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 

The Tribes We Lead

Change, how easy is it to create change? It is not very easy at all, it takes a lot of mental strength and conditioning. There are many times in life where people are faced with an opportunity to change but not many people would jump on board. Creating change takes a special person to be able to not fear the consequences, take a stand, and create change. At work I am surrounded by many people who do not spark a change they merely follow what the majority of the people are doing. It is easy to follow or to be a “sheep walker” as Seth Godin calls it, but as I stated earlier it takes a special person to break free of what the norms are.

At work I will hear my fellow co-workers say different things like “it is too hard to create change, it’s impossible, it will not work, there is too much change, and this is not our problem”.  These are the people that until they reflect on who they want to be will never be able to create a change which might better their life or the life of others. I do not find myself commenting much when people say things of this matter, I just simply understand that many people are content in life as long as their immediate needs are satisfied.

I on the other hand am not content with where my life is at yet, this notion seems to drive my wife crazy. She sees that I have completed my bachelor’s degree and I have a well-paying job so she does not see why I am not satisfied. She does not understand why I am working on my Graduate degree and committing myself to this type of sacrifice. At times I will myself tell myself the same excuses which I hear around me and for a second I will believe it. Sometimes I have to force myself to snap out of the want to just conform to my surroundings, I have to fight the urge to follow and remind myself of the vision which I have. Another way for me to overcome the thoughts of conforming is to think back to where I started in my life and know that I can never go back to that point. There is no way that I would ever want to take steps back in life and I would feel like I have let down my family if this was the case. Knowing that I have to continue to better myself every day is what keeps me going strong and pushes me to continue to change myself for the better.

I feel like I have been working on myself for quite some time, I know that I am almost at the point where I close another chapter of my life and take a leap of faith towards the next portion of my vision. I know that I have to take this leap soon but I have not known exactly how I will do it, Seth Godin’s TED’s talk has given me an idea. In his talk Seth discusses how change is driven by tribes, I think that he makes many valid points. A tribe will connect people and ideas, it is up to me to start my own tribe; I need to find like-minded individuals who are also ready to make a change in the world.

It is difficult to make a movement on my own but with strength in numbers many things can be accomplished. I might have many ideas but with a tribe we can find the one thing that matters the most to us and create a movement. Rather it be trying to find a way to make more money or to change an injustice in the world which we have an issue with; having a group of people that will back you up is essential.

 At the end of the TED’s talk Seth tells us how to create change, he said that we have to “challenge everything, change the culture, and then commit. Once I have completed school and I am ready for that next step, I will make sure that I distance myself from those who say change is impossible, force myself to chase my vision, and surround myself with a tribe that believes in me and our goals. These are definitely key ideas which I can take from this exercise to better myself and push myself to someone who I do not yet know or recognize yet.      

Reference:

Godin, Seth (TED). (2009, February) The Tribes we Lead [Ted Talks]

            Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead#t-797175 

NASA Cultural Changes

Recently NASA has gone through a very traumatic situation which it is hard for any agency to cope with, on February 1^st 2003 space shuttle Columbia and the seven crew members were lost. Before that happened NASA had almost a magical presence and its reputation was flawless. No one could have ever seen something like this happening, everything was running so smooth and then before anyone working for NASA knew what hit them this accident occurred. NASA jumped into action after a short grieving period, they began to assess how something like this could happen and what they could do to prevent this from ever happening again.

Sean O’Keefe the leader of NASA needed to address his employees at of all of the proposed changes which would eventually be implemented. A diagnosis of NASA was done and there was a very obvious need for a change in the way they did work and the way their leadership handled the issues at hand. After carefully studying many of the surveys which were conducted the leadership at NASA was able to recognize certain problems with the culture that had been at NASA for a long time.

The results were that this study made it obvious that the general consensus is that employees do not have enough professional respect for one another. This was one of the major problems at NASA, behavior like this can have huge implications on an organization like NASA. If employees do not have enough respect for each other and their professional opinions, it might be harder for someone to come forward with a safety issue in fear of getting disrespected or mocked. Among some other big issues is that there is very little upward communication and perceived organization support, these issues also go along with my theory of employees being scared to speak their minds. I think that Mr. O’Keefe recognizes that this is an important issue and this is why he choose to speak publicly about it rather than just pass the new agenda on to his leadership.

