Human Capital & Corporate Universities Newsletter
April 2008 Issue
Contents
Organizational Cultural Competency Matters: A Fresh Perspective - By Chris Schoch
The Grass is Usually Not Greener: Mining Internal Candidates Pays Off - By Kevin Wheeler
Kevin Wheeler's Speaking Dates
Organizational Cultural Competency Matters: A Fresh Perspective
By Chris Schoch 
In today's globalized environment, HR professionals and corporate leaders increasingly interact with people from different cultural groups. Their ability to deal with significant cultural differences has become critical to getting a diversified workforce aligned and committed to company wide goals and policies. Different cultural perceptions shape attitude and behavior that strongly impacts basic issues such as accountability, leadership, standardization, managing time, and what we in the US call teamwork. Ignoring the dynamics of culture in these key areas can lead to counter productive decisions made from a single or too narrow cultural perspective.
One common misconception is that showing understanding for other cultural views entails giving up or betraying one's own cultural identity. In fact developing cultural competency rather than abandoning the values and norms that are dear to us, enables us to better appreciate the uniqueness of our own cultural resources, many of which we have grown up with. It also improves our ability to effectively relate to people with different cultural perspectives.
Organizational actors can benefit from developing their cultural competency through tools and programs specifically designed to help them identify cultural issues and gain insight on how to build organizational cultures that sustain commitment to the organization and its goals from a culturally diversified, and geographically distributed talent pool.
Organizational culture provides the medium through which people can develop their talent in a shared context. The mechanical view of organizations which holds that jobs and people can be standardized likes parts of a machine is obsolete. People can no longer be made to function in this way. A recruit who was highly successful in one organizational culture, may "wither on the vine" in another environment. When people are recruited into an organization they need to learn how to identify and use the cultural resources of their new setting. Failure to do so can lead to frustration and premature termination .
Cultural resources can be made accessible through interactions that I call "meaningful moments." These moments occur when a collaborator acquires insights about the "how and why" we do things here" and include a wide variety of tacit codes about how to get support for an idea or project, the taboos to be avoided, the deeper organizational motivation that can explain what people in companies really care about and are willing to fight for. This is the kind of information that could help our young guests make sense out of their work environments -i.e. the organizational cultures they operate in.
With the wholesale integration of sophisticated technologies such as ERP, web driven information systems, and total quality, much attention has been paid to processes. Many companies are trying no to bring people more into focus, they can do so by making sure that their organizational culture makes sense to its people, and by cultivating relationships which are the vector of culture building and communication.
Developing a vibrant global organization that will attract talent from all over the world requires building a culture that derives its legitimacy from a successful legacy business, but also integrates people with widely different work and cultural experience.
From my research and experience with world class organizations such as Ikea, Bosch Gmbh, and Accor I have identified four levers for building effective organizational culture that provides stimulating and meaningful environments to people from all parts of the world. Organizational cultural competency is required to successfully operate each of them.
1. Awareness: leaders understand the implications of culture.
Leadership understands how national culture affects organizational norms, and are able to influence decision making in the organization. More importantly they understand how the organization's culture is linked to business performance, and why it is important for market leadership.
2. Vitality: leaders keep the culture alive through example, and challenging complacency.
This is done on two levels (1) by rooting into leaders behavior the values and beliefs that are most closely associated with key capability and performance; and (2) by challenging organizational complacency.
3. Teaching: efforts are made to "teach" the culture.
The purpose of these efforts is not to indoctrinate people, but to help both members and stakeholders to understand the most desired aspects of its culture and how it is linked to performance. Leaders, understanding culture as a valuable source of shared knowledge, consider that it is their responsibility not only to show their reports how the culture works, but also to explain why it is important .Cultural resources, like values and beliefs, are encapsulated into stories, myths and legends-and distributed most effectively through story telling. As an organization grows and spreads beyond its original borders, it needs to create more formal systems and structures to broadly distribute and sustain these resources.
4. Permeability: the organization is open to cultural diversity.
Here an image comes to mind: that of the gray whale which allows all particles from its watery environment to freely enter into its cavernous digestive system. It is able to recognize and accept both familiar nutrients, as well as new ones that may become at some later date more abundant than the familiar ones . In this manner it's " taste" is continually evolving with the ecology of its environment. More and more the demographics of an organization, at decision making levels should reflect the cultural makeup and diversity of its markets. Being the champion and guardian of this parameter is an important role for HR.
