A630.9.4.RB - Shuck, Allison

Hiring and Recruiting 

Does Schmidt's description of the Google Culture make sense to you?

Yes, after watching the video Hiring and Recruiting, I know understand more about Google culture and how Google hires and requites new employees. Google’s culture is center on “passion”, doing what you do because you love doing it! Most of Google employees are self motivated and require little management. To me, that shows how effective Google is at hiring and reciting new employees. Although Google understands interpersonal differences, they seek to find candidates that are compatible with existing organizational members; they recruit people who are self driven and who know how to be team player. Overall, this method has been proven successful.

Is this a reasonable way to view the work that most people are doing in your workplace?

Yes, my colleagues and I are very similar; we are all team players and are all self -driven. With the increase in student population and the lack of staffing, upper management does not have the time to delegate tasks or participate in the decision making process; therefore, my colleagues and I must use our best judgment and make executive decisions on our own.

As a leader, does it take courage to have and to implement this point of view?

Personally, I don’t think courage is the right word to use to describe Google’s hiring and recruiting process; although it takes courage to hire a new employee, I think that Google uses creativity or innovation. Google has the ability to use ingenuity and forward thinking to break the barriers of traditional hiring and recruiting.

Could this approach backfire?

Yes, if an employee vision no longer matches the vision on the organization, then the employee will start doing what they want to do instead of what they should be doing.

What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

I think that the biggest thing I can take away from this video is how many organizations uses different tactics to hire and recruit new employees. Overall, I think that many organizations are following in Google’s footsteps, like Google, they understand how important it is to have self-driven employees who know how to work as a team. 

A630.8.4.RB - Shuck, Allison

Build a Tower, Build a Team 

Do you agree with Tom Wujec's analysis of why kindergartners perform better on the Spaghetti Challenge than MBA students?

Mr. Wujec’s observation was enlightening.  He evaluated different teams (kindergartners and upper level students) in their efforts to complete a difficult building project. His observations show that kindergartners achieve the task better than upper level (master) students. Why, because kindergartners do not care about failing; they are not concerned with completion, per-pressure or their grade; kindergartners simply complete the task because it is “fun”.

Can you think of any other reasons why kids might perform better?

I think kids perform better because they use their imagination and are not afraid to fail. Even if the first attempt is not successful, they will try again without hesitation. They are not intimidated by the task.

In your view, why do CEOs with an executive assistant perform better than a group of CEOs alone?

I think it is funny that a CEO cannot function without his or her executive assistant. So many CEO’s today rely on their executive assistants for everything and therefore, lack the ability to think outside of the box. A CEO’s main responsibility is to be the figurehead of the organization; therefore, many CEO’s does not know how to perform day-to-day operations. Thus, the role of the executive assistant was created. Executive assistants are responsibilities for maintaining the CEO’s schedule and performing day-to-day tasks.  

If you were asked to facilitate a process intervention workshop, how could you relate the video to process intervention skills?

I think that if I were an OD practitioner responsible for conducting a process intervention, I would use the spaghetti challenge. The spaghetti challenge requires collaboration, communication and team work from all group members.  It forces team member to work together in order to successfully complete the challenge.

What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

Well for starters, I can stop focusing on obtaining the “grade” and start focusing on learning and retaining the information I am studding. Much too often, I over analysis my work; I constantly read and re-read and often re-write my sentences and before I know it, I have re-written my whole paper. It is exhausting and I really need to stop worrying so much and just write from the heart! 

A630.7.4.RB - Shuck, Allison

Mastering the Art of Corporate Reinvention

Michael Bonsignore, CEO of Honeywell, states that Honeywell will not be an extension of the old Honeywell or Allied Signal. He is creating a new culture that blends the best of the merged companies of Honeywell and Allied Signal. He says that Honeywell will compensate and reward people that look for best practices from both companies in creating a new corporate culture and punish those who do not. Do you predict Honeywell will be successful?

I think that Honeywell will eventually be able to obtain long term success, but will have to push through a few rough patches in order to get there. I believe Bonsignore has good intentions, but I think that using the word “punch” will create a negative environment within the organization. The company is already going through huge changes and those changes are already impacting the company’s corporate culture; all the company needs now is for its current employees to quit, which will create an even larger turnover problem because the company will have to train new employees.

What barriers do you see based on what you observed in the video?

The biggest barrier Honeywell will face is its employees accepting change. Cultural changes are hard to deal with. So many people fear change because its result is unknown. No matter how hard a company tries to prepare its employees for change, the effects of change will not take place until the change actually happens. I bet a lot of employees from Honeywell are resistant to the merger due to the fact that it will change the whole company and how it operates. Allied employees are concerned about their jobs; wondering where they might end up and what their new role in the organization will be.

What critical success factors should Honeywell consider as it crafts its organizational strategies around a new culture?

In order for this merger to be successful, the employees from both Honeywell and Allied Signal will need to be open and receptive to change. Each employees will need to understand that the changes implemented from the merger will create domino effect throughout the organization, whereas, a change in one part of the organization will most likely create need for change in another part of the organization. That being said, it is important for employees to remain positive through the change processes.

What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

Change is inevitable and is constantly in motion. Over time, I have learned that in order for me to obtain success, I have to embrace change and learn to accept it. I truly believe that the only way to grow within an organization is to take on a new position; to change and accept the challenge.