Cracking the Corporate Culture Code

Transcription

1 Cracking the Corporate Culture Code Welcome! Steve Simpson Keystone Management Services Some Worthy Values One organisation s values: Communication Respect Integrity Excellence

2 The organisation? Enron Once the seventh largest company in the US Culture Can Bring Down a Space Shuttle The Executive Summary of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board states: The Board recognised early on that the accident was probably not an anomalous, random event, but rather likely rooted to some degree in NASA s history and the human space flight program s culture

3 What Was Wrong with the NASA Culture? Reliance on past success as a substitute for sound engineering practices Organisational barriers that prevented effective communication of critical safety information and stifled professional differences of opinion Lack of integrated management across programme elements Evolution of an informal chain of command and decision making processes that operated outside the organisation s rules Some UGRs in One Organisation!! At our meetings it isn t worth complaining because nothing will get done The only time anyone gets spoken to by the boss is when something is wrong The company talks about good customer service, but we know they don t really mean it, so we don t really have to worry about it Our funniest jokes usually involve making jokes about our work colleagues We go through the motions with our bosses, once they ve gone we do what we want

4 Culture Observation People seem to lose energy in the journey to the new way, I find that people also expect to see improvement a lot sooner than it happens and this leads to despondency (Part of a senior management written description of the current company context) Steve s Hunches about the UGRs Around here, there s lots of talk about change, but it won t happen Around here, if you lie low for long enough, the moves for change will fade away Around here, if you put in efforts to change, there s no support

5 More Observations From the CEO it is easy for a worker to switch off his lamp and sleep. Also, the supervisor sees only the area that is lit so he learns to apply a very focused leadership style and he never sees the big picture. This permeates through to his whole style and we have many supervisors who are simply unable to see the bigger picture (even above ground where there is ample light!). Steve s UGR Hunches Around here, you take what you can, when you can, from the company (workers) Around here, my job is to ensure the workers work (supervisors) Around here, management have their jobs, we ve got ours and the less we interfere with each other, the better Around here, people keep the bigger picture close to their chests

6 A Scenario A customer comes into your premises and is obviously angry. He waits in line, which seems to anger him even more. By the time it is his turn to be served, the customer begins complaining in a voice that gets louder and louder. The customer has apparently been trying to resolve a problem over the telephone, but has been transferred from staff member to staff member, without the problem being resolved. Almost without taking a breath, the customer relates his experience and he begins to use language that could be considered offensive.

7 The staff member tries to maintain a quiet and calm approach, but this does not seem to have much effect. Other customers are beginning to come into the premises, and they can obviously see and hear what is going on. The Official Line Isolate the customer (24 responses) Get the manager/supervisor (16) Staff member to calm the customer (19) Listen empathetically (12) Assess the problem (16) Solve the problem (16)

8 What Really Happens Manager/supervisor not available and the customer becomes more angry at the futile attempts by the staff member to resolve the problem in the public area (5 responses) Ask a colleague for help situation gets worse (3) Customer refuses to be isolated (2) Customer storms out of the building (2) Staff don t put up with abusive customers (2) What would your people say? Around here, customers are complainers. Some think we're slackers a necessary pain. Without them I would not have a job - would not be able to achieve my goals in life. But they are not very well informed about our business and this makes my job harder Very demanding; don't know what they really want; don't provide realistic timeframes; expect the world (Simpson, Whitely and Soutar, 2000)

9 What would your people say? Around here, if you criticise your boss you will be frowned upon and probably not advance too far in the business. Unfortunately feedback in the upwards direction is not common practice..it is always when you re with workmates, so the boss never gets to hear of the criticism and continues on his merry way thinking he is doing well. We know that the boss does not like to be criticised anyway (Simpson, Whitely and Soutar, 2000) What would your people say? Around here, being open and honest gets you everything Nowhere. People take it the wrong way, see you as negative, or too different to be of any use to the organisation some attention. However, in some cases it may undermine your career and sometimes be looked upon as a threat. Not everybody likes to know that certain policies & systems are unworkable (Simpson, Whitely and Soutar, 2000)

10 Using UGRs for Cultural Change Create strategic alignment Awareness of UGRs Conduct a stock take of prevailing UGRs Involvement in identifying desired positive UGRs Ongoing focus on UGR aspirations Does this Make a Difference? Overall Satisfaction Repurchase Advocacy Pre-UGRs Post-UGRs

11 Does this Make a Difference? Involvement Workload Overall Pre-UGRs Post-UGRs Some Final Thoughts If you do tomorrow What you did yesterday Your future Is history. If you do tomorrow What we ve covered today Your future Is historic!! (Steve Simpson, 2001)