chapter 12Corporate Culture and Leadership—Keys to Good Stra.docx

chapter 12
Corporate Culture and Leadership—Keys to Good Strategy
Execution
Arthur A. Thompson
The University of Alabama
Copyright © 2020 by Arthur A. Thompson and Glo-Bus
Software, Inc.
All rights reserved. Not for distribution to non-registrants
without permission.
An e-book published and distributed
by McGraw Hill Education
Sixth Edition of Strategy: Core Concepts and Analytical
Approaches (2020-2021). Arthur A. Thompson, The University
of Alabama. Published and distributed by McGraw Hill
Education. Image of globe comprised of puzzle pieces with
several pieces dislodged and scattered below the globe. Chapter
5 The Five Generic Competitive Strategy Options: Which One
to Employ
1
“The biggest levers you’ve got to change a company are
strategy, structure, and culture. If I could pick two, I’d pick
strategy and culture.”
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Wayne Leonard
former CEO, Entergy

2
“Weak leadership can wreck the soundest strategy; forceful
execution of even a poor plan can often bring victory.”
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Sun Zi
ancient Chinese general and philosopher
“Leadership is accomplishing something through other people
that wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t there… Leadership
is being able to mobilize ideas and values that energize other
people… Leaders develop a story line that engages other
people.”
12–4
Software, Inc.
Noel Tichy,
Professor
“You’ve got to have a vision. You’ve got to have a plan to
implement it. Then you’ve got to set the example, develop the
principles and values that are important, and get people to buy
into it.”
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Software, Inc.
Nick Saban,
Head Football Coach,
The University of Alabama

5
Be able to identify the key features of a company’s corporate
culture and appreciate the role of a company’s core values and
ethical standards in shaping the corporate culture.
Understand how and why a company’s culture can aid or block
the drive for good strategy execution and operating excellence.
Learn the kinds of actions management can take to change a
problem corporate culture.
Understand what constitutes effective managerial leadership in
achieving superior strategy execution and operating excellence.
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Chapter 12 Learning Objectives
6
Instilling a Corporate Culture that Promotes Good Strategy
Execution
Identifying the Key Features of a Corporate Culture
Cultures Are Often Grounded in Core Value and Ethics
Strong vs. Weak Cultures
Why Cultures Matter to the Strategy Execution Process
Healthy Cultures That Aid Good Strategy Execution
Unhealthy Cultures Impede Good Strategy Execution
Changing a Problem Culture
Leading the Strategy Execution Process
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Software, Inc.
Chapter 12 Roadmap
7
Every firm has its own unique culture that is a product of:
The core values and business principles articulated by
executives
Its standards of what is ethically acceptable and what is not
The ingrained work practices, beliefs, and behaviors that define
“how we do things around here”
Its approach to people management and its style of operating
The “chemistry” and the “personality” that permeates its work
environment
Stories told repeatedly to reinforce its values, business
practices, and traditions
The specific cultural traits that emerge from a firm’s meshing of
these culture-determining factors define its corporate culture
A firm’s culture is its psyche or organizational DNA
A firm’s culture is important because it influences its actions
and approaches to conducting its business
There are large variations in the character of company cultures
Instilling a Corporate Culture That Promotes Good Strategy
Execution
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8
Core Concept
Corporate culture refers to the character of a firm’s internal

work climate and psyche—as shaped by its core values, business
principles, ethical standards, ingrained beliefs and behaviors,
approach to people management, style of operating, and
traditions.
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9
Identifying the Key Features of
a Company’s Corporate Culture
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Strength of peer pressure to
conform and
observe norms
Actions and behaviors encouraged
and rewarded
Traditions and
stories and “how
we do things
around here”
How the firm
treats its
stakeholders
A Company’s Corporate Culture
Values, principles, and ethical
standards
in actual use
Approach to people management and
key policies and procedures
Atmosphere and spirit that pervades the firm’s work climate

