Organisational Culture

Organisational Culture in my eyes is probably one of the most important but least understood parts of an organisation.  As change is required I refer back to some of my previous posts, in that change is a journey, and not a fast one at that.

Yes, the Japanese were one of the first people to recognise the importance of organisational culture which forms the “founding philosophy” of the Toyota Production System:

“There is no royal road to success in life.  It takes the right process to achieve a great result”.

What they mean by that is that it requires total participation (“one team, working together” approach).  The engagement in any organisational change requires staff to truly understand the value of continuous improvement willingness to participate.  Rules and regulations will never motivate them.

Proper training, discipline and respect for their knowledge and skill is required.  Furthermore, innovation and change comes from small continuous improvements that have been suggested from staff members.  Improvement after improvement is what creates results and culture.  In order for staff to offer their suggestions in a productive way, they need to feel respected and second, have a proper process in place in order to provide their suggestions in a fruitful manner. 

Edgar Schein’s summary:

“The pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered, ordeveloped in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internalintegration, and that have worked well enough to be considered valid, andtherefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think andfeel in relation to these problems”

for me highlights the above in a more complex and philosophical way.  

 

The “iceberg” scenario certainly agrees with that.  (Cultural artefacts are like the tip of the iceberg . . . we can observe them. However, there is much below the surface. True cultural awareness involves understanding what’s below the waterline.)

When we talk about sub cultures, we start to get into more complicated situations that need to be monitored and controlled.

An “Enhancing Subculture” can be great, but even then I feel that it is easy for it to get out of hand, therefore close monitoring is required.  Over enthusiasm can become failure just too quickly.

The “Complementary Subculture” for me is a necessity.  It can look at the situation objectively and give great input.  Again we need to monitor that we do not go off on tangents.

For me “Counterculture” goes hand in hand with the complementary subculture, rather than being objective though, it can challenge the culture, and often create improvements.  As with any of the above, it needs to be monitored.

I also agree that many managers see culture as a “surface level concept” and then are unpleasantly surprised when cultural change efforts fail.  The founder, CEO or owner of a business must be seen as leading cultural change.  If he/she doesn’t lead from the front, his managers, supervisors and staff are unlikely to pursue the outcomes required.

Culture can be a most powerful influence, which is why leaders must enhance their organisation’s culture through maintenance, sustenance and change.

My personal recommendations:

            The role of culture cannot be underestimated

            We must understand that culture is not easy to change

            We must have a vision and follow it

We must be patient

We must focus on each of the elements like: values, tradition, procedures, symbols, rituals and ceremonies

Essentially we want to create a workplace where employees want to be.  We need to create the right environment, understand what makes people happy or unhappy, empower our staff and much more.

Resources:

Corriero, A. (2012), “Workshop 1 - Inspiring and Structuring a Lean Culture within Your Organisation”, Chase Performance: Melbourne, Australia

Flanagan, N., Finger, J. (2003), “The Management Bible”, Plum Press: Queensland, Australia

“Primer on organisation culture” (2003), UVA-OB-0675, Darden Business Publishing, University of Virginia

The Change Leadership Sustainability Demands

I believe we all agree that sustainability goes beyond and encompasses a much broader area than just environmental aspects, and change in all of these areas are necessary to sustain business growth and the economy. As I understand it we are putting environmental sustainability on the forefront for the purpose of this module and course, as a major part of it is driven by other areas of business.

 “The Change Leadership Sustainability Demands” refers to three distinct stages”. (MITSloan Management Review, Summer 2010, Vol. 51 No. 4, by Chrisoph Luenburger and Daniel Goleman)

Phase 1 – Making the Case for Change

I would refer to this as how to prepare to bring about change. One of the most important parts to get buy in is to get wins on the board quickly. This cannot always be done easily. Most people associate sustainability with huge costs without any direct payback. The introduction of the carbon tax in Australia since July 1st will certainly change this mindset somewhat.

