1. Do you think Zeitland's desire for changes in culture are related to changes in the external environment? Explain.
2. What additional investigation might Wheeling and Zeitland undertake before settling on a plan of action?
3. In which quadrant of Exhibit 3.8 would you place Cam? What are some steps that you would recommend Cam consider to better connect with the employees who report to him?
"I must admit, I'm completely baffled by these scoring results for Cam Leslie," Carole Wheeling said as she and company CEO Ronald Zeitland scrolled through the latest employee surveys for middle management.
For the second year, RTZ Corporation used Wheeling's consulting firm to survey and score managers. An increasingly younger workforce, changing consumer tastes, and technology changes in the industry had caused Zeitland to look more closely at culture and employee satisfaction. The goal of this process was to provide feedback in order to assure continuous improvement across a variety of criteria. The surveys could be used to highlight areas for improvement by showing manager and company strengths and weaknesses, anticipating potential problem areas, providing a barometer for individual job performance, and as a road map for transforming the culture as the company expanded.
From the outset, Zeitland insisted on employee honesty in scoring managers and providing additional comments for the surveys. "We can't change what we don't know," Zeitland instructed employees in meetings two years ago. "This is your opportunity to speak up. We're not looking for gripe sessions. We're looking for constructive analysis and grading for what we do and how we do it. This method assures that everyone is heard. Every survey carries equal weight. Changes are coming to this organization. We want to make those changes as easy and equally beneficial as possible for everyone."
Now, two years into the process, the culture was showing signs of changing and improving.