Culture Delight

Recently I had an unexpected poor customer service experience. I say unexpected because it was at my favorite trendy Chicago boutique and although their customer service was never outstanding, it wasn’t ever unpleasant. The salespeople were there to help you get into a fitting room but aside from that they never chatted with you. This can be quite nice when you compare it to the stores where every corner you turn you have a new employee asking if they can help you find anything.

While shopping at this boutique I fell in love with the cutest summer dress but alas it wasn’t meant to be. This wasn’t the first time I had my heart broken with their dresses. It was the fourth dress in two months that I found that was somehow disproportioned or had crooked stitching. There I was looking in the mirror utterly disappointed. Luckily I knew that it would just take a few alterations to fix the dress so I notified the salesperson to ask if I could get a discount on the dress. First she said that they normally don’t have problems with their clothing and then said she can’t give discounts for damaged clothing. How do you not give a discount for damaged clothing?

I can keep ranting about my experience but the point is that I was a loyal customer who wanted a discount on a visibly damaged item. I imagine that they put the dress back on the rack at full price for someone else to fall in love who may not notice the poor craftsmanship. This thought made me sick and I won’t be able to bring myself to shop there anymore.

My advice to this store is obvious – Keep your customers, especially your loyal customers happy by giving discounts on damaged items. One bad experience can make you permanently lose a customer and damage your reputation.

Immediately after I left the store I tweeted about my experience and talked to a few people about it who now say that it won’t be worth their time or money to shop there.

What terrible customer service experiences have made you say “I’ll NEVER shop there again”?

Have you tried to use Twitter, Facebook, or even live chat to solve a customer service issue? Too many avenues of customer service can do more damage than good. Just because a company makes themselves available everywhere, doesn’t mean that the quality of service is going to be better.

What does this have to do with organizational culture you ask? Culture is just as important to customers as it is for employees. Since customers experience a company’s culture through its customer service, a good or bad interaction will determine if they will come back again.

This year MSN posted their 2009 Customer Service Hall of Shame list and Comcast took the #2 spot with 41.3% poor service ratings. In an attempt to improve poor service ratings, Comcast has stated that they are trying to make themselves available through social media. I was overwhelmed after researching the many customer service avenues that Comcast offers. I’m left wondering if they are making it more complicated for customers to know which way is best to contact Comcast and whether the quality of the service has improved.

Here are a few of the customer service options that Comcast is currently offering:

• Twitter
  To name a few: @ComcastBill, @ComcastBonnie,@ComcastSteve, @ComcastGeorge
  Even Comcast Senior Director Frank Eliason has a twitter account @ComcastCares. The problem I see here is, how do you know which Comcast representative to choose? It would be easier if each Comcast account was labeled by state or city so that you can speak to someone local.
• Comcast Voices
  A blog for conversations with Comcast.
• Blog#2
  Info on new services and a place to voice your opinion. I think company blogs are fantastic because it gives a company personality but having two blogs is just confusing. One blog is enough.
• Facebook
  Purpose seems to be primarily marketing and has an email for customer service We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com.
• Official Website
  Customer Service section called Comcast customerCentral.
• Live Chat
  For help on each of their products digital cable, high-speed internet, and digital voice.
• Email
  Email help from official website.
• Phone
  1-800-COMCAST (1-800-266-2278)

As a customer, which method would you choose to contact Comcast customer service?

Please share your customer service experiences using these types of options, whether it is with Comcast or another company. This is not a bashing Comcast forum so please vent elsewhere.

Have you recognized a coworker or manager for doing a good job lately? Why not? That second of recognition can leave a lasting impression.

As we prepare to give thanks this holiday season, let’s not forget about the people we work with who have helped us succeed time and time again. Just think about how you feel when someone says “hey you did a great job on that proposal last week.” It feels good doesn’t it?

I once heard a story about a manager telling an employee “you want me to thank you for doing your job?” The answer is yes. Yes, we all deserve recognition every once in a while. Employees want to know that their contribution to the success of the organization is valued. Success isn’t accomplished alone and we tend to forget that once in a while because we get caught up thinking about our sole contributions.

Giving thanks every once in a while will not only promote a more courteous work environment, it will also strengthen interpersonal relationships. Just like laughing, thank you’s can be contagious. Once it becomes a common practice it’ll occur more naturally.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my post! Now, pay it forward by thanking someone.

If you Google “organizational culture” you’ll find an overwhelming number of different culture models based on effectiveness, risk, feedback and much more. Since this is a blog about culture, I thought I’d save you the trouble of sifting through all the different types by providing you with my favorite, The Competing Values Framework. This model is simple and effective because each culture type is categorized by the core values that are important to an organization. There are four culture types in this model: Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchy, and Market.

As you read through the different culture types, think about your own values and how you fit into these cultures. It’s common to fit into more than one culture type, however one will always be dominant. You will find that many organizations are a blend of two types. For example, you can have a dominant culture of adhocracy where innovation is the most important value, but still work in a family like environment such as clan culture.

