Spontaneity

The other day I learned that our MIS manager (IT guy for the campus network, etc.) of 7 years was not coming back to work for undisclosed reasons.  Furthermore, his assistant is moving and will be gone in 2 weeks.  Obviously, this has put us into a bind…and we must find someone to fill the void ASAP!  But, in terms of culture…I really learned how well we actually work together here as team.  Today in our management meeting the fact that I just disclosed was announced to all department managers.  But, instead of freaking out and raising all of our concerns abruptly…we immediately stepped up as leaders and offered plausable solutions in the mean time.  Since knowledge is shared openly around here, several department heads knew enough that they could actually maintain the MIS department while we find permanent replacements.  We also quickly came up with “help desk” issue solutions, etc.  My point – this event made us all realize how close of a culture we have become.  No one blamed anyone else…leaders did not start shouting demands and solutions…rather, we all came together as a team to create solutions.  This really solidified our espoused values and beliefs, particularly regarding our motif: Embrace…strengthen…succeed.  This is not only for our students…but for our culture in general, and it feels great to be a part of it. 

I wanted to take this time to reflect on the Enron case and an article I found on www.entrepreneur.com.  It mentioned that Enron displayed systemic organization-wide fraud and corruption.  According to the authors, at the organizational level, leadership, organizational culture and management control systems form the three points of the organizational fraud triangle.  I won’t go into depth regarding the “fraud triangle,” but wanted to focus on the 3 aspects that contributed to Enron’s failure.  Edgar Schein mentions that leadership is critical to the creation and maintenance of culture.  We learned in our readings that culture begins with leaders who impose their values and assumptions on a group.  At Enron, this is definitely apparent…especially with the introduction of Jeff Skilling as the new CEO.  His new visions and focus on a Wall Street-type firm affected the organizational culture that was in place.  The article mentions how Enron insiders commented how “Skilling’s leadership was critical in fashioning an organizational culture valorizing risk taking, a mercenary approach to profit making and a win-at-all costs trading approach.” He changed employee habits and norms to go along with his vision, values, and assumptions.  As we discussed in class and according to Schein, as the employees of Enron saw success (monetary), assumptions were taken for granted as the “right” way to do things.  Many ex-employees commented in the article how they really couldn’t explain why they did what they did.  Enron demonstrated that once employees aligned themselves with a particular corporate culture (and invest heavy commitment in organizational routines and the wisdom of leaders) they are liable to lose their original sense of identity, and tolerate and rationalize ethical lapses that they would have previously deplored.  Interesting to see how much of an impact Skilling had as a leader within Enron’s culture.  This is a great excerpt from the article:

“Skilling used numerous methods to reshape organizational culture in a way that celebrated attempts to exploit and “bend the rules,” often through the subversion of management controls. Under Skilling, an extreme performance-oriented culture that both institutionalized and tolerated deviant behaviour emerged. The lauding of “creative risk-taking” and “revolution” led to not only stretching, but also circumventing and breaking legal and ethical boundaries. Resistance to bad news created an important pressure point on information sharing internally and externally. Fierce internal competition coupled with huge incentives led to private information, deceit and extensive efforts to bolster short-term performance.  As former employees Peter Fusaro and Ross Miller highlight in What Went Wrong at Enron: Everyone’s Guide to the Largest Bankruptcy in US History, Enron’s ‘rank-and-yank’ machinations created “an environment where employees were afraid to express their opinions or to question unethical and potentially illegal business practices. Because the rank-and-yank system was both arbitrary and subjective, it was easily used by managers to reward blind loyalty and quash brewing dissent.”

It is crazy to think how any one of us would have acted in the Enron culture.  I have been through multiple situations where new leaders emerged and imposed their own values and beliefs, but they were ethical in nature.  It seemed that employees at Enron were blinded from their own inhibitions due to the culture that were immersed in…and I look forward to viewing the rest of the Enron video in class to see how this all played out – from their point of view!

I began to read the Edgar Schein book over the weekend (Organizational Culture and Leadership, 2004) and must say that I am quite intrigued so far.  I would like to take this moment to reflect a bit on the opening description of organizational culture.  It was great to go through various definitions culture, and Schein did a good job summarizing everything into a nice, concise definition.  In my experience, organanizational culture has played a hugerole in the success of my employment.  Schein mentioned two scenarios – a culture that is gradually formed as a result of an unstructured group and a culture that is more formal in nature, such as an established group/company.  When I moved to Nags Head, NC after graduating college I took on a position at a local beach rental company (surfboards, beach equipment, etc.).  All 17 employees met for the first time during our first day of work, led by the two owners of the company.  They did not impose cultural values on us, rather, we seemed to form them on our own within hours of knowing each other.  We developed shared values and patterns, which really aided in the success of that summer.  I still keep in touch with both owners of the company, and they tell me how each summer brings a new and diverse culture of employees.  They never really preach set rules, regulations, or values…rather, they let the new employees form as a strong group naturally – figure out their own best practices , while forming a strong culture. 

When I moved from the beautiful beaches of North Carolina to Richmond, I had to enter an entirely new culture…one that was already established.  This occurred at a local marketing firm, consisting of about 110 employees.  They were expanding, so I was not there to replace an old member, but as an addition to a successful team.  I was given the tour and introduced to various managers of each department, but that was only scratching the surface.  I knew I had to go through the socialization process in order to find out how the company culture really worked.  I made coffee in the break room each morning, and found that the same group of people were there as well (give or take a few).  After breaking into their circle, they revealed other items regarding the organizational culture.  I learned about work styles, personalities, etc…which really helped in my success, since I now knew the best way to approach various individuals and situations.  It was an ongoing learning process as we added new employees to the culture.   I think the culture at the marketing firm was very open to the socialization process, where as many companies are not.  I was once part of an organization in which everyone kept to themselves, making the socialization process near impossible.  Turnover was very bad, and after reading a little bit about organizational culture…I can see why.  They were not acting as a “group”, and there were no real shared values or beliefs.  It was an everyone for themselves-type sales atmosphere…which is why I only lasted a few months!   

I have been doing a little research during my lunch break, and came across some various articles that dealt with our current discussions on organizational learning.  Furthermore, I ran across some concepts mentioned by Senge…one of which caught my interest.  He agreed with Dixon in that breaking down the hierarchical structure in organizations can encourage organizational learning, but there is a problem – many high level managers see that as a red flag, since they are giving up decision making power (power in general)…and they see their future in jeopardy.  What will happen to their roles as power is shared?  Many times, according to Senge, managers attempt to give up power…empowering lower-level employees, but as soon as they see uncertainty within their own position…power is gobbled back up.  Senge uses “schizophrenic” as the term.  It is just very hard to give up control, especially for senior management.  An excerpt from Senge reads: ”

Few leaders understand the depth of commitment required to build a learning organization. As Bill O’Brien, a retired CEO, once put it: “This involves the willingness to change our mental models.” This is much easier said than done. In practice, it is disorienting and deeply humbling, because our old mental models were the keys to our confidence and our competence. To be a real learner is to be ignorant and incompetent. Not many top executives may be up for that.

A learning organization represents a fundamental shift in culture. According to Edgar Schein, most top executives have little understanding of the task of developing culture. It requires patience, reflectiveness, and a willingness to find a new balance between focusing on results and focusing on how we are operating while we are trying to achieve those results. So they shy away from it.”   (recovered from www.solonline.org)  

I know I have mentioned my annual career services meeting in the past, but after reading some of chapter 8 of Dixon’s book…several ideas popped out at me regarding the development of managers for organizational learning.  Over the last few years, we have have made some great strides in our meetings and various directors have been responsible for certain segments – including myself.  One thing that I have noticed throughout the years is the transfer of learning problem, meaning we all go over best practices, but fail to truly implement them as intended once everyone goes back to their respectful campuses.  In relation to this chapter, we also had an annual directors of career services (DOCS) meeting last year – a first for our department.  Throughout the training we went over new strategies, best practices, and discussed current barriers to student employment or employer retention.  Everything we discussed sounded perfect, and we each went back to our teams to implement the changes.  You know what happened?  We all resorted to our old behaviors!  We were all giving out suggestions from our individual campus experiences – each involving a different environment (different management styles, organizational environment, diverse student groups, etc.), but collectively it just did not fit each of our existing frames.  It might be a good idea in the future for the DOCS to visit other campuses, on a consistent basis, to tackle various issues and learn/develop through our community…rather than at our own individual campus.  Does that make any sense at all?  It relates with reaching that level of reality Dixon describes – situational learning in real work.  Instead of focusing on experts for our learning process (listening to various presentations, etc.) we can reflect together on our own actions.  I think too often, as Dixon explains, we just focus on everyone’s successes and try to learn from that…instead of reflecting on the actions taken for success…and re-framing them in our own work contexts.