I think Mr. O’Keefe was very believable in his address to the employees of NASA, he was very sincere about wanting to bring a change to the culture of NASA and recognized that in part this incident was also his fault. They always say that the first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem, in this video Sean O’Keefe does just that. He tells the world that the leadership at NASA including himself had failed, he talked about an email which he received that day and said that it was suggested to him for leadership to just get out of their office and go interact with all of the employees. I think that since Mr. O’Keefe reflects on himself and his leadership at NASA so that they can improve; these statements make him sound very believable. He recognizes that no one is perfect including himself, this brings out a very human characteristic in him and it shows that he does want to change NASA’s culture for the better.

Mr. O’Keefe talks about NASA’s values because an organizations looking to improve needs to take into consideration their ethical, value, and goal considerations if they are to improve. By taking this into consideration Mr. O’Keefe can “understand the old culture, encourage change in employees, involve employees, and lead with a vision” (OD, pg. 70). Sean O’ Keefe recognizes that large-scale change takes time and this why I do feel that they are on the correct path.

There are many lessons to be learned from this whole ordeal, I know that I will definitely take a page out of Mr. O’Keefe’s book when I look to becoming a better leader. I see that it is imperative to not make anyone feel as though their opinion does not matter for this person could save a tragedy from happening. If we do not let our employees be free and respect each other’s professional opinions a lot of important information can be lost. It is important that every voice in an organization be heard and that every voice have a channel for them to be heard. I think that this incident at NASA could have been avoided had the culture been different. I will remember this exercise and use it to propel myself to ensure that my work place culture has a much more open atmosphere; I will also make it a point to “live in the new culture”(OD, pg. 70) and not regress back to the old way of doing things.     

Reference:

Brown, D. R. (2011). An Experiential Approach to Organization Development (Eighth ed.). Prentice Hall.

C-SPAN (NASA). (2004). NASA Cultural Changes [Video]. Available from http://www.c-span.org/video/?181348-1/nasa-cultural-changes

Decide and Deliver

• Marcia Blenko argues that decision effectiveness correlates positively with employee engagement and organizational performance. How do you think that employee engagement relates to decision effectiveness?

This is an interesting concept and I think that I completely agree, I feel that this is why it is so important to focus on the employer to employee relationship. Employee engagement is what can make or break a company, I think we have to realize that an employee is a direct representation of management and the company itself. If the employee is not engaged in the well-being and growth of an organization it will show in the organizational performance; a company’s employees are on the front line and generally the first point of contact between a customer and an organization. If the employee is fully engaged and enthusiastic about the decisions being made for change in a company then the quality of their devotion will show in how effective a company’s progress is.

• What are some impediments to good decision making?

Some of the impediments which were mentioned by Marcia Blenko from Bain and Company were not having the right information, leadership behavior, and perhaps not having the right talent. Leadership behavior is essential when it comes to making all of the right decisions, without a strong and confident leader that makes good decisions it is hard for a company to excel. Certain leaders just might not have the right experience or open minded enough to take an organization to the next level; this is where not having the right talent can come into factor. A mixture of these impediments to good decision making can have a negative effect on an organization and it is up to management to seek the right people for the job.  

• Blenko suggests that there are four elements of good decisions: quality, speed, yield, and effort. In your opinion, is there anything missing from this list?

Experience, I think that having someone with a background that is filled with experience is essential when we think about what are key elements to good decision making. At the age of thirty I know that I am no longer the same person that I was a decade ago, I have learned so much and gained so much leadership experience. Without this experience I do not think that I can make the same decisions that I am able to make today, with age and different challenges I feel that so much has changed. I think that if a company is serious about good decision making they need to find someone that has been through a good amount of difficult situations, rather they have succeeded or failed I think that all experiences can be good.

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

I can take away a better understanding of what goes into good decision making and what an organization might be looking for in a leader. I think that this exercise offers a good insight into what companies are looking for when they hire a leader. I also think that this exercise has helped me think about what does make a good leader and good decision making. Among those elements I do believe that quality and effort have to be at the top of that list. I have always been a firm believer that hard work and dedication can transform an organization or a person and help them reach the next level of success.  

Questions:

How can you measure how many good decisions an organization has made over the course of a year?

Is there a way to test someone’s leadership skills prior to hiring them?

If you were to bring in an organization to help you make better decisions how quickly would those results show? Is it worth the investment?

Culture Commitee

• Is the Culture Committee at Southwest effective in establishing cultural norms?

 Cultural norms, these are behaviors that are carried out by employees on a daily basis because they are used to doing things a certain way and this is what is acceptable. To establish cultural norms we first have to “understand corporate culture; corporate culture is a system of shared values and beliefs that interact with an organization’s people, structure, and systems to produce behavioral norms (OD pg.64)”. I think that the culture committee for southwest airlines understands the culture of a flight attendant and they understand how hard it can sometimes be to finish a long flight and then have to clean the airplane with perhaps an empty stomach. The life a flight attendant can be a thankless job, I think that the culture committee understands that and makes it a point to change the culture from being an underappreciated employee to someone that feels valued.

