Must read this ST article as it describes how rotten the SMRT culture was or is. An excerpt
Truth is, SMRT must be accountable for many of its recent missteps, including one which led to the deaths of two young employees on a track early this year.
Just days after an embarrassing bus driver strike thrust the operator into the limelight in November 2012, newly minted chief executive Desmond Kuek admitted that the company had managerial, structural, cultural and systemic issues. Fixing those “deep-seated” issues, he said, was going to be a top priority.
Four years on, it is clear some of those issues remain unresolved. To be fair, no one person can effect profound change in an organisation of some 9,000 employees. A top-down approach rarely works. Change has to come from within, and start from the bottom. Management has to walk the talk, and be ready to join the troops in the trenches.
Many years ago, Lee Han Shih, a really brave and good SPH journalist (now a media entrepreneur), told me that the reporter who wrote the above report, was one of ST’s best. This report is more evidence.
Actually from my experience, change has to start from the top. Culture, standards, ethos, ethics, principles, etc all begin at the top. This is very difficult as it requires culling most of the existing mgmt. and a level of wisdom & integrity that is at least 2 sigma on the right-side of the distribution curve.