After witnessing certain events, I started keeping mental notes of my field journal on observing my workplace and how it has created a culture to benefit the company. It has a perfect representation of the organizational culture theory that is obvious to recognize from the moment you step in the front door.
·
The first thing you notice is the company's new logo that is branded on everything from the walls, floors, t-shirts, and stickers. The logo is simple and sleek that represents the companies name in a form of initials.
Every Month Silencerco has a company BBQ, followed by a fitness contest for people to win expensive prizes and a short all hands meeting where the ceo talks about what's going on with the company and announces the employee of the month. It is a very exciting time and it gives me something to look forward to every month. Thats when I realized
all of the other initiatives that the company has put into place. They allow pets to come to work with you and offer concealed weapons classes so that employees can carry while at work. The break room is complete with a large kitchen, coffee maker, slurpee machine and a pool/ping pong table. During the bbq I saw graphic posters on the walls and doors to promote pillars week, a five day event that is focused on the companies pillars which are Innovation, education, customer service, vertical integration, and accountability. each day has challenges for employees to take in order to earn prizes. The fitness challenge was held in the gym where people had to do as many dead lifts as they can in two minutes, the winner gets a $200 knife. After everyone eats a hearty bbq meal the ceo, gives a brief speech and talks about how the company has progressed and encourages everyone to be apart of our growing success and get involved in our communities politics. After the encouraging speech, he gives a lower receiver for a rifle to the employee of the month.
After learning about chapter 16’s Organizational culture theory in class, I started to notice similarities in the theory at my workplace and was immediately able to relate it during and after class lecture. So I decided to look for definitions and assumptions that set up examples to explain the theory.
Theory description from the book: people are like spiders who are suspended in webs that they created at work. an organizations culture is composed of shared symbols, each of which has a unique meaning. organizational stories, rituals, and rites of passage are examples of the culture of an organization.
. I chose this theory because I witness it everyday and being aware of its powerful capabilities helps me understand myself and the average employee on a higher level.
It gives me the
perspective of a ceo and I can see why a company would go through so much to make the employees happy.
·
From what I have observed, all evidence that shows examples of this theory is shown in my work environment, and the culture department spares no expense to exploit these values. The amount of money that goes into a bbq every month must be outrageous. It is a very busy work environment and it takes a lot of people to pull these events together that has no direct profit. The company is proud of it’s accomplishments and what it stands for, and you can see that by the very sight of the logo that most employees represent themselves. Things like the slurpee machine, pool table, and pets were all anonymous suggestions made by employees that were put into effect at the companies expense. These are efforts the organization uses to establish a culture in a work environment to make employees loyal the company. These ritual performances are in place to maintain the ownership of these hardworking employees so that they don't become disgruntled and act against productivity. When the ceo speaks about the the company and encourages others to be involved, he is really implementing organizational rituals and political performances to encourage employees to feel like they are apart of the culture. Part of that is giving aways prizes and declaring someone an employee of the month, which is an example of enculturation performances. These incentives and rituals are put into place to keep employees happy at work and keeps them satisfied with their position with the company. When an individual is happy in the environment they work in, the tend to work harder and put more energy into their daily job function. When I noticed the posters for pillars week, I knew that is was a direct representation of values that the company puts into place to focus it’s culture and
individuals into proper direction. They are a thick description for the layers of the Silencerco’s organization to maintain a balance of reality and motivation for it’s employees.
I learned how culture is created to improve a business's production by maintaining a positive relationship between a company and it’s employees. Without a focused direction, individuals lose interest and performances start to have a negative effect on a company growth. Also it shows that the company makes a lot of money and instead factoring that extra money into its employees wages. They use those expenses to distract people from possible pay increases and keep them happy with what they have.
The efforts are obvious and I think that if they weren't so flashy and maybe took a more humbling approach to these rituals, then it would not be so noticeable that they are avoiding allowances and dispute from the employees.
I understand now, that every move that company makes is for a profitable reason and are in no way shape or form personal to reality. Blinded by the glamour I was extremely motivated by the theory that I have witnessed throughout my experiences.
However, I have had many Jobs in the past and most did not take efforts to go above and beyond for culture and people. Still, I love my job and my company and I wish there were more corporations like them that make day to day jobs easier to swallow and average life happier to endure.