Answer the 3 Questions for Discussion please!

Case in the News (LO 13-1, 13-2, 13-3, 13-4) How Netflix Aims to Make Communication Radically Honest w Then Netflix CEO Reed Hast- ings hired Patty McCord as chief talent officer to build a com- pany based on the then-innovative idea of renting DVDs by mail, his vision was to create the kind of com- pany they both dreamed of working for. As they met to discuss what that company would be like, McCord pointed out that a list of corporate values would not be what achieved their vision; they needed to ensure that the values were practiced on a daily basis. So they focused instead on the kinds of behavior they wanted to see, and they began recording those on PowerPoint slides. After months of writing and discussing the ideas with Netflix managers, they had a big document that became known as Netflix's "culture deck." Culture deck values include freedom coupled with responsibil- ity, meaning employees have wide latitude for how they carry out their work, as long as they meet their performance objectives. For example, employees take paid time off at their own discretion, but they are expected to perform at a high level. Employees also are entrusted with types of Information that many companies would keep confiden- tial. They can look up measures of company performance, and manag. ers can look up the salaries of all employees. Company announce ments related to staffing give rea- sons for employees leaving, though more often they tell about hiring and promoting people within the organization In the early years of Netflix, when it was still a small company, Hastings and McCord would use the culture deck as a tool for orien- tation of new employees. The two of them would gather 10 recent hires, show the slides, and lead a discussion of the behaviors and values they are meant to promote. Then Hastings learned of a service for posting presentations online, and he independently decided to post the Netflix culture deck for public viewing. Public access changed the purpose of the infor- mation Tech workers would read the deck before they interviewed for a job. The result was that the interviewers and candidates were better able to identify who would embrace Netflix's culture of free- dom and responsibility, versus who would better thrive at an organi- zation with more structure. In this way, information sharing improved the company's recruitment and hiring results. Sharing the culture deck sup. ports a Netflix practice related to communication: radical hon- esty. The intent of radical hon- esty is to empower employees by giving them factual Informa- tion about the company, includ- ing data about its performance, objectives, and desired behav. iors and outcomes. In a radically honest environment, employees know what is expected of them, and they can tell whether they are succeeding. They also have input into performance appraisal, con- tributing to 360-degree feedback about managers' and coworkers' performance. Furthermore, they can choose which colleagues to review-even the CEO. And they are expected to speak up when they see a problem or have an idea. Hastings and McCord (who has since left the company and started a consulting practice) consider radical honesty to be a strength of Netflix's high-performance culture, The company continues to grow rapidly, adding 2,000 employees in a recent year to reach more than 6,000. It has survived the tech- nological changes sweeping the entertainment industry and taken the leap into producing original content Netflix recently reported an employee turnover rate of 11%, better than the 13% annual turnover among technology compa- nies overall A major challenge of radical honesty is that some messages are bound to be disappointing or critical, so they are hard to receive. In particular, people tend to feel threatened by criticism, even if it is true and relevant. In practice, efforts to deliver radical honesty in performance feedback have sometimes come across as harsh. Other approaches to honest and open communication make a point to consider employees' emo- tions, while Netflix's culture and leaders have focused mainly on delivering accurate data. Conse- quently, employees whose man- ner of thinking is highly objective and fact driven are satisfied with this approach, while those who are more relationship-oriented risk feel- ing betrayed when a manager or coworker says their performance falls short. Ideally, employees are receiving ongoing and complete 444 feedback, so they should not be surprised by such a message. In practice, however, some manag- ers struggle to meet this standard for delivering feedback. As part of providing employees with full infor- mation, these situations, includ- ing firings, typically are disclosed to the whole team or workforce. Some employees respect the aim of openness, but it has the potential to shame those in the spotlight. Questions for Discussion 1. What benefits do you think Reed Hastings and Patty McCord obtained from putting their vision for Netflix in writing in the culture deck? How effective do you think this medium was for this message? 2. What pros and cons do you see in managers following Netflix's practice of being radically honest about their employees' performance? 3. Would you want to work for an organization that practices radical honesty in communication as Netflix does? Why or why not? Sources: J. Dunn, "The Feedback Paradox: Brutal Honesty, Radical Transparency, Radi cal Candor and Netflix, Medium, https:// medium.com, November 3, 2018, 5. Ram- echandran and J. Flint, "At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks." The Wall Street Journal, www. wsj.com, October 25, 2018; "Learning from Netflc How to Build a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility interview with Patty McCord). Knowledge o Whavtor http:// knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu, May 29, 2018: R. Gray. "Deing 'Radically Honest in the Workplace." HR. www.magazine co.uk, February 23, 2018; K Swisher, inter- view with Patty McCord, Recode Decode, full transcript, www.recode.net, January 10, 2018