Introduction
Cisco is one of the world leaders in high technology. The company was founded in 1984, and during this period, the company’s CEO and organizational culture have changed. However, the company’s mission remained largely unchanged and was the desire to create a high-quality product for its customers to open up new opportunities for the Internet (Cisco Systems, Inc., 2023). This paper will analyze Cisco’s organizational culture, leadership style, and cultural alignment.
Organizational Culture
According to the Competitive Values Framework (CVF), there are four types of organizational culture. However, it is difficult for Cisco to identify the prevailing type of culture. Adhocracy and market organizational cultures are mostly implemented in the company. Adhocracy is the core organizational culture at Cisco. This approach values “innovation, creativity, articulating future vision, transformation change, or entrepreneurship” (Cameron, n.d., p. 3). The key value for the company, in this case, is the employee initiative, which should be promoted by management. Cisco values and encourages collaboration among employees and promotes their ongoing education and development to solve global problems (Cisco Systems, Inc., 2023). The company sets global goals, such as achieving global environmental sustainability and economic empowerment and is trying to create a stimulating favorable work environment that contributes to the effective work of employees.
However, the Cisco organizational culture has significant characteristics of market culture. This type of organization is based on creating a competitive advantage for the company and includes techniques such as “competitiveness, fast response, determinations, driving through barriers, or goal achievement” (Cameron, n.d., p. 2). Cisco responds quickly to customer requests, which is the company’s central focus. Thus, the company is dominated by adhocracy with elements of a market organizational culture.
Leadership Style
From the beginning of the founding of Cisco until today, several CEOs have changed in the company. Since 2015, the position of Chair and Chief Executive Officer has been held by Chuck Robbins (Cisco Systems Inc., 2022). Considering the number of Executive Vice Presidents for different areas of the company and senior leaders, it can be assumed that Robbins adheres to a delegated leadership style. With this approach, the CEO does not delve too deeply into the processes at the lower levels of the company but is responsible for making strategically important decisions. This approach is the best way to ensure operational efficiency and high performance at the size of a company like Cisco. In addition, it is noteworthy that the company highly values integrity and trust (Cisco Systems Inc., 2023). These characteristics are also necessary for delegated leadership since management must be confident that all business processes in the company will take place at a high level without the direct participation of the CEO.
Cultural Alignment
Cisco’s mission and vision are logically related to organizational culture and leadership style. The company’s mission is to shape the future of the Internet by creating a unique product and opportunity for customers, employees, and ecosystem partners (Cisco Systems, Inc., 2023). At the same time, the company strives to achieve this mission through a change in the approach to work and training. These statements align with the adhocracy organizational culture, where innovation and creativity are key values. In addition, the company’s management, led by Robbins, is trying to create maximum opportunities for the development of employees, improving professional skills, and implementing their initiatives. Moreover, the company actively engages employees in social activities, such as sustainability programs, crisis response, and learning and digital skills development for people of all ages and social statuses (Cisco Systems, Inc., 2023). Thus, the company changes people’s attitudes toward the high-tech industry and contributes to the maximum realization of the potential of employees.
The values of the company are predominantly correlated with what it demonstrates. Among Cisco’s core values is creating equal opportunity and diversification for customers and employees (Cisco Systems Inc., 2023). The company’s management consists of representatives of different ethnic groups and gender. However, even though the ratio of men and women in the Executive Leadership Team is almost equal, most senior leaders are men (Cisco Systems Inc., 2022). Moreover, the Executive Team has very few representatives of the black population. Thus, Cisco is primarily trying to follow the principles of diversification, but some aspects are nuanced.
Conclusion
Thus, Cisco is a leader in its field, whose mission is not just customer satisfaction but to achieve global improvements in high technology. The company’s organizational culture and leadership style largely contribute to achieving these goals by creating a favorable working environment for employees. Moreover, the company’s stated mission, vision, and values, for the most part, correspond to what it demonstrates.
References
Cameron K. (n.d.) An Introduction to the Competing Values Framework [PDF document]. Web.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (2023). About Cisco. Cisco. Web.
Cisco Systems Inc. (2022). Executive team. Cisco. Web.