Specify the Desired Culture

Once you’ve done a culture dig, you’ll have a good sense of your culture’s distinctive attributes. The big question is: How appropriate are the behaviors and attributes in light of the Main Thing of the business and its strategy? Clearly, a culture that’s appropriate for one enterprise with a particular strategy may be inappropriate for one with a very different strategy. For example, for McDonald’s, a by-the-book culture is much more appropriate than one that encourages and rewards independent thinking by its young, low-skilled, and often temporary employees. To be successful, a McDonald’s restaurant must run like a finely tuned machine, delivering meals with speed and consistency. The corporation has spent years developing, testing, and ....