Posts Tagged ‘Culture’
May 1st, 2007 in Culture No Comments
For Joe Tye of America’s Values Coach it is a company’s corporate culture – largely in the person of its people – that creates the most lasting impression of a business for its customers and potential employees. This article discusses Tye’s presentation at the Dow AgroSciences Premier Partner Summit in January, paying particular attention to his six strategies for finding and keeping great employees.
His first strategy, for example, is to “design and reinforce your desired corporate culture.” He gives the example of Southwest Airlines, which is focused on providing its customers with a pleasant flying experience. They “hire for attitude, train for skill,” conveying the impression that they are interested in who the employees are more than what they know. They try hiring employees with a great sense of humor or storytelling abilities who are inspired by their mission and vision. The result is a highly loyal workforce that is particularly adept at handling passengers. (more…)
April 19th, 2007 in Culture No Comments
This author posits a company culture promoted to prospective employees during the hiring process, one that strives to balance work and home life. Yet new hires find that the norm is employees coming in early, staying late and working through lunch and breaks. The author then proceeds to show steps that could be taken to effectively change the company’s culture back to what it once was, steps that include relationship-building and an upper management actively modeling the desired norms. Relationships are strengthened and focus, creativity and productivity enhanced.
Source: Leslie Rose McDonald, The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY); Apr 19, 2007
August 22nd, 2005 in Culture No Comments
Workplace civility is becoming a growing concern to managers. This author believes this phenomenon is due to the adverse impact of an exodus of talent from the “take no prisoners” corporate cultures of the ‘90s and ‘00s. The new metric of note is the “civility index.” Based on surveys of employee feelings about their companies, a low score makes it harder for companies to attract and keep talent.
Civility is a top-down learned behavior, and the author notes that a sure sign of how civil a company and its culture is can be found by examining the behavior of its executives. Their behavior towards subordinates is usually a reflection of how the CEO behaves toward his own subordinates.
The article includes sample questions to ask employees that focus on organizational behavior and reveal what work needs to be done to achieve a kinder, more civil workplace culture.
Source: Antonio R. Samson, Business World (Manila); Aug 22, 2005
February 12th, 2005 in Culture No Comments
This article is essentially a review of consultant Carolyn Taylor’s new book “Walking the Talk,” in which the author stresses the role of corporate culture as a source of competitive advantage. She recommends investing in one’s corporate culture and defining and developing it to attract and keep the right employees, foster positive workplace practices and ultimately directly impact the firm’s bottom line. This “culture management,” she notes, is “the newest management discipline.”
Culture is viewed here as a new opportunity and “one of the last sources of competitive advantage.” Ms. Taylor’s book is a guide to understanding and implementing cultural change to capture and exploit this situation. Acquiring a handle on one’s culture and developing an effective program of cultural management is seen as a 2-5 year project requiring a plan whose ultimate objective is to create a set of values in employees that will positively influence their behavior and ultimately the way the company is perceived by the market.
The book provides implementation guidelines and a way to initially assess whether such a step is needed. She estimates the annual cost of a three year program at about $1,000 per employee per year.
Source: The Gold Coast Bulletin; Feb 12, 2005
