Monday, April 15, 2013

Response to Zappos, Systems Approaches, and Cultural Approaches


According to "The Ten Commandments of Zappos", the company stands behind the satisfaction of their employees (http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/21/news/companies/obrien_zappos10.fortune/). The list of their commandments is a list that every company should consider because it provides a healthy environment for employees. Unfortunately, many companies cannot provide such an environment for their employees due to the lack of income the company intakes. There are other alternatives to provide a healthy environment for employees that do not require spending a lot of money. For example, having weekly pot lucks, monthly work parties, extended lunch breaks, "Pizza Fridays", etc. These are all great examples that provide positive interactions with the employees, bosses, and supervisors. Not only will it spark positive vibrations but it can lead to an increased level of productivity in the work place.

An interesting story in Chapter 4 talks about research about how flight attendant's have to make you feel safe and secure as if you are sitting in your living room reading the newspaper. She explained it as an important "organizational rupture." In fact, most flight attendants are dominated by the female population because that's supposed to make the passengers feel "safe." The flight attendants job is tough when it comes to a mechanical failure, bad weather, or an unruly passenger. They have to communicate in a fashion manner because if they don't passengers will begin to panic causing frustration on the plane. I've noticed that when flight attendants begin by stated the safety rules they tend to explain them while beating around the bush. That's to assure that the passengers feel comfortable flying on their commercial airplane even though life's are at risk every time passengers board the plane. Communication is a vital part of the air craft!

Chapter 5 talks about the Cultural Approaches being complicated, emergent, and ambiguous. Most organizational culture researchers confirm that it's impossible to say that organization has a single culture. Most scholars agree that  organizations are characterized as having subcultures. For example, a real subculture is a group of people who live differently then the community around them, and pass traditions on from generation to generation. Also, Deal and Kennedy explain how business success can be enhanced through a "strong culture." If an organization consists of a strong culture then it will allow for improvements in  individual and organizational success. 



1 comment:

  1. I like your suggestions for how companies can do easy and cheap fun things for employees. You also did a nice job elaborating on the flight attendant example. Make sure you refer to the book by name if you talk about it (e.g. "chapter 4" isn't clear to someone outside our class), and edit carefully as there are several typos throughout. I like that you linked the Zappos article. Continue to add in other links, pictures or videos to draw readers' attention.

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