Strategic Innovation: Embedding Innovation as a Core Competency in Your Organization

TWEAKING WHIRLPOOL'S CULTURE FOR THE REST OF THE EMBEDMENT WHEEL

Given that culture is so intertwined with embedment, it was important to look at the interdependencies between culture and every category of the wheel for Whirlpool. Below are a few examples of the categories of the embedment wheel and how innovation ended up changing the culture at Whirlpool.

Vision

Our vision statement, “Innovation from Everyone and Everywhere,” matched the preexisting cultural factor of determinism: everyone could contribute. But it did not match the strong hierarchical factor that existed within Whirlpool's culture. As we discovered, the top leadership team and the embedment practitioners needed to make a calculated judgment about whether the strong hierarchical ...