k · web viewthese building blocks include the mission, vision, and values of the company....

Running head: PORTFOLIO OBJECTIVE 4B 1

Portfolio Objective 4B

Educational Entry

Kyle W. Green

McDaniel College

Author Note

Kyle W. Green, Human Resources Development Graduate Program, Department of Graduate

and Professional Studies, McDaniel College.

PORTFOLIO OBJECTIVE 4B 2

Portfolio Objective 4B

Through the process of identifying an organization’s culture and behavior, it is important

to start looking at the basic building blocks of the organization. These building blocks include

the mission, vision, and values of the company. These are the drivers of business strategy and

leadership in an organization. Without the shared support and understanding of the mission,

vision, and values a culture and reason for existence may be hard to pinpoint. It is important that

the right people are recruited and selected to create a workplace that is unified. This unification

naturally evolves shaping culture and behavior of individuals and the organization itself. There

are times when an organization and its individuals may be lost in transition and change is

needed. There are also times when strategies and goals become unclear. This calls for change

and it comes in the form of intervention.

Successful identification, design and implementation of appropriate interventions to

propel the organization forward is difficult. To diagnose the need of an organization its culture

and behavior must be examined. To do this one must be able to understand and break down the

layers of organizational culture analyzing systems, processes, and individuals and the behaviors

the exhibit. Picking apart these layers and understanding how they interact, is a skill needed to

identify what an organization really needs. Cummings and Worley (2015, p552) suggest that “a

well-conceived and well managed organizational culture, closely linked to an effective business

strategy, can mean the difference between success and failure in today’s demanding

environments.”

The fourth objective for the Human Resource Development (HRD) program is to

understand the concepts of organizational behavior and culture as well as the unique features of

various organizations in order to provide interventions appropriate to an organization’s strategic


plan. The educational artifact provided for this objective is a PowerPoint presentation about a

case study of Bloomberg L.P. conducted at McDaniel College. The purpose of presenting this

educational artifact is to show how unified culture effects behavior and in turn propels accepted

interventions to drive the organization forward. While this artifact is presented, the use of the

knowledge gained through the entire HRD program will be explored to support it. This process

will provide evidence of mastery and competency of the objective.

Artifact Summary

The educational artifact provided examines Bloomberg L.P. Case study from a HRD

perspective. This PowerPoint presentation uses change theory to identify a need for further

Human Resource implementation throughout the company. In order to establish this need, an

examination of culture and behavior was necessary. A SWOT analysis of the company was

conducted to further gather information. The artifact includes findings of the overall

organizational problems, forms conclusions based on the findings and provides

recommendations.

Relation to Objective. Throughout the artifact and research of Bloomberg L.P., it was apparent

that culture impacted many of the processes and procedures that effected everyday business.

Dann (1999) suggests that the environment Michael Bloomberg created was to be open door

where employees could come to him with concerns. This culture increased morale and created a

place that was productive. Over time, the company continued to grow and the culture held in

place. With the company expanding, the role of hiring and training became difficult for

managers, as duties to fulfill other areas of business also increased. The problem was that an

intervention was needed in the form of recruitment and selection as well as training for new

employees to fit into the culture and behave the way that was warranted by the organization. The


training initially was perceived as unimportant and evolved to being reactive when it was found

that mistakes were being made and then corrected after the fact. This is where a need for training

surfaced. An HR initiative was brought in to alleviate this need. With this move interventions

could be made to adapt new employees to the culture and align with the organization to meet its

needs.

Importance to HR. As an HRD professional, it is important to be able to understand the

concepts of organizational behavior and culture, as well as the unique features of various

organizations in order to provide interventions appropriate to an organization’s strategic plan. In

the case of Bloomberg L.P. this means understanding the history of where the company has been,

the direction it is going, and establishing an overall integration of Bloomberg culture and

behavior in new employees upon arrival. Grensing-Pophal (2010) shows four steps in starting an

HR function that include: 1. Plan/Create 2.Communicate 3. Evaluate 4. Consider Culture Impact.

Grensing-Pophal (2010) further elaborates that a vision must be established from an HR

perspective to adapt to cultural and operational terms, communicate each step to show

importance, include future growth throughout the process, and evaluate how employees will

receive and use the intervention to facilitate change through the company’s foundation and

culture. Grensing-Pophal (2010) states that HR professionals have to be strategic and change

their roles based on the change and growth of the company through the changing environment in

which they operate. In turn HR professionals must act strategically, identifying and serving the

needs of an organization based on its roots and future goals. This in effect means understanding

the industry, company, and strategy to implement interventions aligned with cultural and

behavioral features of the company.


