Ch. 5 Cultural Studies of Organizations and Communication
On pages 128-129, the authors discuss the various cultural elements that can be found in an organization. One of these elements is the Heroes and Heroines element in which an organization will exalt one of its members as being the role model everyone should strive to be like. I’ve actually noticed the opposite of this go on in my organization. Rather than esteem a hero or heroine, I’ve seen managers use “villains” to try and motivate members. These managers will bring up a member who has been fired and discuss their flaws; they do this in hopes that it will instill in current employees the notion to work toward possessing the opposite characteristics of the “villain.” Rather than point to a figure that possess the qualities they want, they choose to motivate by pointing to someone who possesses qualities they do not want. Although, negative reinforcement can induce desired results, I’ve found that people are more inspired to become like someone great than resist negative qualities.
On the following page, p. 130, the authors discuss competitive pressures. The financial pressures businesses felt in the mid-80’s prompted business leaders to desire significant change in organizational culture. It seems that competitive pressures do indeed stimulate change. We can see economic pressures inducing change in large companies across the U.S.—Yahoo! is a contemporaneous example. At my own organization, there have been multiple changes made in order to create a new culture that will be able to compete and profit. Although some change is valuable, organizations should also consider when it is wise to stay-the-course when economic, social, and/or competitive pressures increase.
1 comment:
I definitely can see managers using villains to try to motivate more desirable behaviors from their employees. I would consider these management behaviors as unethical and possibly employee harassment (indirectly threatening job security). If this was one of the successful companies studied by Peters and Waterman (p. 137), I suppose they use a more professional approach (provide clear and professional guidelines about the company philosophy and value) instead of using the mother-naughty child approach (negative reinforcement). I agree with you on no negativity.
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