A630.7.4.RB_McNerneyLeighAnn

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?

Yes, I do believe that Honeywell will be successful because both companies merging have shown success, but mainly because they recognized there was a need for change and they are making efforts to rejuvenate the organization. Some of the benefits going into the new version will be combining the good things each of the companies did prior to the merge and integrating these qualities into where the company is going next. Bonsignore focuses much of his interview on the importance of communicating to his employees and having solid relationships built on a foundation of understanding and trust. Gordon noted that Bonsignore is very good at organizing his business and his organizational skills are what drive the company. He also stated that he conveys confidence and this is why people vote for him. Bonsignore has the ability to connect with people and business. Bonsignore believes that combining rewards and making employees feel like they are part of a team creates a strong culture at Honeywell, and communication is key to creating a culture of success. Ways in which he develops these types of relationships with his employees is keeping them in the know with lunches, team meetings and town halls.

Bonsignore states that employees at Honeywell will be more willing to deal with hardship as long as they know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. He compares the importance of transmitting this communication similarly to a football huddle. During a football game the team communicates and performs together much like an organization has to, as a team. This reflects how he’s able to lead his organization through adversity by commutating with employees asking for common issues when creating that vision of change. Another strong point the interview transfers is that bigger isn’t better because quality is just as important when integrating change. Bonsignore wants to continue serving customers while exposing employees to what their needs and wants are throughout the change effort.

One way that he able to do this well throughout his career is to use his own personal experiences in order to try and prevent unwanted bad experiences from occurring at Honeywell. He wants to discover what customers want and give it to them in a personalized humanistic way that will empower his employees to follow these same standards.

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

Structural: The fact that there is change at all levels creates stress at all levels. Dealing with reorganization, eliminating employee positions, gaining trust of employees and relocation of headquarters are a lot of changes that many employees will lose faith in the company. Bonsignore has relocated headquarters and many employees’ jobs were lost in the reorganization of Honeywell. I feel structurally he needs to reestablish some trust within the culture. Employees may be reluctant to embrace all of the changes so creating a strong vision of where he can take the organization and how he plans to get there will be extremely important. Employees will need to be aware of who they will report so communicating as much information to them as possible will be beneficial for Honeywell.

Technological: Bonsignore needs to implement modifications and limitations of how everyone can carry out their job responsibilities. Training on new technologies that are going to be used will be important in the transformation. For example if Honeywell and Alliance used different operating systems they will need to focus on a system that suits all departments within the entire organization while maintaining their customer’s needs.

Behavioral: Bonsignore will need to focus on boosting morale and increase the motivation among his employees in order to create a culture of commitment and loyalty. He needs to continue communicating with employees through his lunches, town halls and meetings in order to remain fluid. Channels of communication should flow up and down, and concerns of his employees should be known and resolved with all efforts possible. Creating an adaptable culture throughout the organization will help him use his talented employees to improve the organization at all levels.

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

Bonsignore will need to consider what the employees need. He needs to communicate that he wants them to exceed limitations by getting them on board with his vision and encourage them to show adaptability by relating to the employees. He will need to increase his ability to use interpersonal skills by communicating and representing accountability. Bonsignore should explain this in his vision by concentrating on where the company is going as one unit and how they are going to get there together. He will need to find a balance on how to enact the vision and carry out his responsibilities. In the interview he explains that a plan of action, growth, and investment prioritization give a clear specific road map for the culture. He also focuses on creating known expectations or norms for the culture to recognize and understand what is expected of them in order to create commitment with a healthy blend of quantitative and qualitative. Bonsignore also needs to continue to foster innovation and creativity while remaining humble.

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

What I can personally take away from this exercise and use in my career is the understanding that no matter what level I hold within my company I am just as important as the CEO when I am performing my roles. Meaning we are a unit and without each person performing we would not function properly. A representation of this would be the human body. No matter what organ I am in the body without me doing my job the body would not function and no one organ over the other is more important. If I am the heart I rely on the brain and other parts to perform their responsibilities to do my own and same for the brain. If any one organ or functionality within the body shuts down everyone and everything is affected and this is the same moral I was able to take away form these two leaders. We are all relying on one another in every organization and in order to be successful we must work together. If I have a day when I am not feeling very valued I will be able to zoom out and look at my career and all the intricate processes and find my own value within the larger picture and remember that as I move upward in the organization.

