AcademiRebuilding a Brand

Joseph B. Meadows

Where do they come from?

• Blackwater LLC is a Private Civilian Army founded in 1997 in North Carolina.• The company has had extensive personal security contracts

in Iraq and Afghanistan during the war as well as Africa and Eastern Europe.• Their license was revoked in Iraq in 2007 when 17 Iraqi

civilians were killed by a Blackwater convoy.• The company name was changed to Blackwater Worldwide

in 2007 in an attempt to broaden the scope of their operations.

Continued Changes

• Blackwater again changed the company named in a market campaign in 2009• Xe Security was formed to complete all outstanding

blackwater contracts as well as compete with other security companies • Other than the name and logo nothing about the company

infrastructure changed

Academi

• In 2010 Blackwater again changed the company name and logo in order to compete on the world stage

• The board of directors remained, the contracts remained, the employees remained

• This name change was an attempt to “soften” the image of Blackwater

The Code

• Academi’s Code of Business Ethics and Conduct or “the Code” as their pamphlet repeatedly refers to it it a direct indication of what type of business model Academi is trying to build• Key words are used repetitively throughout the handout

• Integrity• Honor• Team• Compliance• Commitment

Non-unitary Culture Clash

• Although many researchers argue that organizations are built of individuals and as such are comprised of a multitude of “sub-cultures”, a Private Civilian Army is something else.• As Blackwater/Xe/Acedemi only recruits Tier 1 Special

Operation trained soldiers (Green berets, SeALs, ParaRescue) they are already ingrained with a common mindset• Academi is at its foundation a continuation of military

service with better pay and less restrictive rules

Organization

Military• Chiefs of Staff

• Commanding Generals• Company Commander

• Platoon Sergeants• Squad Leader

• Soldier

Academi• Board of Directors

• CEO, CFO, COO• District Manager

• Site Supervisor• Employees

The Words of the “Code”

• One has to wonder if the emphasis that Academi palces on certain words in their “Code” are a direct reflection on their attempt to rebrand their company from the inside.• The changing of the names multiple times has not had the

desired outcome (stock values continue to decline), so the next ploy must be to change the company.• The issue is that the company cannot stop recruiting Tier 1

vets or it loses it market edge• Enter into the equation the Montreal School of CCO

The Montreal School of CCO

• With the introduction of words such as integrity, honor, loyalty, team, and ethics used throughout the Academi guidebook it is easy to see the company is trying to “move the conversation”

• The attack of 2007 has had a devastating effect on Blackwater’s economic stability and trustworthiness around the world

• This internal nemonic coding cultural building restarting from the ground up rather than just taring over the old company

Self Structuring

• Academi is the epitomy of a self structured organization. In lieu of past actions it makes sense that the company would place such a high emphasis on documentation and time.

• The basic culture of recruitment at Academi allows the company to maintain a high level of self structuring as a high percentage of the workforce are accustomed to recordkeeping/securing data when they are hired

Activity Coordination Flow

• Academi, like Blackwater before it, is a security contract company. As such, their main selling point is keeping individuals safe in the most hostile environments on the planet. • There are several facets to Academi which work in conjunction

with each other (physical/data security, intelligence, individual security)• Although there are defined avenues of communications between

these different elements, the individuals work amongst each other and form interpersonal relationships (which lead to informal lines of communication).

The New Academi

• By emphasizing the key character traits desired by the company and allowing elements of the company to work both independently and together on projects, Academi has in effect been attempting to rebrand the company

• I would say rebrand rather than rebuild, as they have not changed their workforce, mission, policies, or even their guiding principles

Socialization at Academi

• The workforce at Academi can be seen as diverse only in that it is multicultural• Males• 25-40• Special Operation experience• Combat experience

*recently (2014) Academi has began recruiting females as part of its merger with Titan and Triple Canopy LLC. Females remain less than 15% of Academi’s total workforce.

Socialization at Academi

• Because Academi is a Private Civilian Army (PCA), employees can walk onto the jobsite already knowing what is expected of them.• Academi hires veterans to do the same job for Academi

they were doing for the military.• This lack of assimilation time is a significant benefit to the

company• The amount of money saved by not having to trained the

veterans to complete tasks is also seen as a significant benefit to the company

From One Job to the Next

Active Duty Private Contractor

Phases of Socialization

• Going to work for Academi involves a 1-3 month recruiting process for overseas assignments

• Veterans during this time are “retrained” at Academi’s training center to ensure learned skills are maintained

• It is important to note that this is a “pre-hiring” phase, in that contracts are not signed until both the company and the veteran are comfortable with the working relationship

Phases of Socialization

• The encounter phase at Academi is fairly different than many companies, in that it is more like changing jobs within a company that moving to a new company

• Many times the new employee will be working with or near the same people he was working with recently as a soldier

• There is little need to learn a new “lingo” as Academi is performing the same function as the military (with the same people)

Phases of Socialization

• The metamorphosis phase at Academi is subtle but noticeable to a trained eye

• Individuals that have been with the company for a period of time stop thinking of themselves as soldiers (as they should) and begin to act in a more professional manner

• These are not always supervisors as one would expect, but individuals that have fulfilled multiple contracts with the company.

Interviewing

• The interview process for a PCA is not different than any other job interview

• Heavy emphasis is placed on the individuals credentials and past experience

• There are multiple interviews ranging from informal (drinks) to formal (Interview Panel)

Leader-Member Exchange Role Process

• While this heaily influences the process of any military unit (soldier team building), special care is always taken with the boundaries out in/out groups

• As Academi is a security company lives are on the line and lack of support to a subordinate or supervisor could lead to injury or even death

• Individuals may not like each other and they always know who they can count on to get tasks done on time, but they have to always have a basic level of trust between one another

Work Cited

• Code of Business and Ethics. 2013. Academi. Accessed October 14,

2016. https://academi.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/

document/document/52/ACADEMI_CodeofConduct_OCT092013.pdf