The article discusses the importance of identifying the workplace culture in one's work space.

1. Value of Work Place Culture – Which Century Are You In?
By Rtn. Sanam Reza
We hire someone for their educational qualifications, their skills, and their professional
experience; yet, when they make a suggestion it is unacceptable to hear it out because
they hold a post lower than yours. This is a common scenario in our offices or any sort
of work place. You believe as an employer that, I have been there before I was promoted
so I know all about the process. But, are you then ignoring the fact that the World and
its ways are changing by the second? Or is it the fear that they might come up with
something better than you? Regardless, you are ignoring the very basis of the formation
of a business entity – all activities should work for achieving the vision and mission of
the organization which is usually based on creating the a product that satisfies the
consumer‟s needs and has a competitive advantage, bringing in profit for the
organization.

2. The right work culture is an issue usually and very conveniently ignored in developing
countries, and a text-book culture is observed which is highly influenced by the culture
of that nation. In Bangladesh for instance, our culture demands that you do not raise
your voice on a person older than you, you do not question what elders, teachers, or
anyone with a more advantageous position than you say; or at least not oppose it. That
sounds very respectful and noble but, does that really help resolve the issue? At some
situations outside your work place it may be fine. But, at work, it is simply a waste of
talent and an opportunity cost that you let go to have your way. This usually also, leads
to job alienation where the job holder basically just gives the minimum output required
by him/her and waits for the pay check at the end of the month having absolutely no
connection with the final product, or the organization; leading to work over-load and
stress as you lose the love for your job, or what you do eventually is just wait for an offer
from another company with a better pay.
Laszlo Bock, HR Manager, Google says „We want to understand what works here rather
than what worked at any other organization‟. Following a text-book approach does not
work with humans, we are not machines! Knowing what works best for your office is the
sign of a true leader and a successful manager. If you are responsible and have the
power to set rules and ways of how the work is done; you will be smart enough to know
whether a carrot or a cake needs to be hung in front of your employees to get their
most efficient and effective output. You need to identify if leaving post-its on your
employee‟s desk makes him feel that you value his work or a direct order does the job. It
is crucial to identify what makes them motivated and feel a part of the creation of the
organization they work at. In some developed countries, they usually do not allow you
to mention your gender or attach a photo to your resume until you are very close to
selection; but, in Bangladesh unfortunately most companies ask for these when you are
applying. Why? What is the purpose of the person‟s gender or looks in the work they

3. will produce for you? This is a reflection of how our offices work! Unless it is a model,
actor, or a similar individual you need for the job, what is really the purpose of that? This
is also the reflection of the mentality our people hold so dear, resulting in fairness cream
sales shooting up every day!
Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group said “When you lavish praise on people, they
flourish. Criticize, and they shrivel up.” There was a time when IBM was going through a
downfall. Louis V. Gerstner, CEO (1993), IBM; shared his thoughts about his first meeting
at IBM about strategy where everyone in the room was actively sharing ideas and he felt
that after eight hours he did not understand anything and he felt depressed. As he
shared this story at Harvard Business School he also said that at that point he also
doubted the decision of joining IBM. He said, it seemed the meeting was conducted in
almost a private company code, like another language. At a talk titled "IBM's
Transformation," he made it clear that he did not see himself as the white knight in
IBM's following transition. He simply had the chance to see it as an outsider who had
previously worked at McKinsey & Co., American Express Company, and RJR Nabisco. He
felt that change came to IBM partially due to the pride and energy of the employees
themselves. First three months he did not pay much attention to the culture at IBM and
did not even spend an hour to think on it. Eventually, he felt that they had a culture of
“crisp white shirts, the culture of hordes of administrative assistants, and the culture,
most debilitating, of the individual with a capital "I," of me-first for every employee”.
“Most managers in corporate life these days fixate on strategy as their way of
envisioning company transformation. Strategy works by itself, though "terribly
important," is not enough to save a dying company. You don't 'win' with strategy.
Everybody's strategy in industry is fairly similar. There's no way to create a unique
strategy. You can have a good one, but you can expect that your competitors are going
to emulate it every day", said Gerstner. He added, “In our case, we were able to define a

4. strategic path that made sense, now a united culture gave IBM's strategy the speed and
effectiveness that was missing before.” Gerstner concluded that “Underneath all the
sophisticated processes, there is always the company's sense of values and identity. It
took me to age fifty-five to figure that out. I always viewed culture as one of those
things you talked about, like marketing and advertising. It was one of the tools that a
manager had at his or her disposal when you think about an enterprise. The thing I have
learned at IBM is that culture is everything."
One of the best work cultures are at the campuses of Google. Google believes “It‟s really
the people that make Google the kind of company it is. We hire people who are smart
and determined, and we favor ability over experience.” „Googlers‟, as the employees are
called, share common goals and visions for the company but, they hire people from all
kinds of background, and languages that reflect the global audience that they cater to.
“And when not at work, Googlers pursue interests ranging from cycling to beekeeping,
from frisbee to foxtrot” according to the Google website.
Google believes in an open culture where everyone gets to contribute and feels
comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. In their weekly meetings, which sometimes are
held in cafes, Googlers directly ask questions to Larry, Sergey and other executives
about any number of company issues. The Google website shares,”Our offices and cafes
are designed to encourage interactions between Googlers within and across teams and
to spark conversation about work as well as play”.
The five stages of the „Empowerment Process‟ along with the job designed with a
motivational approach that has the five characteristics; skill variety, task identity, task
significance, autonomy, and feedback can help improve work cultures. Seniors need to
give that autonomy at least to their managers to create just the right work place culture.
This would at least help small companies who can‟t provide luxuries like Google to
improve productivity and welfare of both the company and its employees. “If you are

5. lucky enough to be someone‟s employer, then you have a moral obligation to make
sure people do look forward to coming to work in the morning” - John Mackey, CEO,
Whole Foods Market. Managers greatly ignore the comfort of discussion or support,
employees need from them yet, they pride themselves to be the middleman between
the employer and employee. If you choose to ignore the importance of workplace
culture, you have failed to understand the very meaning of „management‟.
{Watch this video on YouTube about Google‟s work culture that was broadcasted on
BBC [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA54HWLZ2e4]. You would be amazed and
would definitely want to work there! }
Rotarian Sanam Reza is a business graduate of International Trade from Victoria
University, Melbourne, and holds a Master of Business and Commerce degree from
University of Western Sydney, Sydney.