Films On Demand - View Playlist [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://digital.films.com/play/GWEU7L

A630.6.4.RB_McNerneyLeighAnn

After watching the 50 Reasons Not to Change graphic I recognized almost every excuse that was provided because I have either heard them from fellow coworkers, or I have said them myself. Before starting the Leadership Program I was a very resistant person, specifically when it came to changing my routine. I am a creature of habit and because of this I have probably sold myself short on a lot of missed opportunities. I have only two classes left in the program and I have since changed my outlook on how I feel about change because I have discovered that I actually like it. I like change and I know that it is the only thing that I can count on in my life. For instance since I started working at ERAU in January of 2011 my workspace has changed four times, and I was just informed we were going to be moving again. With every move there is usually a reconfiguration to either provide other departments with more room, or to combined departments together all in order to remain successful at what we do.

When coworkers were made aware of the move they all had something to add and most of them were complaints about having to move again. Some of the complaints were listed in the video; such as “this won’t work” and “I don’t think this is a good decision”. Regardless if any of us think it’s a good idea it’s going to happen so I just tried to find positives regarding the move. For example one positive is that we are going to sit next to the person we provide coverage for when they are absent. Sitting next to our partners will help us better communicate, and will also help resolve some of the issues we encounter since most challenges are to be worked out with our partners. Similar to our text I use “What’s in it for me?” “When a change causes employees to feel pressured, they may interpret the change as a loss of individual security. Affecting the comfort zone” (Brown, (2011) p 152). By approaching this move by focusing on the positives rather then the fact we were moving yet again, and changing workspaces is not easy will better help ease us into the inevitable. Sometimes when I realize that I am resisting a change I try to separate myself from the negative thoughts and just digest what I know about the change. Once I can clearly understand what is going I can see the reasoning as to why the change is being implemented so that I can logically make sense of the matter.

Although I know I have become a better adapter since becoming more self-aware throughout the Leadership Program I know that I still make these same excuses from time to time. I am sure I do it because I am just scared or I have been listening to what others have to say instead of processing the information first. To overcome thinking like this I have to change cognitively. I have to retrain the way I think about stuff. For example I have a tendency to react to change adversely. Since beginning this class I have dramatically improved. I suffer from an adjustment disorder so when change happens in my life I feel like I am surrounded by chaos. Once I begin to connect the dots and see a pattern or logic starts to make sense I usually then adapt to whatever is changing.

When I first had my baby I was extremely anxious. I had problems leaving my house because I didn’t want to be around people. It was as if my new role as a mom made me not remember who I was and what I liked before when I was just me. I was lost in my own thoughts and this created a barrier. As time went on I began to argue a lot with family and friends if they tried to make me leave my house. I was really starting to get depressed. At this time I was returning to work from maternity leave while also taking graduate classes so I never had a moment where I didn’t feel pressure. Finally I snapped and I just begged for someone to help me get out in the world again.

Since returning to some of the activities I used to enjoy I have begun to come back to my old self. I realized a lot about myself with this experience. Now that I am back at work changes are not as scary as they used to be because of what I went through. Now I am on the opposite end of the spectrum. If I listen to why a change is taking place and it makes sense I am one of the tribal leaders Seth Godin talks about in his TED talk. I am able to help others see that the benefits will outweigh the challenges we will face going forward. Approaching these situations with an optimistic attitude becomes contagious so that’s what I try to do.

Recently when our Department became off balance because of the way we were divided up was no longer sufficient we were advised we were going to switching from regions to alpha sections. At first I feared for my life, but then I realized I was one of the counselors that were unfairly overwhelmed because my region’s enrollment numbers exploded. During the meeting my coworkers made their disapproval known. They bickered and said many negative comments that our management could hear and this frustrated me because I knew they had our best interests in mind. Instead of remaining quiet I knew that as an equal to them I could assist the situation by shedding light on the positives which could help shift them from resisting to accepting. I spoke directly to the one who was disapproving the most and said you have the largest region and you are going to benefit from this the most. I told her not to fear the unknown because we were a team and we would help one another through this process and that none of us knew what to expect, but the only thing we could do is help each other through it. She was online counselor and the idea of switching to handle campuses freaked her out. I continued to support her through the whole process and since the change we couldn’t be happier. She was very grateful for my support and let me know she was happy I was able to help her see the light at the end of the tunnel.

            Change is happening that’s all people are guaranteed in life. Every day the worlds evolving and so are the people living on it. No matter how hard we try to fight change, it’s happening. Change happened while writing this BLOG. I became more aware of how I actually overcame a huge obstacle in my life. I am able to reflect on how this change made me stronger in every aspect of my life, but especially when it came to handling change. As a leader in each tribe I am involved in whether it be my work environment, as a mother, wife, friend and student it is important to become a change leader for my fellow tribal members when they are resisting change. We have to stick together because we can do more as a team then we can alone.

References

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Seth Godin: The tribes we lead | Video on TED.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead.html

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Prior to Sean O’Keefe’s resignation from NASA in 2010, he led a transformational change over the organization. Sean O’Keefe was NASA's 10^th Administrator nominated by President George W. Bush. As Administrator O’Keeffe focused his efforts to improve financial creditability, introduced innovative management practices, budget reforms and worked to implement the President’s Management Agenda that increased government responsiveness. In addition to all of his accomplishments at NASA he also was responsible for proposing a change over NASA’s culture at a time of tragedy and loss. On February 1, 2003 the world watched as seven astronauts lost their lives as the shuttle re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. O’Keefe and his leadership team worked to evaluate and diagnose what could have led to the events of the shuttle explosion, and their findings concluded that NASA’s culture was at fault. The assessment highlighted that the concern for safety was not the number one priority and there was a lack of respect or support from upper management.

O’Keefe addressed employees at NASA in a town hall meeting in which all employees were able to ask questions and voice their concerns directly to the executives. The culture at NASA in general was not as strong as it needed to be in order to prevent future disasters and this had to change immediately. Sean O’Keefe held the meeting with his employees at NASA to discuss the need for change and make it known that he was willing to be the first one to start changing. Some of the issues confronted was the understanding that many employees felt their leadership failed to communicate with employees performing operations, and employees also felt they were not able to bring their safety concerns to their management. O’Keefe presented his plan of change in order to increase awareness and to align NASA”s values with individual values to create a better understanding for everyone of how they were going to change and why it was needed. Gathering everyone allowed him to gain their support and their commitment to make the changes needed.

In O’Keefe’s presentation to his employees I feel that he was perceived as believable; however there were probably many skeptics in the audience as past experiences had shaped their current views of how NASA handled business. He was good at reinforcing the message of change and the way they were going to begin reshaping how people communicated and approached future situations. For example O‘Keefe asked everyone to respond with “Yes, if” instead of “No, because” when an idea was presented. By responding with “Yes, if “employees would be able to critically assess every idea with a more optimistic positive thought process. Beginning to think and speak to fellow coworkers this way would also enhance employee relationships, how they communicated and respect could begin to form. Some other aspects O’Keefe touched on was the need for leaders to get out of their offices and make time to talk to all of their employees to empower them with respect, resources they need and to let them know they see the work they are doing and its appreciated.

O’Keefe spoke about NASA’s values throughout the presentation in order to align his vision of change with the morals and values of the organization. This provided insight into how he was going to expect his employees to behave and respond in the future to other employees and the work they performed. It is important when approaching a change effort of this magnitude that leaders “establish moral principles in a means of determining the core values which should guide the organization” (Values and Ethics, (2013). In doing this everyone is in the know of why the change is needed, how the change will be implemented and how future change will guide the organization towards success. Having everyone gathered together as one team reinforced the idea of support and communicated an urgency for the need for change.

After reviewing NASA’s organization assessment and approach to positive cultural development a good lesson I learned was the importance of communication. NASA employees failed to communicate critical information, which ultimately was to blame for seven people losing their lives. When approaching a leadership role in any situation whether it is a project assignment in my current position, or as a manager one day I will remember to keep an open mind to what others have to say. This will be important for me because as I learned other people will be able to offer some extremely important information that could affect the outcome of the objective. I have a tendency to freak out and close my mind to situations I find difficult, and in doing this I allow them to defeat me. I intend to use O’Keefe’s advice and start to think more positively with “Yes, if”. This will give me an opportunity to think about the issue from every aspect and then come to a well thought solution.

NASA Cultural Changes - C-SPAN Video Library [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/SACu

NASA - Administrator O'Keefe Resigns. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/aok_resigns.html

Values and Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch15.html

A630.4.4.RB_McNerneyLeighAnn

How do you know a decision is good or bad? How can you evaluate if the way your company is deciding is the correct and more efficient way? One way is to answer these questions is to look at how your employees within the company are actively engaging. In the HBR: How Companies Can Make Better Decisions Faster, Marcia Blenko discusses a correlation between decision effectiveness and employee engagement. Employee engagement is “the extent to which employees are motivated to contribute to organizational success, and are willing to apply discretionary effort to accomplishing tasks important to the achievement of organizational goals” (Wiley, (2010). Blenko worked with 750 different companies around the world and her research indicated a high correlation between how engaged and able employees were in making decisions quickly, and then measured how effective the company’s decisions were financially. Company’s that were able to actively engage with employees within their organization were operating at a “higher metabolism” and were very successful (Blenko, (2010).