How managers and employees interact and relate to one another
The values, beliefs, and practices that undergird a firm’s culture
can have any of several origins:
A founder or strong executive leaders who articulated them as a
set of business principles, the firm’s policies and ways of
operating
Exemplary actions of personnel viewed as role models
Evolving consensus about “how we ought to do things around
here.”
Over time, these cultural underpinnings take root, become
embedded in how the firm conducts its business, and gain
widespread acceptance
among both managers and employees
Identifying the Key Features of a Company’s Corporate Culture
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11
Zealous pursuit of low costs and frugal operating practices
A strong work ethic
Ritualistic headquarters meetings to exchange ideas and review
problems
Executives’ commitment to visiting stores, listening to
customers, and soliciting suggestions from employees.
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Example: Corporate Culture at Wal-Mart

Share a common customer-centered goal of developing the best
consumer products that make users feel delight, surprise, and
connection to each Apple device
Secretive, and highly protective of company-developed
technology and know-how.
Creative thinking and inspired solutions are expected from
everyone—perfectionists always on the lookout for better ideas.
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Example: Cultural Traits at Apple
13
Delivering exceptional service to an out-of-the-ordinary
customer request is a “heroic” act
Promoting employees noted for their heroic acts and dedication
to outstanding service
Motivating salespeople with a commission-based compensation
system that enables Nordstrom’s best salespeople to earn more
than double what other stores pay
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Example: Cultural Traits at Nordstrom
Corporate culture is strongly influenced by its dedication to its
core values and the bar it sets for ethical behavior.
Accounts for why so many firms have developed a formal

values statement and a code of ethics
At some firms stated values/ethics are cosmetic, existing mainly
to impress outsiders and help create a positive image.
Stated core values and ethical principles have two culture-
building roles:
Fostering a work climate where personnel share common and
strongly held convictions about how the firm’s business is to be
conducted
Providing personnel with guidance about the manner in which
they are to do their jobs
Cultures Are Often Grounded in Core Values and Ethics
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Strategic Insight
A company’s values statement and code of ethics communicate
expectations of how all company personnel should conduct
themselves in the workplace.
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FIGURE 12.1 The Two Culture-Building Roles of a Company’s
Core Values and Ethical Standards
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17
Screening and selecting new employees that will mesh well with
the culture.
Incorporating discussions of the firm’s culture and desired
cultural behaviors into employee orientation programs and
training courses for managers and employees.
Having senior managers frequently reiterate core values, ethical
standards, and the desired cultural behaviors in daily
conversations, at company events, and internal communications
to employees.
Stressing that line-managers all the way down to first-level
supervisors give ongoing attention to explaining the desired
cultural traits and behaviors in their areas and why they are
important.
Expecting managers at all levels to be cultural role models and
exhibit the advocated cultural norms in their own behavior.
Encouraging company personnel to exert strong peer pressure
on coworkers to conform to expected cultural norms.
Making the display of cultural norms a factor in evaluating each
person’s job performance, granting compensation increases, and
deciding who to promote.
Holding periodic ceremonies to honor people who excel in
exhibiting and role modeling the desired cultural behaviors.
Ways That Companies Ingrain Cultural Norms and Perpetuate
the Culture
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Cultures evolve because a variety of factors breed a new work

climate and new ways of doing things:
Diversification into new businesses
Expansion into foreign countries
Rapid growth that brings an influx of new employees
Merger with or acquisition of another firm
A new CEO who opts to shake things up
A significant change in the company’s direction and/or a big
strategy change and/or a sudden decline in sales/profits
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The Forces That Cause a Company’s Culture to Evolve
19
Why a Company’s Culture Evolves
Causes of Cultural Change
A new CEO that
shakes things up.
Expansion into
foreign countries
Diversification into
new businesses
Eroding business prospects or big
internal changes
Merger or acquisition
of another firm
Rapid growth
that causes an influx
of new employees
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Software, Inc.

