I have been an occasional reader of the list for several years and
appreciate having the opportunity to participate in the dialogue.
Professionally, I am the manager of training and organizational
effectiveness at the Wood River Refinery, a part of Equilon Enterprises, a
joint venture of Shell and Texaco. Personally, I try to somehow integrate
my work activity with time with family (my wife and I both took both names
- hence the hyphenation; we have three adopted children from Korea and
Vietnam), music, history, and training oxen (we love large animals and it
is a wonderful learning experience for all of us).
My primary interest now is in building a stronger sense of personal
accountability throughout the organization. In our transition from a very
strong command and control culture to a culture that places more value on
individual and team initiative, we have struggled to find a workable model
of accountability. With an organization of just under 1000 people, this
doesn't seem like it should be such an intractable problem, but it has
been.
We have reduced our workforce by 50% in the last 10 years and were the
subject of negotiations for sale to another company through most of the
last year. With continuing rumors of potential sale, it has been
difficult to focus the organization on the internal changes needed for
success. So, I would very much appreciate your collective wisdom on how
to approach significant cultural change, such as building a strong culture
of accountability, with such strong external distractions. Thank you
Douglas Kaufman-Dickson
Wood River Refining Company
Organizational Effectiveness and Training
phone: 618 255-2625 fax: 618 255-2867
e-mail drkaufmandickson@equilon.com
--"Kaufman Dickson, Douglas DR STAC" <DK303196@MSXSOPC.SHELL.COM>
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