Culture in Organizations - How do organizations deal with bullying?

Is bullying an organizational culture?

How do organizations deal with it?

What is an organizational culture?

Organizational culture is not always easy to define or capture because of its diverse nature from one organization into another, however it has been defined as a “force” in an organization.

An organizational culture is made by its members shared values and beliefs, behaviours, decisions, actions, beliefs of an organization. The role of culture in an organization is considered to be a kind of direction for its organization.

The result of the above can have a very strong effect on the company’s/organization’s success.

Schein’s model defines culture in organizations such as:

·         A group phenomena

·         A patern of basic assumptions - this explains some very big failures in very powerful organizations such as schools and other companies (examples to be given below).

·         As an emergent and developmental process

·         Having a socialising role

In this week’s summary, I will focus on the “patern of basic assumptions” from the Schein’s model. I believe this explains clearly the why and how of the “beyond prescriptive culture”, the culture of bullying and the non-pleasant situations that are such a massive issue in many organizations. The below link of YouTube, is the one of Casey Heynes, the Sydney schoolboy that was all over the news last year as a result of bullying exposed on youtube by an amateur video. None of the articles online have claims from their school teacher  or anyone from the school. A few articles from The Daily Telegraph state the same paragraph “The Department of Education is already undergoing a review of its anti-bullying policy and has given all schools until December this year to "ensure anti-bullying plan complies with the updated policy", but there is not one single line from anyone from the school and how this organization dealt with this very big issue. According to an article from Frank Furedi on The Australian on the 7^th of July 2012, bullying is costing Australian businesses over 36 billion (not specified in what) when 70 per cent of employees are being bullied. Why this culture? What needs to be done in order to have effective changes? Maybe the subcultures need to be revisited and also changed with some more responsibilities. There is so much I would love to write about this.

References:

Australian Boy Defends Himself From Bully And Gets Suspended, You Tube, viewed 26 August 2012 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCBdB8nPk44 >

Furedi, F 2012, ‘Entrenched in a culture of workplace politics, or could it be you’re picking on me again?’, The Australian, viewed 25 August 2012 <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/entrenched-in-a-culture-of-workplace-politics-or-could-it-be-youre-picking-on-me-again/story-e6frgd0x-1226419327996>

McDougall, B 2011, ‘Victim of School bullying a web hero’ The Daily Telegraph, viewed 26 August 2012 <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/bullied-boy-at-chifley-college-dunheved-campus-suspended-after-fighting-back/story-e6freuzi-1226022076411>

 

System Approaches

Week three lecture and tutorial were about system approaches. I got exposed to the system metaphor and system concepts and the key founder of the movement Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, a theoretical biologist whom was very interested in “living systems”.  Systems, as everything else, have its own components. In an organizational system, the components are the people and the departments that make the organization. There are three key system components in this theory, and they are:

Hierarchical ordering  - hierarchical system, system components are arranged in ways to involve subsystems and supersystems.

Interdependence – this implies that the functioning of the components of the system relies on the other components

Permeability – the one that allows the information and material to flow in and out

I think the article from Eric Jonston about the bank chief executive Ralph Norris, is very much a demonstration of the hierarchical system and also the interdependence and permeability. The story is about the former Commonwealth Bank Chief that received a total package of $9.61 million in his final months at the bank – this is fresh news released Sunday morning. The payments for Mr. Norris who retired last November and received about $63.000 a day for that period, an amount that is higher than full-year salary for most Australians. It is crazy how CEO’s get these crazy amounts of money; I just simply don’t know how they justify it. The system, besides being quite hierarchical for the obvious reasons, it is also very strongly interdependent.

References:

Jonston, E 2012, ‘Ex-CBA chief Norris's pay topped $63,000 a day’, Sydney Morning Herald, viewed 20 August 2012 < http://www.smh.com.au/business/excba-chief-norriss-pay-topped-63000-a-day-20120820-24h8j.html>

Miller, K 2012, Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes, Wadsworth, Boston MA, USA, pp. 60-64   

Leading by example?

                                       Sir Ralph Norris: Building organisational culture

Hawthorne studies...How do they apply within the SABA company?

Who is SABA? 



SABA has had a powerful influence on the Australian fashion scene since 1965. Starting in Melbourne's Flinders Lane as The Joseph SABA Shirt Shop, the company has remained at the forefront of Australian fashion ever since, and is now seen as a chic, contemporary label for both women and men.

In 1996 SABA took part in the very first Mercedes Australian Fashion Week (MAFW). Front lining the show and showcasing their Spring Summer collection, MAFW defined SABA as the leading Australian fashion label of the time. Also in 1996 the company won the Australian Fashion Menswear Award and was inducted as the Powerhouse Museum's Fashion House of the Year. SABA became a favourite at L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival (LMFF) when they premiered their first solo show at Melbourne's Federation Square in 2005.

SABA's appeal stems from styling that is both sophisticated and contemporary. Part of SABA's uniqueness lies in its ability to integrate elegant silhouettes with beautiful fabrics. The design philosophy is coupled with a passion for quality - every design must also be enduring, comfortable and versatile. For SABA these are the hallmarks of great design.

Saba was acquired by the Apparel Group in July 2005 and moved its Head Office to Sydney shortly after. A leader in the Australian fashion industry, Apparel Group designs and manages its brands in Australia with strong manufacturing relationships in Asia.

 How does SABA head office communicate to staff all over the country and how clear and effective is the communication?

• How does SABA operate as an organisation?
• How does SABA train staff?
• Is online training effective? What is staff's reaction to it?
• How was it communicated?  
• Was it completed? How?
• Did it have any outcomes? 
• What is staff’s behaviour at work? What was it before training and after?
• Can Hawthorne studies apply somehow here to help us get a result?

I will be focusing on this in the coming weeks and will be updating with findings.



If you want to know more about SABA fashion designs  Click here

                                                 
                                                Below there are some pictures of the SABA online training for staff.

SABA online training

SABA online training

SABA online training

Summary week 2.

The highlighted learning for this week was the Hawthorne studies and the Maslow theory.
During the early part of the century, Frederic Taylor, developed a school of thought for Scientific Management in which, he explained he use of time and motion studies on how workers should break down the tasks and the best way how to execute them.

The Western Electric Company carried out the Hawthorne studies in the 1920's at their Hawthorne plant. Initially, the study focused on lighting. From the beginning of the studies, the experimenter effect and the social effect emerged out.
To observe the workers, they put them in a special room – this was the bank wiring room, which was designed to study the social effects. It took a few weeks to the workers to act ‘normal’ in front of the observer.  Medibank Private did some similar study the “Stand up Australia, Sedentary behaviors in workers” where they assessed their workers behavior at work and had an understanding of their behavior after work as a consequence of the behavior at work.

Maslow hierarchy of needs explains human beings motivation by using a hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy of needs is made of 5 essential ladders to the top:


1.     Psychological needs
2.     Safety needs
3.     Social Needs
4.     Esteem needs
5.     Self- Actualization
Maslow explains that while a person is motivated to fulfill these basal desires, they continue to move toward growth. Once they overcome one level they look to grow on the next one.



References:
Abraham Maslow 2012, Maslow Hierarchy of Needs: Father of Modern Management & Leadership by Employee Motivation, viewed 3 August 2012 <http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp

Analytic technologies, 2012, Hawthorne studies, Lexington USA, viewed 9 August 2012 < http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/handouts/bank_wiring.htm>
Medibank for better health, 2009, Stand up Australia, Sedentary behaviors, viewed 9 August 2012
< http://www.medibank.com.au/Client/Documents/Pdfs/Stand_Up_Australia.pdf>