Read the case and answer ALL the questions:
You arrive to work one morning to find the office surrounded by fire trucks. It
turns out an employee was responsible for the fire. A few days earlier, you
had made an unpopular announcement that the company would be closing
its warehouse and trucking operations. These would be outsourced to FedEx.
The news had not gone over well. Unfortunately, you knew that this incident
was a symptom of a larger problem.
As the new CEO, you were determined to root out the toxic culture that had
developed. There was clearly a lack of trust throughout the organization,
negative employee attitudes, and resistance to collaboration. It started at
the top with the majority owner, who had no formal position but was very
involved in the company and created a culture of fear. It was evident that
employees were afraid of him, and he preferred it that way. Even in your e-
mail exchanges with him, he was aggressive and abusive.
After six months, you were able to buy out the majority owner. However, you
knew that was just the first step. At the headquarters in California, you spent
time meeting with the top thirty people at the company. You had these
employees fill out a culture survey to gather anonymous feedback and
created a new mission statement and company values based on their input.
Although you spent time communicating these throughout the company,
over the next few months, nothing changed. Some employees had been
working at the company for many years and did not feel compelled to
change.
More drastic change was needed, so you decided to move the headquarters
from California to Colorado. The move made sense as you lived in Colorado
and most of the executives did as well. Leaving California would also allow
you to leave behind employees who were impeding your ability to dismantle
the toxic culture. Next, you and the executive team went through and
assessed each employee on both competencies and cultural fit. People were
rated as positive cultural influences, neutral, or cultural detractors.
Individuals who were cultural detractors, no matter how competent, were not
invited to move with the company. Many of these individuals were
longtenured employees who were too entrenched in the negative, toxic
culture. Although the move was not easy or without its costs, you and the
executive team were confident that these significant changes were
necessary. By shedding these cultural detractors, it would allow for a more
positive, collaborative culture.
Answer All the questions
Question 1.
From your observation and research, what is toxic culture at workplace?
Based on the case study above, analyse the possible causes to the toxic
culture from the perspective of individual, group and organizational level.
Question 2.
If you are being hired as an OB consultant, illustrate a few effective
strategies to cultivate a more positive and collaborative culture, that could
be recommended to the CEO.