If we break down Phase 1 into several steps we may look at something like this:

•             Be convinced that change and sustainability is necessary

•             Consider the present and future and analyse change accordingly

•             May the change be resisted and why

•             If so, how can fears be addressed and dealt with

•             Work on a detailed plan

•             Benchmark against competitors

•             Ensure others are involved

Now, I agree with Ralph (fellow student), that all this has to be driven by senior management, and fully supported to succeed. However, often, senior management are scared to make these decisions, and if they are seen to be hesitant, the change mechanism is most likely doomed.

Phase 2 – Translating Vision into Action

Basically we are now discussing implementing the change, if we have been successful in establishing our case. One comment of the article is that “executives who are effective in Phase 2 tend to be comfortable with the distinction between the ideology of sustainability and the sustainability goals that the organisation seeks to achieve”. What do we need to be successful in Phase 2.

Again, I’d like to break down Phase 2 into several steps:

•         Always remember the basics of good change management (people will go with the       flow or if change is really required, people are more likely to change if they are actively involved, people generally resist orders or surprises, people like to feel secure, people cannot be treated as objects, change can sometimes take time)

•         Therefore as in Phase 1 ensure people are involved in the whole
           change process

•         Ensure that people understand as much as possible about
           sustainability

•         Making sure that staff are fully aware und understand as to why we are implementing these particular changes

•            Highlight, Promote & Sell the Benefits

•         As a leader you want to be seen as fully enthusiastic and driving the change, failing to do so will most likely result in the staff not believing in it either

•         Ensure that the staff are armed with resources and tools, and offer plenty of support throughout the change period and beyond

•         Deal with one project at a time, and celebrate wins, therefore building a positive track record

•         Empower everyone to have continuous input by regularly discussing new ideas and initiatives

Wow, it all sounds so easy, but is it? If you are entrenched in a company which has employees that have been there for many years, these individuals can be your greatest supporters or your greatest opponents. It is important in my eyes, to involve them, as the “newer” employees are more likely to join the bandwagon. These individuals will come up with excuses like, “I’m about to retire, what do I get out of it”, or “why change now” and many more. The true challenge for the leaders is to harness these employees to make them supporters. And I strongly believe that herein lays one of the greatest challenges.

Phase 3- Expanding Boundaries

We are now talking about a strong strategic orientation and competitive advantage, however we often find that the competitive advantage may not crystallise for many years, as the rest of the market or world play catch up. Regulatory changes will help drive the changes, but we also know that politicians are supported by large corporations, so change will still be slow. Even with the carbon tax introduction in Australia, the opposition still promises to abolish it as soon as it is in power. The opposition is also backed by some major corporates. Therefore if the support from our “main leaders” isn’t there, how can we expect our staff to fall in line? At the end they are generally confused and unsure. So a leader changing direction and working against the direction the company had previously taken will be even more so difficult.

I have also thought about Phase 3 in regards to some more elementary points:

•         We need to look to the future and stop holding on to the past

•         We don’t see issues as problems, rather as opportunities

•         Our strategy needs to encompass us being able to cope with the change (be aware of the four phases of the change cycle – denial – resistance – exploration – commitment)

•         Understand the change is continuous and nothing is permanent

Understanding the principles of change will help implement any new strategy including sustainability. But let’s not kid ourselves, it is a difficult and long journey, and not for the faint hearted.

The focus needs to be on environmental sustainability to ensure there will be a world as we know it for generations to come. Technological advances will play a key role in these as well as the smarts of our leaders.

The key question for this module is the change leadership that sustainability demands. We have discussed leadership in detail, and I think it's great to combine it now with the sustainability part, as they work hand in hand. Without strong leadership basics and understanding, a leader is ultimately going to fail, especially when embarking on the sustainability journey.

It is a fine balance between a business being profitable and sustainable in all areas, or it failing.

