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The Iceberg That Sinks Organizational Culture Change

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Most people are aware of the incredible power that company culture has in making or breaking a company.

While the concept of culture seems qualitative and fuzzy to many entrepreneurs or managers, the research on the impact of culture on organizations is very clear and data-driven. Companies with highly-engaged employees have low turnover, high productivity, more satisfied customers, and higher profits.

To sum it up culture’s potential impact more succinctly, management guru Peter Drucker famously put it a different way: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

The Pitfalls of Culture Change

The benefits of a strong company culture are many – and it’s no surprise to see companies all over the world aspiring to build world-class cultures within their organizations at almost any cost.

The problem is that company culture, just like the culture that permeates through society, is based on hidden sets of assumptions, social norms, traditions, and unwritten rules that represent the way things actually get done in a company. As a result, decision makers often underestimate how challenging cultural change can be.

Today’s infographic comes from executive consultant Torben Rick, and it uses an iceberg analogy to show why organizational culture change sinks so many ships. At the top of the mass, there are visible indicators of a culture – but underneath is a bigger, invisible mass that holds all the ingrained cultural assumptions that are extremely difficult to affect.

The Iceberg of Organizational Culture Change

As Torben Rick puts it, the iceberg represents “the way we say we get things done” in contrast to the deeply-ingrained “way that things actually get done” within an organization.

In other words, for managers to positively affect cultural change, they not only need to address the top of the iceberg (vision, mission, values, etc.) but they must also make inroads on the bottom of the iceberg, which makes up more like 90% of a company’s actual culture.

Unfortunately, transforming these underlying perceptions, traditions, and shared assumptions is the real hard part of the exercise, and it can take many months or even years to see the results of such initiatives.

How to Build a Strong Company Culture

Cultural change cannot happen in one week of meetings, or through a few memos sent from higher ups. To effectively shape the bottom of the iceberg – those deeply-ingrained beliefs held throughout the organization – change must happen over a longer period of time where leading is done by example, and employees have the support they need to grow.

The following infographic from ZeroCater offers six ways to help get you started in building a strong culture.

How to Build a Strong Company Culture

As you embark on your voyage to build a stronger company culture, remember that organizational change is more complex and ingrained than it initially seems.

The amount of companies that are successful in these endeavors is far fewer than the amount that have tried – and this iceberg of organizational culture change has sunk many ships over time.

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Automotive

Ranked: The World’s Top 10 Automotive Exporters (2000-2022)

Data from the World Trade Organization highlights the world’s 10 largest automotive exporters in 2022.

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Ranked: The World’s Top 10 Automotive Exporters

According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, over 85 million motor vehicles were built around the world in 2022.

In this graphic, we add context to this massive figure by ranking the world’s 10 largest automotive exporters. The list is based on data from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and includes countries from nearly every corner of the world, highlighting the global nature of the industry.

Top 10 Exporting Countries

The data we used to create this graphic is included in the table below. It represents each country’s share of the total export value of global automotive products in both 2000 and 2022.

“Automotive products” are defined by the WTO as motor vehicles, parts and accessories for motor vehicles, and internal combustion engines for propelling said vehicles. This grouping excludes motorcycles and trailers.

Exporter2000
(% of world exports)
2022
(% of world exports)
Change (pp)
🇪🇺 EU45.4%46.1%+0.7
🇺🇸 U.S.11.7%9.1%-2.6
🇯🇵 Japan15.3%8.9%-6.4
🇲🇽 Mexico5.3%8.5%+3.2
🇨🇳 China0.3%8.0%+7.7
🇰🇷 South Korea2.6%5.1%+2.5
🇨🇦 Canada10.5%3.3%-7.2
🇬🇧 UK4.5%2.7%-1.8
🇹🇭 Thailand0.4%2.0%+1.6
🇹🇷 Türkiye0.3%1.7%+1.4
Total96.3%95.4%--

From this list we can identify which countries have experienced the most growth or decline over the past 22 years.

Countries With the Most Growth Since 2000

The automotive exporters that grew their share of global value the most since 2000 are China (+7.7 pp), Mexico (+3.2 pp), and South Korea (+2.5 pp).

There are clear drivers behind each of these growth stories.

For example, China became the world’s largest car market back in 2009, which accelerated the growth of its domestic automakers. China is also home to some of the world’s biggest automotive suppliers, including Weichai (diesel engines), Hasco Automotive (drivetrain and air conditioning systems), and CATL (EV batteries).

Mexico, on the other hand, has grown its auto industry by enticing global brands to construct their factories there. The country’s competitive edge includes cheaper labor and a land border to the United States.

Finally there’s South Korea, whose growth is largely attributed to Hyundai Motor Company. The Seoul-based automaker recently became the third largest on a global basis, trailing only Toyota and Volkswagen.

Countries With the Biggest Decline Since 2000

The automotive exporters that declined the most since 2000 are Canada (-7.2 pp), Japan (-6.4 pp), and the U.S. (-2.6 pp).

Canada’s auto industry has experienced a steady decline in recent years, though new EV-related investments could turn things around. In March 2022, Stellantis and LG Energy Solutions announced the construction of a $3.5 billion EV battery plant in Windsor, Ontario.

Canada’s automotive industry is largely concentrated in the province of Ontario, which neighbors Michigan, the top state for U.S. car production.

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