We congratulate Guiyave Restaurant and Patisserie on the occasion of its 32nd Anniversary and wish the management and staff God’s continued blessings and many more years of success. We also extend congratulations to the Sisserou Singers for another fantastic production. Aunty Pearle and the Team, take another bow!
We also want to encourage you to purchase your tickets if you have not yet done so for the play “Truth Be Told” staged by Gems Theatre from St. Vincent, which will be staged at the Arawak House of Culture on July 13 and 14 at 8pm. Part proceeds go to the Cathedral Renovation. Tickets are available at Depex, Bishop’s Office, Roseau Presbytery, VF Inc, Choices, Banana Tree Restaurant (aka Garage). It promises to be
This week we continue our focus on viruses that, according to Ulrich et al, prevent/hinder organizational change. In this article, we will examine eleven more.
1. Show me the Results – The emphasis is on results at all or any costs, anywhere, anytime, anyhow with no process instituted. This often leads to employees taking unethical and in some cases illegal actions to obtain results. It may also lead to falsification of information to show results. Many of the scandals in the 1990’s and 200s had elements of this, example, Barings and Enron.
2. Crisis Jumping – Companies act decisively during a crisis and wait for another crisis. One of the underlying causes of crisis is lack of process and procedure. Companies need to take time to institute them and also to do a post-mortem after every crisis to determine the lessons learnt and institute the new learning as part of the process.
3. Customer Antipathy – Thinking is inward oriented rather than geared towards the customer. A more customer-focused approach is recommended so that companies meet and exceed customers’ expectations. This is also a factor in success.
4. Authority Ambiguity: Unclear on Accountability – The organizational structure is not well defined and employees are unclear whom they report to. In some cases employees report to two or more supervisors. This often creates confusion and chaos.
5. All Things to All People – There is no clear strategy consequently the company is trying to serve all segments of a market, instead of the critical ones, and invariably fails to meet the needs of many of the customers. As Michael Porter posits, strategy is about choice, and the choice made will determine the actions to be taken and not to be taken.
6. Flavour of the Month – Companies jump from program to program with no integrated initiatives, which often leads to cynicism by the employees of new initiatives as they know another will soon replace it, even without being fully completed. This is similar to trying to be all things to all people and also caused by not having a clear strategy.
7. Over Changed: Full Sponge – There are too many things going on and the company lacks the capacity to execute all effectively and this leads to burnout
8. Misalignment: Disjointed Actions – A lack of strategic focus, hence employees do not see how their work fits into the big picture. This often leads to disengagement, dissatisfaction, declining productivity and poor financial results.
9. Compliant Deflector – Over-Obedient – Employees wait to do what they are told, taking no responsibility so that if the action fails, they are not held accountable.
10. Process Mania – The emphasis is on process with little attention to results and outcomes. This is the opposite of “Show me the Results.” It is evident that one needs to balance the two; the focus on results must be accompanied by process so that employees function within the systems and values of the organisation
11. Kill the Messenger – Bad news is not shared, so not only is the messenger killed, the message also dies. This is a symptom of a company in denial, and this means that the company will not take corrective action as it does not want employees to know the bad news and will eventually fail. This is like an “ostrich with its head in the sand” for employees know more than management thinks they know and they are often the first to recognize when a company is doing badly. As I wrote in the article on Authentic Leadership, management needs to share the bad news, (as well as the good news) with employees and they will often be surprised by the actions employees will take to address the situation.
In last week’s comments, there were a few calls for the inclusion of “Dominica Time” as a virus, since the focus was on viruses identified by Ulrich et al, and this was not mentioned, I could not and have not included it. I do concur that this is a virus and admit one I suffer from! I am working on it!!! It would be good to look at some common HR viruses in Dominica or the Caribbean, so I invite you to include those common HR viruses in your comments and I will do an article on it.
Next week, we look at the last set of Organisational Viruses identified by Ulrich et al.
Until We Meet Again, May God Continue to Keep Us in the Palm of His Hands.
Valda Frederica Henry, VF Inc.’s CEO and Principal Trainer is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR), Certified Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Practitioner, holds a PhD in Industrial Relations & Business, a Masters in Business Administration and a BSc Management Studies.
VF Inc. is a Human Resource & Finance Consultancy firm with a Training and Recruitment arm, and the producer and host of a live TV program “The Cutting Edge of Business”.
clear habour management staff need to read this they are in need of a drastic change
Many of our issues in Dominica fall into the categories already mentioned so I am sure that by the next article they will all be covered. I am very much acquainted with the detrimental effects of “show me the results” and “All things to all people”. A change from these two will certainly work well for any organization.
Yet another inspiring, insightful and thought provoking piece. Excellent!!!!!
1.You walk in and clerks chups her teeth and keeps you waiting while she update her status on FACEBOOK..
2.Pure Rudeness
3.office Gossip loud enough that customers can here.
3. Odor Smell and you in Customer Service Rep capacity.
4. Talking on phone while you assisting customer.
5. Moving slower than a fast moving turtle.
6. Just plain ignorance of the job.
7. Display of thy Laziness attitude.
Enough said>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This appears to be the normal acceptable behaviour. No one complains or says anything about it, so what can we expect? Dominica needs to start looking at their staff.