Measuring organizational cultures: a qualitative and quantitative study across twenty cases

Administrative Science Quarterly, June, 1990 by Geert Hofstede, Bram Neuijen, Denise Daval Ohayv, Geert Sanders

Leadership in TKB, in order to be effective, should be in harmony with the social behavior patterns. Managers should be accessible, fair, and good listeners. The present general manager is such a leader. He doesn't give himself airs. He has an easy contact with people of all levels and is felt to be "one of us." Careers in TKB are made primarily on the basis of social skills. One should not behave too conspicuously; one needn't be brilliant, but one does need good contacts; one should know one's way in the informal network, being invited rather than volunteering. One should belong to the tennis club. All in all, one should respect what someone called "the strict rules for being a nice person."

This romantic picture, however, has recently been disturbed by outside influences. First, market conditions have changed, and TKB finds itself in an unfamiliar competitive situation with other European suppliers. Costs had to be cut and manpower reduced. In the TKB tradition, this problem was resolved, without collective layoffs, through early retirement. However, the oldtimers who had to leave prematurely were shocked that the company didn't need them anymore. Second, TKB has been severely attacked by environmentalists because of its pollution, a criticism that has received growing support in political circles. It is not impossible that the licenses necessary for TKB's operation will one day be withdrawn. TKB's management tries to counter this problem with an active lobby with the authorities, with a press campaign, and through organizing public visits to the company, but its success is by no means certain. Inside TKB, this threat is belittled. People are unable to imagine that one day there may be no more TKB. "Our management has always found a solution. There will be a solution now." In the meantime, attempts are made to increase TKB's competitiveness through quality improvement and product diversification. These also imply the introduction of new people from the outside. These new trends, however, clash with TKB's traditional culture.

The DLM case. DLM is a European airline company that in the early 1980s went through a spectacular turnaround. Under the leadership of a new president, the company switched from a product-and-technology to a market-and-service orientation. Before, planning and sales had been based on realizing a maximum number of flight hours with the most modern equipment available. Pilots, technicians, and disciplinarian managers were the company's heroes. Deteriorating results forced the reorganization. The president recognized that in the highly competitive air transport market, success depended on catering to the needs of current and potential customers. These needs should be best known by the employees with face-to-face customer contact. In the old situation, these people had never been asked for their opinions: they were a disciplined set of uniformed soldiers, trained to follow the rules. Now, they were considered to be on "the firing line," and the organization was restructured to support them rather than to order them around. Superiors became advisors; those on the firing line received a lot of discretion in dealing with customer problems on the spot, while only checking with superiors after the fact--which involves an acceptance of employees' judgment, with all risks that entails.