Garanti Case Study
Introduction and Problem Definition
Garanti Bank (GB) which is one of the big private banks in Turkey had passed through a remarkable change operation. During this transformation, the mail goal was to redefine both culture and the organizational structure of the bank. Contrary to the culture present in Turkey at that time, Mr. Öngör and the management board accomplished creating a new culture in GB. Öngör had achieved changing the organizational structure and culture, but the only thing to do is to keep it effectively so that after his retirement GB would not go backwards to the old way of doing things.
Critical question is whether the system will maintain with remarkable change found and implemented by Akin Öngör, when he is going to leave from his position. Corporate culture, which cannot be contingent upon only one specific person, should be suggested ways of sustaining newly created culture before retirement of Mr. Öngör. Besides, it is also in demand that GB operates as a service hub to diffuse the practices, acquired during its transition, to the rest of group companies.
Analysis
In the beginning of GB history, the whole system depended on centralized, integrated, and more based on control structure. To illustrate, branch members were waited for commands of the CEO and executive members, staff was blamed for their mistakes, they could not behave as an entrepreneur, and hence they were reluctant to get in complicated situations. There was high uncertainty avoidance in the organization and thus no risk taking.
The first step to the change was taken with Mr. Tekin. Culture and the organizational structure of the bank, had been defined as “a traditional deposit-taking institution, hierarchical, introverted and domestically oriented”, which was started to change with new CEO İbrahim Betil’s approach in 1986. He tried to establish more performance-oriented, for instance pop-up visits in each department during the week. For more improvement, GB had to set a
Garanti Bank (GB) which is one of the big private banks in Turkey had passed through a remarkable change operation. During this transformation, the mail goal was to redefine both culture and the organizational structure of the bank. Contrary to the culture present in Turkey at that time, Mr. Öngör and the management board accomplished creating a new culture in GB. Öngör had achieved changing the organizational structure and culture, but the only thing to do is to keep it effectively so that after his retirement GB would not go backwards to the old way of doing things.
Critical question is whether the system will maintain with remarkable change found and implemented by Akin Öngör, when he is going to leave from his position. Corporate culture, which cannot be contingent upon only one specific person, should be suggested ways of sustaining newly created culture before retirement of Mr. Öngör. Besides, it is also in demand that GB operates as a service hub to diffuse the practices, acquired during its transition, to the rest of group companies.
Analysis
In the beginning of GB history, the whole system depended on centralized, integrated, and more based on control structure. To illustrate, branch members were waited for commands of the CEO and executive members, staff was blamed for their mistakes, they could not behave as an entrepreneur, and hence they were reluctant to get in complicated situations. There was high uncertainty avoidance in the organization and thus no risk taking.
The first step to the change was taken with Mr. Tekin. Culture and the organizational structure of the bank, had been defined as “a traditional deposit-taking institution, hierarchical, introverted and domestically oriented”, which was started to change with new CEO İbrahim Betil’s approach in 1986. He tried to establish more performance-oriented, for instance pop-up visits in each department during the week. For more improvement, GB had to set a
References: Kotter, John P. (2007) Tests of a Leader. Harvard Business Review. p.96-103