ENRON CORPORATION

Enron Corporation

Enron Corporation

Organizational culture can be defined as the system of attitudes, beliefs and values that are collectively expressed in support of organizational structure. Organizational culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that dictate the behavior of individuals within an organization. Culture determines which practices are appropriate and which are not, effectively developing standards, guidelines, and expectations for individuals within an organization. Although they work hand in hand, there is a definite distinction in the beliefs and the values that make up organizational culture. The beliefs of an organization are assumptions of the way things are, while values are an assumption about the way things should be. By that definition, beliefs constitute the day-to-day actions of a company (how things are run and why they are run that way), while values project those beliefs on future considerations (what is important to the organization and how those things should be maintained).

Describe how Enron could have been structured differently to avoid such activities.

It must by noted that while the collapse of the Enron Corporation was dynamic and was the result of many specific venture failures and market pressures, this paper has a specific focus on determining how the corporate culture of Enron contributed to its failure. Although the specific financial shortcomings are not fully addressed in this paper, the corporate culture dictated the intentions of these shortcomings and therefore can be held responsible. Additionally, with a focus on concision, this paper will deal with the corporate culture of Enron after its growth into a major power in the international financial market.

Describe the corporate culture at Enron.

Enron's corporate culture was built upon values of ?risk taking, individual creativity, and aggressive growth?. While all of these values can be positive, Enron failed to balance them with values necessary for success in the energy industry ? customer service, integrity, and long-term growth. According to the dimensions defined earlier in this paper, Enron valued short-term growth, creative individualism, and an overarching take over the world mentality towards its industry. Additionally and most detrimental to the corporate culture at Enron was its vision and corporate priorities. Starting with the vision of Jeff Skilling, Enron's chief operating officer, Enron valued asset-light strategy in which the top priority was put on Enron's publicly traded stock prices and not on investments in traditional, power generating ventures. The value on the stock price of the company was ...