalized practices can promote good
performances in some instances, those cultures can also
be characterized by arrogance, inward focus, and
bureaucracy -- features that undermine an organization's
ability to adapt to change. They also show that even
"contextually or strategically appropriate" cultures --
ones that fit a firm's strategy and business context --
will not promote excellent performance over long periods
of time unless they facilitate the adoption of
strategies and practices that continuously respond to
changing markets and new competitive environments.
Fundamental to the process of reversing unhealthy
cultures and making them more adaptive, the authors
assert, is effective leadership. At the heart of this
groundbreaking book, Kotter and Heskett describe how
executives in ten corporations established new visions,
aligned and motivated their managers to provide
leadership to serve their customers, employees, and
stockholders, and thus created more externally focused
and responsive cultures. |
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