Case: Culture Change at Texaco
1. Identify the ethical culture problem at Texaco in the mid-1990s.
The ethical culture problem at Texaco in the mid-1990s was an immense problem for the organization. The white employees discriminated the African American employees who were in minority. The major issues were the use of blatant racist language and the inappropriate behavior on the part of Texaco’s employees and managers against the minority employees that is, the African Americans. Also the minority employees were paid lower wages as compared to the white employees and in some cases the pay was lower than the minimum pay set for a certain job category. The minority employees also faced the problem of hearing comments from other employees and managers regarding their color and race. A white manager commented on a black woman who was an employee at Texaco and said “I never thought I’d live to see the day when a Black woman had an office at Texaco.” One time the senior financial analyst at Texaco faced the same problem when a white official referred to as “little colored girl.” Racial discrimination was a sort of routine activity and if the minority employees objected such events and behavior, the organization ignored their grievance claims.
2. Based on the facts in the case and what you have learned in Chapter 5, evaluate the culture change effort that is underway. What cultural systems have been targeted in the cultural change effort? What systems are missing, if any? Does the culture appear to be in alignment? Misalignment? What else might management do that they have not already done to make the culture change successful?
The culture change effort was initiated by Bijur, the then CEO at Texaco. He was determined to eradicate all sorts of cultural or racial discrimination and make Texaco a better company. He made it very clear that he would not tolerate any kind of