Rewarding creativity

When I visited one of our factories a few weeks ago they told us that they often ask the line workers if they see any opportunities for improvement in the system. While they have very intelligent engineers who spend their entire careers trying to understand the manufacturing process and improve it the people who see it everyday may be the best to develop the solution because they see the situation first hand. One of the individuals in my group asked if they compensate or have rewards programs for this innovation. They don’t. We were discussing it after the fact and we believed that because there was no incentive given to the line workers to be innovative or creative that they did not even bother. Even a gift card to Starbucks or movie tickets are rewarding and can often help to get the creative juices flowing.

Image Restoration Strategies

Box 10.12 on p. 306 identifies different strategies that companies use when the face crisis situations. As I read through each of them I thought about different crisis situations that have occurred recently with the financial institutions and tried to equate these strategies to what those companies used. For example, the spending spree that the executive of AIG went on after the bailout was seen as bad taste and questioned the intentions of the executives. The way that they attempted to explain this was that it had been scheduled for a year and that canceling the retreat would be more expensive than continuing with it. They used the strategy of reducing the offensiveness of the event to explain it away and reduce the fallout of the act.

Misunderstandings and Conflict

I have a co-worker is our web-developer. She knows a lot about technology, computers, and design but she does not know how to communicate that information very well. I have to work closely with her and I discovered early on that she speaks tech-speak to anyone and everyone, whether they have a technical background or knowledge or not. I have learned to cope with her communication style but it did create conflict at first. I never understood what she was asking for or telling me so I would do it wrong and we would both get frustrated. I learned to repeat back to her what I was hearing so we could ensure that we were on the same page.

I see it create conflict with others in the team as well though. They too have many misunderstanding and mutual frustrations because they do not speak each others “language”. I have learned to understand what she is saying so I feel like I am sometimes the translator because I rephrase her tech terms into layman’s terms.

Conflicting Roles

One of many sources of conflict of my past boss and I was the conflict of our roles. She had worked at the organization for more than 20 years starting in the role I was currently in and moving all the way up to the position of CEO and President. When I began working there I had done something similar in a previous role and therefore was confident in my ability to do more than just the tasks assigned to me. The conflict occurred when I did not do things the way that she was used to. It was the common case of “multiple ways to do the same thing right”. She felt that because it had been done the way she was doing it for so long that it was the only way and it certainly created conflicted. I also took on tasks above and beyond what was defined in my job description and she interpreted that as me trying to replace her and as she called it “be the boss”. I think that she imagined a source of threat and therefore created conflict.

Passive Aggressive Resistance

In the book the acts that are described as subtle forms of resistance are in fact very passive aggressive. I think that this is very often a way that individuals cope with distress at work. I know that in the past there may have been a projects that I was working on that I hated but I personally would never do anything that would outright hurt the company, even when I disliked the company. Instead there were ways that I would show my distaste in subtle matters, acts that nobody but myself would ever really know about. The book calls it cathartic and that was definitely the case.

Fear as Power

On page 251 there is a list of the bases of powers. There is power because of the ability to reward, to punish, because of a position, given power, and through knowledge. I think I would add one more to this list power through fear. My old boss, which I have talk about many times, used fear for power. She would yell and scream to get her way, like a spoiled little brat. And in order to avoid the yelling match everyone would just do what she wanted and never question her decisions. She used this anger and fear to her benefit. This is similar to the power a dictator or terrorist uses. Often people follow these individuals because they are afraid of what would happen if they didn’t.

What is a good team?

Professor Coopman commented on one of my blogs about teamwork that not only do we need to adapt to working in teams we need to be trained to work in teams. That reminded me of the six competencies of teamwork that were essential to high-quality team communication. When I was reading this list: interpersonal relationships, open discussions, trust, open to feedback, disciplined, and long and short term views, I thought about how before reading this list I did not formally know what qualities a good team should encompass. From experience I have learned what seems to work well in a team and what does not work. In reviewing this list everything that I have experienced as a strong team was put into words.

Changing roles of management in a team based organization

The book notes the difference in managing as a team facilitator as opposed to a traditional supervisor. I have experienced management in both situations. In the case of a traditional supervisor the atmosphere is much more controlled. The manager tells you what to do and how to do it and then oversees every step of the process. In a team facilitated situation it is much more open for the individuals to do what each are good at. The manager guides the team rather than tells the team. I have found that both styles can be good for different individuals. Some people need more structure but others would rather have the freedom to work on a project on their own. So in this changing structure of management and teams not only do managers need to change their style and become used to the change so do the employees.

Great leaders interacting with common man

The book talks about how contemporary leaders are taught to manage by walking around, in other words, mange their employees by relating to them, understanding them and connecting with them. Only then can they truly understand where they are coming from and how to lead them. I think that there is a fine line between managing this way and micro-managing. The person needs to understand that they are there to connect with the people they are observing not tell them what to do or how to do it. I believe that the relationship that is created by this connection with the person of ultimate power in the organization helps the employee understand what they are working for

A Manager as a Leader

The book stated that there is a difference between management and leadership but I feel that a manger can also be a leader and in fact that they should be. I agree that there is a difference between the two in certain instances but I think that an important aspect of managing is also being able to lead. I think that is why the two are often used interchangeably. I believe that as a manger you can guide and serve as a mentor for those that report to you but in order to allow your direct reports to feel that they are contributing to a bigger picture a manager also has to lead them in the right direction. The two really do go hand in hand. A mother can assign chores to her child but if she is not able to be a leader and teach her children why those chores are important and why they have been assigned then she has only created little worker bees and not competent future leaders.