It is not unusual for firm to have multiple cultures (or
subcultures) with their own values, beliefs, and practices:
Departments
Geographic locations
Business units
Global and multinational firms tend to be multicultural because
cross-country organization units have different operating
histories and work climates, members who speak different
languages, have grown up under different customs and
traditions, and have different sets of values and beliefs
Subcultures can clash if:
They embrace conflicting business philosophies
Key executives use different approaches to people management
Differences between a firm’s culture and recently-acquired
businesses have not been ironed out
Existence of subcultures does not preclude important areas of
commonality and compatibility being established in different
countries (or within a subculture)
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The Presence of Company Subcultures
21
Strong-Culture Firm
Has deeply rooted widely-shared values, behavioral norms, and
operating approaches.
Insists that its values and principles be reflected in the

decisions and actions taken by all company personnel.
Weak-Culture Firm
Lacks values and principles that are consistently preached or
widely shared.
Has few or no widely-shared traditions, principles, beliefs,
values, or behavioral norms.
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Strong vs. Weak Cultures
Core Concept
In a strong-culture company, culturally approved behaviors and
ways of doing things flourish, while culturally disapproved
behaviors and work practices get squashed.
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The dominating presence of deeply-rooted values and operating
approaches “regulate” conduct of a firm’s business and its
workplace.
In strong culture firms, senior managers
Reiterate business principles and core values to organization
members and explain how they relate to its business
environment.
Make a conscious effort to display these principles in their own
actions and behavior—they walk the talk
Insist that those values and business principles are reflected in

the decisions and actions taken by all personnel
Over time, the strong values are widely shared by rank-and-file
employees—people who dislike the culture tend to leave
Individuals encounter strong peer pressures from co-workers to
observe culturally approved norms and behaviors
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Strong-Culture Companies
24
A strong corporate culture has a powerful influence on strategy
execution (“how we do things around here”) because:
Many personnel are accepting of cultural traditions
There are strong management expectations and co-worker peer
pressure to conform to cultural norms
Managers use traditions, beliefs, values, common bonds, and
behavioral norms as levers to mobilize commitment to executing
the chosen strategy.
Caution: Strong cultures can create a HUGE OBSTACLE to
good strategy execution if its behavioral norms conflict with the
needed kinds of execution-supportive behaviors.
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Strong-Culture Companies (continued)
25
A Weak-Culture Firm
Lacks values and principles consistently preached or widely

shared
Has few widely revered traditions and evidences few culture-
induced norms in its operating practices
Top executives not committed to culture-building, no
commitment to particular values and behavioral norms and/or
efforts to paint white lines for actions, decisions, and behavior
of company personnel
Has a working environment where its personnel feel little co-
worker peer pressure to do the right things in particular ways
Breeds no strong allegiance to what the firm stands for or to
operating the business in well-defined ways
Cultural weakness can result from entrenched subcultures that
block the emergence of a well-defined work climate
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Weak-Culture Companies
26
When a firm’s culture promotes attitudes, behaviors, and ways
of doing things conducive to first-rate strategy execution, the
culture
Functions as a valuable ally in the strategy execution process
Adds formidable power to management’s strategy execution
efforts
Why so?
Execution-supportive cultural norms, actions, behaviors, and
work practices make it easier for managers to win support for
doing the things needed to execute strategy proficiently
Culture-induced peer pressures steer personnel into actions and
behaviors that aid the cause of good strategy execution
Execution-supportive cultural influences rally personnel to
implement needed internal changes by exerting their best efforts

to attain execution-critical performance
Why Corporate Cultures Matter to
the Strategy Execution Process
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Core Concept
A culture that encourages actions, behaviors, and work practices
conducive to good strategy execution adds significantly to the
power and effectiveness of a firm’s strategy execution effort.
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Strategic Insight
In companies with execution-supportive cultural influences,
managers can use the ingrained values, business principles,
behavioral norms, and established ways of doing things as
levers to mobilize the energy and actions of company personnel
squarely behind the drive for good strategy execution.
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A culture that clashes with execution-supportive behaviors and
work practices poses a dilemma for the firm’s personnel:

