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This article excerpted with
permission. Ackerman,
L. (11/13/2002). Non-instructional interventions.
Message posted to Boise State University IPT560
course, Fall 2002.
Intervention of a Non-Instructional Type:
Corporate Culture
An organization’s culture may be best described as the way
things get done. In
some instances, things are just don’t get done or
are inefficient at best. Before beginning such an intervention, the task of analysis
is critical to identifying what is preventing the
efficiency of doing and if those practices clearly
serve the organization’s mission. This type of undertaking previously fell within the
purview of the OD types.
In some instances, existing cultural issues may stand in the
way of re-focused or re-aligned organizational goals and
hinder attempts at increased market share. In other scenarios, mergers and acquisitions may
bring together a variety of cultures that contributes to
inefficient processes and results in organizational
ineffectiveness. Poor morale borne out of frustration
could conceivably result from conflicting, out-of-synch or
dysfunctional cultures.
Lineberry and Carlton (1999) refer to Tosti and Jackson’s
Organizational Alignment model that serves as a
“diagnostic template for organizational analysis and a
framework for examining cultural behaviors, as well as the
factors that influence or are influenced by them.”
According to the model, an organization’s stated
mission and vision are accomplished through strategic
processes that include strategic goals, objectives and
tasks as well as the cultural process that encompasses
values, practices and behaviors. The strategic and cultural processes occur within the
established framework of an organization’s
infrastructure of systems, policies and processes with the
directional flow moving from the external environment and
mission/vision to results seen by stakeholders.
Case
Study #1
Post-apartheid era South Africa works towards management
development and the assimilation of previously
disenfranchised black majority into an “Africanized”
corporate mainstream.
Goal:
South Africa needs to improve it position within the
global economy by reducing unemployment and developing
leadership and training approaches reflective of African
values.
Current
Environment:
- 40%
percent unemployment of South African blacks with
240,000 blacks possessing college degrees compared to
the 1 million held by whites (who comprise only 10% of
population.)
- South
African corporations spend between .5 and 1.5% of
payroll on training compared to the 5% in US and
Europe and 8% in Japan (as cited in McFarlin, D.,
Coster E., & Mogale-Pretorius, C.,1999).
Obstacles:
In addition to inequities in educational
opportunities for blacks, white-owned businesses are
viewed as supporters of apartheid affecting credibility
and trustworthiness Harari
and Beaty (as cited in McFarlin, D., Coster, E., &
Mogale-Pretorius, C.,1999) go on to say that,
“Cultural and contextual
differences between groups contribute to large perception
gaps with respect to how employees should be led,
motivated, and developed. For example, white managers often fail to
understand how work and non-work spheres of life are
linked for black employees.”
White management development practices in South Africa
are dominated by rationalism, individualism and autocracy
compared to the co-operative and communal philosophies of
the native African black culture. First World management forced the Third World into
modernizing by implementing merit pay systems and formal
grievance procedures that have failed because they ignored
local cultural values.
Recommended
Cultural Intervention and Approaches:
Management must consult with all levels of
organization to design an educational process, offer rapid
black advancement, affirmative action targets and
implementation practices using a bottom up approach to
capitalize on the consensual approach to decision-making
favored by numerous African cultures.
Provide cultural diversity training for whites to
eliminate tokenism or the “kid glove treatment” of
blacks in an affirmative action environment, to increase
understanding and dispel apartheid era prejudices.
Offer empowerment to black employees through
participation in the decision-making processes.
Whites must set aside Eurocentric cultural values and
embrace African philosophies that emphasize consensual
decision-making, and group-based rewards.
Mbigi and Maree (as cited in McFarlin, D., Coster E.,
& Mogale-Pretorius, C.,1999) suggest that white
management must align with the ubuntu metaphor of
African culture that stresses survival through solidarity,
brotherly concern, cooperation and care (in contrast to
individualism, insensitive competitiveness and unilateral
decision-making).
Case
Study #2
Delta Airlines sought to reawaken the spirit of pulling
together during lean economic times that included stronger
sense of ownership and idea of how the decisions of
individuals affect the company.
