“A
strong culture is characterized by the organizations basic values being intensely
held and widely shared” (Brown 2011). I read this statement from our text book
and I was immediately reminded of Stanley McChrystal’s TED talk and my time
which was spent in the military. I now knew why an organization such as the
U.S. Military had been around for so long and successful for so many
generations. From day one in the military you are sucked into the culture of
this organization which you have joined, you are not only employed by the U.S.
armed forces but you become one of them. A culture which is infused so deeply
into your values that you are able to use these values for the rest of your
life. Our text talks about how even organizations like these which have high
turnover rates amongst the young remain strong because “new members can be
strongly socialized into the organization” (Brown 2011).
The
type of leadership which Jim and Stanley are talking about in our weekly videos
is the type of leadership which changes who you are; it becomes your second
nature to go above and beyond to change the way you conduct yourself on a daily
basis. Rather it be by using incentives like money or having to do less
pushups, the want to succeed in these organizations runs very strong. Our text
also talks about how “the more members share the basic values and the greater commitment
to them, the stronger the culture” (Brown 2011). This is a very important
quality for any organization to have and the reason why the U.S. Military is
regarded as one of the most powerful organizations in the world; there are very
few organizations which can instill pride in its members’ the way the Military
does.
I think
that after Jim from Gallery Furniture read the book called “Influencer” he
witnessed the power of developing his business and instilling pride and
ownership in his employees. Jim cared about developing his employees and being
nicer to them and his customers, Gallery Furniture knew that they were in
trouble and they recognized the need for change. Jim read that there were six
sources to change behavior sales; the important changes that Jim made to his
organization created the culture which was needed for his furniture store to
succeed.
Jim improved sales prospecting, sales
training, the incentive pay system, post data, and also recognition. In his organization
Jim saw that they were losing customers, employees were not satisfied at work nor
did they feel appreciated. Many of those problems were corrected just by investing
time into the values of his employees, Jim made sure that his employees
followed up with customers so they do not lose sales and he also made sure that
when his employees did well they were recognized and rewarded for their hard
work. As seen in our text through the relative strengths of corporate culture
chart; an organization with strong member commitment to values and a high
number of members sharing values, this can create a strong culture.
The importance of culture and
values cannot be underestimated as we have studied organizations which have
collapsed when these key concepts are missing. This week in our weekly class
discussion we looked at “The Home Depot” and how their business was handled
when newcomer CEO Bob Nardelli took over the company. At first things seem to
go pretty well as he was cutting cost left and right and creating a larger flux
of money for THD to invest into their stores. All seemed well except for the
fact that Nardelli had cut cost by laying off some of his most experienced employees
and replaced them with much cheaper labor. Nardelli had gotten rid of the
backbone of his business; Nardelli had layed off those employees which were on
the front line of carrying out the values which home depot had infused into
their culture. After similar moves like these were made the culture of THD started
to sink quickly and along with that came their profits. The hate for THD became
so intense that a private contracting company created a website called “THDSUCKS”
so that customers and employees had a medium to vent through. On this website
customers can be seen saying things such as “"At-home installations".
Yeah, like I'm going let one of those bozos within 20 feet of my house”
(THDsucks.org). The
values of this organization were lost and it took a lot of hard work from the
next CEO who came along to put THD back on track and making profits again.
There is a lot of evidence which
points at the important of creating vales that are made to be strong within an organization.
We cannot underestimate the importance of creating a positive culture within
our organizations and showing our employees and customers that we do care about
them; I believe that this is the message which Jim and Stanley were trying to
convey. Jim and Stanley during their talks made it very clear that any
organization takes work to make them successful and having a great corporate
culture is the way to create a great foundation for your organization.
Reference:
Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to
organization development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
HomeDepotSucks.org (n.d.) Home Depot sucks [Blog
forum]. Retrieved from http://www.homedepotsucks.org/forum/
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