Conclusion
By developing competency in use and developing of these 4 levers, organizations can vitalize and enrich their culture, by providing shared purpose and meaning to their staffs, and adapting to different cultures. When done successfully, their organizational culture will give the business unique competitive advantage. Benefits to organizations include improved targeting and retention of talent, better integration and alignment from competing parts of the organization, better focus on marketing and sales efforts, and growth that can be sustained.
About the Author
Chris Schoch, principal of MDLS & Associates, has more than 20 years international experience in management and organization development. He has worked in North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. He served for six years as Director of International Training and Development for the Accor Hospitality Group, and has consulted internationally for companies that include L'Oréal, Schering Plough , Bosch Gmbh, Oberoi Hotels, and Air France. He is co-author of a prize winning case study of Ikea and it's culture. Chris is a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in West Africa.
The Grass is Usually Not Greener: Mining Internal Candidates Pays Off
By Kevin Wheeler
Hiring people into your organization from the outside is always a crapshoot. You can never be sure if the person is going to really have the skills you think she has, nor can you be certain if she'll fit the culture of the organization. Yet, for most recruiters it is assumed that somewhere around 90% of all our requisitions will be filled by an external candidate.
This hasn't changed much, as far as I can tell, over the years. We still operate on the belief that while talented employees have always been hard to find, a well-defined job description, combined with good recruiting, will usually produce an adequate new external hire at a reasonable cost.
Today's evidence suggests that no matter how well-defined the job is or how competent the recruiters, a significant number of jobs will not be adequately filled. Some recruiters report that they have to go back to the hiring manager and encourage her to redefine the job to meet the skills of candidates they do have. Others encourage the hiring manager to settle for less competence to keep time and costs reasonable. And sometimes the position is just not filled at all. The work is either redistributed to incumbent employees or the project is dropped.
There are several reasons why it is more and more difficult to find skilled staff, but the driving cause is that organizations themselves have changed. They've evolved from basic production and manufacturing operations to operations that require large quantities of often tacit integrated knowledge to be successful. The factory of 1950 or 1960 hired a high school graduate or less, trained them in one or more repetitive skills and assumed that family, geography, and social forces would keep them loyal. And for almost 100 years that model worked quite well. But today's organization has need for employees with more complex and constantly evolving skills.
For example, an effective salesperson in a biotech firm may have to know a great deal about the technical side of the product, but also possess knowledge of how it was tested, who was involved in that process, what the competition has to offer, what pricing may be appropriate based on knowledge of the competition's probable pricing models, and so on.
Or a project manager for a chemical company might need deep technical knowledge, but also knowledge about previous projects, how the people on the project team have worked together in the past, what internal politics will affect the team, and what new R&D innovations might be useful to the project.
Even a mid-level employee needs to juggle very rapidly changing technical information, absorb and integrate knowledge about the external environment and changing market conditions, and stay involved with a variety of internal departments and functions.
The amount and depth of knowledge today's worker needs is very hard to find in candidates moving into organizations from elsewhere.
Of course, being able to integrate knowledge from a variety of sources has always been necessary. What is different is the amount of knowledge, where the knowledge originated, its complexity, and how fast it changes. At the same time, traditional training models and methods have been hard-pressed to keep up with this, and will not be able to for some time. Other causes include the changing social contract within organizations that promised employees, although informally, some permanence and security. With the waves of layoffs that have regularly occurred over the past decade, little loyalty is left. Millions of people shun working for corporations and have chosen to work as free agents ? either as contractors, consultants, or independent part-time employees.
At the same time, the dot-com boom gave rise to a new interest in entrepreneurism. Younger people are more willing to start their own businesses or work in small organizations with minimal structures and bureaucracies, so they can have the freedom to pursue their own ideas. This has removed thousands of talented and highly educated people from the active job market.
The least expensive and more potentially productive way an organization can cope with this talent shortage is to learn how to nurture and evolve its own incumbent employee population. Diverting some of the resources spent on recruiting external talent, often with limited success, to focus on improving the efficiency and skill of the current employee population, can pay high dividends.
