One Culture-Fits-All? Examining Organizational Culture(s) in Industrial Sectors

I often speak to leaders in industrial sectors such as steel, mining, and oil & gas.

Whenever I ask them about their approach to culture, they tell me at length about the multiple initiatives they have implemented to encourage behavioral changes related to health and safety. Safety is of paramount importance for these sectors because accidents can easily lead to severe injury or even death. Yet, safety is not everything, nor is it equally relevant to all parts of the company.

There are often two very different cultures: the corporate office and the operations.

You can’t manage a board presentation and a blast furnace with the same organizational culture playbook.

The corporate office is located in a comfortable setting and staffed with well-dressed, highly educated professionals whose work involves making abstract decisions, thinking about the company’s future, selling products, managing finances, and similar tasks.

Operations, in contrast, are often located in remote areas, far from major cities. Some employees there have advanced education, but many operators have basic schooling or less. The environment is frequently noisy, dirty, and highly regulated. Employees wear uniforms and protective gear. They must follow strict rules and procedures to ensure production targets are met safely. Their day-to-day work involves solving technical problems, operating and maintaining heavy equipment, managing production interruptions, and engaging with local stakeholders, including community members, politicians, and families . The risks in the corporate office are typically financial or technological — fraud, embezzlement, system failures, cybercrime, lawsuits, and similar issues.

The risks and social challenges in operations are far more extreme: injury and death, environmental incidents, weather-related disruptions, absenteeism linked to substance abuse, strikes or shutdowns, and damage to expensive equipment.

Managing these two groups requires different approaches to attracting, motivating, and developing employees, as well as organizing work and delivering results. Here are just a few examples:

Comparison of culture levers for Corporate versus Operations employees

So my question is:

Should companies adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to culture and management across these two very different realities?

What do you think?