Please read the article below, and answer the questions that follow. In doing so, remember the following, - Although the use of generic theories, covered in class/your module guide/text book will provide a framework, the expectation for the student is to be able to discuss it in context with research relevant to South Africa and your own reflective experiences. - You are required to extensively research current South African trends, amidst our changing political landscape and benchmarked against a global backdrop. - You are required to present a holistic, well integrated and applied answer. Preserving A Culture People Love as Your Company Grows: Lessons from Zappos Chris Cancialosi May 30, 2017 Being intentional about your companys core values from day one can help to build a solid foundation to guide behaviour as your organization grows; few leaders understand this as well as Zappos Tony Hsieh. Zappos has long been an example of the power that company culture has on behaviour and business performance. But whats behind the curtain? What is the team at Zappos doing, specifically, that is driving their admirable levels of employee engagement and retention? 2016 was Zappos lowest turnover rate since its founding more than 18 years ago and I wanted to know the how and the why. To find out, I asked Jamie Naughton, Zappos Chief of Staff, to share her insights. For Jamie, it all starts with her personal journey to Zappos which, she believes, is a testament to the way the organization is run. Having initially worked as an external staffing professional to Zappos, Jamie realized early on that it was a place shed like to be. It was more than 12 years ago when I first knew I wanted to be a part of the Zappos team, Naughton shares. The people I would send to work there always came back telling me how much Zappos cared about their culture and how great it was to work in an environment like that. Today, Naughton focuses her efforts on building myriad efficiencies within the organization for its 1,500+ employees. When Tony Hsieh took over as CEO at Zappos, he knew he wanted to create an organization where people genuinely enjoyed working. By paying close attention to every single new hire, he was able to ensure his vision became reality. Several years later, the team at Zappos formalized what they held near and dear by creating Zappos 10 Core Values. Doing so helped provide a clearly articulated beacon for members of the team to evolve all of their processes and ensure their unique culture was able to scale as the company grew. Getting clear and explicit about the companys core values gave all members of the organization a common language and understanding of what right looks like at Zappos. There isnt a day that goes by where there isnt a mention of our Core Values in some way, says Naughton. They allow everyone to easily prioritize whats really most important. Because the process was so intentional, the results werent all that surprising. We knew as we were building the company that focusing on culture was paramount, Naughton adds. In order to provide amazing service to our customers, we knew we had to provide that same level of service to our employees and vendors. To fully embed this value of service in all members of the team, each and every new employee, regardless of position, attends a full four-week call center training program, including dozens of hours on the phones supporting live customers. And to reinforce this message, every employee spends a minimum of ten hours during the holidays on the phones as well. Surprisingly, these mandatory trainings have helped with innovation. When our developers started going through this training, and were forced to use the systems and tools they created for our call center, they began noticing opportunities for improvement. So, the developers would finish their training and then go back to their usual desks and start building efficiencies in our tools to make it easier for call center employees to do their jobs. Zappos Three Keys to Employee Engagement and Retention Zappos focus on engaging and retaining great talent revolves around a continuous focus on three things: Culture. The culture at Zappos is grounded in their Core Values. But simply articulating values, as many organizations do, is not nearly enough. True value is created when they are actually integrated into everything the organization does. Naughton advises, Dont let your values become a dusty plaque on a wall, somewhere near the front desk. Talk about them and, more importantly, live by them. Make decisions with the values in mind. Passion. We want our employees to find meaning in their work. Our company is self-organized, which means employees arent tied to one area of the company, says Naughton. Team members are given the freedom to flex and support in ways that are outside of their box, which keeps Zappos innovative, efficient and purposeful. Ownership. Zappos leadership gives employees the tools to do their jobs while owning their work, setting them up for success by stepping out of the way. Naughton provides an example of how this plays out in their day-to-day operations: In our call center, every representative has all the tools they need to make customers happy. They dont need to ask a supervisor for permission to override policies or compensate for lapses in service. Giving employees ownership and empowerment to make decisions is not to be understated here. Zappos believes that the people doing the work and servicing customers every day are the ones best suited to make the decisions necessary to take care of those customers. While this approach may not work in all organizations, parts of this example are generalizable. The prime being that, whatever you value and whatever culture you feel will drive the results you want in your business, you must be intentional. Taking the time to be clear about who you are and how you do things and understanding when and how to evolve in order to drive results is what matters. Zappos has designed a foundation that elicits the customer-focused behaviors its leaders feel are critical to its success, and the organization continues to reinforce these values and ways of working continuously in every aspect of their activities. What might you do in your organizations to help bring some intention to what you value and how you need to work together in order to succeed? Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriscancialosi/2017/05/30/preserving-a-culture-people-love-as-your-companygrows-lessons-from-zappos/#3c68b4e9712b QUESTION 2 (30) Comment on current leadership trends such as feminized leadership values and servant leadership, amongst others, and critically analyse whether these approaches are successful (extensive research is required for this answer).