Question

What are the standout features of Epic's corporate culture?

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Corporate Culture and Strategy Execution

In this exercise you will explore the corporate culture and values of Epic and the important role of corporate culture plays in strategy execution.

Just as every human being has a unique personality, every company has its own unique corporate culture. These corporate cultures include shared values, ingrained attitudes, and company traditions that determine norms of behavior, accepted work practices, and styles of operating. The character of a company’s culture is a product of the core values and beliefs that executives espouse, the standards of what is ethically acceptable and what is not, the “chemistry” and the “personality” that permeate the work environment, the company’s traditions, and the stories that get told over and over to illustrate and reinforce the company’s shared values, business practices, and traditions. In a very real sense, the culture is the company’s automatic, self-replicating “operating system” that defines “how we do things around here.” A company’s culture is important because it influences the organization’s actions and approaches to conducting business. As such, it plays an important role in strategy execution and may have an appreciable effect on business performance as well. When a company’s present culture promotes attitudes, behaviors, and ways of doing things that are in sync with the chosen strategy and conducive to first-rate strategy execution, the culture functions as a valuable ally in the strategy execution process. The foundation of a company’s corporate culture nearly always resides in its dedication to certain core values and the bar it sets for ethical behavior.

Case:

Epic Systems Corporation creates software to support record keeping for mid- to large-sized health care organizations, such as hospitals and managed care organizations. Founded in 1979 by CEO Judith Faulkner, the company claims that its software is “quick to implement, easy to use and highly interoperable through industry standards.” Widely recognized for superior products and high levels of customer satisfaction, Epic won the Best Overall Software Suite award for the sixth consecutive year—a ranking determined by health care professionals and compiled by KLAS, a provider of company performance reviews. Part of this success has been attributed to Epic’s strong corporate culture—one based on the slogan “Do good, have fun, make money.” By remaining true to its 10 commandments and principles, its homegrown version of core values, Epic has nurtured a work climate where employees are on the same page and all have an overarching standard to guide their actions.

Epic’s 10 Commandments:

Do not go public.

Do not be acquired.

Software must work.

Expectations = reality.

Keep commitments.

Focus on competency. Do not tolerate mediocrity.

Have standards. Be fair to all.

Have courage. What you put up with is what you stand for.

Teach philosophy and culture.

Be frugal. Do not take on debt for operations.

Epic’s Principles:

Make our products a joy to use.

Have fun with customers.

Design in collaboration with users.

Make it easy for users to do the right thing.

Improve the patient’s health and healthcare experience.

Generalize to benefit more.

Follow processes. Find root causes. Fix processes.

Dissent when you disagree; once decided, support.

Do what is difficult for us if it makes things easier for our users.

Escalate problems at the start, not when all hell breaks loose.

Epic fosters this high-performance culture from the get-go. It targets top-tier universities to hire entry-level talent, focusing on skills rather than personality. A rigorous training and orientation program indoctrinates each new employee. In 2002, Faulkner claimed that someone coming straight from college could become an “Epic person” in three years, whereas it takes six years for someone coming from another company. This culture positively affects Epic’s strategy execution because employees are focused on the most important actions, there is peer pressure to contribute to Epic’s success, and employees are genuinely excited to be involved. Epic’s faith in its ability to acculturate new team members and stick true to its core values has allowed it to sustain its status as a premier provider of health care IT systems.

Note: Developed with Margo Cox.

Sources: Company website; communications with an Epic insider; “Epic Takes Back ‘Best in KLAS’ title,” Healthcare IT News, January 29, 2015, www.healthcareitnews.com/news/epic-takes-back-best-klas; “Epic Systems’ Headquarters Reflect Its Creativity, Growth,” Boston Globe, July 28, 2015, www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/07/28/epic-systems-success-like-its-headquarters-blend-creativity-and-diligence/LpdQ5m0DDS4UVilCVooRUJ/story.html(accessed December 5, 2015).

Answer 1

As we know that, Epic Systems Corporation creates software to support record keeping for mid-to-large sized health care organizations, such as hospitals and managed care organizations. This results to begin strong corporate culture as a part of their success in their corporation. This software is based on the slogan - '' Do good, have fun, make money.''

The standout features of Epic's corporate culture are as follows:-

• The first most interesting feature of Epic's corporate culture is that it encourage its employees to have fun at work because they hire freshers (new college graduates) who need a good working environment to make their work enjoyable.
• The other most important feature for Epic's corporate culture is to manufacture their products only according to the tastes and preferences of the people. Basically, the company's first priority is to make the quality products and the profits comes always second. In this case of software, company make their softwares user friendly so that they can be easily installed and used by the users.
• Epic's culture is always ready to help employees in solving their problems at work and treat them very friendly and politely so that employees cannot feel hesitation in sharing their problems to the management.
• They also promotes a competetion in the internal and external environment of the corporation which helps in the development of skills, knowledge, commitment, high standards, etc of the firm as well as their employees.