As we've said in the past, the two "loudest" channels for sending messages in organizations are leadership decisions and actions and rewards and recognition. The latest issue of Knowledge @ Wharton (free registration required) highlights an example of each.
First, an article on the trade-off between "talent and disruptive behavior" examines the Philadelphia Eagles' heretofore under-reported decision to boot T.O. from the team.
Employees like Owens are found in almost any organization, but they can be more difficult to manage in cultures that demand top-flight results and, at the same time, place a premium on cooperation and harmony. [Wharton management professor Peter] Cappelli says the Eagles' decision to cut Owens sends a signal through the organization about culture. "By letting T.O. go, the Eagles are saying, 'We're willing to pay a pretty high price to maintain teamwork. We will not tolerate people who are not contributing to the overall good of the organization. This is an exercise in refocusing the organization and getting people's priorities clear."
The challenge with symbolic messages, of course, is translating intentions into outcomes. To date, there's no evidence the "exercise" has refocused the organization. But in the midst of distraction, the team seems to have heard the message about the organization's intolerance for...eh...distraction (last paragraph).
Continuing the theme of symbolic messages, a second article examines whether process management programs such as Six Sigma and TQM unintentionally discourage innovation. Wharton professor Mary Benner says they do.
Changing the culture at GE or any established company to embrace long-term innovation will be challenging, Benner acknowledges. "Most managers know they must do this. But there are few short-term rewards for focusing on long-term. When you give people a choice of something that's new and distant in time, they will choose the short-term, measurable goal... You can get stuck being very, very good at something you were good at yesterday. That's what some managers choose because it is measurable."
Measuring innovation is not easy because there is no yardstick. Rewarding innovation makes compensation a tricky exercise. Managing those who innovate is also challenging. "Creative people will push back in an environment where people are required to follow standard processes and are being measured," says Benner. "People who are comfortable in such an environment are not exactly the most innovative."
This is part of a larger issue we've seen time and again: Organizations implementing Six Sigma, TQM, or some other program in such a way that employees interpret adoption of the methodology in its most orthodox form as not a means to an end but the desired end in and of itself. When this happens, reduced emphasis on innovation is just one of the negative unintended consequences to result.