The following link is for an article titled "Mining and the environment: the future of Australia’s brand". It discusses the questions raised over environmental impact versus the environment and business areas that are directly and indirectly affected. It is a great independent view and read, and once again shows the dilemma politicians, corporations and individuals face when trying to create a sustainable future.

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/mining-and-the-environment-the-future-of-australia

I would agree that sustainability is not a destination, but would call it a journey rather than direction, although direction works as well.

I love “the learning to work in systems diagram” (Zeri system), looks simple enough once you understand it, but there are many players involved, and they all need to be individually driven towards the better outcome and goal. They all have to embark on the journey.

This is also where “lean” crosses with “sustainability” Lean is all about reducing waste, sustainability takes it to the next level. The first principals of lean are the 5 S’s (you can read more about this on my posting: http://leanimprovement.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/what-is-5s.html)

The article for me proves that it is great long journey with continuous improvement required.

Our Professor asked: “Can we hold our leaders accountable for sustainability?”

Absolutely, they are the ones that need to drive it, without being driven from the top down, change will never happen. CEO’s are financially accountable, and in this new age environmental accountability falls in the same category for me.

Motivation and Rewards

In this article I am heavily referencing a book called “Drive” by Daniel H. Pink, “The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”.  Pink, D., (2009), Drive, New York USA: Penguin Group; I would strongly recommend reading it.

In the next few paragraphs, I would like to look at individuals and their motivation as they need to be linked to the individual, the unique workplace and other workers within it, and the geographical location of the business as well as the individual’s cultural background. Hence, one size does not fit all.

If we go back centuries and even thousands of years, human behaviour and motivation was very much based on survival.  Over time humans have learnt to live in the more complex societies and to harness this purely biological drive.  We can look at the early modern way of motivation through award and punishment, however the basic pillars of ancient times still remain.

Many of today’s leaders and employees are being put through psych evaluations before commencing new roles.  A key area of these is to look how the individual is motivated.  Are they purely extrinsically (i.e. pay, working conditions and job security) motivated or are they more intrinsically (achievement, personal growth or even just enjoying work itself). 

I believe different cultures embrace these differently.  My understanding is that Japan embraced intrinsic motivation a long time ago, while the US at that point was very much extrinsically motivated through large bonuses and incentive schemes, and I don’t see that much has changed. 

As our company specialises in Lean Six Sigma business improvement, cultural change is on the forefront of increasing productivity and efficiency, and the culture is very much influenced by how the organisation rewards and retains their staff. 

I don’t think there is one solution that fits all, as some may work on occasions, others at other times, however, the key is to understanding and determining which parts to discard and which parts to keep.

When leaders design a program to achieve certain results they need to be very careful that these do not have the opposite effect (also known as the Sawyer Effect: practices than can either turn play into work or turn work into play) which can often be the case. Understanding the organisation, its values, vision and mission go a long way to establishing the basics, and may have to be re-visted to ensure we are not losing focus and what is important.

In the end of the day we want to achieve high performance from our staff and leaders.  We want them to remain creative while sticking to “good behaviour” such as honesty and integrity.  There are plenty of examples in recent times where major corporates have collapsed.  We often hear about the extravagant amounts of money the executives were paid, the lavish lifestyles etc.  And while they all seem to have set out trying to achieve high performance, the latter part of this paragraph was forgotten.  

Unethical behaviour crept into their every-day work life and it was as if they were getting addicted to the rewards.  Their thinking became short term, ignoring any long term consequences.

Earlier in our course (and this blog) I/we discussed whether leaders were born or made, and I remember some interesting comments from many of the other students.  

It seems to be a fact that in the long term, intrinsically motivated people will often outperform extrinsically motivated people. While in the short term extrinsically motivated people can often delivery better results faster, the trouble seems to be that this approach is difficult to sustain, which leads to the addictive problems discussed earlier. 

