Managing Research, Development, and Innovation: Managing the Unmanageable, Third Edition

2.10. A CULTURE FOR R&D ORGANIZATIONS

Culture is the human-made part of the environment. It consists of objective elements (e.g., research laboratories, equipment, office buildings, office furnishings) and subjective elements (rules, laws, values, norms). Among the most important elements of culture are the unstated assumptions concerning "the way things get done in this lab." Some of these assumptions become salient only when they are challenged—for example, is safety more important than production all the time? In some labs it is and in others it is not. The importance of cultural elements surfaced with the 2007 recalls of Chinese manufactured consumer goods such as pet food, toys, toothpaste, lipstick, and seafood.

One way of thinking about ...