Solving Yahoo's identity crisis

…must be willing to say "yes" for something to happen. When compared with innovative upstarts, that innovation by consensus is a time waster, and sometimes an idea killer.

"Instead of looking for reasons to say 'yes', team leaders look for reasons [to say] 'no' if they can't control it," said one source inside the company.

In November, Yang and Decker announced a plan to address these troubles. It started with a company-wide effort called "One Yahoo" to establish new behaviours towards teamwork and decompartmentalise the company, according to sources. The idea was to emphasise that the needs of the corporation come before the needs of individual business units.

Yang and Decker talked to executive vice presidents, who were told to talk to their next in command. Still, that effort has yet to lead to tangible results, according to people familiar with the company.

Sources interviewed by CNET News.com also said that key managers, including Yang and Decker, want cultural change, but the commitment to "One Yahoo" dissipates below the vice president level, where everyday decisions need to be made. Yahoo representatives declined to comment for this article.

How has this culture affected Yahoo? Think of it from the viewpoint of an average Yahoo user. A woman might one day search for health information about the common cold, then visit Yahoo's health site and then check her email. For Yahoo to sell a comprehensive advertising package to, for example, a pharmacist — which might like to reach shoppers with a message about cold medicine — the company's sales team ideally would sell the pharmacist a package of search ads, graphical ads on Yahoo Mail and a sponsorship deal on the health page.

Yahoo's been weighed down by trying to do too many things and not being very good at any of them, [and] not having the commitment to excel at any of them

Former Yahoo executive

To pull that off, the deal might involve leaders from search and performance ad sales; graphical ad sales and sponsorships; Yahoo Mail; and the health editorial page. If any of those leaders' interests are misaligned, the deal could fall through or not meet its full potential. Sources familiar with the company have said egos among team leaders can often get in the way of pushing through such deals.

Corporate patterns evolve over time and they're hard to change once set, according to Adam Galinsky, a professor of ethics and decision in management at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

For any company to re-engineer a culture, it must overhaul all elements, Galinsky said. A company must have clear vision — or a compelling reason why change is necessary — define a strategy for the organisation, set up a reward system that supports that vision and hire people who fit into the vision. For example, if you want people to work in teams but you reward them individually, the reward system doesn't work.

"Where most companies fail is when they change one part, but they leave all the other elements intact," Galinsky said.

Can Yang inspire change?
Yahoo has changed some parts of its culture, like overhauling management. And, while company watchers have said Yang has the personal capital with employees to run the company, he may not be the charismatic leader it needs to walk the halls and achieve change one person at a time. What's more, insiders have said, is that Yahoo employs a few senior executives who are unwilling to change.

There's no doubt Yahoo growth has stagnated.

In the US, the number of monthly visitors to Yahoo was 137 million in December 2007, up five percent from the same month in 2006, according to comScore Media Metrix. But the company's total monthly page views declined nine percent year over year…