If you remember my earlier post (http://leanimprovement.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/leadership-and-three-levels-of.html) which discussed EQ’s, CQ’s and SQ’s, I also mentioned that I felt it was important to include mind and body.  Intrinsically motivated people have been shown in many studies to generally lead healthier lifestyles, with greater physical and mental well-being.

In summary, every person is different, so is every workplace.  There will always be some people who are motivated in other ways than their co-workers.  A good leader needs to assess the situation and try and master the distribution of rewards based on the individuals.  Some of it will be by trial and error, but as long as the basics are adhered to with integrity (values, vision, mission), the outcome should be sustainable.

As for politics, whether we like it or not, they are part of every work place.  The aim is to minimise them and to lead with autonomy.  Warm and fuzzy does not work for me, it is as it is.  Although it may not always be appreciated, people know where they stand with me and hopefully respect the honesty.  Therefore I do agree with the statement by Prof. Lusk “No, there are a lot of places where no matter how hard you work, if you don’t play the politics, you lose! “, I am just glad that I work for a company where this is not the case, and in the end this is everyone’s choice to make!

Below are a couple more extracts from a presentation (Unit 1.1 - Motivation & Rewards, University of Cumbria & Robert Kennedy College, Prof. Lusk) which are interesting and fitting:

Defining Motivation

Motivation

The processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.

Key Elements

1.  Intensity: how hard a person tries

2.  Direction: toward beneficial goal

3.  Persistence: how long a person tries

 Why is motivation so important to Employers?

•  Between 50% of our employees are not motivated

•  Employers want to improve efficiency and increase productivity.

•  Benefits and Rewards packages need to be designed to be motivators

Comparison of Satisfiers and Dissatisfiers

Source: Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review. An exhibit from One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? by Frederick Herzberg, September–October 1987. Copyright © 1987 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College: All rights reserved.

7 Ways You are Hurting Your Daughter's Future

The following article is from Forbes On-line http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2012/06/28/7-ways-youre-hurting-your-daughters-future/ but in my view is spot on.  Certainly worth the read, although I'd like to argue that most of these points also apply to our sons in one way or another, in the end we help create the path they walk on.

This article also goes hand in hand with a current module in my MBA with Robert Kennedy College and the University of Cumbria in Leadership and Sustainability.  The module discusses prejudice in the workplace, and has forced some interesting discussions around this topic.  The bottom line is that prejudice is alive and well, but the focus on the paper was to find ways to try and eliminate it in our workplace and our lives.  If you are interested in more information on this topic, please let me know.

Here is the article by LearnVest, as published on forbes.com:

Someday you want your daughter, niece, goddaughter and best friend’s little girl to grow up and have the option of being a firewoman, a writer, an Olympic gold medalist in boxing, a sergeant, a celebrity chef, the president … or whatever else her little heart desires.

And you want her to get paid the exact same amount for the same work that her male colleagues do.

While equal pay has been in the news a lot lately, research hasn’t quite pinpointed why women don’t make as much as men in the workplace. Some say it’s because we don’t negotiate enough. Some say it’s because when we do negotiate, we get turned down or are deemed too aggressive. Others think it’s because we have a tendency to get saddled with all the family responsibilities. Maybe all of these are true.

But maybe, just maybe, it also has something to do with ideas that have been subtly ingrained in us since we were very young.

Proof That What Parents Say (and Do) Matters
In fact, a new study shows just how easy it is to persuade kids into believing they aren’t good at something. In a nutshell, the study sought to prove that kids easily adopt beliefs they hear about their gender, which in turn can affect their real-life performance. For example, telling a boy he’s bound to be good at math because he’s a boy could encourage him to give up trying, while telling a girl that girls aren’t good at math could actually make her believe that she is, in fact, bad at math, and cause her to be worse at math because of it.

As predicted, the two experiments in the study showed that the performance of 4- to 7-year-olds was impaired when they were told that another group (e.g., “boys are good at this game”) was successful at the same task.