The time is takes for a new employee to become productive can range from a few weeks to several months or more, depending in the level of the position and the experience of the employee. No matter how long that takes, it costs the organization salary and training dollars, for no immediate gain.
IBM, General Electric, and hundreds of other organizations learned this long ago. They hired primarily at the entry level and then invited employees to take advantage of wide ranging and very effective development and training opportunities. This helped them keep recruiting costs low and built an immense pool of internal knowledge and ability.
Here are some ways to improve your retention and create the talent you need:
It starts with two philosophies: (1) that employees are investors in the organization, not assets or units of production; and (2) that by having a development philosophy there will always an employee who can do whatever job you need done.
An investor is someone who contributes to the success of organizations and is looked after and afforded respect. Organizations that act this way take the time to recognize the important of the implied contract that exists between them and employees. By understanding what employees really believe about your attitudes toward them and their development, you can start a process to renegotiate the contract.
Spend Time on Development
Put in place a process for employees to gain the skills and experience they need to do a variety of jobs. Strong organizations have people who can do many different things, not just vertical pipes of specialists. Continental Airlines has the same employee act as ticket agent, gate agent, and baggage handler. This gives employees the chance to learn many different things and avoid boredom, and it gives the organization flexibility when it needs it. Provide access to informal and formal knowledge-gathering and tools such as databases, corporate documents, analyst's reports and so forth. Create forums for collaboration and discussion that any employee can be part of. A key ingredient is to lessen hierarchy and bureaucracy and open up communication and sharing.
Make Movement Easy and Profitable
So many organizations invest lots of time and money in development and then restrict when, where, and how an employee can apply for or move to a new position. HR policy has to be aligned with a development approach to recruiting, and internal movement has to be easy, common, and without political consequences.
By encouraging movement, an organization also fosters the exchange of information, breaks down silos, and spreads knowledge, and builds a community of people who know one another.
Reward Managers Who Develop People
As part of this change in philosophy, managers who hire internal candidates and who allow their own people to move easily should be rewarded. The active development and movement of people it what makes this process successful. Any constraint on creating an internal free talent market will make it less successful. Some organizations require that that managers move a certain percentage of employees to other departments or positions and that they get rid of a certain percentage of underperformers. These two actions reinforce the organization's commitment to development as a recruiting strategy and to performance as the criteria for success.
Don't Go Outside Very Often
Make it hard for hiring managers to look outside for people. Put in place a process that focuses eyes internally first and only allows an external hire in certain circumstances. Over the past several months, many organizations have adopted this position in order to avoid more layoffs, but it should be the way we always do our search for talent.
Most organizations have people who are capable of more and who want to do new things or learn new skills. But these organizations feel that development will take too long and cost too much. So they more quickly look outside for talent and spend as much or more money finding unknown talent. And, with the talent scarcity that we see today and the rapid, complex organizational knowledge that employees need to be most productive, outside people are hard to find and do not have the knowledge we need. Nurturing your own internal talent aggressively may be the best strategy and will create a workforce that is more loyal, committed, and capable.
About the Author
Kevin Wheeler (kwheeler@glresources.com), the President and Founder of Global Learning Resources, Inc., is a globally-known speaker, author, columnist, and consultant in human capital acquisition and development. His extensive career, global client base, and research affiliations make GLR a leading provider of both strategy and process. GLR focuses on assisting firms architect human capital strategies. GLR guides firms thorough comprehensive talent acquisition processes and procedures as well as the development of talent within organizations of all sizes. GLR can be explored at http://www.glresources.com.
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Kevin Wheeler's Speaking Dates
- May 14 - ERE Webinar Leveraging Social Networks for Effective Recruiting
- May 20 - Recruiting Society of Georgia - Technical Recruiter's Group
- May 21 - Atlanta Directors of Recruiting Roundtable - The Ashford Club
For more information about any of these speaking engagements, contact Erik Foss at efoss@glresources.com or 916-788-0977.
About GLR
Global Learning Resources, Inc. provides human capital management consulting services, including:
- Recruiting and development strategies
- Corporate university development
- Recruiting and Learning process improvement
- Change management
- Executive/leadership development
- Benchmarking for best practices
- Customized research
- Survey design and execution
- Talent branding and website design
- Publishing HR best practice reports
To learn more, visit www.glresources.com
Or, call: (510) 659-0179