In 2017, it came to light that in order to meet its demanding profit target, Wells Fargo put such pressure on its employees to hit sales quotas that many employees responded by fraudulently opening customer accounts. Characterize Wells Fargo's corporate culture. How did its culture undercut its strategy execution effort? What lessons about the importance of culture to the strategy execution effort can be learned from this situation?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Wells Fargo Bank is an exemplar of a company that had little regard for ethical standards or was run by executives driven by greed and ego gratification. Executives that work in unhealthy corporate cultures like Wells Fargo's exude the negatives of arrogance, ego, greed, and an "ends-justify-the-means" mentality in pursuing overambitious revenue and profitability targets. Senior managers may wink at unethical behavior and may cross over the line to unethical (and sometimes criminal) behavior themselves. Some executives go so far as to adopt accounting principles that make financial performance look better than it really is. When a company's present culture promotes attitudes, behaviors, and ways of doing things that are in sync with the chosen strategy and conducive to first-rate strategy execution, the culture functions as a valuable ally in the strategy execution process.