Barnesandnoble.com – “A fantastic overall company culture, a poor IT culture”

Pros

People are genuinely friendly, come to work eager to do their best and willing to work hard. At a high level the company supports balancing work and personal life. There are many office celebrations throughout the year, and the atmosphere is generally positive. The office is in Chelsea which is a fantastic neighborhood for restaurants, shopping, etc.

Cons

A recent shift in the technology platform has been handled very capably from a technical standpoint, but extremely poorly from a change management standpoint. Many people, both recent hires in the new technology base, and employees that were there prior to it, are puzzled by the complete disinterest in some typically high management priorities such as team building, communication, skill growth and employee retention. There is a lot of talk about teams but the definition of 'team' seems to be a group of people that are all assigned to the same project -- the end.

Advice to Senior Management

Wake up and realize that the IT organization is not going to manage itself. Good teams and a positive and constructive environment don't happen spontaneously in a management vacuum. If things remain on their present course, you are relying on the culture outside of IT to keep people interested in remaining with the company.