The document summarizes a Harvard Business Review article about corporate culture. It discusses four key attributes of culture: culture is a group phenomenon, resides in shared behaviors and assumptions, people are hardwired to recognize culture, and certain themes recur across models. It then presents an integrated culture framework that maps seven cultural attributes based on flexibility, stability, independence and interdependence. The framework can be used by managers to understand, assess, identify subcultures, orient new executives, measure alignment, and design aspirational cultures. Key findings are that adjacent and diagonal attributes may co-exist or be confusing, while attributes along a line encourage teamwork, trust and respect.

1. THE LEADER’S GUIDETO CORPORATE
CULTURE
BY
BORIS GROYSBRG, JEREMIAH LEE,
JESSE PRICE AND J.YO- JUD CHENG
(Article published in Harvard Business Review, January’18)

2. ABOUT AUTHORS
Boris Groysbrg – Professor of Organization Behavior at HBS
Jeremiah Lee – Expert in design of organizational models
Jesse Price – Expert in Organizational Culture andTalent
J.Yo Jud-Cheng – Doctoral Candidate in the Strategy Unit at
HBS
Jesse Price
Jeremiah Lee
Boris Groysbrg
J. Yo Jud-Cheng

3. Strategy most literally defined as the tool to provide clarity
and focus for collective action and decision making whereas
Culture is the tacit social order of an organization.
STRATEGY & CULTURE ARE AMONG THE PRIMARY
LEVERS OF ORGANIZATION
3

4. Culture though being an
engine to shape attitudes
and behaviors in wide-
ranging and durable ways
often gets unmanaged,
overlooked and considered
as secondary concern
Through the seminal work by Edgar Schein, Shalom
Schwartz, Geert Hofstede and other leading
scholars we have identified four generally
accepted attributes:

5. 5
FOUR ATTRIBUTES OF CULTURE
People are drawn
towards the organizations
with characteristics
similar to their own;
organizations are more
likely to select individuals
who seem to fit in and
over the time who don’t
fit in tend to leave the
organization.
• Culture is a Group
Phenomenon. It
Cannot exist solely
within a single person
nor is it simply the
average of individual
characteristics.
• It resides in shared
behaviours, values and
assumptions
• An important and
often over-looked
aspect of culture is
that despite
subliminal nature,
people are effectively
hardwired to
recognize it and
respond to it
instinctively.
• As per the study by
Shalom Schwartz and
E.O. Wilson, it is
suggested that certain
themes should be
expected to recur
across the many
models, definitions
and studies in the
field.
• Culture applies very
broadly in an
organization and
sometime gets conflated
with the organization
itself.
• To understand this we
need to know 7 Actions
of Logics derived by
“David Rooke and
William.R.Torbert i.e,
The Opportunist, The
Diplomat, The Expert,
The Achiever, The
Individualist, The
Strategist or The
Alchemist

6. INTEGRATED
CULTURE
THE FRAMEWORK

7. More Stability and Less Interdependence, where
leader thrives on being realistic and planning ahead.
Employees feel protected and anticipate changes.
Less Stability and More Interdependence, where
leader emphasize shared procedures and time-
honored customs. Employees are united by
cooperation
Less Flexibility and More Interdependence, where
leader emphasize sincerity, teamwork and positive
relationships. Employees are united by loyalty.
More Flexibility and Less Interdependence, where
leader emphasize shared ideals and contribute
towards greater cause. Employees are united by
focus on sustainability and global communities
More Flexibility and Less Independence, where
leader emphasize innovation, knowledge and
adventure. Employees are united by curiosity
Less Flexibility and More Independence, where
leader emphasize on spontaneity and sense of
humor. Employees are united by playfulness
and stimulation.
Less Stability and More Independence, where
leader emphasize on goal accomplishment.
Employees are united by drive for capability
and success
More Stability and Less Independence, where
leader emphasize being realistic and planning
ahead. Employees are united by strong control
NOTE: Organization
Type, Size, Industry and
Geography are kept
constant
NOTE: People Interactions and
Response to Change varies
from Highly Interdependent to
Highly Independent

8. Key Findings:
• The Attributes adjacent to each other are
likely to be present in the organization such
as Safety and Order, Caring and Purpose
etc.
• The Attributes that are distant such as
Learning and Safety is rare to co-exist in an
organization.
• The Attributes diagonal to each other such
as Results and Caring are often confusing
for employees.
• The Attributes along the line such as Caring
and Order encourages a work environment
in which teamwork, trust and respect are
paramount

9. 9
USAGE OF FRAMEWORK BY MANAGERS
Understand organization’s culture and assess its intended and unintended effects
Evaluate the level of consistency in employees’ views of culture
Identify subcultures that may account for higher or lower group performance
Pinpoint differences between legacy cultures during mergers and acquisitions
Rapidly orient new executives to the culture they are joining and help them determine the most effective way to lead
employees
Measure the degree of alignment between individual leadership styles and organizational culture to determine what impact
of leader might have
Design an aspirational culture and communicate the changes necessary to achieve it

10. THANKYOU
SAYAL GUPTA
M.B.A (International Business)
Sasayal.pr@gmail.com
Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi