Reference no: EM133209179

Part I: Establishing your perfect company

Close your eyes and imagine your perfect workplace. What would it look like-both in the physical space and an average work day? How will you structure your dream company? Think of the following:

• How will the workspace look? Open space? Cubicles?

• Will people be separated into departments? What sort of departmentalization will you use?

• What sort of differentiation will you use?

• What will the chain of command look like?

• Will you be centralized power or decentralized power?

• What role will formalization, specialization and standardization play for your employees?

• How many employees?

• What technology will you use

• What are your strategies and goals?

• What type of environment do you want to do business in?

Task One: Write 2 to 3 paragraphs describing your company's structure, chain of command and how you imagine an average day at work would be.

Need some inspiration? Check out some of these workplaces:

TellApart the Champagne-Soaked Data Startup

At eHarmony's HQ Love is Definitely in the Air

Drop by the Dropbox Office

Part II: Writing Your Core Values (Beliefs)

The core values of an organization are the guiding principles that dictate behavior and action. The core values of an organization help employees know if they are on the right path. One of the best known examples is that of Zappos. The company has ten core values that include: Deliver WOW! Through Service and Do More With Less. Check out the rest of Zappos' Core Values.

Task Two: Write the ten Core Values that your organization will embrace and discuss why you chose them and how they will be modeled in your business.

Part III: Writing Your Code of Ethics (Rules)

For an organization, a code of ethics not only incorporates the mission and purpose, but also defines the culture. When Larry Page and Sergey Brin fist launched Google, their code of conduct started with "Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one." It went on to include the famous employee motto, "Don't be evil." But, of course as Google grew and matured, the code of ethics had to be reworded and more precise.

The following are examples of codes of ethics. Please read through each as your coming up with your own.

Apple's Code of Ethics

Amazon Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

Yahoo's Code of Ethics

Task Three: Create a code of ethics for your company that reflects the mission of the company, while defining a code of behavior that employees can uphold.

Part IV: Describe Your Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is the glue that keeps employees together, working efficiently, and enjoying their work and workplace. Many companies work hard to define and develop an organizational culture that reflects their purpose and creates an environment where employees want to work.

Task Four: What will your organizational culture look like? Write a 2 to 3 paragraph description, using bullet points to highlight your vision. Describe the following elements of your company's culture:

• physical objects• technology• rituals and ceremonies• awards• stories• Images, logos, artifacts

Need inspiration? Check out the following two video links:

Zappos Company Culture

Fish Philosophy

Part V: Your Employees

The best ideas for organizational culture won't come to fruition without the right mix of employees. Who you hire is important. Your goal is to find talented and skilled people who will internalize the company's values and ethics, work well with others, and contribute to an overall positive group dynamic. Make the wrong hires and you could cost your company more than money.

How will you find the right people? You'll need to ask the right interview questions.

At Zappos where corporate culture is king, one of the interview questions that they ask prospective employees is: "How weird are you?" Extreme? Not for Zappos, where pajama parties, dance marathons, dress up in costume days, and other out of the norm workplace behavior is 'all in a day's work.' Hiring someone who doesn't fit into the Zappos culture would be costly for both the business and employees.

Task Five: Based on your company model, come up with 10 interview questions that you would ask prospective employees. Make sure these are not generic interview questions, these questions will be to get to know the candidate as a person, their behavior, ethics and work values to see if they are a match the company you are working so hard to build!

(remember the Nordstrom example from lecture)

The goal of the questions is to discern whether or not someone is a good fit for your organization. Once you've come up with your questions, briefly explain how that question would help identify a particular behavior or value that would add to your organizational culture.

Part VI: Managing Employees

Even after hiring the right people to support your organizational culture, you'll need to coach and manage them to keep them on the right path.

Task 6: Answer the following questions, providing adequate detail. Remember summarize these points in your Power Point, do not cut and paste this section into your presentation.

• How will you measure employee/company fit?

• How you will you motivate employees?

• How will your employees collaborate?

• How will you handle conflict in the workplace?

• How will you incorporate diversity?

• How will you strike a balance between encouraging employees to celebrate their own cultures and forming a single unified culture within the company?

• How will cultural differences impact employee motivation?

• How will you evaluate and coach employees?

• How will you deal with poor employee performance?

• How will you increase employee job satisfaction?