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Part II: An Unseen Force in Your Company
Part I
The unseen force in your company that is able to increase revenues by an average of 682
percent, expand your workforce by an average of 282 percent, and grow your company's stock
prices by an average of 901 percent is your company's culture.
Kotter and Heskett in their 1992 book Corporate Culture and Performance, reported the above
statistics, after completing an eleven-year research study. Kotter and Heskett found that
companies that maintained a positive cultural influence over customers, stockholders, and
employees-did better economically than companies that did not maintain similar positive
cultural traits.
Additional proof about how your company's culture can prevent a loss in productivity and
costly lawsuits--involves the workplace problem of sexual harassment. Working Woman
magazine reported in 1998 that a company with over 23,750 employees loses on average $6.7
million per year to lost productivity, absenteeism, and employee turnover due to workplace
sexual harassment. Recently, Mitsubishi agreed to pay $34 million in damages to several
hundred current and former female employees because the company maintained a "deaf ear"
policy toward sexual harassment complaints. Companies that decide to change from a "deaf
ear" to an "open ear" culture towards sexual harassment, and other forms of discrimination,
will avoid costly lawsuits as well as other costs associated with lost productivity.
Need yet more proof about how the right culture can improve your company? In 1999 Lucent
Worldwide Services conducted a survey of network professionals regarding employee
satisfaction. The network professionals rated working for a company that maintains strong
cultural values equal to receiving monetary recognition for achievement.
If you would like more information about how culture can improve teamwork, reduce employee
theft and violence, and even help your company make a transition into a global economy-read
one of the books listed on the left.
Happy Working,
Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP
Employer-Employee.com
Motivation Tip #17
Do you know where your employees are going in their lives, career, and within your
organization? If not, you are missing out on using a valuable intrinsic motivational
tool.
Companies write mission statements to tell employees within the organization the direction
that the company is heading in order to achieve profit and success.
A company's mission statement also tells the employees what behaviors will be required
in order to achieve the goals of the organization. Mission statements work to keep the
organization on track and function as a standard to measure performance.
Similarly, individually written mission statements by each employee will communicate to
their supervisor where their employees are heading in their lives, career, and within
the organization. When the supervisor knows where the employee wants to go, understanding
what will intrinsically motivate him or her will be clear.
For example, if an employee writes a mission statement that includes learning new
skills associated with possible advancement or lateral transition, the employer knows
what will intrinsically motivate the employee.
Motivation is general and not specific in it's nature, so even though the employee
may spend time learning a subject not directly applicable to his/her current job, the
positive energy that the employee develops from meeting his/her goals will transfer
into their current work performance. Therefore, it pays for a supervisor to know
their employees' personal mission statements.
Happy Working,
Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP
Employer-Employee.com
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