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The uses that Crédit Mutuel has made of its origins reflect a two-sided learning process: goal-oriented (via transmission of knowledge), and integrated. Throughout the organization’s existence, Crédit Mutuel’s management teams have had to espouse cooperative values to ensure that the bank’s unique foothold in its sector is maintained. From the point of view of employees, this origins-based value system operates effectively, but favours bank officers who show a willingness to “serve the little people”. Ultimately, the links to the past have provided Crédit Mutuel with the means for steering its organizational development. However, there is also an expectation - and this has caused tension - that workers will follow financial edicts while remaining true to the bank’s founding principles.