UTILITY COMPANY
A
specialized company in the utility industry, approximately 250 employees, is
extreme high growth, young company. The founder and first president had been a walk
around type of person. Every one loved him and the company prospered under
his leadership, both in new business and in profits. When the founder got to
mandatory retirement age, he was replaced by someone with very different
management style. The new president stayed in his office, rarely seen around
the company. In his meetings with key executives, he was known for his
foul-language and excessive demands. Over a period of 18 months, the entire
culture changed from a fun place to work to one many called "sick."
The 1st tier executives became afraid and started abusing their line
managers and employees as they had been abused by the president. More and more
employees became physically ill - this became known as the company flu.
Morale declined. Productivity declined; suspicion, gossip and inconsiderate
treatment increased. Many potential clients refused to do business with the
company after getting to know the culture inside. Potential contracts were lost
and the company's reputation took a serious beating. Good people left or
retired when they could. Everyone else hunkered down and did whatever
they could to stay out of the line of fire. The primary focus was on avoiding
trouble, rather than on doing a good job. The president was eventually
replaced, with someone even less friendly, according to rumor.
Recruiting employees became more difficult as the culture inside became more
widely known. Good executive management creates a good healthy corporate
culture. Bad executive management can undo all the good work in a very short
period of time.