In a couple of days I'll be starting a new job, at a small manufacturing company. I'm really looking forward to working at a manufacturer again, plus I'll have a much shorter commute...

I was browsing through a book of career advice recently, trying to put myself in the proper mindset for this new job. While browsing, I happened upon a chapter that categorizes office cultures and that was quite thought provoking. The book is "The Career Prescription" by Jill Searing and Anne Lovett, and the categories are listed below. Into which category does your company fit?

Take No Prisoners Culture
A high-risk culture that provides high payoffs quickly. The games can be rough, but very rewarding.

Characteristics

• This is a young organization.
• The focus is on speed, not endurance.
• Not taking an action can be as critical as taking action.
• Financial rewards come early.
• The pressure is intense; the pace is frenetic.
• Burnout often occurs before middle age.
• You'll need a tough attitude to live with high risk.
• Competition exists within the company as well as externally.
• Little or now value is placed on long-term employment or loyalty.
• There is little or no cooperation among colleagues.
• Turnover is high.
  

Unenlightened Monarchy Cultures
Characterized by private ownership or dominiation by a powerful boss and a hand-picked board of directors who will do as they are told (or promise to sleep through board meetings), this culture is high risk for individual employees. There is quick feedback if the king gets cross, but financial results are high, and career opportunities are good to excellent.

Characteristics

• Fear is rampant.
• Expediency is more valued than observing rules and principles.
• Outstanding performance is outstandingly rewarded.
• Being the boss's favorite is good; being the boss's relative is better.
• Business stragegies can be wildly off target or divinely correct.
• Arrogance and ignorance are the norm.
• Personnel policies are excercised capriciously.
• Compensation is linked directly to bottom-line results (when it's good it's very good; when it's bad, it borders on cruel and unusual punishment).
• Lots of energy is spent on jockeying for the king's attention.
• Disproportionate amounts of time are spent on deciphering the king's latest word, glance, or action--that is, "what kind of mood is he in this morning."
  

Father Knows Best and Father's Very Rich Culture
This culture is characterizied by big-stake decisions, when years may pass before the company knows which decisions have paid off. This is a high-risk/slow-feedback environment.

Characteristics

• Up-front investments are enormous, with high stakes and long-term feedback.
• Progress is slow--months and years elapse.
• Primary ritual is the business meeting.
• Decisions come from the top (once all the inputs are in).
• Focus is on the future and the importance of investing in it.
• Employees are in for the long term.
• There is a deep respect for authority and technical competence.
• Employees are highly dependent on one another and share hard-won knowledge.
• People treat one another with courtesy; politeness and civility mark relationships.
• Employees generate a lot of paperwork.
  

Saturday Night Live Culture
Fun and action are the rule. Employees take few risks and have quick feedback.

Characteristics

• Hyperactivity is abundant.
• Persistance is valued and pays off.
• System is full of checks and balances to keep the risk factor low (and therefore manageable).
• Company demands a high level of activity and initiative.
• Employees work as a team--there are few stars.
• Company revels in contests, meetings, promotions, conventions.
• Employees get a lot of work done and get quick tangible feedback on their efforts.
• Volume can displace quality in rush to sell more and more products and services.
• Company can get fooled by today's success and not develop strategy for the lean times.
• Employees more committed to "the action" than to the company.
• Culture tends to attract young people who want to prove their worth.
  

Ticky-Tacky Little Boxes Culture
In this world of little or no feedback, employees find it hard to measure what they do; instead they concentrate on how it's done.

Employees are not expected to take risks and are rarely evaluated on or rewarded for going out on a limb. Greatest danger lies in the drift toward bureaucracy.

Characteristics

• No one action or decision will make or break the company or anyone in it.
• Employees rarely get any feedback on how and if they are contributing to the organization.
• Memos and reports disappear into a void.
• Finger-pointing rages erupt when things go wrong.
• Numerous task forces write voluminous reports that get carefully filed, never to be read, let alone acted upon.
• Employees tend to develop a "cover your behind" mentality.
• How neatly and completely employees do things is often more important than what they do.
• Organization is highly susceptible to political whim.
• Hierarchies are tightly organized.

Seat-of-Your-Pants Culture
In these organizations, no one appears to know what to do, but everyone is very busy. Fighting fires replaces long-term strategy. Employees are expected to take risks and solve problems. Greatest danger is that no one appears to be planning for the future--all energy is expended on the crisis of the day.

Characteristics

• Everyone is empowered to do everything, but no one is responsible for anything.
• Competition lurks around every corner; everyone reacts to changes the competitor makes.
• Short-term decision mentality results in short-term effects.
• Rewards go to employees who "saved the company"
• There is lots of activity, but results may not show.
• Profit margins are low.
• Employees work hard and play hard.
• Rapid changes occur frequently to adjust to external activities.