

Deconstructing Corporate Culture to Find Microsoft's Soul - ableal
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2461205,00.asp

======
ableal
(I'll indulge myself with a note excerpting some bits)

"""

[...]

The Stages of Employment

SURVIVAL STAGE. When first hired, this is critical. If you cannot last a week
because you said something stupid or broke some unknown (to you) protocol,
you're doomed. [...]

SOCIALIZING STAGE. Everyone approaches this differently, but you need to make
friends who will teach you the ropes about the company and with whom you can
bond and scheme. [...]

EFFICIENCY STAGE. The next stage in an employee's life is the awkward teen
phase. You have to actually figure out what it is you are supposed to be
doing. [...]

RESIGNATION STAGE. The person finds his or her groove and just does that until
they are moved into some other position, often based on arbitrary metrics. The
process resets to various points within the framework of survival,
socialization, establishment of efficiency, and resignation.

[...]

Corporate culture is the grease that makes the operation run.

The combined experiences of the entire organization as combined into a single
mindset or hive mentality forms the collective corporate culture. It's a
foolish if not arrogant pipe dream to think that this amorphous "thing" can be
altered by edict.

[...]

"""

Actually, coming to think of it, I'd say culture is a bit more ethereal than
"grease" \- perhaps the set of common unstated assumptions and expectations.
That does make for smoother interactions - conflicts arise when different
things are assumed or expected.

