ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Organization leaders have tremendous power to shape the culture through a variety of means. At the most basic level the example a leader sets will form the basis for much of the culture. The culture of the once mighty Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) reflected the beliefs and attitudes of its founder Ken Olsen. DEC was once the darling of the computer industry an incredibly successful company during the 1960s ’70s and into the ’80s. It was in many ways the Microsoft of its day the company that many believed would destroy IBM. Today it no longer exists. Olsen an MIT-educated engineer believed that all ideas should be tested through argument and debate; if the idea couldn’t be proved wrong the developers had the right to go ahead with the idea and let the market decide. This approach served DEC very well in its early days. However because Olsen never really believed in the PC the culture at DEC was to not take the PC seriously.