Culture is essential in ongoing businesses.
The following is from my article on Company Culture from The Business Gazette. It focuses on core components to Culture and ones that can transcend specific industries and professions. Like humans, cultures are all different and the same in the moment and in each situation. Culture is essential in ongoing businesses as well as crises. In crisis management, it is more important that we bring back the culture so we can get things done together and be more on the same page.
Just a bad day at the plant?
The newspaper headline read: “Pair charged in kidnap, assault over plant burglary.” Would you believe the accused “pair” were the victim’s managers? Sounds like more than just a bad day at the plant…
The two managers were accused of entering a private residence and forcibly removing a 19-year-old former employee of their egg-laying facility. Then the employee was allegedly held at the plant for two hours, bound with duct tape, in a sort of “citizens’ arrest,” before law officers were called in.
Allegedly, the managers attempted to beat a confession out of the former employee because they believed he was responsible for a sabotage-style burglary of their plant (The pair pleaded innocent to charges of assault, third-degree kidnapping, and trespassing…and claimed they were making a citizen’s arrest.)
The managers claimed to have received information that disgruntled employees were planning to sabotage four egg-laying facilities. A spokesperson said the men acted because they believed they were protecting the other plants.
This may be an extreme example of what looks like a dysfunctional management style, but it raises the question:
How do you, your managers, and supervisors create and maintain a culture — an atmosphere — in which employees do safe, quality work efficiently and profitably?
For guidance, consider input from Byron Lane, Ph.D., co-author of “Managing People: A Practical Guide.” Before his stint as a professor of management at Pepperdine University, Lane founded five businesses, one of which grew into a multi-million dollar retail chain.
Lane said he was aware of firms where employee compensation was marginal and working conditions weren’t good, resulting in disgruntled employees. Lane says in such cases, employers have no effective culture, really. Management sees employees simply as units of production.
“Today’s savvy employer,” said Lane, “sees that for maximum competitiveness, one needs to improve productivity, and does it by shaping a culture of productivity and cooperation. The key is how to maximize your human resources.”
Check Your Culture
Looking at several cultural characteristics can help you get a feel for what your culture is now and what you’d like it to be. They include:
- Innovation and risk-taking.
- Concern about quality of products and services.
- Responsiveness to employee needs.
- Employee initiative and self-direction.
- System of incentives.
- View of change.
- Key information availability.
- Cohesiveness, communication, collaboration.
- Leadership and vision.
- Problem-solving.
- Strategic planning.
So, how do you get the culture changes, and how do you know what changes you need?
Change must come from senior management, said Lane. You can’t just go on about your business and expect to hire a consultant to come in and set up your new, improved culture.
Culture is defined as “the shared behaviors, norms, values and assumptions that knit an organization together.” Lane says the culture of an organization stems out of the “world view” of its management.
Culture change must come from an attitude change. Lane suggested you ask yourself how you really feel about employees as people.
One employer may feel that, given a responsive environment, people like to do a good job. Another employer’s view may be that people will usually avoid responsibility and must be coerced to accomplish anything.
How important is it to take a hard look at your culture? “Understanding and managing organizational culture is as important as managing the finances, the product, the physical plant, and the marketing,” insisted Lane.
Consider that a football team might easily practice 40 hours for an hour of game time. Lane pointed out the irony of an employer not wanting to spend even one hour in “team preparation” for a 40-hour workweek.
To begin with, read the literature, Lane suggested. Then educate your management team. Talk about your culture. Create more of an environment in which people work together. Try to get past your fears about having to hear employee complaints or feeling criticized.
Lane told about the late Sam Walton, founder of the Wal-mart chain, who spent almost all his time listening to his employees. Walton once said he thought the half-day a week he had to spend in his office was “a bit excessive.”
“Never be autocratic,” stated Lane. If there’s a problem, ask employees to help solve it. Ask, “How do we fix this?… What do we do about that?”
Lane gave a scenario from his retail experience. Suppose your retail store clerks are giving poor service, ignoring the customers. Customers come in to browse and leave again without buying anything, never approached by your sales clerks. Should you get them all together and issue an ultimatum? Perhaps you’d say, “You have to talk to the customers or we’ll be out of business and you’ll all be out of a job!”
Lane suggested letting employees figure it out themselves.
Gather them together and tell them the problem. “We’re not competing very well with XYZ retailer. What should we do?” Lane emphasized his point again, that you must create a cultural attitude of working together.
All the best.
Mark H. Fowler
We believe engagement at all levels with customers, clients, team members, owners/managers, and all other stakeholders is essential to productive, profitable, effective, inclusive, and peaceful environments. A lack of engagement is a challenge for businesses around the world… Watch Video
