Organizations- Culture and Change Management

     During this session, the first concept that stood out the most was the attitude of organizations toward pay.  Most companies expect their employees to produce quality work because they argue “that’s what we are pay for you.”  With this type of attitude, I think many companies view their employees as expendable.  Therefore, the employees are considered as commodities.  These objective mindsets remind me of a Marx Theory.  During my Food Access class, we discussed capitalism as a means of production of food and people.  Marx asked questions that derived from the “what’s” and “haves” of the system.  Under capitalism, division of labor and wages were created.  Marx’s Theory of Capitalism explains how people will eventually be “worked to death” or employees will eventually “burnout”.  Not only are people overworked, Marx adds that businesses pay people for what they think they are worth.  These can affect the worker’s psychological thinking and as Marx says they become alienated on their job.  

photocredit: toonlet.com

     It is concluded that businesses believe this idea of creating alienation on the job is to ensure an employee does their job effectively.  In modern day, Pfeffer and Sutton describe the “time” concept on the job on page 59 under Your Time is Our Time, Even When You Work All the Time.  Pfeffer and Sutton introduce cyber-slacking to the reader.  Cyber-slacking is defined as sending personal e-mail, surfing the Web for entertainment or doing personal business like stock trading, or signing the kids up for summer camp while working (Pfeffer & Sutton 2006, pg 59).  I understand the concept of setting up boundaries and guidelines, and implementing “cyber-slacking” rules.  However, I think completely isolating employees from the outside world to focus on work can lead to “overworked” and “exhausted” employees. 

photocredit: reachingcampus.com

     On the opposite end was the EIA on the 6 Keys To Leading Positive Change by Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter.  Kanter’s EIA was an inspiring way for leaders to implement change in a very positive light.  Instead of taking away the personal aspect, Kanter gives six ways to encourage change in employees and leaders in the work environment.  The following are the six principles Kanter described:

1.      Show up- She referred to this as the universal lesson of life.  You should make yourself available.

2.      Speak up- Use your power of voice.  The power of voice is not just words. 

3.      Look up- Every leader should work toward a higher principle when leading.  It is very important as a leader to know what you stand for.

4.      Team up- Everything goes better with a partner. 

5.      Never give up- Counter’s Law of how things can look like failure in the middle.  The definition of failure is giving up, and the ability to not give up is a hallmark in leaders. 

6.      Lift others up- When success is reached in a place of business, share the success with everyone that was involved. 

Leading Change- Creating An Organization That Lives Change by Chris White This article is an evidence-based piece that expands on the different aspects of change within the company.  According to White, to effectively lead change, you must recognize that the phenomenon of "change" does not need managing as much as do the people involved with it.  Often when change happens in a company, the leaders have to accept it in order to lead successfully.  White’s article is filled with researched facts from the Discovery Learning Inc.  They performed change style assessments among the employees.  It would be interesting to conduct a study on a six-month follow up from the assessments.  This way companies could really tell how the employees and leaders accept change.  Pfeffer and Sutton validate these points on page 173.  They explained that worker’s abilities to focus and make choices are limited among workers and leaders.    

      Ultimately, the psychological behaviors of the human characteristics in the work environment are intriguing.  Implementing change and making work, more personal is a great way to create a welcoming environment for employees.  This could cut down on the work place being a stressful environment.  I would like to learn more about Human Resource contributions to reducing the stressful work environment in the next session.