During an economic downturn for the airlines in the
1980’s, Delta Air Lines, Inc. employees contributed $30
million to buy a new Boeing 767, the “Spirit of
Delta,” in appreciation for maintaining a positive work
environment amid hard times in the industry.
Current
environment and obstacles
Despite the dire post-9/11 economic environment, Delta
leaders like president and COO Frederick Reid, a proponent
of open-book management, saw the need to help employees
understand the current serious financial situation faced
by airline and the industry as a whole.
He committed $2 million dollars to the voluntary
“Business Literacy Initiative,” a voluntary employee
education program that included an award-winning
interactive board game (see below) and follow-up workshop,
an e-learning CD on basic financial concepts, and a
financial acumen workshop for directors and above.
Goal:
After identifying the employee’s shift away from the
strong culture of ownership as demonstrated 20 years ago,
management called in Aarthun Performance Group Ltd. of
Houston to create an intervention that would help
strengthen Delta employees sense of ownership and to
better understand how individual employee decisions affect
the company.
Deliverables: The interactive game
A seven-hour interactive board
game simulation that gives players an inside view of how
money flows through the organization and the various
factors that affect the financial position of the company.
Because the experience open to all employees, it
presents opportunities for baggage handlers to interact
with pilots and vice presidents with ticket agents. Players learn about others’ roles and how to work
better as a team. Simulation
activities encourage brainstorming and generate ideas to
implement at work.
Participants rated the experience
a 4.2 on a 5-point scale. The return on investment shows a more positive,
engaged workforce, who, according to Stouter (as cited in
Hall, 2002) “make decisions based on fact rather than
emotion and takes action to ensure the company’s
financial success”. Workers were frequently observed talking about the
company’s financial position and has resulted in an
increased trust between employees and their leaders.
Organizational
Design and the performance technologist.
According to Silber, (as cited in Stolovitch, Keeps,
and Rodrigue, 1999) human performance interventions that
addressed organizations at a cultural level are a recent
addition to the HPT practice, and were previously the
bailiwick of the OD types. And as recently as 1992, the date of the previous
edition of our text, corporate culture was not yet
determined to be a real thing. On the other hand, Edgar H. Schein, of MIT, was sure in 1967
when he delivered his paper “Organizational
Socialization and the Profession of Management.” Without using the term “corporate culture,”
Schein offers numerous examples of the inexorable link
between assimilation and success. Ironically, the ideal level of conformity according
to Schein (1968) lies somewhere between Type 1 which
represents total rebellion towards values and norms—in
this instance, the individual is booted from the
organization and Type 3: Total conformity. Type 2 is described as “Creative Individualism”
whereby an individual accepts only “pivotal values and
norms” rejecting all others. Apparently, the charged state of creative individualism
repels the sterile bureaucracy of conformity. Schein has published numerous writings on this
subject matter and is an oft-cited source on this subject.
In the two preceding case studies, performance was severely
hampered by the beliefs, misunderstandings, and
ignorance—in short, culture of the respective group
members. Any
consulting PT may want to look at the performance
improvement potential that may be uncovered in this
particular area. Performance
technologists now have a methodology to seek out and
identify cultural aspects that affect performance and
through interventions re-align them to support
organizational missions and visions.
References
Hall, L. (2002). Program
reawakens ‘Spirit of Delta in employees.
Atlanta Business Chronicle, 25(19) B7.
Lineberry, C., and Carleton, J., (1999) Analyzing corporate
culture. In H. Stolovitch, and E. Keeps (Eds.), Handbook
of human performance technology: A comprehensive guide for
analyzing and solving performance problems in
organizations. (pp.
335-350). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.
McFarlin, D. B., Coster, E. A., and Mogale-Pretorius, C.
(1999) South African management development in the
twenty-first century: Moving toward an Africanized model. The
Journal of Management Development 18(1), 63-78.
Schein, E. H., (1968) Organizational socialization and the
profession of management. Industrial Management Review
9 1-15
Stolovitch, H., Keeps, E. and Rodrigue, D. (1999) Skill sets,
characteristics and values for the human performance
technologist. In H. Stolovitch, and E. Keeps (Eds.), Handbook
of human performance technology: A comprehensive guide for
analyzing and solving performance problems in
organizations. (pp.
651-697). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.
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