Page 377 - Cultures and Organizations

342 CULTURES IN ORGANIZATIONS

times of need and to the local community. Some of this glory has survived
untarnished. Employees still feel HGBV to be a desirable employer, with

good pay, benefits, and job security. A job with HGBV is still seen as a job
for life. HGBV is a company one would like one’s children to join. Outside,
HGBV is a regular sponsor of local sports and humanitarian associations.
As they say, “No appeal to HGBV has ever been made in vain.”
The working atmosphere is good-natured, with a lot of freedom given to
employees. The plant has been pictured as a club, a village, a family. Twenty-

five-year and forty-year service anniversaries are given lots of attention; the
plant’s Christmas parties are famous. These celebrations represent rituals
with a long history, which people still value. In HGBV’s culture—or, as
people express it, “the HGBV way”—unwritten rules for social behavior
are important. One doesn’t live in order to work; one works in order to
live. What one does counts less than how one does it. One has to fi t into
the informal network, and this holds for all hierarchical levels. “Fitting”

means avoiding conflicts and direct confrontations, covering other people’s
mistakes, loyalty, friendliness, modesty, and genial cooperation. Nobody
should be too conspicuous, either in a positive or in a negative sense.
HGBVers grumble, but never directly about other HGBVers. Also,
grumbling is reserved for one’s own circle; in relations with superiors or
outsiders, one does not soil the nest. This concern for harmony and group
solidarity fits well into the regional culture of the geographic area in which

HGBV is located. Newcomers are quickly accepted, as long as they adapt.
The quality of their work counts less than their social adaptation. Who-
ever disrupts the harmony is rejected, however good a worker he or she
is. Disturbed relationships may take years to heal. Says one HGBVer, “We
prefer to let a work problem continue for another month, even if it costs a
lot of money, above resolving it in an unfriendly manner.” Company rules

are never absolute. The most important rule, an interviewee said, is that
rules are flexible. One may break a rule if one does it gently. It is not the

rule breaker who is at risk, but rather the one who makes an issue of it.
Leadership in HGBV, in order to be effective, should be in harmony
with the social behavior patterns. Managers should be accessible, fair, and
good listeners. The present general manager is such a leader. He does not
give himself airs. He has an easy manner with people of all levels and is
felt by employees to be one of them. Careers in HGBV are made primarily
on the basis of social skills. One should not behave too conspicuously; one