Should they be loyal to the culture and traditions of the firm
and resist or be indifferent to behaviors and practices that
promote better strategy execution?
Should they go along with the strategy execution effort and
engage in actions and behaviors that run counter to the culture?
Why Corporate Cultures Matter to the Strategy Execution
Process (continued)
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Strategic Insight
It is in management’s best interest to dedicate considerable
effort to establishing a corporate culture that encourages
behaviors and work practices conducive to good strategy
execution and that marshals organizational energy behind the
drive for good strategy execution.
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Closely aligning culture with requirements for strategy
execution merits the full attention of senior executives
Their culture-building objective is to create a work climate and
style of operating that mobilizes their personnel squarely behind
efforts to execute the firm’s strategy competently.
The more that execution-supportive ways are embedded in the
culture, the more the culture automatically steers its members

toward execution-supportive behaviors and work practices
Why Corporate Cultures Matter to the Strategy Execution
Process (concluded)
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32
Strategy execution in a weak culture firm poses big top
management challenges because:
There are no ingrained traditions, values, peer pressures, or
behavioral norms for managers to rely on in helping align the
actions and behavior of employees with the requirements for
good strategy execution.
Managers have no strong internal cultural support for their
attempts to implement strategic change.
Managers are left with the options of urging employee support
for needed changes and using compensation incentives and
rules-driven directives to induce execution-supportive actions
and behaviors.
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Trying to Execute Strategy in
a Weak-Culture Company
A strong, healthy culture embraces execution-supportive
attitudes, behaviors, and work practices.
Two types of cultures that are healthy and supportive of good
strategy execution are:
High-performance cultures
Adaptive cultures

Healthy Cultures That Aid
Good Strategy Execution
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The standout traits:
A “can-do” spirit of results-oriented work climate where people
do more than is expected to meet or beat stretch objectives
Pride in doing things right
No-excuses accountability
A strong sense of involvement on the part of all personnel
An emphasis on individual initiative and creativity
ALL personnel display high-performance behaviors and a
passion for making the firm successful
Such a culture—permeated by a spirit of achievement and
constructive pressure to achieve good results—is a valuable
contributor to strategy execution and operating excellence
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High-Performance Cultures
35
A willingness to accept change, introduce and execute new
strategies, and adopt new work practices
Confidence that the firm can deal with new threats and
opportunities
A proactive approach to identifying issues, evaluating

implications and options, and quickly moving ahead with
workable solutions
Receptiveness to risk taking, experimentation, and innovation
Supportive of managers and employees who advocate useful
change
Seek out, support, and promote individuals who exercise
initiative, spot opportunities, and display the skills to
implement them.
Openly evaluate ideas and suggestions, fund initiatives to
develop new or better products, and take prudent risks to pursue
opportunities
Firms with adaptive cultures thrive on change—
driving it, leading it, and capitalizing on it .
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Traits of Adaptive Cultures
36
Why is change willingly embraced in an adaptive culture as
opposed to a condition where organization members are fearful
of how change will affect them and thus change-resistant?
Answers lie in the traits of an adaptive culture:
Managers are careful to make sure that any changes in operating
practices and behaviors do not compromise core values and
long-standing business principles
Managers are careful to make sure that any changes they
institute are consistent with the legitimate and best interests of
all stakeholders—customers, employees, shareowners, suppliers,
and the communities where the company operates
Changes are readily accepted so long as the changes
are viewed as fair to all stakeholders and management
exhibits a commitment to doing the right thing

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Change in Adaptive Cultures
37
Strategic Insight
As a firm’s strategy evolves, both a high performance culture
and an adaptive culture are valuable allies in the strategy-
implementing, strategy-executing process, as compared to
cultures that have to be coaxed and cajoled to change.
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The distinctive characteristic of an unhealthy corporate culture
is the presence of counterproductive cultural traits that
adversely impact the work climate, company performance, and
the success of strategy execution initiatives
Five particularly unhealthy cultural traits are:
Hostility to change
Heavily politicized decision-making
Insular, inwardly-focused thinking
Unethical and greed-driven behaviors
The presence of incompatible subcultures
Unhealthy Cultures That Impede
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Five Unhealthy Cultures That Impede
Change-resistant cultures
Insular, inwardly focused cultures
Politicized cultures
Incompatible Subcultures
Unethical and greed-driven cultures
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Undesirable or unhealthy behaviors in change-resistant cultures
Avoiding risks; being cautious and conservative is deemed
wiser
Not making bold proposals to pursue emerging opportunities
A lax approach to both product innovation and continuous
improvement in performing value chain activities
Following rather than leading market change because:
Being in the forefront of change is too risky
Acting too quickly increases exposure to costly mistakes
Moving later allows careful analysis and learning from missteps

