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Putra Muskita · · 1 min readDiscuss: Is 5 years enough to change the culture in a large organization?
Singapore’s automated MRT trains. Photo credit: tang90246 / 123RF.
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Earlier this month, Singapore experienced another major disruption to its public transport system: train services were halted for about 20 hours, and some 250,000 commuters were affected. In his public apology, Desmond Kuek, the CEO of public transport operator SMRT Corporation, partly blamed SMRT’s company culture.
“Much progress has been made with the inculcation of a positive work culture, but there remain some deep-seated cultural issues within the company that has needed more time than anticipated to root out,” he said.
Of course, setting a company’s culture is easier when you’re a scrappy startup versus a previously listed, government-owned company with almost 10,000 employees. On the other hand, Kuek has been CEO for five years, during which he reportedly hired 10 out of 14 members of his senior management team. The Trains team has also grown by a third during his tenure.
Let’s discuss:
- How difficult is it to set company culture in large organizations, especially those that also deal with legacy issues?
- Is five years enough to effect lasting cultural change?
- How can startups maintain their culture as they scale?
Editing by Terence Lee
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