| |
| |
|
Ethics Information |
|
|
|
LifeHealthInsurance.ca Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Shifting Culture and Climate in Todays Corporate World
This articles relates to the AlphaMeasure core competency Culture and Climate. AlphaMeasure defines climate as the effect an organization has on the employees, while culture refers more to the acceptable behaviors, attitudes, and habits of the organization as a whole. Knowing and understanding workplace culture and climate leads to a better understanding of what factors are influencing employees. In relation, the level of service your customers receive is almost always influenced by the culture and climate of your organization. This competency can be especially insightful if your organization is experiencing customer service related issues or problems working together internally. A Tale from the Corporate Frontlines: An Employee's Perpective on Culture and Climate. This short story is part of AlphaMeasure's Tales from the Corporate Frontlines. When large, multinational corporations acquire medium-sized, locally-oriented businesses, huge shifts in the culture and climate of the workplace can occur. I experienced such a shift while working for a prosperous company with a rich local history and plenty of prestige in the community. When I started there, years ago, the culture was very friendly and laid back. This may have been due to the fact that although an eastern company, it was owned and directed by a larger west coast entity. The culture and climate was relaxed and friendly. Occupants of executive row could be seen mingling with "regular employees" at company functions, which were many- the bill nearly always footed by the company. They recognized employees and their families by name, and were regularly spotted in offices, hallways, and the cafeteria, catching up with fellow workers, and enjoying themselves. Morale was high, along with productivity and profitability. It reminded me of working for a family business, even though 500+ people worked in the building. Then came the sale. At the first of many employee meetings, the details of the huge corporate transaction, of the kind so common these days, were outlined. This new parent company turned out to have a climate and culture exactly the opposite from what we were used to for years. Change didn't occur overnight, but gradually the shift began. Then it washed over our little company like a tidal wave. Executive row was walled in like a fortress, and its occupants stayed inside. We were barraged by memos, new rules, more rules, dress codes, building regs, vacation regs, holiday changes, work process changes, changes for the sake of making changes (or so it seemed to the employees), layoffs, restructurings- the climate became tense and chaotic. Morale suffered, as well as productivity. Eventually, things worked out. Communication between various levels of management improved, understandings were reached, and the company survived and thrived again. But I always wondered---couldn't someone have done something to make the shift easier and smoother? With sales, mergers, and acquisitions so common these days, there has got to be a better way. It seemed to me that if a little consideration had been given to the radical climate and culture changes involved, the company could have handled the transition more smoothly, to the benefit of everyone involved. This article may be reprinted provided it is published in its entirety, includes the author bio information, and all links remain active. 2004 - AlphaMeasure, Inc. - All Rights Reserved Josh Greenberg is President of AlphaMeasure, Inc. located in Boulder, Colorado. AlphaMeasure provides organizations of all sizes a powerful web based method for measuring employee satisfaction, determining employee engagement, and increasing employee retention. The AlphaMeasure Employee Survey System is fully-customizable and allows you to target the organizational topics and challenges facing your staff today. Designed by HR professionals from the ground up, the AlphaMeasure Employee Satisfaction Survey System provides an affordable, feature rich solution for deploying fully-customized employee satisfaction or employee engagement surveys. For additional employee surveying resources go to AlphaMeasure Employee Survey System.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Mind Your Own Damn Business Sexcess You have certainly heard the expression "mind your own damn business" used in a multitude of contexts. The most typical being the don't kiss and tell type statements, often uttered by responsibly private individuals about their love life. Are You Selling Out Your Integrity? Integrity in business is a quality that is highly under-rated by executives these days. Many executives are so "pushed and pulled" by a not so hidden force called the "profit motive" that they often find themselves compromising something that without which they could lose all credibility and trust from those they are trying to retain business from. Ethics In The Workplace Workplace Ethics is a subject that we have all heard of. In fact, the subject of Ethics in general is something that most people are familiar with. Vice of Buggery at FTC At the Federal Trade Commission