What Went Awry at Wells Fargo? The Beaten Path of a Toxic Culture

Wells Fargo recently discovered some of the bank's employees opened bank and credit card accounts for customers without their knowledge in attempt to meet aggressive sales goals. 5,300 low-ranking workers have since been fired for what the bank's chief executive declared as an ethical lapse. However, current and former employees cited an environment in which managers checked with staff members several times a day to monitor progress toward sales quotas. When sales targets were met, they were rewarded with hefty bonuses. This type of environment seems to more common than people think. Similar unethical actions have been noted at Volkswagen, General Motors and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Management in all  of these cases expressed dismay but after closer investigation, blame was placed on the company culture.

What management doesn't know is employees often will react to the signals they receive from management. Some signals include how compensation and recognition are done, or which metrics managers obsess over, the types of questions they ask their employees and so on. Theses signals have the ability to shape organizational culture and employee behavior in unintended ways.

Organizations are often surprised when they find out their employees have gone against the company's values. This article states that until business leaders start paying attention to these subtle workplace signals they will continue to be surprised by what their employees are motivated to do. I don't know that this necessarily justifies what they did, but it could be something to consider.