Building a Culture for the Internet Age

By John A. Haas
Management Strategies Group

It's become clear that the Internet is no passing fad! It has already revolutionized how we conduct business, and "we ain't seen nothin' yet!" Many "dot.coms" became "not.coms," helping to make "clicks and mortar" the strategic direction of choice. How did we survive without e-mail and the many websites we use daily, let alone without voice mail and cell phones? We've become a 24/7 society that demands more and better goods and services faster.

Organizational Implications

Enlightened companies have created an environment where employees feel valued and challenged, and have avoided the voluntary turnover that has been so rampant in the past few years of easy employment. Others have felt considerable turmoil as good people leave and replacements were hard to find.

Either situation can be problematic. It's hard for highly stable organizations to develop new business models. High turnover companies often find it difficult to create high-performance teams that effectively combine new and old thinking.

Enlightened companies have also developed healthy attitudes toward change. They are willing to question old assumptions and try new approaches. They use technology to help collect, spread, store and process information, yet encourage active team-based employee projects and initiatives. They create work groups that combine newcomers with fresh ideas and up-to-date skills with veterans who have established relationships internally and with outside stakeholders. Many have strictly focused their efforts where they can add greatest value, and outsourced those services deemed outside their core competencies.

Forming an Effective "E-Culture"

In her new book (Evolve! Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow) Harvard professor Rosabeth Moss Canter presents four key elements gleaned through survey research in a diverse worldwide sample of some 800 companies. These are:

1. See strategy as more like "improvisational theater" than following a script. Develop details through interaction with your "audiences."
2. Nurture networks of partners rather than one at a time. Thus, the network's combined power greatly exceeds that of any member.
3. Reconstruct your organization as a community, rather than as isolated silos. All team members should feel responsible beyond their own contributions to the entire team's results.
4. Attract, develop and retain internet-savvy and creative employees able to absorb, transmit and share vast amounts of information, to enable faster decision-making. Such people can move from team to team, adding value individually and in different configurations.

She summarizes the cultural elements needed to win the "talent wars" as the "three Ms":

• Mastery - the ability to work on important problems using cutting-edge tools;
• Membership - creating the sense of community; and
• Meaning - to engage people's moral sense and offer personal growth opportunities.

Fall 2001 -Volume 11, Number 4