The Character of a Corporation: How Your Company's Culture Can Make or Break Your Business [Hardcover]

Rob Goffee (Author), Gareth Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998

Offering substantive analysis, vivid examples, and pragmatic solutions, this book presents a powerful and practical methodology for assessing and transforming one's corporate culture--that elusive element of the business mix that can make or break the long-term success of a business. Radio feature.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Corporate culture is more than just a way to set the tone at work--it also affects the bottom line. That's why it's critical to understand your company's culture. Authors Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones argue that managers need to know if their business's culture helps or hurts, and how to change it, if necessary. Goffee and Jones know their stuff. As founders of the London-based consulting firm Creative Management Associates, they've helped launch programs to overhaul corporate cultures at such companies as Johnson & Johnson, Coopers and Lybrand, and Hilton Hotels. They've identified four basic cultures, each of which can be good or bad: the networked culture, the mercenary culture, the fragmented culture, and the communal culture. For example, do employees gossip and form cliques? That's the networked culture at its worst, and it's probably creating an atmosphere of distrust and cynicism that can damage the company's future. But networking can also mean open and effective communication--and constructive friendships--that can lead to the sharing of good ideas, all to the company's benefit.

The book includes handy diagnostic tools, so you can describe your own corporate culture. It also suggests ways to bring about change and offers tips on surviving in whatever culture you find yourself. The Character of a Corporation is instructive reading for managers who want to improve performance and for anyone looking to survive and thrive in the workplace. --Dan Ring

From Library Journal

How does a company's corporate culture relate to its bottom line? Pretty directly, say the authors, who point to Disney, Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, and Nike as having achieved a healthy balance in both "company performance and employees' quality of life" that contributes to the well-being of their overall corporate cultures.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Collins; 1st edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 088730902X
• ISBN-13: 978-0887309021
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #640,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rob Goffee is Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School, where he teaches in the world-renowned Senior Executive Programme.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential to survivial and success of yourself and your comp, December 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Character of a Corporation: How Your Company's Culture Can Make or Break Your Business (Hardcover)

The authors describe four corporate culture types, give a self test for determining the type of culture that exists in your corporation, then provide detailed descriptions of the culture and the behaviors for success in the culture.

The cultures are mapped using a device called Jophari's Window, which for some reason they have named the Double S square. Each culture is described in terms of its socialability (the influence of relationships on the culture) and solidarity (the influence of the drive to achieve common goals on the culture.) Unfortunately, the authors have chosen names with emotional baggage to describe the four cultures - mercenary, communal, fragmented and networked. Once the reader gets beyond that "mercenary" is not a "bad" culture, the reading gets easier.

Each culture has both a positive and negative side, so in all eight culture types are described. The authors also provide effective ways to determine if the culture is serving or harming the objectives of the company, if the negative or positive aspect is in evidence and provide strategies for moving from one cultural "square" to another. They also provide tips on how to survive and succeed in each type.

I found this book to be very easy to understand and quite accurate in its descriptions. I recognized my company as the "mercenary" type right away! The book not only helps companies who are stuggling to change their culture, but also provides excellent input for people who are considering a job or career change. While not explicitly stated, the job seeker can compare himself to the types of people attracted to each culture and indeed frame questions to use during the job search to determine the culture of prospective employers.

The book is an easy read - accomplished in one or two evenings. The style is lively and engaging. The authors use anecdotes from their many consulting engagements, usually giving the name of the actual company, to provide examples of the cultures, behaviors, and cultural change efforts.

I recommend this book highly to any company seeking to understand and/or change their corporate behavior. I also recommend it to all job seekers, as it can help avoid the costly mistake of accepting a position in a company whose culture does not mesh with the seeker's personality or even sense of ethics.