The mantra of mission, vision, and values has been at the core of most modern-day organizations for many decades. Even though many organization’s mission, vision and values statements are sometimes lost from creation to implementation, they are still very important to their success and defined culture.
Many are saying that in the upcoming digital transformation of the workplace, culture will be even more important to organizational success than it is today. According to Edgar Schein, Professor Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management:
“The only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture. If you do not manage culture, it manages you.”
Many organizations have great products, but if they don’t proactively manage their culture, bad things happen. Remember the Volkswagen emissions scandal? Here is an excerpt from VW’s mission statement:
“We assume responsibility regarding the environment, safety, and social issues. We act with integrity.”
I think most would agree that knowingly falsifying diesel emissions is not in alignment with the mission statement. How does an organization’s culture get so off track? If you believe Schein, VW failed to manage their culture and they paid dearly for the misalignment, some say up to $33 billion for the scandal.
Cecile Alper-Leroux, Vice President of Human Capital Management (HCM) Innovation at Ultimate Software, believes we need to reorder how we manage our organizations. Vision still comes first, and she also believes in putting culture before strategy. She believes culture is the true driver of any organizational strategy. (Click here to read her article)
Discussion Questions
Research a company from a traditional industry and compare it to a new hi-tech company. Compare their mission, vision, and values. How do they define each of the workplace cultures?
As a new HR professional, do you think workplace culture will be more or less important in organizations that are undergoing a digital transformation? Support and defend your position.