of early movers
No enthusiasm for (or opposition to) proposals to do things
differently
People who champion new ways of doing things are viewed as a
nuisance or troublemaker; more comfortable with “we have
done it this way for years”
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Change-Resistant Cultures
41
Internal politics and political infighting consumes a great deal
of organizational energy
Empire-building managers jealously guard their prerogatives
Have their own agendas and operate their work units as
autonomous “fiefdoms”
Their positions on issues are aimed at protecting or expanding
their turf
Collaboration with other units is viewed with suspicion, and
cross-unit cooperation occurs grudgingly
Politically influential executives and/or coalitions among
departments with vested interests in a particular outcome shape
what actions the firm takes
What’s best for the firm takes a backseat to political
maneuvering
Political jockeying detracts from efforts to execute strategy
and frustrates personnel who are less political and more
inclined to do what is in the firm’s best interests.
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Politicized Cultures

42
Standout traits and behaviors:
A belief on the part of managers and key employees that they
have all the answers or can develop them internally
A neglect of customers and how their needs and expectations
are changing.
Confidence in the correctness of how the firm does things and
the firm’s skills and capabilities causes managers to discount he
merits of what outsiders are doing and see little payoff from
studying best-in-class performers.
Insular thinking, internally driven solutions, and a must-be-
invented-here mindset permeates a culture of managerial
inbreeding and a failure to recruit people who offer fresh
thinking and perspectives.
The big risk of insular thinking is underestimating the power of
the competitive capabilities of rival firms and overestimating
the power of the firm’s own competitive capabilities.
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Insular, Inwardly Focused Cultures
43
The standout traits and behaviors:
Executives exude
Arrogance, ego, and greed
An “ends-justify-the-means” mentality in pursuing performance
targets
Senior managers

Wink at unethical behavior
May cross over the line to unethical (and criminal) behavior
themselves
Adopt accounting principles that make financial performance
look better than it really is
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Unethical and Greed-Driven Cultures
44
Subcultures are unhealthy when:
They embrace conflicting business philosophies, approaches to
people management, and/or styles of operating
They spawn warring factions within the firm, creating a
poisonous atmosphere
They become absorbed in political behaviors with surrounding
clashing subcultures that distract personnel from doing the
firm’s business while they are jockeying with other subcultures
for cultural dominance
They prevent or impede teamwork among various units and
block emergence of a collaborative approach to strategy
execution
Lack of consensus among subcultures about how to do things
results in fragmented or inconsistent approaches to
implementing strategic initiatives and limited success
in executing the firm’s overall strategy.
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Incompatible, Clashing Subcultures

45
When a culture is unhealthy or out of sync with actions and
behaviors needed to successfully execute the company’s
strategy, the culture must be changed as rapidly as can be
managed by
Eliminating the unhealthy or dysfunctional or mismatched
cultural traits and replacing them with execution-supportive
behaviors and work practices
Successful culture change requires decisive, forceful leadership
by top executives
The single most visible factor that distinguishes successful
culture-change efforts from failed
attempts is competent leadership at the top.
Changing a Problem Culture
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FIGURE 12.2 Changing a Problem Culture
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47
Efforts to replace a problem culture are made credible by

initiating a series of visible, forceful change actions:
Replace recalcitrant “old culture” executives and managers
Promote advocates of the shift to a different culture who can
function as new-culture role models
Appoint outsiders with the desired cultural attributes to high-
profile positions
Screen all candidates for new positions carefully, hiring only
those who appear to fit in with the new culture
Mandate that all personnel attend culture-training programs
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Substantive Culture-Changing Actions
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Ways to change a problem culture:
Design compensation incentives that boost the pay of teams and
individuals who display the desired cultural behaviors.
Let word leak out that generous pay raises have been awarded to
individuals who have stepped out front, led the adoption of the
desired work practices, displayed the new-style behaviors, and
achieved pace-setting results.
Revise policies and procedures to better drive cultural change
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Substantive Culture-Changing Actions (continued)
49
Symbolic actions that top executives can take:

