Different corporate cultures

[Aspychata]

Are you seen as *nice*? I have been battling with this. In some companies, if you're not ruthless enough in cutting heads or being demanding, you are classified as *too nice*.

In parts of the midwest, it's crucial to be nice, other companies ostracize you or send you to remedial counseling for being *nice*. Note:my mom is from the midwest.

I think being on the spectrum means it's harder to detect power dynamics, private agendas, and unwritten rules of the places l have worked in.

What is your company culture currently? (or past experiences). Does it mesh with your belief system?

 

[clg114]

Are you seen as *nice*? I have been battling with this. In some companies, if you're not ruthless enough in cutting heads or being demanding, you are classified as *too nice*.

In parts of the midwest, it's crucial to be nice, other companies ostracize you or send you to remedial counseling for being *nice*. Note:my mom is from the midwest.

I think being on the spectrum means it's harder to detect power dynamics, private agendas, and unwritten rules of the places l have worked in.

What is your company culture currently? (or past experiences). Does it mesh with your belief system?

I worked for a Cat dealer for 26 years. They believed that a companies employees can ether make them or break them. Which way it goes depends on how you treat your employees. We made more money than our counterparts at other companies. We also got more benefits. To tell the truth, I got spoiled working there. I was a field service technician, which means that I worked alone. I worked with my special interest, machinery. So for me the company culture was that I was treated like I was important, that I was paid well with a lot of benefits, that I had a company truck that I drove home every day, that I worked alone and that I worked with my special interest. It was the dream job for a Aspie.

 

[SusanLR]

I lived in the midwest during and after college.
Trying to get a first job was cruel.
The only company that liked me was Barbizon as an instructor.

Every other place I applied for work told me I didn't dress the part or what they deemed coservative
enough to fit the look they were looking for or I didn't speak proper enough to suit them or didn't like
the sound of my voice and thought I had an attitude.
One interview for work at a dental office I was told by the interviewer I wasn't as smart as I thought
I was.
Funny. He had an unusual last name that one of my college teachers also had in English class.
I ask him if he knew her and it was his wife!
I told him to ask his wife how smart SHE thought I was as she had been one of my instructors.
(She always told me I was a very good student with good grades.)
I didn't tell him that, just to ask her.

I moved to Florida within two years and it was a whole different world.
I had several well paying jobs that I enjoyed before I got a position working in a large wholesale pharmacy.
Only had one employer I didn't get along with in one place, but, I enjoyed the work and most of my co-workers.
People each doing their own part to put together Boat Trader Magazine.

 

[Autistamatic]

Having worked for both small and large employers there is a marked difference in culture between the 2.

Smaller employers generally appreciate multi-skilled employees and make good use of their talents whereas larger organisations pigeonhole people and punish anyone who steps outside their assigned slot.

Smaller companies appreciate honesty more, both with colleagues and customers. In larger companies one is expected to blatantly lie at the drop of a hat, not just be economical with the truth. The approved lies are sometimes even provided as scripts.

Smaller companies are often willing to show their appreciation of an employee who does something which creates significant benefit. Larger companies largely ignore it or reward someone in management rather than the staff member directly responsible.

 

[Bolletje]

My previous workplace at the hospital had a very strict hierarchy and had a perfectionist cutthroat culture. Being nice there meant being taken advantage of by the rest. But being a doctor also automatically put me in a position of power high up in the chain of command, where I had to instruct the nurses and assistants. Being nice to them mostly worked because they liked working with me and made more of an effort, but some of them became a little sloppy because they thought I was nice enough not to be hard on them. I wasn’t, I was very strict with those people because my role as a doctor also gave me responsibility for their actions.
My current workplace obviously has a power structure and a workflow, but the hierarchy isn’t strict at all. The manager is obviously my boss, but she’s on the work floor all day, very approachable and insists on being called by her first name. And while I have a few assistants I’m not supposed to instruct them. They’re there to facilitate my work. I just do my medical assessments, then hand off the case to the case manager. If I were to try and command people purely on the basis that I’m a doctor I would alienate a lot of coworkers. It’s fine with me. Here I can be nice and people just see me as a pleasant coworker instead of a weakling you can try to manipulate to do your work.

 

[Alexej]

A propos company culture - an interesting article about Boeing
The Long-Forgotten Flight That Sent Boeing Off Course