HBR's 10 Must Reads 2019

The pros and cons of culture styles Every culture style has strengths and weaknesses. The table below summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of each style an

d

how frequently it appears as a defi

ning culture characteristic among the companies in our study.

Culture style

Advantages

Disadvantages

Ranked 1 st or 2 nd

Caring Warm, sincere, rela-tional

Improved teamwork, engagement, communication, trust, and sense of belonging

Overemphasis on consensus building may reduce ex-ploration of options, stifl

e competitiveness, and slow

decision making

63%

Purpose Purpose driven, idealis-tic, tolerant

Improved appreciation for diversity, sustainability, and social responsibility

Overemphasis on a long-term purpose and ideals may get in the way of practical and immediate concerns

9%

Learning Open, inventive, ex-ploring

Improved innovation, agility, and orga-nizational learning

Overemphasis on exploration may lead to a lack of focus and an inability to exploit existing advantages

7%

Enjoyment Playful, instinctive, fun loving

Improved employee morale, engage-ment, and creativity

Overemphasis on autonomy and engagement may lead to a lack of discipline and create possible compliance or governance issues

2%

Results Achievement driven, goal focused

Improved execution, external focus, ca-pability building, and goal achievement

Overemphasis on achieving results may lead to commu-nication and collaboration breakdowns and higher levels of stress and anxiety

89%