I also have found that there is a connection between how actively involved and engaged employees within their company with good decision-making. In my personal experience working for an organization where I felt valued were ones that asked for my insight on a matter being investigated. No matter the position if I was a waitress, a receptionist or a financial aid counselor if one of my superiors came to me for more information and to help them evaluate a process I felt very engaged because they allowed me to be involved in the decision making aspect. Having a say in how a change or process was going to be implemented not only gave me a chance to give my thoughts and concerns, but also accept the change with more ease. The fear of the unknown was reduced because I was involved and aware of why the change was happening and how it was going to happen.

Engaging employees involved in the processes being changed definitely has a more positive effect in the overall implementation. Employees working in the trenches can help better determine if the changes needed are actually needed and they are also able to use their expertise knowledge to provide their management with the information they need. This type of engagement promotes a team mentality and a more diverse response to an already complex situation. If a leader wanted to reflect on their organization to determine if their employees are actively engaged he or she could hand out a survey where employees do not put their personal information on the questionnaire, and answer questions directed to employee engagement. If the survey revealed employees didn’t feel actively engaged they could then try to either bring a third party into to help boost morale, or just start looking at how they make decisions and change the way in which they operate.

Although it appears it should be easy to make good decisions there are many obstacles when it comes to deciding. As we are evolving globally technology is making life easier and communicating harder because we are relying on technology to simplify decisions while it can create more confusion along the way. Some of the disadvantages leaders face today is a lack of understanding why a decision is made, needs to be made or any other specifics of a change process. This complex environment is led by virtual technology, which has created an obstruction in communication. Some of the dilemmas include “fewer face-to-face interactions, more cross cultural, cross gender biases and perceptions, less resource, more virtual working, greater demands and expectations, and risk of public shame should things go wrong” (Robinson, & Sharp, (2013). All of the challenges with using technology to expedite processes can increase the chance of misunderstanding one another. In the past meetings were held face-to-face, and should a matter be misunderstood they could further explain themselves creating a greater understanding. Other challenges include people reacting to problems instead of preparing for them. The reactions don’t include a well thought decision making process which usually only resolves short-term problems instead of important long-term objectives. Bad decisions can result form lack of expertise knowledge because people deciding have no clue what they are doing.

In order to try and improve or prevent bad decisions form being made Marcia Blenko has adopted four important steps to making good decisions. The first is the quality of the decisions. She asks was your decision good or bad and why. The second is the speed in which you decide and how effective the choice was. The third is the yield or extent in which you executed the decision, and were the results what you intended. Lastly the forth is the effort put into making the decision. These are great qualities of good decision making however; I think a component that should be added is asking people directly involved with the outcomes of the decision to give their input. The reason I feel this should be an important aspect is because I feel like to often people at the top are making decisions that directly impact people performing the job and they are not the best solution. (Blenko, (2010)

For example in my line of work there are many issues with the new software system that ERAU implemented and because of it we face issue after issue. The software was not built for a term-based college as it was intended for a semester-based college. In financial aid we are required by the Department of Education to follow certain regulations and one of them is not awarding overlapping terms. Therefore, we created a track system to allow students opportunities to enroll on tracks designed to prevent us from violating federal regulations. The issue is trying to customize the system creates many issue for our students, such as their financial aid will be delayed in disbursing for many days to weeks. This is extremely tough on our students because they are in need of funds; hence they applied for financial aid. Had upper management been concerned with the issues we face they might have developed a better more efficient way of changing our software. Now we are just have to deal and handle it as issues arrive. This type of firefighting leaves my manager struggling on only urgent issues unable to focus on important ones that will be beneficial for our students in the long run.

Moving forward I am going to use the four components Blenko has provided as well as the fifth characteristic I added when addressing my life in general. I find myself deciding impulsively at times, and I fail to think my decisions through. The Leadership Program has highlighted many weaknesses within myself and because of my new self-awareness I feel like I am already improving my ability to make good decisions. For example I have began to think every major decision in regards to what will happen in the long run and what consequences could potentially follow. Every reaction creates another action so if I can apply a thorough decision making checklist I believe I will become a faster better decision maker down the road.

References

How Companies Can Make Better Decisions, Faster [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbxpg6D4Hk8&feature=player_embedded

Robinson, M., & Sharp, T. (2013). Making good decisions. Training Journal, , 50-54. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1398472045?accountid=27203

Wiley, J. (2010). Employee engagement. Human Resources, , 29-32. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/228197372?accountid=27203