The Eco Seagate Experiance

1. Do you see value in the Eco Seagate team development process?

Let me start by asking the questions, Can I work for Seagate technology! This is an amazing teamwork experience which is provided by the Seagate Company, not only is it a great tool to help employees but it is also a great recruiting tool. This experience has so many benefits I do not even know where to start.

When I think about all of the things that matter to a company and teamwork I think about subjects like accountability, conflict, trust, respect, and commitment. All of these different subjects truly matter when we talk about work being done by colleagues, it is essential to the success of any team yet we so often see it missing. What most impressed me about this EcoSegate experience which is done annually by this company is also the results which you see throughout this video. There is proof of positive results in every portion of this program, I saw people putting their heads together and coming up with solutions, employees helping each other out in a powerful river, and a bunch of middle aged men and women half naked chanting because of the pride which they felt for their team and newly established relationships.

There is so much value which people have to see in this whole experience, I find it hard to believe that shareholders would even critique the importance of an experience like this. It seems that the Company had a very rough start and eventually people were calling the Seagate Company “Slavegate”. For a company to have this type of nickname it is obvious to see that some major changes needed to be made. I believe that these employees which attend Eco Seagate will come back to the office as strong leaders with a lot more guts and tenacity to tackle any situation which they might be faced with. I believe that pushing employees and their leadership skills to the next level can have major benefits for any company which wants to improve productivity and profits.

2. Why would something like this be necessary in a high-performing organization?

When I think about high-performance organizations I think about high performance systems. High performance systems consist of forces in the environment, goals and values, technology and structure, culture, and the outputs produced (OD 2011, pg.41). An experience such as the ones which are produced at Eco Seagate will bring out the quality which we are looking for from our teams which go through this experience. Employees will learn to conquer forces which they might encounter in a business situations, create business strategies by achieving goals and having a whole new outlook on culture. These are important elements which need to be in place in an organization which will be considered a high-performance organization. These types of organizations are looking for the max effort from these employees and I think that an experience such as Eco Seagate can unlock that potential.

  

3. Could your organization benefit from a similar activity?

I think that my organization would not only benefit from an experience such as Eco Seagate but they would thrive on so many different levels. We all know how important teamwork is in most organization but for my organization nothing can be done without team work. I work for the railroad, this type of organization is dependent on so many different departments which have to work as one. We have operations, mechanical, maintenance, marketing, and many more departments; one cannot operate with the other. In my organization many of the things which can be improved at an event like Eco Seagate can lift my organization to the next level.

If we could improve things like accountability, know how to deal with conflict amongst each other, build trust and respect I feel that we would be a force to be reckoned with. My railroad is efficient but they are still working on improving themselves, activities such as this one are important so that our future leaders can learn how to deal with all of these different subjects. I think that many organizations need to take a look at what makes their employees tick and what goes on within each department, I think that they would definitely find room for improvement. I think that two million dollars is a small price to pay for a multi-billion dollar company if they would like to take their biggest assets which is their employees to the next level.

References:

Brown, Donald R. (2011). An Experiential Approach to Organization Development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.   

Hiring and Rcruiting

• Does Schmidt's description of the Google Culture make sense to you?

In a way the Google culture is one of the best business culture atmosphere’s that I have heard of to this day. If you want to have a business which thrives on creativity than these are the types of norms which a business manager needs to put into place. I have noticed that there are many articles that talk about how America’s educational system is not as strong compared to many other countries, apparently our math and science scores are not where they need to be.

 Although this might be true I believe that there is something different which makes American Businesses so special; this quality which I speak of is the ability to spark creativity and promote it at the workplace. At Google they hire people that are able to work on their own and they give them that freedom which they need to exercise this creativity. The more we treat humans like robots and micro manage them the less creativity we will see among employees.

• Is this a reasonable way to view the work that most people are doing in your workplace?

