ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Case Study $$ Power & Influence

It$$s all for show$*$

Christel Ramloll, Charles Telfair Institute

$$We$$ve been practising continuous professional development here for years, and now something we

used to take very seriously has degenerated into a superficial competition. It$$s all for show, and I$$m

not actually sure I want to work here anymore!$$

That was most unlike Helene. She$$d joined Mycrea as a junior marketing officer $16$ years ago, rising

up the ranks to become marketing manager. A vociferous champion of continuous professional

development $($CPD$)$ practices in the organisation, she consistently emphasised their importance as

being key to success both at an individual and at an organisational level.

Helene had been asked to co$-$chair the CPD committee, a role at which she excelled. She never

boasted about her achievements in pushing the CPD agenda forward, seeing it simply as her duty.

Recently, though, it had become obvious that she was getting frustrated. As clear as her

commitment to furthering CPD practices remained, she had taken to expressing real dissatisfaction

in departmental meetings. Eventually, her director, Didier, called her for a meeting to discuss this.

$$Helene$,$ I can tell you$$re unhappy. What$$s the problem, and how can I help?$$

$$Didier$,$ I am extremely frustrated: the youngsters who$$ve come into the organisation are, like many

people their age, lacking in experience and awareness. But because they$$re so vocal about what they

do$,$ they$$re the ones who progress. Meanwhile, the people who really do the work but don$$t make a

fuss about it are being made to look lazy in comparison.$$

As shocked as Didier was to hear this, the fact that it came from Helene made him realise he needed

to take action, and quickly. That same week he met with his most experienced members of staff.

Their message was clear and consistent: the new employees, who seemed to be driven almost

exclusively by competitiveness, had worked out strategies to please management. They made sure

they were at the forefront of every initiative, a situation which had unfortunately, if accidentally,

been encouraged by the managers. At every general meeting, there were announcements about

staff achievements in regard to CPD initiatives. Although most of these initiatives had been in place

for a long time, the impression that was given was that it was the new staff who were doing all the

serious CPD innovation.

Innovation was something that Mycrea had always prided itself on$,$ and this had instilled in the

organisation a culture of continuous improvement. The company had set itself apart from its

competitors by developing strong ties with top business schools so that its staff could have access to

the latest tools and techniques to develop further in their fields. Over the years, the continuous

professional development strategy had been refined and explicitly tied into KPIs. Obviously, this

organisation$-$wide initiative relied heavily on the involvement of managers and directors, not only in

motivating and encouraging staff to really embrace the learning culture but also in sourcing CPD

opportunities.

Part of their motivational strategy was the aforementioned systematic reporting of achievements in

the monthly general meeting. Continuous professional development was managed by the CPD

committee, one co$-$chair of which was Helene, the other co$-$chair being the HR manager. It had

become clear that most of the CPD$-$related achievements that were given prominence in the

monthly meetings emanated from the HR department$$a coincidence that merited investigation.

Some of Mycrea$$s long$-$standing customers were commenting that something seemed to have

changed at the organisation; and they wanted to know why some of the newer staff were asking

them to fill out performance evaluation forms. It wasn$$t just customers who$$d noticed a change.

Several members of staff had mentioned that CPD at Mycrea had become far less about acquiring

skills and far more about competitive self$-$promotion. In addition, during a recent performance

appraisal exercise, many staff had commented on the need to be $$politically correct$$ to gain salary

increases. There were clear signs that demotivation was creeping in$.$ Another thing that had aroused

comment was that three members of staff who were prominently linked with CPD initiatives had

been chosen to take part in special projects including research, key presentations to the

organisation$$s partners, chairing committees and sponsored training. There was a general

perception that these three people had become the senior managers$$ pet clique.

Didier was debating whether to raise all this at the next management committee meeting. At some

of those meetings, other heads of department had been asked to be more proactive and to push

their staff more. Had that added to the current issue of competitiveness? Also, two of t