When dealing with gender and what’s “right” and “wrong” when it comes to raising girls to their full potential, it seems there’s a lot to learn …

A Steep Learning Curve
Children start to understand gender roles starting at 30 months, and start developing social prejudices–including gender-based prejudices–starting in preschool. The us-versus-them mentality reaches its apex between 5 and 7 years of age before slowly waning.

As parents, we’ve never told our daughters that there are “girl-specific” jobs, or that the key to happiness and self-worth is marriage. (Of course, we can’t help the messages they might see when we’re not around.) But there are other ways in which our daughters, and the other little girls in our lives, could be learning life lessons from us that will lead them to shy away from “challenging” subjects like trigonometry and engineering, take the first low salary offered to them out of college or get burned out before age 30.

We asked Anea Bogue, M.A., an acclaimed self-esteem expert, educator, certified life coach and creator of REALgirl® empowerment workshops, to share some of the ways you might be holding your daughter back from her full potential without even knowing it.

1. You teach her to be polite and quiet.
There’s a fine line between being well-behaved and being a doormat, and it seems that all too often girls are pushed into territory bordering on the latter.

“The ‘girls are sugar and spice and everything nice’ adage that [society is] programmed with leads us to raise girls who are what I call ‘pleasers,’” says Bogue. “We teach our girls in a variety of ways that being nice, avoiding conflict, not upsetting others and not challenging the status quo are all part of being a likeable, desirable, successful girl–and one day woman.”

What this could mean for her future: It’s easy to see how this mindset could lead to the kind of behavior where women don’t negotiate for higher salaries, because they don’t want to offend a potential employer, or they don’t speak up in class, and eventually meetings, for risk of being seen as not nice.

How you can avoid this: While we all want well-behaved children, don’t forget to teach your daughter that it’s okay to debate, disagree and negotiate–respectfully, of course–and especially with her peers. Encourage her to speak up in class, from preschool to college, and state her opinion, and then be ready and willing to defend it.

2. You buy her gender-specific toys.
By only handing her pink playthings for the first three years of her life, your child may decide pink is her favorite color because “that’s what girls like.” In fact, researchers think that parents and other social factors lead children to prefer gender-specific toys, not innate genetic predispositions.

What this could mean for her future: This is important because a 2009 study found that 31% of “girl” toys are all about appearance, involving plastic makeup and dresses. Meanwhile, toys targeted to boys encourage invention, exploration, competition, mobility, problem solving–all skills associated with highly desirable employees and leaders.

How you can avoid this: Try to avoid walking exclusively down the Barbie and doll aisles at stores, and instead provide your child with games and toys that encourage scientific discovery, competition, exploration and problem solving. We like these picks.

3. You tell her she’s pretty … to the exclusion of everything else.
Yes, she’s an adorable pumpkin who looks so cute in curly pig tails that you want to squeal. But she’s also really good at writing poetry, is an architectural whiz at constructing complex pillow forts and loves singing along to The Beatles and strumming her air guitar.

What this could mean for her future: “We live in a very appearance-conscious society, and unless you can commit to completely cutting your daughter off of all forms of media and interactions at school, she is going to have a sense that her appearance counts,” says Bogue. “However, by making a concerted effort to reward, acknowledge and show a genuine appreciation for her non-appearance based achievements (academic, sport, musical, etc.), we will start to send clear messages that her value does not begin and end with the way she looks.”

How you can avoid this: Bogue advises you to “challenge yourself to match every compliment you give about your daughter’s appearance with at least two compliments about something non-appearance based.”

4. You indoctrinate her into the princess cult.
Most real-life princesses are actually quite accomplished. They can speak several languages, have excellent diplomacy skills and we know at least one who graduated from an esteemed British university. But your little girl doesn’t know that. All she knows is that the key to living happily ever after is being able to sing well enough to attract a prince to rescue her from her troubles.