Lead by example—Walk the talk
If the firm is striving to be a low-cost provider, top executives
must display frugality in their own actions and minimize
executive perks
If the culture change imperative is to be more responsive to
customers’ needs and to pleasing customers, then executives
must spend time talking with customers
Hold ceremonial events
To praise and honor people who display the desired cultural
traits
To celebrate each culture-change success
Appear at employee training programs to stress strategic
priorities, values, ethical principles, and cultural norms
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Symbolic Culture-Changing Actions
Changing a problem culture is not a short-term exercise:
A new culture takes time to emerge and prevail, overnight
transformations do not occur.
A new culture can take 2-5 years (maybe longer) to become
deeply embedded
The larger the organization and the greater the cultural shift
needed to produce an execution-supportive fit, the longer
change takes
How Long Does It Take to Change
a Problem Culture?
Software, Inc.
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51
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Leading the Strategy Execution Process
Managing the strategy process is simple enough:
Craft a sound strategic plan, implement it, fully execute it,
adjust it as needed, and win!
Leading the strategy execution process is a top-down
management activity:
Stay on top of what is happening, monitor progress, remove
obstacles to good execution, and decide how to get things done
Use constructive pressure to achieve good results and operating
excellence
Push corrective actions to improve strategy execution and
achieve the targeted results
52
Requires senior executives to tap into information from a wide
range of sources:
Talk with key subordinates
Stay in close contact with key personnel in outlying locations
via e-mail and telephone
Attend meetings and quiz presenters and attendees
Review the latest operating results
Watch the competitive reactions of rival firms
Visit with key customers and suppliers to get their perspectives
Practice managing by walking around (MBWA)—learn firsthand
how well the strategy execution process is going (gather
information by visiting facilities, talking with different
personnel at different organization levels, asking lots of

questions, listening to concerns and opinions, soliciting ideas)
Staying on Top of How Well Things Are Going
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Core Concept
Management by walking around (MBWA) is one of the
techniques that effective leaders use to stay informed about how
well the strategy execution process is progressing and determine
whether and when to intervene to help move things along.
MBWA allows managers to see firsthand how well the strategy
execution process is proceeding, spot gridlock, learn what
obstacles lie in the path of good execution, and start
considering what might be done to clear the way for better
progress.
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Mobilizing organizational energy behind the drive for good
strategy execution and operating excellence entails nurturing a
results-oriented work climate, where performance standards are
high and a spirit of achievement is pervasive
The goal is to build a good organizational track record in
meeting or beating stretch performance targets
Putting Constructive Pressure on the Organization to Achieve
Good Results and Operating Excellence

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Treating employees as valued partners and contributors in
organizational efforts to achieve good business results.
Fostering an esprit de corps that energizes organizational
members
Using empowerment to help create a fully engaged workforce
Setting stretch objectives and clearly communicating an
expectation that personnel are to give their best in achieving
performance targets
Using benchmarking, best practices, business process
reengineering, TQM, and Six Sigma to focus attention on
internal operating improvements
Using the full range of motivational techniques and
compensation incentives to inspire company personnel, nurture
a results-oriented work climate, and reward high performance.
Celebrating individual, group, and company successes
Instilling a Spirit of High Achievement
Into the Culture
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Success in initiating corrective actions hinges on:
Accurate analysis of unacceptable performance (correcting
flawed strategy execution is different than correcting flawed

strategy)
Exercise of good business judgment in deciding when and what
corrective adjustments to make
Good implementation of the corrective actions that are initiated
Successful managers get an organization back on track quickly
because:
They (and their staffs) are good at discerning what actions to
take and in driving them through to a successful conclusion.
Managers who misdiagnose the causes of weak performance or
are habitually slow to implement corrective actions that produce
better results are candidates for being replaced.
Leading the Process of Making
Corrective Adjustments
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Accurate
analysis of the situation
Good business judgment in deciding what actions to take
Good implementation
of the corrective actions
Making corrective actions
successfully requires:

