White Cap is characterized by a paternal, hierarchical power structure. At the top of the company is the ownership at Continental, but traditionally White Cap has been removed from Continental, receiving little input from head office in Connecticut. It is perceived that there is a push for Continental to have more influence, but that push is nascent and based more on the emotional impact of cuts at other Continental divisions than on the performance at White Cap. Traditionally, the White family and now under Art Lawson, the company has had a paternalistic, caretaker culture. Power derives from formal authority. In lieu of being a White family member, this power derives from one's formal position within the firm and from one's tenure as longevity is one of the most highly-valued traits within White Cap.
Browning enters the company under Lawson, but will have sweeping power to change the company. He inherits a hierarchical structure that has allowed managers of questionable effectiveness to hold positions of considerable authority, and that is something that threatens the change process. The culture is, according to some observers, strongly influenced by complacency, a direct result of being a long-time market leader. Many within the company seem entirely unprepared to manage in a changing environment, having never experienced one. Industry leadership is assumed, and these managers find it troubling that competitors would actually seek to exploit their own competitive advantages to win market share from White Cap - that is to say, they are troubled that their competitors are actually competing.
Browning will face tremendous difficulty in making the needed changes to the organization's culture. One cultural trait that he can leverage is that the employees of the company have a high degree of loyalty. There are few within the company, even among the less competent senior managers, who...
This loyalty is born of the same cultural tradition that values the old way of doing things, and the inability to change. The challenge for Browning therefore will be to leverage the loyalty to affect change within White Cap, but without undermining the root causes of that loyalty. If Browning is seen as disloyal to longtime employees, the credibility of his commitment to the company, its people and its traditions will be devalued. Bearing in mind that Browning's authority derives in part from his position and in part from his status as a longtime White Cap employee, he risks undermining that latter credibility, leaving only his position.
Thus, while the underlying conditions for change are challenging, it is possible for Browning to affect the necessary change if he strikes the right balance between the company's traditions and the need to re-shape the corporate culture. The loyalty, for example, needs to be maintained even as the more paternalistic elements of the culture are reduced. Empowering people who are not accustomed to being empowered is something that represents considerable challenge, but again the key asset for Browning to accomplish this will be the loyalty and dedication that the employees have. They value working for an industry leader, being a part of a winner, and therefore they are inherently willing to make some positive changes in order to ensure that they are continuing to work for a winner.
Peter should have several change objectives and goals. Clearly, there are some tangible objectives that can be identified. Financial and market objectives, relating to market share, revenue and profit, should always exist, although one gets the sense that the company does not really have these objectives at present. The laissez-faire attitude towards industry cyclicality hints that the company does not worry too much about…