What this could mean for her future: “Princess culture encourages girls to be damsels in distress whose role it is to look good and wait for a handsome prince to swoop in, ‘save her’ and bring value to her self and her path,” says Bogue. “Unless we are going to start encouraging ‘warrior princess’ mentalities and behaviors (active, heroic in her own right, in charge of her own destiny), we are going to keep our girls stuck with the feeling that they are not really relevant and valuable in and of themselves, but only in their attachment to men.”

How you can avoid this: It’s an almost impossible task to shield your daughter from princess culture altogether, and with the right messaging, there’s really no reason to. What you can do is redefine for her what a being a princess means. Take her to see “Brave” this summer, a movie about a princess who bucks expectations to save her kingdom herself–no man required. Or revisit “Tangled,” a story about a princess who doesn’t want or need the help of a prince, and couldn’t care less when her pretty blond hair gets cut off. If your daughter has already fallen in love with traditional princess stories, be sure to point out all the fabulous things the heroine is doing all on her own (Look how Belle loves reading. Ariel sure is a fabulous swimmer …)

If you’d like to have a little extra fun with the whole princess thing, take our quiz to find out which Disney Princess is your financial twin.

5. You give Dad all the physical tasks around the house.
It might be easier to let the man of the house open the pickle jar or fix the squeaky door, but we bet you could do these things too if you put your mind to it.

What this could mean for her future: “It’s important for parents to consciously challenge typical gender-specific tasks,” says Bogue. “Especially those that communicate that women are weaker than men, and that they are ‘caretakers’ rather than ‘doers,’ ‘fixers’ or ‘providers.’”

How you can avoid this: Demonstrate for your daughter that you handle important financial tasks–like these that every mom should do–and that you can cut the lawn and open pickle jars (run it under hot water and tap the lid on the counter–works every time). Also avoid handing out chores according to gender. Assign mowing the lawn and taking out the trash to your daughter, while asking your son or husband to do the dishes and vacuum the living room.

6. You only let her spend time with other girls.
While sending your daughter to an all-girls school isn’t the only place where this issue could play out, it’s still worth mentioning that there have been studies pointing both directions on whether single-sex schooling is actually more effective for girls. One study showed that graduates of single-sex schools had higher SAT scores and confidence, and better academic engagement. But another report published last fall upended the status quo, finding that all-girl schools not only don’t graduate more accomplished students, but that single-sex schools breed children more likely to believe in gender stereotypes.

What this could mean for her future: It’s not just about whether your daughter attends an all-girls school or not–the issue extends into her life outside of school as well. Studies actually show that not only do preschool-age children tend to self-segregate by sex, but that segregation leads to the development of different sets of social skills, styles, expectations and preferences–none of which will help her someday break into the board room.

How you can avoid this: If your daughter is surrounded by tons of girlfriends at school, with nary a boy in sight, try encouraging friendships with boys outside of school, with neighbors or kids of your own friends. For young children, especially, it’s important to arrange play dates with boys as well as girls, invite boys to your child’s birthday parties and other outings and unleash her on the neighborhood basketball court or a co-ed sports team. She’ll learn that she can do everything boys can do … and more.

7. You criticize your own body, and/or other women’s bodies.
Eating healthy is a must for every mom and her daughter (which is why we have healthy recipes for you!), but you don’t want to cross the line into body criticism.

What this could mean for her future: By talking in front of your daughter about your diet, how you need to lose a few pounds or criticizing other women’s clothing choices because of their body shape, you communicate that a woman’s body needs to look a certain way in order for her to be considered likable and successful.

How you can avoid this: “It is really critical that we embody the behaviors and attitudes about ourselves that we want our daughters to feel about themselves,” says Bogue. Demonstrate what healthy eating looks like: balanced meals chosen for their nutrition and energy needs. Avoid behaviors like buying low-fat, processed foods and skipping meals, which are unhealthy and ultimately unsuccessful ways to lose weight at the expense of your health.

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