In many organizations there are a lot of employees that feel like they are just another number, when people from management show them that they are also important, that gesture can go a long way. Employee’s that feel appreciated in an organizations culture can prove to be an important step in creating a better company environment.

• From what you can tell, what is the purpose of the culture committee at Southwest?

The purpose of the culture committee is to improve employee morale, having strong and positive moral at work can have a lasting effect on any business. In my studies of business I have always been made aware of the fact that it is your employees which have the most contact with your customers. If your employees hate their jobs and are very negative at work than this will have a direct effect on a company’s revenue. If you have happy employees which enjoy their jobs than I believe that you will see sales improve as that positive attitude will be transferred through the employee to the customer.

• What would you see as a viable mission for a culture committee in your place of work (or your last place of work if you are not currently working)?

My job at the railroad as management causes me to have a nice and comfortable atmosphere where we occasionally get fed lunch on the companies dime, I have a heated or air-conditioned office, and I have a break room where I can access all different sorts of food and complimentary coffee. My biggest concern are the people who are out there in the field moving our trains in -30 degree temperatures, they work in the heat, rain, sleet or snow. These people are the employees which I could see needing a visit from some sort of culture committee. The culture amongst these employees is very negative and they always feel as if the company is doing them wrong. I believe that there should be a mission to reach out to our field employees much more often.

I think that it would be nice to create a more positive environment amongst field workers and change that corporate culture. The company needs to show that they care about their most valuable employees which are doing the grunt work. It might be as simple as a fresh box of donuts and coffee at the terminal, or perhaps a bigger bonus at the end of the year. I do believe that there is a lot that can be done to improve our company culture on the railroad.

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

From this exercise I will take with me the compassion which is put on display by southwest airlines. In this video they are letting the employees kick their feet up and relax for just a second while on the job, this is an important message which is being put on display. As managers we do not want to have an impression or a corporate culture of being known as slave drivers or ruling the company with an iron fist. It is important that we show compassion for those which are below us and understand that we were once in their shoes also. Most people which are at the top of an establishment for the most part must remember what it was like to be the person that is working out in the cold or extreme heat. We cannot forget our humble beginnings and the hard work that was put in to climb the ladder of success.

I will try to be as understanding as possible with my crews which are out on the field working their hardest to make my organization the best. When I do climb higher in management I will make it a point to show my employees that I have been in their shoes and I know how they feel. This will be an outlook which I will try my hardest to stay true to as I climb to higher positions in my company.  

Question:

Why would a manager not try to bring company morale to a higher level?

Reference

·         Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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21st Century Enlightenment

• Why do you think the talk is titled 21st Century Enlightenment?

This was an extremely detailed video with so many thoughts that I would have to watch it about ten more times to truly understand everything that was said. This was also an amazingly talented person which created this video and all of the art work that went along with this production. With that being said I feel that the producer of this video is trying to bring truth to the 21^st century in a world where the truth is often ignored.

To many times I notice in life that people are living in their own worlds unaware of their surroundings. Many people live in a tiny bubble and are satisfied with their bubble as long as they have their comforts, technology and money. The creator of this video was looking for a way to enlighten his public by talking about what is wrong with the world, teach us about our history and talk about his opinion on how we can fix this world. The creator gives us a proposal of what he thinks the world should be like without directly pointing fingers at everyone around him. The creator of this video recognizes that we are in a whole new world in the 21^st century and he feels that maybe he can enlighten us to our own behaviors.

• What does Matthew Taylor mean when he says "to live differently, you have to think differently"?

“Seeing the world in ourselves as a new entity (Matthew Taylor)”, this is what is required of us so that we can live differently. Thinking differently than anyone has ever thought in the past requires us to see that we are living in a new world, we cannot refer to the way things were done in the past too often. Although we must always learn from history we have to understand that in today’s world science has altered many beliefs which our ancestors believed was the truth.

When I think about living differently I know that I have to reflect on myself and correct some of my behaviors which are imbedded into my conscious. I can see myself doing this many times with my children, many times before I council my children I will stop myself and think “Am I being too old fashioned”? This is something which we all must do as adults in the 21^st century if we are to rise to a new sense of enlightenment. This new way of thinking is what will propel us as a human race to reach a new way of living and I think that this is what Matthew Taylor had in mind as he created this production.

• At one point in the video (4:10), Taylor argues that we need "to resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange". What is he talking about? Can you think of an example within your company or your life that supports this point?

