Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme Ag

Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG (SNI), a company created by the merger between Nixdorf Computer and the mainframe computer division of Siemens AG, the German electronics. The Company offered a broad range of computer products, from personal computers and mainframes to software and support services. In addition to the Munich headquarters, SNI had divisions in multiple locations across Europe and around the world. The company had not posted a profitable quarter since the merger. The organizational structure was considered too bureaucratic in its approach to decision-making for the rapidly evolving market.

Gerhard Schulmeyer brought as the new CEO of SNI. He was charged with leading the company in an unprecedented push to return SNI to profitability. Schulmeyer’s goals for SNI were that the company become more customer-driven and responsive to the market. Most importantly, Schulmeyer was convinced that the radical change necessary to recreate SNI could only occur alongside a radical change in the corporate culture. He wanted to create an SNI culture that enhanced entrepreneurial thinking and team-building. He wanted to replace top-down procedures at SNI with innovative leadership in the computer, software, and services fields. He planned to create an environment that rewarded decision-making and risk-taking. Schulmeyer initiated a company-wide Culture Change Program in SNI. The Culture Change Program intended to address 19 topics that had been chosen by employees with endorsement from Schulmeyer and the Board as the most pressing problems associated with transforming the company.

Andy Chew was among 21 middle managers at SNI who were involved most directly with Culture Change. According to Chew, Siemens financial discipline and orderly procedures were a welcome addition to the innovative but financially flagging Nixdorf. Chew thought that the entrepreneurial qualities that had distinguished Nixdorf were diluted at SNI. Chew thought that the culture’s have not merged. There are no Siemens-Nixdorf culture, there are only a Siemens culture and a Nixdorf culture.

Chew realized that SNI did not really have the capacity to function as a solutions-focused firm. Information flowed slowly, the enthusiasm were hampered by low morale. His goal was to create a new solutions function at SNI by focusing on one of the three solutions houses, the R3 division.

Chew wanted to improve SNI’s ability to market solutions to the international marketplace. He felt that the company had solutions that were not adequate for the international marketplace and furthermore the company did not adequately understand how the market functioned internationally.

Chew’s ideas came to the attention of Wolfgang Jaeger, the head of SNI’s entire solutions business. Jaeger strongly supported Chew’s ideas for change and helped him to refine his goals for improving SNI’s solutions capability. In an attempt to enhance his knowledge base and assure better coordination across the company, Chew enlisted the help of another Change Agent, Kenneth Lindstrom. To implement the plan, Chew would need to relocate to Munich. He felt that any real change in the company would have to radiate from the center, not from the region.

Chew and Lindstrom were relocated to SNI’s headquarter in Munich. When he arrived at SNI, tension immediately arose between him and his colleagues because of his being an outsider from the regions implementing a high-priority project that had the support of upper-level management. Chew felt that there was a palpable resentment against his role as an initiator of new ideas in an office in which he had never worked. They were dubbed by some as “Schulmeyer Kinder” or “Schulmeyer Kids” because they were seen as elites that were designated as “Special” by the boss.

People were largely resistant to change despite the leadership and exhortations of the Board. They would typically support change initiatives in their departments only as far as they had to, given the pressure of directives from above. Chew felt that many line managers on or two levels below the Board showed