The_Essential_Manager_s_Handbook

ENSURING CULTURAL FIT / 61

Sustaining culture

Managers are responsible for sustaining

organizational culture, by helping new

employees learn and adapt to it. A new

worker, for example, must be taught

what behaviors are valued and rewarded

by the organization, so that he or she

can learn the “system” and gradually

assume those behaviors that are

appropriate to their role.

CASE STUDY

KEEPING CULTURE

CONSISTENT

At coffee retailer Starbucks, all

employees go through a set of

formal classes during their first

few weeks on the job. They are

taught the history of the firm,

coffee-making techniques, and how

to explain Starbucks’s Italian drink

names to baffled customers,

and they are given coffee-tasting

classes. The firm’s socialization

program turns out employees who

are well versed in the company’s

culture and can represent

Starbucks’s obsession with

“elevating the coffee experience”

for its customers.

The better the match

between your personal

style as a manager and the

organization’s culture,

the more successful you

are likely to be

US_060-061_Ensuring_Cultural_Fit.indd 61 30/05/16 3:01 pm