Human Performance Business Culture Plan (HPBCP) Categories:
Andy:
1. Mantra:
“A mantra is three or four words long.” “Its purpose is to help employees truly understand why the organization exists.” A mantra can help guide employees’ actions by grounding them in the company’s core belief.
Read more: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/01/mantras_versus_.html#ixzz20Qst96Dw
2. Creating and Nurturing Communities of Practice (CoP):
“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” Three characteristics are crucial: (1) the shared domain of interest, (2) the community that interacts and learns together, and (3) the shared practice. CoPs focus on people and the social structures that enable them to learn with and from each other.
Wenger, E. (2006, June). Communities of Practice: a brief introduction. Retrieved July 11, 2012 from Etienne Wenger’s Home Page: http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
3. Intrinsic Motivation:
Intrinsic motivation revolves around three key elements… (1) Autonomy, the urge to direct our own lives, (2) Mastery, the desire to get better and better at something that matters, and (3) Purpose, the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html
4. Innovation
(1) The introduction of something new. (2) A new idea, method, or device : novelty
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innovation
“Achange in a product offering, service, business model or operations, whichmeaningfully improves the experience of alarge number of stakeholders.”
http://www.spigit.com/spigit-blog/definition-of-innovation
5. Knowledge Management Systems (KMS):
These “…enable employees to access, share, and capture specialist knowledge and processes unique to a company, and in some cases unique to particular teams or individuals.”
These systems can combine IT solutions with an understanding of the people and social processes involved in sharing and capturing knowledge.
Easterby-Smith, M. &. (2001, June). Knowledge Management: in perspective. Retrieved July 11, 2012, from People Managementy: http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2011/06/knowledge-management-in-perspective.htm
KMS can include “the communication of ideas, documents, news, ‘lessons learned’, know-how, and other relevant information, both vertically and horizontally.”
Bontis, N., & Serekno, A. (2009). A Causal Model of Human Capital Antecedents and Consequents in the Financial Services Industry. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 10(1), 53-69.
6. Human Capital:
“Human capital represents the competencies, tacit experiences, and overall knowledge-base of individuals in an organization. “
Human capital is one of the three sub-components of intellectual capital, and can be increased when employees “upgrade their skills and improve job-relevant knowledge.”
Human capital is stored within the employees and leaves the organization at the end of the day when the employees leave.
Bontis, N., & Serekno, A. (2009). A Causal Model of Human Capital Antecedents and Consequents in the Financial Services Industry. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 10(1), 53-69.
7. Technology:
“Technology is the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, methods of organization, in order to solve a problem, improve a preexisting solution to a problem, achieve a goal or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, modifications, arrangements and procedures.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology
[note: I understand that using Wikipedia as a direct source is a faux pas, and Wikipedia recommends using their primary sources as our sources, but in this case, Wikipedia didn’t have a primary source for their definition, and I felt their definition better defined technology than the definitions by their primary sources. Of course we can adjust the definition to our own words if needed.)
This is my attempt to not reinvent the lever. I thought about what we are doing with this project and I came to the conclusion that in many ways we are trying to do what Facebook, Amazon, and other new market companies did. So, here is my gratuitous referencing of their ideas to fuel our fire.
I understand we will need to add how these things would specifically help build the culture for knowledge workers in our company.
1) Move Fast and Break Things – from the Facebook model
For knowledge workers this is a way of using an open-floor plan to have quick turnaround in conjunction with internal testing. One can learn a lot from their mistakes with this cultural convention while at the same time adapt to an ever changing technological landscape.
http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2011/05/15/what-its-like-to-work-at-facebook/
2) Surplus of Possibility
“Even though Facebook is a technology company, we lead our decision-making with people, not code. Rather than developing technology for its own sake and then figuring out how to package it up into products that users might want, we start by imagining the most powerful ways we could improve people’s lives, and then drill into what technology we are going to need to realize that vision.”
