TOPIC 1BEHAVIOR of corporations

There is a noticeable GAP between the interests of corporations & their employees. In fact, both are out to USE the other (at least subconsciously). This is the STARTING POINT for understanding the behavior of corps & their employees.

P1Increase your professional play-making

savvy

Pro life in orgs = surfing 2 waves at the same time all the time. That requires real world experience/savvy & innovative behavioral skills (≠ flyin’ by the seat of yorepants).

KNOW WHAT YER DOIN’ IN ORGS

Orgs are the most powerful entities on Earth.

Reducing these corp-employee gaps is the purpose of this course. We’ll explore how you can FULFILL YOUR PERSONAL LIFE & YOUR

PROFESSIONAL LIFE AT THE SAME TIME.

To succeed, managers MUST span gaps.

Leaders MUST close gaps.

P3Help you deal productively

with workplace dramas

“Gapology” is the #1 drama of corporate life: how to achieve success day-in & day-out balancing the competing, conflicting agendas of investors, customers, employees, & markets

Vincent went from HR head to Human Resources V.P. for using

outsourcing & off-shoring to reduce overall corporate payroll

costs by 39%.

P4Equip you with

professional development

tools and techniques

Agendas

Clash

Exploitation

Sacrifice

Agendas• Corp: Cut company

labor costs/increase profits

• Vince: Get promotion/higher salary, etc.

Clash• Employee job

security• Org psychological

contract• US job loss

Exploitation

• Company’s laid off employees• US economic

stability• Job pirating of

foreign employers

Sacrifice• Laid off

employees• Employee

morale

Kate Harrison (school principal) was promoted to school district superintendent for overseeing the drastic improvement of her high school on state student academic achievement test scores.

1. What is the official stated (PR) mission of Kate’s school district?

2. What is the district’s real (rewarded) mission?

3. What is the main org “gap” in Kate’s school district?

4. What org drama is Kate now caught up in?

• Kayla’s pre-school daughter was sick & couldn't go to day care. Kayla’s boss wanted her in an 8:00 a.m. meeting to answer questions about the latest financial report.• Li was passed over twice for

promotion because his sales manager boss didn’t have anyone else who could translate for the company’s many Chinese customers.

• Holly was best at financial analysis, but her job description restricted her to spread sheet construction.

• The brand management team lost all 4 of its experienced analysts when HR shifted to part-time temps.

• After 3 years of extensive, expensive training, Ramiro was ready for promotion to head of Forensics, but he then quit to take the same job in San Antonio.

• Corps want profit, employees want pay.• Corps want impersonal operations, employees want the personal touch.• Corps want efficient productivity, employees want enjoyable work.• Corps want cost reductions, employees want raises.

• Corps want control, employees want empowerment.

• Corps want mission accomplished, employees want personal needs met.

• Corps want risk-reduction, employees want job security.

• Corps want hard work & over-work, employees want a life away from work.

• Corps want to enforce rules, employees want to ignore them.

HOW ORG STRIVE TO NARROW GAPS

• Motivate employees with self-gain incentives: pay/benefits, promotions, power, lifestyle flex

• Printed mission statements & PR• Empowerment via participative

decision-making, & self-managed teams

• Public performance awards• Orgs as a surrogate family via

“live-in” culture/facilities

Corps have ECONOMIC agendas >

human ones.

EXECUTIVES GAPS EMPLOYEES

• Impersonal Personal• Profit People• Markets Org• Money Service• Power Rules• Competing Cooperating

• Professional life > Personal life

Corporations behave according to the

IMPERSONAL AMORAL (self-agenda-driven)

dictates of capitalism: exploiting economic &

social systems to generate profit.

IMPERSONAL/AMORAL SYSTEMS

• Financial institutions • Stock markets • Technology• Supply chains• Retailing• Transportation • Imaging (advertising & PR)• Politics • Global economy

EXAMPLES OF IMPERSONAL AMORAL BEHAVIOR

• Profit maximization• Consumerism • Advertising, PR, resumes• Taxation• Competitive sports (winning)• War• Consumption of natural resources

IMPERSONAL AGENDA-DRIVEN BEHAVIOR OF CAPITALIST SYSTEMS

• Relentless generation & consumption of resources• “Money chasing money”• Investors, return on

investment, stock prices, corporate expansion• Competition, market share,

risk-taking, competitive tactics• Brand-building, advertising, PR,

political campaign financing

Corporate executives & strategists must master the art of EXPLOITING capitalist systems in the same way sail boaters master wind & sails to whisk over the water. But employees aren’t on the boat.

THE CORP-HUMAN GAP

Most non-executive employees in corps work in social environments & focus on their PERSONAL lives more than their professional lives. They work interdependently with co-workers, clients, etc. more than with abstract impersonal systems. They focus on their JOB more than the corp. mission.

MAKING PLAYS!

1.Satisfying your company’s agenda as the only way to satisfy your own career agenda

2.Using class techniques to narrow agenda gaps in your Professional Influence Zone (PIZ)