Facebook

Strong Culture and It’s EffectsDustin Commet

Article 1 Analysis - Fast Company

● Trying to keep it’s original environment / feel

● Small, start-up feel culture○ Personal○ Cultivated to employees and task

● Specifically simple

Analysis 1 Continued

● Culture isn’t the biggest part though● Most important to Zuckerberg is the company’s goal

○ "Facebook’s mission is to give everyone in the world the power to share, and to make the world more open and connected.."

● Companies change as they grow, and staying focused on keeping the same culture will eventually become a hindrance

● As long as they follow their mission, the culture will change - just as the company does - to maintain advancement towards their goal

How does it form?

● Company culture will form naturally as a company exists● However, it can be cultivated in a specific way

● Most companies cultivate their culture to meet a specific feel● Examples include:

○ Facebook○ Zappos○ Google

Impact on Company - Individual Worker

● Helps a worker to feel like they a part of something

● Forms identity

● Emphasizes their role as a worker as important

● Not just a replaceable part, but a valuable member

Impact on Company - Department

● Effects of a small team are felt

● A sense of unity and higher purpose to accomplish a task together

● Strong connection to co-workers

● Can lead to feeling as if you are part of a family or something of that sort

Impact on Company - As a Whole

● Unity is increased, under a company’s mission statement

● Sense of community grows to include the entire staff

○ Extremes like Zappos as a small city

○ Facebook seems to feel almost like a town from the way it is laid out

● Individual workers and departments alike can see the full effects of their

work in the company

As a Whole - Continued

● Creates an image for the company, and what it presents itself as

● Company forms into it’s own society

○ In that the company runs differently in the way it communicates and runs than another

company or even just the city outside the company

A Strong Company Culture...

● Has core values or missions

○ Facebook uses its mission statement

● Has company “heroes”

○ People like Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg

● Rites and Rituals

○ Catering their offices to their specific interests and tasks

Shifting Tides...

● Not everybody thinks strong culture is a great thing however

● One example is a former employee, Garcia Martinez, who had various

thoughts about his time with the company

Article 2 Analysis - Breitbart

● Former employee reveals insider information about Facebook’s culture● “Facebook’s company culture was like a religion, and Mark Zuckerberg like

notorious cult leader Jim Jones.” - Garcia Martinez, former employee

● Traditions○ “Faceversary” - a celebration of your first day as an employee.

○ Treating employees leaving the company as if they had died, posting pictures of their company id as a tombstone on the site.

Analysis 2 continued

● Not necessarily a bad thing

● Dedication became more motivating than money○ Workers almost obsessed with the company

● Mark Zuckerberg personally cultivated this culture

Negative Impact - Worker

● May feel excluded if they don’t “get” the culture

● Might be alienated by employees because they don’t seem to fit

● Could feel less attached to their work due the feelings of being out of place

Negative Impact - Department

● Too much connection within the department

● Once again, possible exclusion of individuals

● Possible separation from company as a whole

○ Individual separation issues but on a larger level

Negative Impact - Company as a Whole

● Can create a weird image for the company as a whole, an image of being

too different from the norm

● Split of departments with different cultures of their own

● Dangerous levels of self-containment and ritual

○ Too different for workers to want to join or for them to feel comfortable in another job

Company as a Whole - Continued

● I believe all of these negatives can be avoided, and that the culture at

Facebook is not nearly as creepy as Martinez makes it out to be

● Job of the company, this case - Mark Zuckerberg, to cultivate a culture that

won’t let these negatives exist

● Comfortability for everyone

Good Vs Bad

● I believe that a strong company culture is only bad when you let it get that

way

● The higher-ups should work to create a culture that helps their company

grow / avoid negative aspects of culture

“Day Vs Night” - Lex Luthor (Mark Zuckerberg)

● The employees should then, in turn, help to create the culture that helps

them to perform their best

● A strong culture that is tailored by the company together is ideal, and can

lead to a nearly all positive experience

Conclusion

● Strong culture is cultivated and has many specific elements that are

important in it’s creation

● Some people see a strong culture as negative because it can be

uncomfortable and alientating

Conclusion - Continued

● Uncomfortability and alienation aren’t inherently part of a culture

○ Companies should strive to eliminate problems like these

● I believe that a strong company culture is always ideal for a company to

reach for

○ Creates purpose and something more than money to strive for

Sources

● Mccracken, H. (2015, November 24). How Facebook Keeps Scaling Its Culture | Fast Company ... Retrieved October 22, 2016, from https://www.fastcompany.com/3053776/behind-the-brand/how-facebook-keeps-scaling-its-culture

● Bokhari, A. (2016, June 06). Former Facebook Employee Compares Company Culture To A Religion - Breitbart. Retrieved October 25, 2016, from http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/06/06/former-facebook-employee-compares-company-culture-to-a-religion/

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