Four Types of Organizational Culture

Clan Culture

If you want a family like environment, then you’ve found your new home in clan culture. This culture focuses on creating a high morale environment through empowerment, team building, employee involvement and development. They believe that these strategies are the key to becoming an effective organization. It’s not uncommon for leaders of this culture to be viewed as mentors or even parent figures. The love doesn’t stop with the employees, because customer satisfaction is also at the top of the list. A great example of clan culture is Zappos. Number 7 of their core values says it all: “Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit”.

Adhocracy Culture

Most tech companies who strive to develop the next innovative product work in an adhocracy culture. This culture doesn’t have many rules because they allow their employees to have the freedom to be creative. These companies are successful because they focus on creating new standards and anticipating customer needs. Adhocracy breeds leaders who focus on innovative outputs and are agile enough to adapt to the frequent changes of their industry. Apple and Google would be examples of adhocracy culture because they allow employees to take initiative and experiment with new ideas.

Hierarchy Culture

Unlike adhocracy, hierarchy culture operates as a well oiled machine by following rules and standards. Every process in this environment is controlled to avoid errors and keep consistency. Leaders in this culture will monitor employee performance closely to ensure that services and products are high quality and rules are being met. You can find hierarchy cultures in the manufacturing industry, engineering firms, and fast food chains. McDonald’s for example, has each process in place to ensure that they provide fast service with consistent quality to each customer. Each employee has a designated function so that orders are fulfilled in the most efficient manner.

Market Culture

If competition gets your juices going and “sink or swim” is one of your motto’s then market culture is for you. This results oriented culture focuses on achieving measurable goals. You won’t find any hand holding here because all of the attention goes toward improving productivity, staying competitive, and customer preferences. Leaders will be hard drivers and will want a team that can produce results without too much coaching. You will find market cultures in sports teams and sales companies. AT&T is an example of market culture because they pride themselves on being highly competitive in their industry.

Now that you’ve reviewed the four organizational culture types, which culture or culture blend best suites you? Are you currently working in your ideal culture?

For more information on The Competing Values Framework reference these great resources:
Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (1999). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Quinn, R. E., & Rohrbaugh, J. (1983). A spatial model of effectiveness criteria: Towards a competing values approach to organizational analysis. Management Science, 29, 363–377
Quinn, R. E., & Rohrbaugh, J. (1981). A competing values approach to organizational effectiveness. Public Productivity Review, 5, 122–140.

Organizational culture is extremely important because it defines the personality of the organization and shared norms amongst the employees.  If culture is poorly managed then employees may feel confused about expectations and begin forming their own possibly negative norms. I’ve worked for a company that had a poorly managed culture which lead to me quitting.  For months I tried to make it work with Company X but in the end it just wasn’t the right cultural fit for me. I loved the job itself, responsibilities, and my clients but I didn’t love the unstable environment, unstandardized processes, poor training, and all around low morale of the company.

I’ve had previous experiences working for poorly managed cultures but this case was extreme because the negativity was everywhere. On my first day of work, employees were telling me that they couldn’t wait to quit. Not a good first impression! After that, the culture I had in mind from the website unraveled with each day.

Although I didn’t have a backup plan, I knew that I needed to get out of that environment fast and I do not regret my decision at all. My biggest takeaway from this experience is – if you get a bad vibe about a company up front, then you should run in the other direction and don’t look back. Preferably you would find this out before you take the job. I’m sure that many of you have also experienced a job where the bad outweighed the good but you put up with it because you thought you had to. So many of us are desperate for jobs in this economy but that is no excuse to suffer through a job that makes you unhappy. If not managed properly the stress that you bring home from work will affect activities you take part in and people you interact with.

Here are some tips to finding out up front if it’s a good employee-employer fit. Of course you can’t always know what it will really be like unless you work there but these tips will give you a good perspective.

• Review the company website for core values and mission statement. Some company websites will also have a career page with a “Why Work for Us” section.
• Google it! Some search results to look for are articles recognizing the company, hate websites (good for finding scam companies), and customer service reviews.
• Search the company on LinkedIn. Look at the length of employment for previous and current employees. Short tenure for previous employees can be a sign of poor management which creates poor culture.
• Get a cultural review from former or current employees of the company.
• While waiting for your interview observe how employees interact with each other.
• During the interview ask the interviewer what they like most and least about working for the company.
• Ask yourself what type of work environment you want to work in (team oriented, standard processes, etc.) so that you can find the best fit for you.

Feel free to add to the tip list or share any culture clash stories of your own.

Culture Delight will discuss all things that influence organizational culture to succeed or fail. You can think of organizational culture as the personality of the organization. This personality sets the tone for the environment and contains shared norms, values, and standards in which it operates. Organizational culture is my passion and I believe that culture should go beyond expectations by delighting employees.