Support. Schein (1985) says that organizational culture is a pattern of basic assumptions about

the environment, human nature, social relationships, and reality that employees have learned as

they addressed and resolved problems of external adaptation and internal integration. Greenberg

(2003) suggests that these assumptions are passed onto new members of an organization and

affect how employees respond to their environment. Schein (1985) suggests that shared and

enduring assumptions encourage desired behavior, reduce ambiguity, and promote common

understanding and response to the environment that surrounds it. Components of culture include

artifacts, norms, values and basic assumptions as seen if Figure 1. Cummings and Worley (2015,

p.552) say “the meaning attached to these elements help members make sense out of everyday

life in the organization. The meanings signal how work is preformed and evaluated, and how

employees are to relate to each other and to significant others, such as customers, suppliers, and

government agencies.” Kreitner (2004) breaks down these key cultural components stating that

artifacts are the physical manifestation of the organizations culture, preferred values and norms

and are explicitly stated through the organization. Kreitner (2004) elaborates that basic

assumptions are sometimes the hardest to identify as they are sometimes unobservable, but once

identified can represent the core of the organizations culture. These are the hardest to detect but

once found can be used to make and implement strategy or intervention to further its

development.


Figure 1

(Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. 2015 p.555)

Cummings and Worley (2015) suggest that culture affects how new strategies will be

used and if the culture itself can be changed to act at higher levels of merit. Cummings and

Worley (2015,p.563) conclude that “ Changing corporate culture can be extremely difficult and

requires clear strategic vision, top-management commitment, symbolic leadership, supporting

organizational changes, and selection and socialization of newcomers and termination of

deviants.” Understanding the culture of an organization can lead to a clearer picture of how it

behaves. Without the concept of culture and its existence a strategic plan cannot be created or

implemented, nor can the right people be recruited and selected. While each organization has its

own unique culture, it is an HR professional’s job to understand these components. This entails

being able to develop and preserve an adaptive culture for change to be accepted and for learning

to occur. Figure 2 shows the importance of vision and strategy and how it effect leaders,

managers and employee culture.


Figure 2

(Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A. 2004, p.93)

Velsor (2010) goes further with the concepts of developing and preserving culture with

evidence that organizations must build and maintain cultural attributes that are aligned with their

strategy and then create a culture that encourages learning. This means collaboration and

communication among leaders across boundaries. Velsor (2010 p.323) concludes “As

organizations articulate strategy, they develop an explicit strategic intent for their culture and

talent systems, bringing them to the level of conscious awareness. Moving these choices into an

explicit space improves the probability of developing the culture necessary to support the

organizations’ strategy.” This is the formula to create effective interventions that will move an

organization forward through strategy. Figure 3 Strategy as a Learning Process, gives a summary


of the things HR professionals need to have an understanding of in order to truly have an impact

on an organization with a strategic direction.

Figure 3

(Velsor, E. V., McCauley, C. D, & Ruderman, M. N., 2010, p.320)

Conclusion

In the end, a wide array of knowledge is required to understand the concepts of

organizational behavior and culture as well as the unique features of various organizations in

order to provide interventions appropriate to an organization’s strategic plan. The understanding

of culture and the principles that exist in one organization may be very different in other

organizations. As an HR practitioner is imperative that strategy is implemented through a scope

that examines the organization, its’ strategy, direction and reason for existence. This means

understanding the culture and bringing people into the organization that will effect it in a positive

way that will drive the organization towards the goals that it has set. Making decisions based on


an organization’s culture and behaviors can help create a culture of greatness that promotes

learning, motivation, innovation and growth for the future. This understanding shows

competency and mastery of objective number four of the McDaniel college HRD program.


References

Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2015). Organization development & change (10th ed.).

Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Dann, Jeremy B, (1999). Bloomberg L.P. Harvard Business School, Case Number 9-399-081.

Boston, MA:Harvard Business School Publishing.

Greenberg, J., & Dukes, P. (2003). Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science Ed. 2 (2nd

ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum.

Grensing-Pophal, L. (2010). Human resource essentials: your guide to starting and running the

HR function. Alexandria, VA: Society for Human Resource Management.

Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A. (2004). Organizational behavior. Boston: McGraw Hill/Irwin.

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership / Edgar H. Schein. San Franciso:

Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Velsor, E. V., McCauley, C. D, & Ruderman, M. N., (2010). The Center for Creative Leadership

Handbook of Leadership Development. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Moen, F., &

Federici, R. A. (2012). The effect from coaching based leadership. Journal Of Education

And Learning,

k · web viewthese building blocks include the mission, vision, and values of the company....

Documents