One advantage to working with large corporations around the world during my tenure at Microsoft is I have been exposed to many different corporate cultures in action. It may be an oversimplication, but I look at these multiple cultures through two prisms: People-focused, or process-focused. Each has its pros and cons.
People-focused cultures tend to emphasize personal growth and has a culture of appreciation and celebration of achievement. Process-focused cultures tend to be managed, top-down companies that have rigorous processes that people are expected to follow.
Companies with a process-driven culture tends to make employees log all the hours worked on projects, and follow the proper process in any requests or impactful activities. They usually have fixed PTO days, based on your seniority. A people-focused company tends to have a flatter organization chart, embraces collaborative processes such as Agile, and have flexible work hours and no fixed PTO for its employees – you can take the time you need when you need to.
As corporations compete for talent in the 21st century, and embrace new technologies, many have or will go through “digital transformations.” These efforts are intended to make the organization more modern and competitive. But change is hard, and unless these enterprises work to change their cultures as well, their chances at a successful transformations are reduced.
Example: A former process-driven culture who tries to change to be more people-centric, but neglects to properly train and support upper and middle management to change their behavior will result in the same behavior, just “repackaged” with new “marketing” terms. Without the proper training and incentives, the legacy “process-focused” people resist the change. This turns off many employees, and the old saying that “people don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses” is an axiom that rings true in this situation.
Which culture is better? It depends on your opinions and personality. Some people love structure, and process-driven cultures are great for them. Many love freedom and flexibility, and so a people-focused organization is best for them. The challenges come when the person and the cultures don’t blend. Speaking for myself, I’m (insert cliché here) a “people person” and am not a guy who loves overbearing processes… Unless I have an active hand in defining said process (I’m somewhat of a control freak). When I have worked for a rigid and inflexible process-focused boss… Well, it’s oil and water. Things do not go well.
In the end, both cultures should be focused on one thing: Supporting their employees. If they don’t, then the employees will not go above and beyond for the company and turnover will be high. The key is to monitor how people work and ensure that whatever processes or culture you define help them get their work done with minimal stress and overhead.