Organizational Stories and Legends

Many years ago, so the story goes, a security guard stopped IBM CEO Thomas Watson, Jr., as he was about to enter an area without his identification badge. Watson explained who he was, but the guard insisted that a badge must be worn in secured areas of the building. Rather than discipline the guard, Watson praised him and used this experience to tell others about performing their job well. Stories and legends like this about past corporate incidents serve as powerful social prescriptions of the way things should (or should not) be done. They provide human realism to individual performance standards and use role models to demonstrate that organizational objectives are attainable. Not all stories and legends are positive. Contrast the IBM story with the following incident at Revlon Corporation. Charles Revson, CEO of the cosmetics manufacturer, seldom arrived at work much before noon, yet he insisted that everyone else arrive on time and complete a sign-in sheet to prove their promptness. One day, Revson picked up the sign-in sheet, but a new receptionist stopped him under strict orders that the sheet must not be removed. After some argument, Revson asked: Do you know who I am? When the receptionist answered that she didnt, Revson responded: Well, when you pick up your final pay check this afternoon, ask em to tell ya. The lessons here? IBMs story advises employees to obey rules, whereas the Revlon story says Obey rulers!

Hewlett Packard (HP) is a global organization with a corporate culture that is spread to employees around the world. Whether at HPs Far East distribution center in Singapore (shown at right) or at research labs in Cupertino, California, employees live by five well-established values known as The HP Way: These values include trust and respect for individuals, a focus on achievement and contribution, the conduct of business with uncompromising integrity, achievement of common objectives through teamwork, and encouragement of flexibility and innovation.9