This is a very similar example to what I stated in my last answer, resisting the temptation to conform to what is imbedded into our brains as children and carry them out as adults only because they feel right. Something that is strange is not always wrong and it is important to stop and analyze what is new to progress in life.

I will revert to my family again for this question because I feel that I can make a big difference with them if I can break my habits of conforming to what I think is right “just because”. Many times I am guilty of scolding my children on things which I think are not right without reasoning. I do it just because I was taught as a child on how certain situations are to be handled by a father. This video has caused me to reflect on who I am as a person and why I do the things that I do on an everyday basis, reflecting on ourselves is what Matthew Taylor was talking about.

• Taylor argues that our society should eschew elements of pop culture that degrade people and that we should spend more time looking into what develops empathetic citizens. Would this be possible?

When I think about this question I believe that a large portion of pop culture in today’s society is developing empathetic citizens. Sometimes I feel that we are becoming a society which is too empathetic causing us to foster an entitlement based society which is far too dependent upon others and government to get them through life. I do feel that even though we are becoming much more enlightened in the 21^st century we are also losing our basic instincts like survival because of a much more empathetic society. Our instincts of survival do not always depend on rather or not we can hunt for game but rather a human can survive in a modern world. I feel that the will to strive and be the best is lost when you have others who will always be there to catch you when you fall. Sometimes not having a safety net can bring out a humans raw instincts and force them to become someone amazing.

To answer the question I do believe that we are currently creating a society which is full of empathetic citizens. It is not wrong but I do believe that there needs to be a balance and there should be a way in which every citizen which wants to participate in our society must hold their own one day and contribute to society.

   

• At the end of the video, Taylor talks about atomizing people from collaborative environments and the destructive effect on their growth. What is the implication of these comments for organizational change efforts?

In organizational development change is a key factor and if we are to stump change within an organization than we are stumping the growth of an organization. Change is key to the success of any organization and those which cannot allow themselves to change might very well be left in the past.

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

This exercise has enlightened me in a way that I never thought a way of thinking could be altered in a matter of ten minutes. The challenge now will be to fight my instincts and put down my pride so that I can continue to grow as a person. If I get stuck to think that life must only follow one course and everything must be done a certain way that it will be hard for me to keep up in the 21^st century. I will take this thought with me to work today and see what I can open my eyes to, as a manager I must especially keep my mind open to many different ideas. I do feel that this could be a life changing moment, my only obstacle will be myself.

Questions-

Does empathy towards mankind always make us better?

Are we living life the right way?

Will we as humans reach a new form of being eventually?

Reference:

21st century Enlightenment [Motion picture]. (2015). You tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7ANGMy0yo&feature=youtu.be

    

Looking Beyond

            Vision and power, two powerful words which have guided me through life. Without vision are we just wondering aimlessly through life? It might feel that way if we are content in staying where we are and remaining the same person because it is easier. Power is what will give you the strength to follow that vision and push through any obstacle which you may encounter. When you put power and vision together you will develop a following which will only add to your strength.

            These are some of the beliefs which I live by and I appreciate the way that it is presented in the video called “Vision and Power” by Sally Kohn. Pessimist and pragmatists will only slow down the process of success, not only will people like this slow down progress of a company but the progress of mankind.

            I have been lucky enough to work for a company which has been in this country for well over a century. The company which I work for is called BNSF railroad, this is a company which is the product of many mergers but the base from which it all started is still present. I am proud to be a part of an organization like this because I know that my railroad is a product of vision and power. Something which is done on such a large scale can only be accomplished by people who had a vision and did whatever it took to reach their goals.

            I see how this video can relate to my organization in many ways because recently BNSF has gone above and beyond by investing billions of dollars into infrastructure, development and employee growth. It is easy for a company like this to just sit back and continue to make profit, what is impressive is that we are not content with just sitting back and letting change come on its own. BNSF has invested in America’s latest oil boom in the Bakken Shale and is now enjoying the fruits of their labor. BNSF continues to face challenges head on and has not let minor obstacles stop them from their vision of being able to transport the majority of oil from this location.

            Vision and power are two of the most important keys to mankind which have transformed us from the people of the Stone Age to the advanced civilizations which we are a part of today. Without having a vision and believing in it I nor my organization nor the world would be who and what we are. Pioneers have paved the way all throughout history and I feel that these traits are imbedded in all humans who can look past a challenge. Being able to look past these minor challenges are what create great leaders and further organizational development.

 

Reference

Kohn, S. (2007, November 7). Vision and Power. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZVIWZGheXY