ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Edition

54 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND LEADERSHIPout and that required quiet and concentration. In contrast, at DECreal work was done by debating things out in meetings!It was also pointed out to me that discussion among peers wasnot of great value, and that important information would comefrom the boss. Authority was highly respected, especially authoritybased on level of education, experience, and rank. The use of titlessuch as doctor or professor symbolized their respect for the knowledgethat education bestowed on people. Much of this had to dowith a great respect for the science of chemistry and the contributionsof laboratory research to product development.At Ciba-Geigy, as at DEC, a high value was placed on individualeffort and contribution, but at Ciba-Geigy one never went outsidethe chain of command and never did things that would be outof line with what one’s boss had suggested. At Ciba-Geigy a highvalue was placed on product elegance and quality, and, as I discoveredlater, what might be called product significance. Ciba-Geigymanagers felt very proud of the fact that their chemicals and drugswere useful in crop protection, in curing diseases, and in other wayshelping to improve the world.Basic Assumptions—The Ciba-Geigy Company ParadigmMany of the values that were articulated gave a flavor of this company,but without digging deeper to basic assumptions one could notfully understand how things worked. For example, the artifact thatstruck me most as I worked with this organization on the mandateto help them to become more innovative was the anomalous behavioraround my memos, previously mentioned in Chapter One. I realizedthat there was very little lateral communication occurringbetween units of the organization, so that new ideas developed inone unit never seemed to get outside that unit. If I inquired aboutcross-divisional meetings, for example, I would get blank stares andquestions such as “Why would we do that?” Since the divisions were