EFFECTIVENESS OF CORPORATE CULTURE IN SOFTWARE

Effectiveness of Corporate Culture in Software Industry: A Critical Evaluation, Investigation and Implications



Effectiveness of Corporate Culture in Software Industry: A Critical Evaluation, Investigation and Implications

Introduction

Few terms in the US business lexicon have been more ignored or misunderstood as corporate culture - until now! With the spectacular failures of Enron and Arthur Andersen and the implosion of numerous other hyper-growth companies such as Worldcom, Tyco, Global Crossing, Providian Financial as well as the legions of failed Internet related companies, corporate culture has suddenly been given more attention in the media than in most graduate B school programs (Hofstede, 2001). Corporate culture has now become synonymous with ethical wrong-doing, neglectful board oversight and privileged and profligate senior management. Many other failing companies have been tarred with the same brush of failed corporate culture including but not limited to the companies listed in Box 1.

The list in Box 1 is not limited to the business world as we now see many failed cultures in the government and non-profit sectors such as the FBI, INS, IRS, Red Cross, US Olympic Committee and United Way - all brought down by their failed corporate cultures. Nevertheless, the failure and under performance of these companies, and many more, can be attributed as much to neglected and underperforming cultures as to outright wronging.

Purpose of the Study

The study will aim to effectiveness of corporate culture in software industry with a critical evaluation, investigation and implications

Significance of the Study

I think that the study will be a significant addition in the existing literature because I think that the study is significant because corporate culture transcends the single issue of wrong doing. Corporate culture directly impacts every component of a business organization's performance ranging from leadership effectiveness to business strategy and planned corporate mergers. Business culture directly impacts the success of operations, human resources, decision making processes, customer services, marketing and sales, policies, organization structure and R&D. Culture directly contributes to or detracts from the bottom line as well as a company's very survival. An overly balkanized and political culture forced Coopers and Lybrand to be acquired by a much smaller Price Waterhouse. Predatory cultures have forced the failure of more than a dozen investment banks in the past two decades including such giants as E.F. Hutton, Shearson Lehman, PaineWebber, Kidder Peabody, and of course, Drexel Burnham Lambert. Kodak's famously frozen culture cost Kodak significant market share and undermined George Fisher's turnaround plans for that company (and may have forced his premature retirement) (Hofstede, 2001).

Methodology

Methodology refers to the procedures used to research an issue, a research question, or hypothesis. It is the way that a topic is investigated or researched. The paper will use utilize the qualitative way of study using the sources mentioned in the list of references

Literature Review

I will present a comprehensive literature in the paper. Below lines is covering just a summary of the literature review I will write in the final paper. The failure to take into account corporate culture has rendered ...