Internal and External Relationships

I just got back from a two week training at one of our manufacturing partners in Austin, TX. To them we are there customers to us they are our partners. It was very important to the SVP of my organization that a handful of new hires that were just beginning their career create this relationship with external stakeholders early and it was important for the partner to build these relationships with their customer. The book states that there is a need to start looking at organizational relationship as not just being internal but with external organizations as well. This was an invaluable experience that I will never forget. Not coming from a manufacturing background I was able to learn something new about how our products are actually made and all that goes into it. Also experiencing this customer-partner relationship first hand and having the opportunity to develop this relationship was something that will benefit me for the rest of my career. Not only did I develop a pre-existing organizational relationship I also grew my network.

Blended Relationships and Superior-Subordinate Interactions

I think that it is great when a subordinate has a close relationship with their boss. I think a good report builds trust in the organization and that trust and openness can lead to greater productivity. I also think that when the relationship is too close that it can create problems as well. I worked at one place that my boss always wanted to spend time with me and go out after work for dinner and drinks. This was nice once and a while but it got to the point where she would call me on the weekends to hang out and wanted to go out every single night. I started to feel like I was never really able to leave work. I also saw the effects of a superior-subordinate friendship with my fiancé and one of his employees. It got to the point where the employee would take advantage of my fiancé because they were friends and would not show up for work or come in very late. My fiancé felt bad reprimanding the employee because he was his friend. I think that as a boss you can have a close relationship with employees in which you go out once and a while outside of work or can share things with each other about your lives outside of the office but it must not become a friendship because that can fatally effect the entire relationship at a later time.

Communication Competencies

The book listed three sets of competencies in communication that are important for the organizational context. I related to all three of these especially social perception and interaction management. I have always been very aware of the environment that I am communicating in often to the point of distraction. I find myself constantly analyzing an interaction and adapting to what I perceive. I am always assessing the responses of those around, facial expressions, tone of voice, eye movement, to determine if I am communicating to my audience appropriately. I also questioning the course of the interaction to see if I need to manipulate the flow of exchange. In fact I find that many interactions feel unnatural to me because my mind is always in analysis mode. I think that it makes me a better communicator and I would probably be a great speaking coach but sometimes I wish I could just focus on the people I am speaking to and not hyper-analyze the situation.

Organizational Identity and Branding

Technically the identity of a company is its brand and the marketing and communications departments in an organization just package that identity up into advertising, public relations, and marketing that represents this identity in a united way. The book calls it “one voice” which is funny because the corporate communications department at my work has just released a new internal marketing campaign called “One Voice” urging all communicators in the organization to communicate in a united way which reinforces the identity of the company both internally and externally. In branding and integrated marcom we are taught to find the essence of what a company is and what we want it to be known as and create a fully integrated campaign representing that. This is capturing the identity and communicating it consistently in all forms.

New Technology and Conflicting Identities

When I read this section I immediately thought about how new technologies such as My Space and Facebook have revealed the different identities that people have between work and life and how this can effect them in their work. Many companies these days will Google a potential employee and look at their MySpace and Facebook pages to see if what they present on their resume and what the represent in other parts of their life match and also if the identity that they present outside of the workplace matches that of the company. A person can go in for an interview, speak to how they are hard working and responsible and that they take pride in every aspect of their life but then their MySpace page has photos of them out with friends drinking and acting crazy or their “friends” have pictures of this and it reflects badly on both the potential employee and the potential company. Career Counselors are now suggesting to new graduates entering the workplace that they delete their social networking pages or at least ensure that they are cleaned up and “grown up” because potential employers will be looking for a conflict in work, personal, and corporate identities.

Organizational Identity = Personal Identity?

I agree with this statement one hundred percent. I have always equated my identity with the my place of work. My fiancé always asks me why I have no hobbies and I always say that my work is my hobby. My place of work has always been important to me and I think that is because I truly enjoy working (well not always but all of the things that I can learn from working and the places I can go because of my experiences in different workplaces I find great joy in). I find that I equate my level of personal success and satisfaction with not only my place of work but also the type of work that I do, my co-workers, and my opportunities to learn. My identity is my work and it has been since the moment I got my first job. I also am curious and alert to how others view my company because it helps me gauge my level of success as well. When I worked at my last job that I absolutely HATED my health suffered, my appetite suffered, and my level of happiness suffered. I am my company and I hope that I always represent that well.

Communication Climate

The book states that the climate of an organization is the psychological environment in which organizational behavior occurs. This climate effects the health of internal communications which intern effects the health of communication with customers. I have worked in both a healthy communication culture and an unhealthy one. I found that when there was no openness in the communication of the organization that people external to the organization could very easily tell. They could see that we were not on the same page and that we did not have one voice. Now that I am in a much more healthy environment those individuals external to our group see my team as a united front. We are aligned in our communication because it is a very open organization. I think the climate of the organization effects the comfort and ability to communicate within the organization and people can definitely see that.