Week 6 - Discussion 1

Who's to Blame for Creintitg, a Toxic Orga nizatio n al C ultu re if

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6 his marathon news conference) lasl. week, Republtican presridential hopellul anLd Ncw .lersey Ci,ov. Chris Chris;tie repeatedly claimed he didn'1. know about the collision of'pr:rlitics, payback

arnd hubris on the George Washipgton Bridge at Fort [,ee, f'{i:w Jersey' last September.

Of course, Christie's pleas of ignorance are the lallback position 1br any nunlber of corporate

executives and public officials rn,hen faced with oclrruption or monumental mistakes. They're

slhocked by the irnethical or illegal conduct and r:iglrteously ilenounce thc perpetrators and their

actions--all followed by swift firings or a harsh scolding'

We seem to hav,e an endless strcam of examples o1'these kinds o1'execulivcs -{orporate titans,

u.niversity presiclents, governors and U.S. presi<Jlcn'is-who olaim to have ha,c no idea about what

lvas going on inside th-eir own organizations. At one moment, they're the supremc leader with a

fingJr on-the pulse of the agencyin<l the next they're dupes. blind to inte rna.l events and conduct'

In the end, it,s b,eside the point whether they' are r,'ictims or rvell-inlbrmecl. 1-hcy create thc

culture inside their organizations, and that organization reflects thcm and what they are willing to

sanction. If you create-a culture of lying, bullying and deceitl, whcther or no1" you direct pcoplc to

lake those actions, your stafl'likely will fcrllow suit'

lJltimately, leadlers are the single person most rcspronsible for shaping an organization's culture'

'they estabiish the agenda un,l ,.ru. as a role motlel. l'hey set the contexlL fcrr perlbrmance and

,,u"r"rr, ensuring thit there is consistenc), betweern extcmal and internal values and messages' In

shaping culture.,ihey drive performance and de1lrc company standards.

,.This is not the tone that I've set over the last fbur years in this building," Clhristie said at the

press conference. "[t's not the environment I'vr;: n'orked so hard to achie've... And so I am

,:xtraordinarily disappointed by this, but this is the exception, it is not the rule, of what's

happened over the last lbur years in this administration'"

A leader who is s,c seemingly detached from his ,twn organizational culture indicates a leader

who doesn,t understand h; organizations are fc,rmed or g()\'erned. 'Ihene is a large body of

research showing that a leader s;ts the tone for ttr,: otfice and sets an exa'mple fbr intemtrl

comportment. l:lxecutives who claim to operate at such- a lofty level that they cannot be bothered

by the daily operations or political scale-balancing of thei r otgantzations are simply poor leaders'

If the buck really stops at the chief executive's de'sk, as they so often claim in theory, then why is

the level of acc,otrnta^bility so spotty? wall streg1 bank executives were resllonsible for a system

thatpracticallydemolisnlotnegto.uut..ono*)i,vetfewhavesteppedfcrrwardandsaid,..This

happened on our watch: we created this culture; this is our I'ault." Near dai.ly revelations about

thLe shifty behavior of the political class rarely result in any reprimand. More often than not, the message is, "I di,Jn't know. I wasn't aware this tvas happening."

For a leader of Christie's apparent ego, you can rmderstand v"hy his friend.s a.nd enemies alike are finding it difficult 1.o accept that he was completely ignorant of'the bridge mischief or that no one irrside his operation dared to even tell him if they suspected fbul play. "lt's hard to believe that his entire senior staff gets an e-mail that says larvs'were broken. and his chief counsel doesn't

pick up the phone and say, 'Fley govemor, you ought to know that they're ac,cusing your

appointees of breaking the law,"' said New Jersey istate Assembly Deputl, Slpeaker John V/isniewski.

So, regardless o1'whether Christie knew o1'the ellbrts of his staff, or rvhen he knew of them, he created an organiztrtional culture that allor,ved for that type o1'behavior to not only survive but to

flourish.