I believe that at my job this behavior is encouraged to a certain degree, my line of work is a bit different because it is heavily regulated by rules and regulations to assure the safety of others. Although my work does follow strict guidelines I am also given the freedom to bend those rules as much as possible in a legal way to be creative and come up with the greatest solution. I believe that as Americans this is a trait which we are taught from a young age. Bending the rules and flirting right on the edge of our regulations is what makes American companies so creative and profitable.

• As a leader, does it take courage to have and to implement this point of view?

Hovering just outside of the norm does take a lot of courage, as a leader we are supposed to set the example for our subordinates. Sometimes being different does not go too well with your typical business model, leaders are judged on the way that culture at their business is carried out. Many times we have to go against the grain if we are to come up with something that is truly special. Items which people consider special are usually items which no one has ever thought of before, items which make life easier by introducing new ideas.  

• Could this approach backfire?

Allowing this much freedom requires a lot of responsibility and special employees to be able to wield this type of freedom and use it for the better. Many times employees will use this new found freedom and use it to be unproductive, as Eric Schmidt said “they look for employees which can work productively on their own”. This is an important trait because Google can only allow this type of freedom to their employees to be creative if they are responsible enough to handle it. If it becomes a situation where minimal productivity is found in the work area then this type of approach to business will definitely back fire.

• What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

I think that I will take away the value of giving subordinates the freedom and space they need to create something amazing. This is something which is contrary to a prior leadership style which I experienced in the military that consisted of micromanaging and keeping a “tight leash” on those below your rank. I would definitely like to have a culture at my work place which lets people feel relaxed and ready to be a part of the company. For this to exist I need to hire the right people that want to create an amazing work culture with me, like minded individuals who believe in the fact that creativity is important for every organization to succeed.

Reference:

Schmidt, E. (2011). Eric Schmidt on Business Culture, Technology, and Social Issues.

            [Review of the online video, produced by McKinley and Company].

Build a Tower, Build a Team

I recently came across a TED video for my class this week, it was an interesting educational talk which pointed out how different target groups work when tasked to complete a challenge in a short amount of time. The task was called the “marshmallow challenge”, this is a challenge which made like-minded groups of people come up with a structure that can support a marshmallow in a matter of eighteen minutes. Tom Wujec, the creator of the challenge used this exercise to see how these different groups of people worked and why certain groups had the outcome that they did.  Tom makes a comparison to the way that kindergartners and MBA students work and to my surprise the kindergartners out-performed the MBA students: I would almost say that the kindergartners made fools of the MBA students.

 Tom makes an analysis of the situation and explains why the young kids did so much better. The result was that the kids got straight to work and had a trial and error type of strategy, this proved to be a good strategy for the kids. The MBA students had a completely different approach they almost tried “too” hard, they would first jockey for power, try to take charge and then come up with the perfect plan. This strategy seemed to fail for many reasons but the most obvious being the fact that making the perfect plan just takes too long. Tom makes a good point which I can agree with when it comes to this challenge, sometimes the perfect plan is not needed for every job in life. It is sometimes beneficial to just get the task done and try to have the group work as one, a leader is not always necessary.

                I think that another reason why the kids worked so much better is for the simple fact that they are not afraid to fail, this I can observe in my four year old son’s behavior. As adults and especially as professional’s we tend to have a fear of failing in front of others, this can cause people to over think projects. Kids just want to have fun, be creative, and are not too concerned with pride; there is definitely a lesson for adults to learn from this example.  

                There was another group of people which did well at this marshmallow project and that was the CEO’s with an executive assistant in the group. I believe that this is the case because CEO’s are good at giving direction and assistants are good at taking directions, there is no pride involved in this group. With this combination no one is jockeying for power because they already know what the roles of each person are, this creates more time to actually work at the task at hand. The lesson that I can take from this group of individuals is the fact that sometimes having an established leader or set of roles can have a huge impact on how quickly a group can accomplish the work which they are doing.  