http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2011/05/15/what-its-like-to-work-at-facebook/
3) Autonomy & Innovation
“Facebook always made me feel like the company was driven from the bottom-up, with the engineers and designers having the responsibility to drive the company forward, rather than waiting for management to tell them what to do. Who knows if that will change as the company grows, but as they grew from 250 employees when I started to over 2,000 now, I felt they did a good job of maintaining that atmosphere.”
http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2011/05/15/what-its-like-to-work-at-facebook/
4) Customer Obsession/Customer Centric
This idea is something I am borrowing from Amazon. Amazon says that they start with the customer and work backwards. This leads to innovation that is both customer driven and company sound.
http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/companyprofiles/a/Amazon.htm
5) Frugality
This is another idea I am taking from Amazon. They say that they spend the money on things that really matter and they believe that frugality breeds resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention.
http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/companyprofiles/a/Amazon.htm
6) Serving the company’s interest versus serving the customers’ interests
This is borrowed from First Solar. First Solar is an Arizona based company.
The Companies sometimes have different interests than their customers and other stakeholders. The Executive Chairman Michael Ahearn said First Solar has learned to focus on those areas where the interests overlap. When no overlap exists, he said, the company has to move on.
http://knowledgenetwork.thunderbird.edu/research/2010/02/05/firstsolar/
7) Flexible versus planned
“Companies also need to find the right balance between a loose, flexible culture and a rigid, results-oriented culture. Ahearn said companies such as First Solar that deal with new technology need accept a certain amount of uncertainty. Sometimes, research and development teams fail to produce results even when they work hard. Ahearn said First Solar recognized this and stopped asking, “How quickly can we get results?” Instead, the company started asking, “How quickly can we get answers?” He said the shift has given researchers freedom to pursue new technology without worrying about hitting dead ends when the answer to a technology question turns out to be ”no.”
http://knowledgenetwork.thunderbird.edu/research/2010/02/05/firstsolar/
1. Work Ethic: "Work ethics include not only how one feels about their job, career or vocation, but also how one does his/her job or responsibilities. This involves attitude, behavior, respect, communication, and interaction; how one gets along with others. Work ethics demonstrate many things about whom and how a person is."
"Work ethics involve such characteristics as honesty and accountability. Essentially, work ethics break down to what one does or would do in a particular situation. The begging question in a situation involves what is right and acceptable, and above board, versus what is wrong, underhanded, and under the table."
http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/what-are-work-ethics-faq.htm
2. Integrity: "Adherencetomoralandethicalprinciples;soundnessof moralcharacter;honesty."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/integrity
3. Timeliness: "Be timely for work and for meetings, Respond promptly to phone messages and e-mails, Deliver the goods sooner than promised."
http://www.etiquettetrainer.com/HTML/articles/Timelines11.html
4. Language: "With people of so many different nationalities and ethnicities working together the varied and diverse linguistic backgrounds of an organization’s workforce frequently presents opportunities as well as challenges."
http://www.hrreporter.com/blog/hr-policies-practices/archive/2011/06/07/language-in-the-workplace
5. Positive Attitude: "A positive attitude in the workplace can help you whether you own your own business, work as an employee, or manage others within a business environment. You’ll enjoy your work more and achieve your workplace or business related goals more easily and faster."
http://www.positive-attitude-tips.com/positive-attitude-in-the-workplace.html
6. Respect the Workplace: "To achieve a positive and collaborative workforce, employers should begin with training that promotes mutual respect and alignment of professional goals, in spite of personal differences."
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/respect-important-diverse-workplace-11475.html
7. Reward System: "Reward systems should focus on positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is the most effective tool for encouraging desired behavior because it stimulates people to take actions because they want to because they get something of value (internally or externally) for doing it. An effectively designed and managed reward program can drive an organization's change process by positively reinforcing desired behaviors."
http://www.opm.gov/perform/articles/026.asp