Running head: OBJECTIVE 4 ENTRY A
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Objective 4 Entry A
Katie Boone
McDaniel College
OBJECTIVE 4 ENTRY A
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Objective 4 Entry A
My professional artifact for objective four, 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, is a PowerPoint presentation that I
completed and presented at Learning Sciences International (LSI) while I was their human
resources generalist. This artifact demonstrates my competency in this objective because the
material provided in the presentation is very specific to LSI and the open culture that the
company maintained. In order to address the issues covered (harassment, respect in the
workplace, and LSI’s company culture), I had to have an understanding of the culture at LSI as
well as how the leadership at LSI perceived the culture in relation to the overall strategic vision
for the company.
Organizational culture is a very intangible aspect of a company. There are also several
definitions of culture. Tharp (2009) shares a definition of organizational culture as
“A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of
external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be
considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to
perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”
Culture promotes the strategy of the organization because the culture is so specific to the
organization that it drives the strategy – after all, as the definition states, culture teaches new
members how to think.
OBJECTIVE 4 ENTRY A
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One of the keys to understanding how this artifact demonstrates my competency for this
objective is understanding how important the company culture was at LSI. The employee
handbook at LSI begins with several pages outlining corporate values and philosophies. The
introduction to that section is:
Our corporate values and philosophies are very important to us and this is what makes us
a truly unique and desirable company to grow with. Because we do things differently
than most other firms, we want to spend a little time here to explain our corporate values
and philosophies to you.
No amount of regulations could inspire the trust and respect on which our corporate
values and philosophies are based. The foundation for these practices is built by
integrity, which all employees have a shared commitment to from the start. This
eliminates the need for strict, highly detailed rules, freeing us from the restrictions of a
traditional work place. (LSI Handbook, 2010, p. 6).
LSI valued employee input and empowerment. Flexibility in policies and procedures was the
norm for the company, as they expected each employee to act responsibly and with maturity.
Our corporate culture also supports a variety of work styles to meet the needs of
individuals. Flexible break and work times allow team members to rest when needed.
Various break and reading areas are built into the architecture of the office, along with
cooking sections and outdoor recreational areas. All of these things are intended to create
a comfortable, supportive atmosphere for team members, where there is room to both
perform and refresh. (LSI Handbook, 2010, p. 9).
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Ripley (2002) states, “We know that behavior in any facet of our lives is a function not only of
the person, but also of the environment – more specifically, of the interaction of the person and
the environment…it is behaviors that lead to performance” (para. 2). LSI embodied this
philosophy.
There was a disciplinary policy in the handbook, but it was rarely followed. Employees
were expected to remain above the need for discipline and were generally held to a very high
standard. Suthers (2002) indicates that good corrective action programs are meant to change a
behavior. However, LSI felt that most behavior changes could not be corrected by a corrective
action. Therefore, employees who could not function in this environment were quietly and
politely encouraged to leave. There was a significant turnover rate at the company, but it was
acceptable because the leadership preferred to have the right caliber of people on the team rather
than keep individuals they did not consider up to standard.
While I was employed at LSI, we received an EEOC complaint of sexual harassment.
This made leadership examine their policies and the people employed by them. They were
unwilling to change the culture from what they believed was the ideal working environment;
therefore, they requested that I create and administer a training program on workplace behavior.
My artifact is the presentation that I created. In the presentation, several important aspects of
expected workplace behaviors at LSI were addressed.
Sexual harassment was a priority, primarily because that was the impetus for the training.
A summary was given of what sexual harassment was by definition as well as possible
circumstances that could take place. The complaint procedure was outlined to ensure that all
employees knew the proper protocol if they were aware of a situation or needed to lodge a
OBJECTIVE 4 ENTRY A
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complaint. The focus of discussion for the training, however, was respect in the workplace and
LSI’s culture.
“According to recent statistics, bullying in the workplace is three times as prevalent as
illegal discrimination and occurs at least 1,600 times as much as workplace violence…Bullying
is also more common than sexual harassment or verbal abuse” (Daniel, 2006, para. 8). While
“bullying” is not specifically addressed in the PowerPoint presentation, respect in the workplace
is and bullying was a topic of conversation. There were little behaviors listed in the presentation
that many individuals receiving the training likened to the schoolyard bully.
Respect in the workplace was a key point to the training because of the team environment
that LSI promoted – the leadership at LSI believed that everyone had to respect each other to
fully function as a team. The strategic vision of the company was to provide the best services
possible while maintaining a strong team-based organization where growth was rapid and
supported by all team members. Leadership felt that disrespect in the workplace hindered the
vision and was toxic to the growth of the employee and organization as a whole.
The presentation concluded by emphasizing the company culture – the one team vision of
the leadership and the desire to have a culture that did not have boundaries (physical such as
offices or intangible such as positional titles) between employees. It emphasized accountability
on behalf of employees and general responsibility as a whole to meet the organizations’ strategic
vision.
This presentation demonstrates my competency in objective four because it shows the
ability to consider the company’s strategic vision and the organizational culture while still
creating and facilitating training on topics that have legal ramifications, such as sexual
OBJECTIVE 4 ENTRY A
harassment. By including definitions of sexual harassment, reporting procedures and a contact
point for employees to go to, I fulfilled legal requirements while ensuring that the company
culture remained intact. I also addressed other issues that would be damaging to the company
culture as it was established, such as disrespecting other employees and breaking down the
collaborative team environment. As such, I believe this is a very strong professional
demonstration of my competency.
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OBJECTIVE 4 ENTRY A
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References
Daniel, T. (2006). Bullies in the workplace: A focus on the “abusive disrespect” of employees.
retrieved from
http://www.shrm.org/hrresources/whitepapers_published/CMS_018341.asp#P-4_0.
Ripley, D. (2002). Improving employee performance: Moving beyond traditional HRM
responses. Retrieved from
http://www.shrm.org/hrresources/whitepapers_published/CMS_000422.asp.
Suthers, J. (2002). Corrective action, not coercive action. Retrieved from
http://www.shrm.org/hrresources/whitepapers_published/CMS000385.asp#p-4_0.
Tharp, B. (2009). Defining “culture” and “organizational culture”: From anthropology to the
office. Haworth Organizational Culture White Paper.