Effective Management: 20 Keys to a Winning Culture

Chapter 9   Lower the Cultural Boundaries

As discussed in the introduction, there are quite natural boundaries between subcultures inside any organization. The departmental issues and challenges—and the various backgrounds of people in each department—assure that such differences will always exist. It is important therefore to remember and counteract the propensity of American businesses to promote people vertically. Many Eastern businesses cross-train more fully than we do, and this further ensures that people will (or can) readily see the challenges faced by those in a different department. It’s the old adage of “walk a mile in someone else’s ...