A key characteristic of the engineering culture is that the individual engineer’s commitment is to technical challenge rather than to a given company. There is no intrinsic loyalty to an employer as such. An employer is good only for providing the sandbox in which to play. If there is no challenge or if resources fail to be provided, the engineer will seek employment elsewhere.
~ Edgar H. Schein
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Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organization’s view of its self and its environment.
~ Edgar H. Schein
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Organizational cultures are created by leaders, and one of the decisive functions of leadership may well be the creation, the management, and – if and when that may become necessary – the destruction of culture.
~ Edgar H. Schein
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We must become better at asking and do less telling in a culture that overvalues telling. It has always bothered me how even ordinary conversations tend to be defined by what we tell rather than by what we ask. Questions are taken for granted rather than given a starring role in the human drama.
~ Edgar H. Schein
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