ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Edition

14THE CHANGING ROLE OF LEADERSHIPIN ORGANIZATIONAL “MIDLIFE”If an organization is successful in fulfilling its mission it will matureand probably grow. Founders will age or die and be replaced by leaderswho have been promoted within the organization. Ownershipby founders or founding families will evolve into public ownershipand governance by boards of directors. The decision whether toretain private ownership or go public may appear to be a financialdecision, but it has enormous cultural consequences. With privateownership the leaders can continue to enforce their own values andassumptions through all of the mechanisms cited in the last chapter.Once governance has shifted to a CEO and a board of directors,the leadership role becomes more diffuse and transient becauseCEOs and board members usually have limited terms of office andare more accountable to stock holders.On the one hand, this means that treasured values will be erodedif new CEOs don’t adhere to them; on other hand, it makes it possiblefor the organization to make necessary changes in its goals andmeans, and, if necessary, to change elements of the culture. Foundersmay be blind to these issues and may, therefore, have to be madeaware of them by their own managements or outside board membersif such are in the picture.With growth will come differentiation into various subgroups,which will, over time, evolve their own cultures. The environmentalcontext within which the organization and these various subgroupsoperate will evolve, requiring new responses from the organization.Leadership, especially at the level of the executive culture (see ChapterTen), can influence the nature of this differentiation in important273