Another random fact about my own development that relates to Dixon’s ideas: when I first learned how to play golf, I never hit balls at the driving range because I could not learn from that.  There were no consequences to my actions…if I hit a bad shot, I just grabbed another ball and tried to hit that one straight.  There were no hazards – trees, water, out of bounds…and if I hit the ball poorly, no one would know since there was not a score.  I did not care deeply while hitting balls, and I was not truly engaged.  So, I chose to play as many rounds of golf as I could on the course…a real situation…real emotions…and most importantly, consequences for my actions both good and bad.  I think this way of learning and developing my game really helped me become so successful at the sport so I could play in college.  This relates to Dixon’s ideas of how many managers are not compelled to experience the frustration of failing or have concern for others suffering from your mistakes, in hypothetical situations.  Rather, managers develop in real situations in which they are fully engaged and aware of the various consequences of all actions.  Maybe I should call all those people who thought my methods of practice were ridiculous!  It was just a little situating learning in real work, right?!

After reading the first article regarding the Hubble error, it seemed there was a lot that contributed to the inevitable disaster.  So many efforts were managed by politics…cutting corners…and scare tactics – not the best way to ensure a successful program.  Many concerns were withheld, since one of the main directors was notorious for disliking bad news (private meaning structures that do not contribute to org. learning) and others did not like second guessing.  Others were just not being honest…while many succumbed to the continued pressures of deadlines.  The knowledge management system within the Hubble project was flawed, which is where Daniel Goldin came in…and this article really grabbed my interest.  He was instrumental in forming teams at all levels to review processes – encouraging all employees to offer suggestions, etc.  his main goal was to get better accountability from all levels, essentially saying that people will work more effectively if they can live up to mistakes and suggest new approaches.  It reminds me of the idea that an equalitarian atmosphere encourages decimation of knowledge…it motivates employees to take responsibility.  This was not the case during the development of the Hubble telescope, which seemed to be a main reason for it’s failure.  One thing is for certain, though, that incorporating our ideas of organizational learning is probably much more difficult when so much is at stake, and extreme politics are at work.  Yet, Goldin was doing all he could to ensure an improved future for NASA…and it was funny how the article mentioned people of NASA would not like him for his change strategies, even though they would all end up benefiting from his efforts!  Maybe that is how we feel sometimes…or are viewed by fellow employees.  I read Carmen’s blog entry for this week and she resonated some of my own thoughts.  People are affraid of the unknown…and many are affraid of change.  Guess we will be scaring the pants of a few people in the future, but we will always have their best interests at heart…it might just take the experience of true organizational development for them to figure that out!  

Well, I first want to say thank you to everyone in class for our discussion last Thursday regarding “authenticity” and certain frustrations.  It is just great to hear other points of few…as well as the advice received from everyone.  I believe some of the frustrations I feel at times is just a sign that I really care about what I do, and who I do it for.  I want my organization to reach new heights…and believe that my education within this program has given me the tools to act as the agent for positive change.  We are a great place now…and our image is very strong, but there is always room for improvement.  Over the last 5 years I have seen some great changes in various areas, which have netted incredible results.  I just want to be sure that this momentum continues in the future, and will do all I can to ensure the continued success of my department. 

I also wanted to briefly speak about the Concept Map activity we played around with last week.  I was part of the “pilot” group over the summer, and it was a very beneficial project.  Yet, doing it as a collective activity in the classroom has already seemed to be much more effective.  We all have so many thoughts and it is great to see our collective concept map unfold…live!  It keeps us all on the same page, and this is definitely something that you want to do as a group, in the same room.  We tried to add keywords, etc. over the summer from different locations, but it did not have the impact I wished it would have had.  It is always a great experience when all of our creative minds are working…and I believe we encourage one another during group activities.  I think it also helps, because we are thinking out loud at times…which brings in other comments to help elaborate upon our own statements.  It is just fun for me to build something like a concept map with so many other intelligent, experienced minds!  We have only spent limited time on it so far, but I look forward to the future of this project…it is going to be some map     

