At first glance, SAS Institute looks like the perfect organization. It boasts an incredibly low turnover rate, amazing facilities and a work environment that is fun, egalitarian, and reliant on trust and intrinsic motivation. Although the case itself states no obvious organizational problems, it does not mean problems within the organization do not exist.
Potential Cognitive Traps at SAS
SAS has such a strong company culture that an observer went as far as to call it “the Stepford software company.” This robot-like behavior and high retention rate suggest that SAS does not have a very diverse employee group and is likely to fall into cognitive traps, such as groupthink and selection bias. In the Columbia Accident Investigation Board case (Chapter 7: The Accident’s Organizational Causes), NASA, like SAS, possessed a strong culture and optimistic organizational thinking. At NASA, this groupthink undermined their ability for effective decision making and led to the oversimplification of the threat of the foam debris, and ultimately, the disintegration of the Columbia upon re-entry. It is unlikely that SAS’s cognitive traps will lead to the catastrophic loss of human lives, but it is more than possible it could lead to complacency and lack of innovation, which would destroy its business model. SAS will need to be sure their culture is working for them instead of against them.
SAS is the largest privately owned software company in the world. Employees spend their time working at an already lucrative organization with a successful product and outstanding customer support. Successful companies such as these are much more likely to fall into selection bias when they benchmark against themselves, such as looking at past performance as an indication of future achievements. Therefore, even though they are encouraged to take risks that may fail, their experiences will be