Understanding culture is important to understand a company or organization. Every company has a unique culture and some are very memorable, but not always in a good way. One great example of this is Enron. Almost every one has heard of this organization who quickly rose just to collapse. One major contributor being the toxic culture of the organization.  It had an overcompetitive culture that lead to mistrust, fear, and lying among employees of the company.  The only thing that was cared about was making more and more money. If employees did not meet the expectations they were removed and replaced very easily.

Griffin talks about  culture in organizations. In one instance he states that, “For Pacanowsky, the web of organizational culture is the residue of employees’ performance- ‘those very actions by which members constitute and reveal their culture to themselves and to others.'” (283). Meaning that the culture affects how employees perform and it is very visible. Additionally, “The only way to reduce the puzzlement is to observe as if one were a stranger in a foreign land. This can be difficult for a manager who is already enmeshed in a specific culture” (239). From the outside or if you are new the culture can seem weird or wrong, but people who have been in the organization for so long are intertwined in the culture. This point is further proved by,  “These rituals are nearly sacred, and any attempt to change them meets with strong resistance….”  and goes onto say that, “… organizational rites at more traditional companies weave together many threads of cooperate culture.” (243). Each organization has its set rituals and customs and many do not want to change it because it is so entwined in the culture of the organization.

All organizations have their own unique culture. Although, in Enron’s case they stood out because the company’s culture also lead to its downfall. Not all cultures are good. How the employees performed also affected the culture. For one no one was really truthful in their upward or downward communication.  There was also a sense of over competitiveness between employees, they often times would not communicate with each other as well, by being very secretive. Many of the employees were constantly stressed with the threat of being fired constantly. It was a very cutthroat atmosphere. The last two points made by Griffin can also be understood by studying Enron and its culture. As seen in the article, from an outward perspective Enron had a very toxic culture and was a very deceitful company. Additionally, employees were very stressed as it was not a good environment. Managers thought the culture was “good” probably with how much money they were making. Because of this, they never wanted to change it and continued to encourage the employees to keep doing what they were doing, even if it meant stepping on each others throats. This is the same with the rituals and rites  of Enron. Executives did not want to change the way the company was and the actions taken by these executives also reflected Enron’s culture.