Assessing corporate culture Cisco Systems

MBA 501: Organizational Dynamics and Leadership
Professor: Dr. Bruce Hiebert

Gurjot Singh

Friday, April 09, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Introduction 3

2 About Cisco Systems 3

2.1 Vision, mission 3

2.2 Slogans, legends and myths 5

2.3 Organizational structure 6

3 Human Network and leadership 8

3.1 Employees and rewards 8

3.2 Training and teaching 12

3.3 Leaders’ functions and Change management 13

4 Application of the theory. Conclusion 15

References 17

Introduction

Cisco Systems has leveraged the power of organizational behavior to become one of the world’s leading high technology companies which is spread …show more content…

This was in late-1984. They had no money, so they financed their new business with their credit cards. They converted the living room of their house into a manufacturing operation, and soon they and their friends were writing codes, putting together black boxes and assembling cables” (Bunnell, D. (Ed.). (2000). After many years of Cisco existence, the story how Cisco was established became a legend and a corporate story, which every Cisco employee and even external stakeholder know. This legend is the baseline for inspiration for current employees. The spirit to fight for their right and continuous innovation process, as well as taking the risks to achieve the desired goal are in the core of the business. These attributes are observed in all the actions as well vision and mission of the company.

3 Organizational structure

Traditionally from the moment of emerging, Cisco was structured along line of business. It had a matrix organization type with divisions for service providers, enterprise and small and medium business. Cisco’s structure was trying to bring the advantages of a functional structure and the product structure. The basis of this structure is to try and create a synergy through shared responsibility between project and functional management. In 2001 Cisco has changed its organizational structure to align