I was unable to attend class last week, since I was in Virginia Beach for training.  I must say that I am a bit nervous and “uneasy” about this semester so far because of some of the work conflicts I will encounter (and have encountered).  I do not like missing class one bit, especially in the beginning of the semester when we are learning core concepts to build upon.  I will also have to miss class next Thursday for work-related reasons.  I tried to plead my case with the corporate team, but they were not interested.  It kind of upsets me…in the fact that the executive management team does not show much sympathy towards the continuing of my education.  I am completing this degree program for the benefit of my employer…and not just MY campus, but all campuses.  Also, the “training” that I attended last week was dreadful and I hardly retained a single thing.  The entire time I was in the various sessions I plotted better ways to go about the process.  At least I was learning in some kind of way through the painful ordeal!  I really wanted to offer a few ideas for improving the process, but it would have fallen on deaf ears.  It is times like these when I wonder if I should look for another position, where my education can be put to better use.  Don’t get my wrong, I HAVE used many principals at my campus and continue to do so…but I would like my impact to reach out further.  I hope to obtain the executive career services director position soon so I will have a bit more leverage, but that process has been dragging on quite a bit.  I guess…I guess I am just a bit frustrated right now.  I also feel a little overwhelmed so far this semester with the work load from both classes, along with my hectic and busy work schedule.  I know I will pull through and productively learn, it is just going to be a challenge to say the least.

This was the first class of the semester where we used our wiki comments to enhance our discussion on Dixon’s chapters. I think it is a great stimulate, but seems to lose its luster as we go through the posts posts…especially when they are very long posts. Last class, it was more of people repeating what they wrote instead of really elaborating off their comments. Maybe we should try condensing our comments to encourage more thoughts from others that read them. I don’t know…and I am also guilty of the writing a bit much in my wiki. I just see these as appetizers to a much bigger thought or idea. This seemed to work exceptionally over the summer…so I hope to get the same experience this fall.

As for some of the content we went over last Thursday, I was really pulled in on the idea of learning being about making the most out of the experience. This is so true in many situations in life. Even when you fail at a task, you must step back…reflect on the experience…and learn. In organizations this might not happen due to ego issues or difference of opinion. If something goes wrong…or is going wrong…it might be hard for some people to reflect on the problem at hand from a level prospective. So, learning within the organization does not occur effectively. Another idea that caught my attention was how OL results from intentional and planned efforts. Funny how so many of us learn “accidentally” these days. Our class discussion last Thursday proved that! I just wish that organizations would incorporate more “open” ways of learning together…as a TEAM. Learning should be a collective effort…in a comfortable atmosphere conducive where everyone can explore the answers to difficult problems. These days, however, that can be very difficult…which is the sad thing. I talk to a lot of my friends each week about their companies, and far too often they rely on experts and “higher positioned executives” to learn…instead of relying on their own people and giving them power to aid in the learning process. I am not a fan of intimidating managers who play up their title. I enjoy my current work environment, in which we learn together…as equals…as a team!

Finally, I just wanted to throw my thoughts out there regarding feedback. I think this is such an important aspect of learning in organizations. I feel that I do not receive any where near the necessary feedback to really develop within my role at ECPI, which is sad to me. I send in weekly reports, yet never receive any feedback in return – why even send them in? How am I suppose to figure out what problems I must focus on? How am I suppose to zero in on developing my team more effectively? This would not only help me out…but it would improve our department and our campus collectively. I just think that feedback…even a simple pat on the back for reinforcement…is very important.

Well, this is my first reflection of the class and will probably be the most brief since we are just getting started. I can say with a great deal of enthusiasm that this class has great potential. Not only are we using the latest technology for reflection and learning, but we will be studying (in depth) organizational learning from a macro point of view. As Dr. Carter explained, the texts are very intense with information…but I think we will all benefit from our readings and class discussions. Learning in the organization is a huge topic of interest and I can’t wait to dive into the processes of OL and the conditions for its encouragement. I think that OL is large part of any organization…and tends to look after the long-term outlook, but adhering to short-term changes. OL can help employees manage change and future developments sufficiently and effectively.

This should be a great semester and, once again, I will be surrounded by a close group of intelligent individuals – who bring various backgrounds and experiences to the table of discussion. I also think the collaborative effort in creating the class concept map will be a great learning experience for us all….and it will aid in the understanding of organization learning. Finally, utilizing “blog technology” along with the “class wiki” will help us all learn so much more. It is great to share important thoughts and concepts with our classmates, while receiving helpful reflections. Reading/listening to other comments and reflections strengthens my own development a great deal. Sometimes, I am able to see ideas, theories, etc. from a different point of view…ones that I would have never thought of. It truly aids in the learning process within these courses. This should be a GREAT experience over the next several months and we all will benefit from this collective effort!