Making corrective actions successfully requires:
Accurate
analysis of the situation
Good business judgment in deciding what actions to take
Good implementation
of the corrective actions
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Strategic Insight
The process of making corrective adjustments is not about
searching for the “right” or “provably correct” way to proceed.
It’s about instituting actions deemed likely to result in better
strategy execution and improved ability to attain the targeted
levels of business performance.
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Doing a good job of leading the strategy execution process is
not about searching for the “right” way to proceed or for
provably “correct” solutions. It is about proceeding in a manner
that produces good results, namely proficient strategy

execution, progress toward operating excellence, and good
business performance.
“Good Results” Are the Best Sign
of Effective Leadership
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In practice, it is hard to separate leading the process of
executing strategy from leading the other pieces of the strategy
process
Strategy consists of five interrelated and linked tasks requiring
continuous fine-tuning and adjustments to strategic visions,
objectives, strategies, and implementation/execution approaches
to fit ever-changing circumstances
The best tests of good strategic leadership and management are
Whether the firm has a good strategy
Whether the strategy is being competently executed
Whether the enterprise is meeting or beating its performance
targets
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A Final Word on Leading the Process
of Crafting and Executing Strategy
62
Accessibility Content: Text Alternatives for Images

FIGURE 12.1 The Two Culture-Building Roles of a Company’s
Core Values and Ethical Standards, Text Alternate
Return to parent slide.
A company’s stated core values and ethical principles:
Foster a work climate where company personnel share common
and strongly held convictions about how the company’s
business is to be conducted.
Signal employees that they are expected to:
Display the company’s core values in their actions (do things
the right way)
Uphold the company’s ethical standards (do the right thing)
FIGURE 12.2 Changing a Problem Culture, Text Alternate
Step 1: Identify facets of the present culture that are
dysfunctional and impede good strategy execution, operating
excellence, and the achievement of performance targets.
Step 2: Specify what new actions, behaviors, and work practices
should characterize the “new” culture.
Step 3: Talk openly about problems of the present culture and
make a persuasive case for how the proposed new actions and
behaviors will improve company performance.
Step 4: Follow with visible, forceful actions—both substantive
and symbolic—to ingrain a new set of behaviors, operating
practices, and cultural norms.

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image11.emf
A 35-year-old woman sought care for a fever and sore throat
that she’d had for 4 days. She
denied symptoms of cough, rhinorrhea, or sputum production.
The patient’s medical history included severe recurrent
streptococcal pharyngitis as a
child and teenager. At the age of 17, she developed a fever of
105° F with associated delirium,
dysphagia, nausea, and vomiting, and missed several days of
school. She also lost 82 pounds,
developed oral thrush, and continued to feel fatigued for
approximately a year. After her
primary care physician noted a heart murmur on physical exam,
she was sent for echocardiography
and diagnosed with rheumatic fever secondary to streptococcal
pharyngitis.
Eighteen years (and numerous streptococcal infections) later,
the patient was at our facility
and we were ordering a rapid antigen detection test (RADT) for
her current illness.
The throat specimen was positive for group A ß-hemolytic

streptococcus (GAS). The patient’s
8-year-old daughter also had a sore throat, fever, and positive
RADT; her symptoms resolved
with oral amoxicillin for 10 days. The patient’s husband was
also treated successfully with oral
amoxicillin/clavulanate for 10 days for similar symptoms. The
patient herself, however, was
unsuccessfully treated with oral amoxicillin 500 mg twice daily
for 7 days.
She was then given oral amoxicillin/clavulanate 875 mg twice
daily for 14 days, but received
no relief. Even after receiving clindamycin 600 mg twice daily
for 10 days, she had
minimal relief and remained positive for GAS on repeat RADT.
It was at this point that tonsillectomy
was considered as a possible treatment modality for her
refractory GAS pharyngitis.
The patient consented to the procedure and underwent a
tonsillectomy. She has remained
asymptomatic for 2 years and there have been no reported
outbreaks of GAS infection
in her household.
From above Case report You must post Your Discussion
Activity which must include:
Group A Streptococcus Pharyngitis review related to above
scenario with concept, Clinical symptoms, diagnosis, specific
treatment modalities and explanations, criteria for
Tonsillectomy as surgical choice of treatment. And finally
complications of this condition.

chapter 12Corporate Culture and Leadership—Keys to Good Stra.docx

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