Corporate Culture and Strategy: How One Influences, Affects and Determines the Other
Aks Zaheer is the Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Strategic Management at Carlson School of Management. He has published in many journals, including Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and Academy of Management Journal. He is an elected Fellow of the Strategic Management Society. Professor Zaheer was named the Outstanding Core Teacher of the Year for the Full-Time MBA Program five times, and received the Curtis Cup Outstanding Teacher Award twice for Executive MBA teaching. He also received four Excellence in Teaching Awards, and was commended for teaching excellence in Business Week’s guide to the 50 Top Business Schools in 1997 and named one of the World’s 50 Best B-School Professors by Poets and Quants in 2012.
Overview
Corporate or organizational culture, the system of informal norms, values, beliefs, expectations and behaviors operating in an organization, is perhaps the most powerful influence on an organization’s (whether a business or a non-profit organization) strategic direction and the successful achievement of its chosen strategy. Yet culture is poorly understood, little appreciated, and most importantly, its significant role in enabling or constraining strategy mostly ignored. How do we begin to make sense of this key phenomenon and its connection with an organization’s strategy?
In this presentation, we will explore the phenomenon of organizational culture, from its creation in an organization to its evolution, and most critically, understand how organizations can work with culture to enhance the success of their strategy. Specifically, we will cover the following areas:
- The role of culture in organizational contexts
- Dimensions of culture
- Behavioral biases and culture
- How culture influences strategy
- National culture and why it matters
- Changing organizational culture