Case Study, SAS Institute Inc.
The management culture is a very important factor in the imprinting of a company: it shapes the relationship between working environment and employee satisfaction. I will answer a few questions regarding the SAS's particular strategy of running the business in which the employees are unbelievably loyal, thanks to the benefits and cares that they receive from the employer.
1. One critic calls SAS "a big brother approach to managing people." Is the company too paternalistic? Can a company be too paternalistic?
I do believe that SAS's approach to managing people is the result of an accurate analysis performed by the management staff. Therefore, when the management discusses improving employee retention rates, the initial topic is often higher salaries and bonuses. That is partly valid, because money is a key element; as SAS can attest, retention efforts can be very effective if they focus on more ways to spend the money than just increasing salary levels. With its strategy to boost employee retention, the company has created a culture and programs that encourage and drive employee loyalty. According to Pfeffer (2001), "Your profits come from loyal customers who do business with you for reasons other than just price. Customer loyalty is a consequence of loyalty from employees who produce great products and offer great service. In the short run, with enough venture money and enough product demand, any business model may appear feasible. In the long run, those companies that actually run their businesses efficiently and produce sustainable results will be the ones you keep reading about." ( 18).
I do not think that this is a "big brother approach" at all; at the end, it is just a way to achieve a better business result. The top management prefers to spend money on the employees rather than spending money on recruiters to find new employees, and this is why the organization is following this employee politics. The retention program expenses are more than justified by the overall cost savings, and so it is not paternalism, but smart business in place.
2. When, if ever, do family-friendly practices become too paternalistic?
Family-friendly practices are just a different approach to strengthen the link between the employees and the company; there is not any evidence of relationship between this kind of approach and a paternalistic behavior. This is especially true if the big part of the company value is the workforce's expertise.
The culture of an organization is embodied in its vision as well as the actions and attitude of its employees. Managers can sometimes sustain the skeleton of the company culture but it takes a leader to invigorate it and keep it healthy. A manager works hard at keeping the “old” culture and a leader works even harder at ensuring the culture is innovative and breathing in each of its employees. Bo...
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...g employees and keep them committed to the job can be a tough job for organizations and the HR function. Retaining talented individuals that are familiar with their work culture and practices, than making them redundant and recruit them later in future also benefits organizations. As an example we can look at the measures taken by Aer Lingus, who implemented a “leave and return” policy, where they gave employees a lump sum severance payment and made them rejoin on a reduced wage (Gunnigle et al, 2013). This policy is quite important for an organization because rather than taking a more short term approach of cutting jobs and losing on talent and recruiting them again in future, companies should keep long term strategy in mind and look for ways to retain talent within their organization and try adjusting them into different roles, while keeping them motivated enough.
While the degree of organizational culture varies throughout every agency, according to Kubilay Ocal, there is a clear link between organizational culture and an organizations performance. (2011). Neubert and Dyck define organizational culture as “the set of shared assumptions, values, and experiences that influence the ways in which individuals, teams, and groups interact with one another and work toward company goals” (2014). Consequently, these shared assumptions and values are highly influential on an organizations performance. Furthermore, leaders in organizations have a substantial impact on how an organizations culture cultivates. When Robert Behn asks the three questions regarding micromanagement, motivation, and measurement,
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Culture in the workplace can be the driving force for a business and can make or break a company when it comes down to it. Culture can be the reason one company does better than another or even survives for that matter. It is also important to understand the culture of a business to be able to thrive in the workplace environment. Think about what type of values, attitude, beliefs, and expectations you want to live by before you get a job somewhere at a business (“It’s All About Culture”2017). Is this the atmosphere you want to practically spend much of your life in? When we think about culture we think about different places of the world. Organizational culture is
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