J-DEPM+604

=DEPM 604 Leadership in Distance Education Spring 2010 = = =

I Have Major Posts Listed Here on Topics From The DEPM 604 Clas s
The Effects of Culture on a Business  Author: Stuart Adams   Created: 1//2010  ﻿ In class we were asked whether Kotter’s view of the typical organization’s “change problems” and “mistakes” have relevance to your past or present organization. My response reflected my years with the old "Phone Company:" The best example that I can offer supporting Kotter's view is the old 'Phone Company" where I worked from 1979 through 1985. History shows how ineffective their efforts to adapt to the changing business environment were: AT&T exists today in name only. Their corporate culture could never change because they absolutely wouldn't accept a need to change. The complacency problem, which came from a generation of rather remarkable success and the arrogance that came with it, made it impossible for AT&T to ever see there problems as being something that they needed to do something about.

AT&T invented the transistor, created the LASER and proved the Big Bang. The had accomplished the goal of "Near-Universal Service" that is, a telephone in virtually every home and business. They had supported Federal Government successes in the military, law enforcement and NASA (as project managers for the Apollo moon mission). Most of all, when you picked up the phone, you ALWAYS got dial-tone! How could anyone find fault with AT&T? But there management was calcified, bureaucratic and driven by government regulation. Though they talked about focusing on the customer, the customers that really mattered were the government and the regulators. The bureaucratic culture permeated the company and its subsidiaries from top to bottom. The organization had at least 9 hierarchical layers of management, with a span of control of 7-10 subordinates at each layer. All important decisions came down from above and management was not interested in hearing from "lower downs" in the organization. Organizational fiefdoms were the norm.

I spent 18 months in their marketing and sales division. As we continued to loose customers to the competition, the standard response was "don't worry, they'll come back" assuming that only the "Phone Company" could satisfy the customers.

When the divestiture decree was issued, AT&T reacted first with disbelief and then intransience. Management refused to accept responsibility for their problems. So, the employees took the same attitude.

For the next 25 years, they continued to operate an oversized bureaucracy, continued to ignore the demands of the market and responded to the pressures for change with arrogance.

Apparently it never occurred to them that this once-great company could end up as a case study on how companies fail ﻿.