The results of all of these different groups were very interesting and I think that any of us can take away a lot from these experiments. I think that if I were to facilitate my own process intervention workshop I know that I would have to focus on a project which can highlight the skills which are required in process intervention.  I would try to show the importance of a group which has a strong influence on task functions and also maintenance functions. In other words I would make sure that my groups know that even though it is important to work and complete the task, it is also important to make sure that we have people in the group that are carrying out maintenance functions like harmonizing to keep the group on track. This video has shown that we need a good balance in a group and also the fact that a group with too many “Chiefs” will not be successful in the long run. This is a lesson which I will carry through my career and one that I have lived by for quite some time now; balance of power in groups is essential to the success of a group.

Reference:

Wujac, T. (TEDS). (2010, FEBRUARY 10) Build a Tower, Build a Team [Online Video]

                Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower#t-1820

Mastering the Art of Corporate Reinvention

• Michael Bonsignore, CEO of Honeywell, states that Honeywell will not be an extension of the old Honeywell or Allied Signal. He is creating a new culture that blends the best of the merged companies of Honeywell and Allied Signal. He says that Honeywell will compensate and reward people that look for best practices from both companies in creating a new corporate culture and punish those who do not. Do you predict Honeywell will be successful?

I do believe that Honey well will be successful, I say that because it is interesting to see where this CEO’s roots lie. I think that since Michael Bonsignore comes from a background of understanding the company and how it works through over twenty years of experience, this will be the difference maker.  Mike did not just walk into the CEO position because he knows someone or is the son of a former CEO, I feel that Mike earned his position. With that being said, it is my understanding that Mike has gone through a merger before and understands what it takes to continue to change and improve an organization. With this statement he is solidifying the fact that he believes in this merger, he understands that the best of both worlds needs to be brought into the current merger. 

It seems like merging two companies is never easy, you have to bring in people who are extremely comfortable where they are at and have them understand that the business will change. Along with the business changing the culture will be drastically affected by the new merger. Mike stands behind the importance of adapting and changing the culture and feel that anyone that is not willing to adapt will be punished. Those which adapt well will be compensated, compensating strong work from good employees is essential. We can see the importance of having a strong base of employees to change the culture of a company through the example which Gordon Bethune’s Continental Airlines has provided for us. Gordon Bethune showed us that by creating an amazing new culture for his employees has helped the company go from one of the worst airliners to one of the mist successful ones in the United States.  

• What barriers do you see based on what you observed in the video?

One of the essential barriers which I see in this video is the fact that many companies like the Honeywell Company will have a hard time keeping up with modern times. It seems to me that in this video the U.S is about to go through a technological boom which will cause many companies to continue to advance and modernize their corporate culture. I believe that at this point in time companies which cannot continue to adapt everyday will begin to fall very quickly. I am not exactly sure of the year this video took place but it seems like it was shoot over a decade ago. I believe that at that time period is when business took a big change and newer technology turned the business world upside down.  

• What critical success factors should Honeywell consider as it crafts its organizational strategies around a new culture?

I feel that Honeywell should consider the fact that the business world is a rapid changing place in which companies that get complacent can be left behind. A business that does not continually change can fail no matter how big the business is, just because Honeywell is considered a colossus does not mean that they are immune to failure. I believe that Mike realizes that times are changing at a very quick rate, he mentions in the video how no CEO should be in place for more than ten years. I do feel that Mike was being honest when he said that he feels like his time as a CEO is starting to become short. He knows that he will be the first person to recognize when his time is over, it is hard to keep up with modern times and keeping a modern culture is essential to the success of any business.   

• What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

As a leader I always thought that when I get along with my employees or subordinates it creates a great atmosphere, as Gordon said in the video “it is easier to motivate people when they like you”. I never believed in ruling with an iron fist, I actually think that it causes much more tension and rebellious behavior will not be too far away. The culture that Gordon created at continental is the type of organization which I would like to create and emulate, I hope that as a future manager I will be able to create a happy culture. My ideal organization or department would consist of happy employees who feel like they are part of the business, I want people to feel like they gain something when the company does well. I understand that there will be obstacles when creating this type of culture but as we can see with the example set by Gordon that it is definitely possible.  

Reference:

Films for the Humanities and Sciences (FFHS). (2012). Mastering the Art of Corporate   Reinvention. Available from 

http://digital.films.com/play/GWEU7L