we have seen attorneys who suffer from the vice of buggery get promoted to higher and more important international divisions. Now then, are these attorneys who have personal sexual problems and are breaking the laws of sodomy not wanted in the main group of Federal Trade Commission Employees? Is the FTC worried about sexual harassment laws? Are they worried about on-the-clock Men's Restroom "Quickies" and the possibility of the need for an unflattering in-house employee investigation becoming public? Is the Federal Trade Commission afraid to fire these buggerists, for some employee unlawful termination suit? Is buggery so pervasive that the FTC has to invent new titles for these guys so they can be moved up in rank to other divisions? If so why doesn't the FTC adopt a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy" to prevent special treatment of those who suffer from buggery? Can't the FTC get psychological help for these men who thrust their penis up another man's rectum? Obviously these human organs were not set up to do that. Business Ethics: An Oxymoron An oxymoron: the juxtaposition of contradictory words or concepts. That is what we have with the term "Business Ethics". Conflict: Not Necessarily a Bad Thing I got yelled at tonight. Not the type of yelling that someone does when you've done something to tick someone off, but the kind of yelling that was a swift kick in the pants about something that I'm NOT doing. Business Ethics: Functional Choices Years of experience have taught me there is no such thing as "Business Ethics". If a person isn't ethical in the rest of their lives, their business ethics aren't worth the shoe leather they've worn out either. The Everyday Business Ethics Crisis Or Im Mad as Hell and Not Going to Take it Anymore Breaking news may feature the Enron debacle, WorldCom activities, or accounting problems but we live our everyday business life making ethical choices that affect our employment and businesses. Consider the ethical choices made in these situations:-A restaurateur hired a firm, used the firm's ideas, benefited from them and refused to pay for the services rendered. Communicable Corporate Diseases Hurting Business Sexcess! Enron Executive goes to prison for 10 years, Martha Stewart is under house arrest, and Bill Clinton averages $150,000 per speaking engagement.It all comes down to decisions on the fly, no pun intended. The Armaments Industry and Holy (?) Roman Emperors "The time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest and ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. Laws and Ethics?. Who's Kidding Who? Years ago I read an article by a renowned psychologist wherein he wrote his studies found one percent of all human beings would never lie, cheat or steal. One percent would always lie, cheat or steal and given the right set of circumstances, the rest of us would likely lie, cheat and/or steal. Minding Your Global Manners To say that today's business environment is becoming increasingly more global is to state the obvious. Meetings, phone calls and conferences are held all over the world and attendees can come from any point on the globe. Business Ethics: An Oxymoron? Why do I believe good PR and business ethics are inextricably linked? It comes down to definitions. Ethics is learning what is right and what is wrong and then doing the "right thing. Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Shifting Culture and Climate in Todays Corporate World This articles relates to the AlphaMeasure core competency Culture and Climate. AlphaMeasure defines climate as the effect an organization has on the employees, while culture refers more to the acceptable behaviors, attitudes, and habits of the organization as a whole. Business Ethics: How The Sales Function Can Transmit Company Values I recently got a "thank-you" call from a man who read my new e-book Buying Facilitation."Boy," he said, "this method sure helps me close more deals and make more money. Is Good Neighborliness Good Business? [Note: This story is not a criticism of Buddhism. It is a story of neighborly love. The Only Thing You Get for Free in Life is Hungry! My grandfather was a very wise man. Simple but wise. Better Business Boundaries To get a new client, we might be inclined to make concessions no matter what the cost: offer a second or extra long sample session; reduce fees; set session times we don't want to work. We might leap at any opportunity before looking at the possible return on investment of time. Is Your Management Style Lead By Intimidation? So many women make the mistake of thinking that they have to be these big mean diva bosses, to get respect and cooperation from their staff and colleagues. They walk around the office huffing and puffing, never showing satisfaction at the work their staff does. Brain Development and Due Process DUE PROCESSAfricans, especially Nigerians are stereotyped on the internet and offline in foreign countries as corrupt, cheats and thieves.Whenever I have to introduce myself to foreign contacts, whether online or offline, I must make visible effort to prove my contact wrong, because he or she instantly sees me as a scammer-419, another Nigerian cheat or thief.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
